Wait for paypal resolution or seek credit card chargeback

Kashkai

I ordered a DVD boxset from a UK seller on ebay three weeks ago. It never turned up and when I initially queried this with him, he blamed it on the UK's Royal Mail. However, he finally admitted that it was being shipped from Australia. I told him that DVDs from Oz (Region 4) wouldn't work in Ireland (Region 2) and I wanted a refund for the non delivered boxset. He has now dragged this out for weeks and his latest email is that "when I receive the boxset, I can return it to him for a refund". How can I return something, I don't have? After three weeks, I don't think its going to show up and anyways, he sold something that he didn't have in his possession and he's acted as a middleman in the transaction.

I filed a dispute with paypal and they are investigating it. Now should I wait for them to decide on the claim, and possibly in his favour, or should I try to get a credit card chargeback? I'm not trying to pull a fast one here, i.e. I don't have the boxset and after three weeks, I don't think its going to show up now. I haven't bought much through ebay and I don't have any real history to prove I'm a reliable buyer. If this was Play.com or Amazon (who I've bought thousands of euro worth of items from), they would have no problem offering a refund.

IsThatSo?

I have found Paypal to be fair with their disputes, and given what you have said I doubt very much that they would decide against you.

Just as a precaution check with your CC company how long you have to do a chargeback. Usually its a little longer than Paypal allows for their own dispute system so if you are not happy with the outcome then you could go the CC chargeback route.

eth0_

Chances are paypal will find in your favour if you have emails showing he lied about the DVD's origin and that they are useless to you being in Region 2.

Don't do a credit card chargeback at this stage, Paypal have been known to cancel accounts if users do that.

dahamsta

I'd agree with eth0_ in this case, the chargeback will be against PayPal and not the retailer so you'll just be ticking them off. I think they actually have a rule against chargebacks in their terms and conditions, although the legality of that it another matter entirely.

adam

Kashkai

Thanks for the advice lads. I've never had problems like this buying stuff over the net before and its made me hesitant of buying through ebay again.

This guy falsely advertised the DVD boxset as being region 2 and that he was selling it. I now believe that he sourced it from Oz at a lower price and is trying to make a quick buck out of selling something that he never owned in the first place. I could have bought the boxset direct from Australia for about half what I paid him but as my DVD player is not multi region, it wouldn't have worked. Hence I bought from this UK DVD seller as I thought that the DVD would be region 2 (as advertised). His rating appeared to be kosher and he only had a few negative comments against him. Unfortunately, the negative comments sound very familiar now, e.g.:

- "ordered a region 2 DVD and region 4 showed up"

- "ordered a DVD 4 weeks ago and never showed up"

- "DVD not delivered and seller just fobbing me off with excuses"

I should have paid the bit extra and shopped with Play.com or Amazon. They've never let me down before.

Nody

Nah, you should buy a region free DVD player instead and save the cash by importing movies (I refuse to pay the silly rates in Western Europe compared to rest of the world for DVDs) :pac:

dahamsta

(Most DVD players can be unlocked. The sale does seem to have been deceptive though.)