am I out of line? (ebay issue)

[catdoc]

Just curious if you think I'm out of line. I did a "buy it now" on May 5, paid instantly via paypal, received an automated "thanks for your payment, blah blah blah...". That's the last I'd heard--nothing as to when the item should ship or was shipped, nothing. So it's been 12 days and I'm getting a bit worried b/c I've heard nothing from the seller since. I sent an email requesting info from him earlier this evening, waited a couple of hours and decided why wait--he's had 12 days to contact me and hasn't. The purchase was for well over $200, I think I was owed some communication a few days ago. So I went ahead and placed a "did not receive item" dispute on paypal. Wow, that generated a quick response! Supposedly he has shipped the item but it takes 4 to 10 business days to ship (tomorrow is the 10th business day, btw). I said fine, what's my shipping confirmation? He wrote back that I need to close the dispute so he can get his paypal money but still didn't give me a tracking number so I can confirm he shipped it. If he doesn't have the confirmation, why in the world should I close the dispute? Honestly, I didn't know they'd block his access to the money anyway--it was just the route given by paypal to contact the seller about the transaction, so that's what I did. Maybe I should just refuse shipment (if it ever shows) and call it done.

[Satori]

I might have missed it, but I think you should have sent him at least a few emails before filing the dispute.

HOWEVER, having said that, 12 days is way too long by today's standards and no communication from the seller is unacceptable. Since this is where you're at, I agree that you need to hold out for the shipping confirmation before cancelling the dispute.

FWIW.

[Muttling]

No tracking number but he wants you to release the dispute??? Ummm, I'd say not until I have verification that you're holding up your end of the deal.

As Mike noted, I would have contacted him prior to this point.

[catdoc]

Wow...here's the reply I just got from him in reply to my second request for a tracking number:

Nah, forget it, I have no reason to help you now, I dont trust you at all now. You filed the dispute before giving a chance for me to reply or for it to arrive. I will still get my money


Now I'm REALLY afraid it was a scam!!

[catdoc]

I also just went through my sent mails to double-check something. I did contact him 3 days after the auction ended to find out when he expected to ship, but never heard back. Now he accuses me of not giving him time to respond. I'm an idiot and feel taken!

[JLouv]

He already has his money. Now his paypal account shows a -200 balance. So he will just close it and start another. You are out $200

[TomDe]

That was their response? First of all the dispute has nothing to do with the money. Unless something has changed from when I sold on Ebay, Paypal is a seperate entity...nothing to do with it.

SAVE that email and file a dispute with Paypal if that money is gone..You have proof.

Good Luck

[TomDe]

Originally posted by JLouv
He already has his money. Now his paypal account shows a -200 balance. So he will just close it and start another. You are out $200

Can you explain this? I really do not understand, this is the information age? He has to transfer the $$ to a bank or take it out with a card so how can they get away with this with no way to track it?

[Muttling]

Paypal was purchased by E-bay a couple years ago and has been inter-weaving their operations every since.


I'd definitely forward the guys response to E-bay and to PayPal. If he's a verified PayPal account you may still have recourse against him.


On a final note, it's obvious he has not shipped the item.

[catdoc]

I'm definitely saving all emails. Deep down, I still hold out hope that he's sent it and is just getting his panties in a wad for no reason. (Yeah, I'm gullible, naive, and believe that most people really are good. ) I'll give it another day or two before I start moving up the chain to complain though.

On a funny side-note, my pup apparently tired of waiting for me to tuck her in for the night (I'm never up this late!) and put herself to bed in her crate. That's the first time she's ever gone in there voluntarily, LOL!

[bassace]

Don't close the complaint. If you close it and he does not ship, you can not open another complaint.

[xinumaster]

Don't forget to give him a negative ebay seller feedback.

[Minuteman]

I think you filed a little early, but now having filed, I'd leave it in place to see if you get your item. I think I'd wait 1 more week and if nothing heard, then file a dispute with paypal. THey wil give you your money back while investigting. Aditionally, your ban may be able to help as well, try contacting them. Banks will generally return your money while investigating.

