Ebay seller trying to rip me off - Advice

cooperguy

I bought a phone on ebay and paid instantly via paypal over two weeks ago. The phone was coming from Co. Down so not from too far away but it has been over two weeks and I have heard absolutely nothing from the seller and the phone hasn’t arrived. I wouldnt be too worried that the phone hasn’t arrived (iv been on the receiving end of sellers slow to ship before) its just the fact that I have heard nothing from him that has made me worried.

I emailed him last Friday week asking has the phone been shipped or when the expected delivery date was. Last Friday after no sign of the phone or a reply mail I emailed him again asking for a response and when the expected delivery date was. I also said that if he didnt reply I would be reporting him to ebay.

So that is where I am now and I want to go about logging a complaint with ebay this evening. My question is, what is the best way to go about it. I want to lodge a complaint with paypal aswell to try get my money back, is that done automatically when I click the "Report undelivered item" button or do I have to do this separately.

Any other advice you can give me in dealing with this guy would be great.

jor el

eBay's report undelivered item thing is useless. Go straight to Paypal and start a dispute for that payment. Escalate it to a claim immediately and state you have already been in touch with the seller and he is not responding. 2 weeks is more than enough time to allow for this so far.

After this is resolved, you could then use eBay's report seller function and report him for non-performance, though it'll do fuck all good. Leave him negative feedback if you think it's deserved, especially if he doesn't respond to the Paypal claim. Don't be afraid to leave neutral feedback either, if you feel it's deserved.

cooperguy

Thanks for that. I have now filed my claim. I have one more question. The phone cost about €230 including shipping. Since I bought the item on ebay and it says on the listing that I am protected for up to €200 with paypal does that mean Im gauranteed to get €200 back even if there is no funds in the sellers account?

jor el

Not sure about that. You might not be covered for the extra €30 though.

cooperguy

Ya the way I read it is that if there is enough money in his account ill get it all back, if there isnt then ill get back what im covered for which is €200.

If I got back the €200 the loosing out on the €30 wouldnt bother me as much as the fact that the c**t got away with it and im getting the money from paypals pockets.

Thanks for your help

fl4pj4ck

but you can go with paypal only when 90 days period passed afaik

cooperguy

fl4pj4ck wrote: »

but you can go with paypal only when 90 days period passed afaik

No according to what I read it has to be within 45 days. I filed my claim today anyway without any problems.

jor el

fl4pj4ck wrote: »

but you can go with paypal only when 90 days period passed afaik

No, you can only file a complaint with Paypal up to 45 days after payment. Beyond this, you have no recourse and you're pretty much screwed.

shoutman

Any you don't get any money back off paypal if he doesnt have anything in his account. I just got scammed

"We have decided in your favor, however, we were unable to recover any funds
from the seller's account. As stated in the PayPal User Agreement, recovery
of funds associated with a Buyer Complaint cannot be guaranteed."

jor el

shoutman wrote: »

Any you don't get any money back off paypal if he doesnt have anything in his account. I just got scammed

"We have decided in your favor, however, we were unable to recover any funds
from the seller's account. As stated in the PayPal User Agreement, recovery
of funds associated with a Buyer Complaint cannot be guaranteed."

Call your credit card provider (if you sourced the payment with a card) and see about a chargeback. Paypal may still be liable from the card providers point of view, and you might still get a refund.

shoutman

Thanks for this jor el, I shall do so in the morning and keep you updated.

KBarry

I would have thought this is fraud if the seller has the money but not responding to emails or sending the item. Personally I'd be mad enough to get the police involved. It's not like it's just a few quid.

Morbid.Angel

This post has been deleted.

shoutman

I was under the impression that this was the case as well but obviously not. I'll give paypal a ring tommorrow and try to get some clarification.
I think it just looks like the seller decided to stop selling on ebay and wanted to scam a few people on the way. Quite ghey imo. The fact that she had sold to quite a few people successfully is quite strange really, obviously she made quite a bit so why would she bother with the extra few quid.... on the other hand it may be a big misunderstanding and she may be dead or something.... either way she has withdrawn her money from the paypal account and now I need to get some more ugg boots lol.

edit: Also it was less then 100 quid so it isnt the end of the world.

Its so unfortunate because the seller looked so legit http://myworld.ebay.com/all_those_girly_things

jor el

When you start a dispute, the disputed amount is frozen in the sellers account, if he has that much there. If he's already cleared all the funds out then there's nothing to freeze. Paypal will request that the seller put that money back in, but if he's ignoring these requests then there's not a lot they can do. The seller can always walk away from that account, and will do if he's been scamming people.

You still have the comeback of a charge back. Paypal will contest all charge backs with the credit card operators, but that doesn't mean you won't get your refund. Paypal make the charge to your card, not the seller. Therefore it's up to Paypal to ensure the transaction completes properly. If it doesn't, then they may be held liable for the loss.