Oh, and I think I'd be expectign some big fat negative feedback from this seller, regardless of whether he's trying to rip you off or not. Did you look at his feedback before buying?

[BLKTANG]

Send um an e-mail virus,& crash his PC.

[bllfish]

Originally posted by Minuteman
I think you filed a little early, but now having filed, I'd leave it in place to see if you get your item. I think I'd wait 1 more week and if nothing heard, then file a dispute with paypal. THey wil give you your money back while investigting. Aditionally, your ban may be able to help as well, try contacting them. Banks will generally return your money while investigating.

Oh, and I think I'd be expectign some big fat negative feedback from this seller, regardless of whether he's trying to rip you off or not. Did you look at his feedback before buying?

I think 12 days is more than enough time before filing. If you do not receive your purchase in 12 days you should at least to hear from him. You definitely did the right thing.
After you get burned a few times your patience and filing time shortens from the 12 days.

[Minuteman]

Just out of idle curiosity, what was the ebau item number?

[UH_OH_5_OH]

What was his seller rating? Whenever I go to buy something on ebay I ALWAYS check the comments of their ratings and the buyers !!!

If there is 1 or 2 in 6700 buyers....that's a good seller to me... if it's 1 or 2 out of 20.....buyer beware !

[catdoc]

He has a 99.0% feedback rating, with a score of 872. 2 negatives in the past month (1 from someone who made a purchase on the same day I did and only waited 5 days to leave it b/c he'd never heard from the guy). I see several positives for him from folks who report slow shipping and no tracking though. Based on the fact that he sells like 6 or 7 items over and over, wonder if he's having them drop-shipped from somewhere else?

I still don't have a tracking number, time will tell. I really have no motivation to leave him positive feedback either. His attitude has been hateful. It'll be the first negative that I get though, ruining my perfect rating.

[bllfish]

The rating is not accurate. He makes people retract their negative feedback by threatening not to send the product. I was told either retract the negative or "You deal with manufacturer. I am washing my hands of this matter."
When "You Buy It Now" there should be minimal delay in getting your purchase.

[hoyta]

I would not give up... Also, if he does end up taking the money, you can call the police in his hometown and get it taken care of.
This guy had 12 days to get in contact with you. If you don't mind, please pm me the details so I can watch out in the future.

[JokerGirl]

Catdoc,

I used to work for eBay. Whatever you do, DO NOT close that dispute until you have your item. If you close the dispute beforehand, then you will not get to reopen another one. Waiting 10 business days is about right and anything more than that, and I would have opened a dispute as well.

Don't worry though. He can send you all the threatening e-mails he wants. Just make sure that you copy and paste them into the dispute center, or make a note on there of what he has been sending you and then forward them to the agent when you escalate the dispute past communication between the two of you.

Like other people have said, Paypal is actually owned by eBay and the rules are a little bit different when you have made a transaction through eBay. Whether or not he has the money is in his account, Paypal will still get you your money back after the dispute is settled since it was through eBay. That is part of the whole Buyer's/Seller's Guarantee that you have on eBay.

After that, he will receive a mark with Paypal/eBay, and considering if he ever gets that amount of money back in his account, then Paypal will just take it from him without warning.

eBay/Paypal is on your side, so don't worry about it. You should get your money back if you never receive the item.

[Racso]

I never got my money back from ebay/paypal... lost $85.

I know $85 may not seem like much, but $85 is $85.

[chrisstie]

I don't think you're out of line but I am curious to see what will happen in the next few days - if he really did already ship then hopefully you wont be out $200 and still get your product

I always try to avoid sellers with negative feedback too- especially if there's an unusually large amount of it very recently. I could be wrong but I think some people work on buying\selling ebay accounts with fake positive feedback (spend a few cents on items going through that their friends say hey great shipper or whatever on)

Leave the dispute open and I guess keep your fingers crossed for the next few days. Otherwise what others have suggested here I think is very reasonable as far as getting your money back after the fact and all.

[dc]

I barely even go to ebay anymore. I hate the automated responses too. You never know if they are shipping or what. I think the slowest shippers are the ones that usually push you for positive feedback too.

[dkh0331]

Another assist from the dkh BPSS