Problem with ebay purchase.

[andrewmac]

Just waiting to know if any one had an idea on what I can do with a purchase that went bad on eBay.
Basically I have paid for an item via direct debit and the seller kept giving excuses then stopped returning my emails.
I lodged a dispute on eBay and he responded initially saying he would refund my money and to supply my account details.
I have provided the details and nothing further has happened despite 2 follow up emails i have sent.
It has now been 11 days since I lodged the dispute and basically since he hasnt responded I have closed the dispute and referred it onto th eBay trust and safety team who will review it and take the appropriate disciplinary action.
Now I dont know where I stand cause this joker has my money and I have nothing and I have no idea if eBay will try to retrieve the money.
Does anyone know what happens now or if I have to do something to get the money back?

[TheForgotten]

firstly you shouldn't have closed the dispute, as ebay may turn around and say you closed the dispute so too bad. they may not, but I personally don't trust them.
there's a portion of the dispute panel where you can elevate teh dispute to the next level (this is simply a more formal version of what you did, but it's all in black&white for reference).
unfortunately all you can do is sit back and wait, otherwise go to your local police, give them a rundown on what's gone on adn ask if they can do anything

[andrewmac]

I had no where else to go.
Basically the only options you have are to lodge a dispute and speak with the seller.
There is either an option to close the dispute saying your satisfied with the outcome or say your not satisfied and close the dispute and report the seller.
I have also found that I can report to the online fraud squad which if I don't get a response from the seller on Monday I will be reporting them.

[GOTMYN]

Well, at least tell us who the seller is, and or what you bought, so none of us get stuck with this looser!!

Cheers and soory to hear your bad luck..

[Darren]

I got burnt like this late last year and since then have not done direct deposit, you have no comeback as far as I know, the bank didn't even care.

With PayPal they'll generally bat for the consumer so you'll get your money back without any problems.

By the sound of what you have done is exactly the same I did, after that 10 days passed and no contact or little contact was made and nothing was resolved you can only close the dispute and put it through to the trust team which are next to useless since you don't get your money back anyway.

[88GreenVN]

I had to wait for like 30 days and only purchases over $20 gets a refund.

I purchased a VN Calais wheel for 19.95 plas 15 postage last year. Still did not count for a refund as the item was less than 20. Scam from the start. Person had only 3 rep points all from freinds no doubt. It was alot of work to get $35 out of me but now I dont buy from anyone that has just a few rep points.

Thats the only time I have been ripped off on Ebay - other that that it's a great place to buy stuff - just dont use people with low counts on small cost items.

And for cars on Ebay.

Hmm I'd inspect before sending any money - no exceptions.

[adam69]

PM me with the sellers name and i will have some fun with him.

[88GreenVN]

PM me with the sellers name and i will have some fun with him.

I was hoping he would put the name up here. Fun for all to have a go at them fro being a rip off

[WAGON MAN]

How about the item number?

[Lumps of cheese]

Ebay has a buyer protection system.My brother got scammed out of $130 a while back and ebay refunded $110, $20 was for admin. costs.

[vicarious]

how much money are have you lost?, keep all email correnspondance for referance and leave a negative feedback with your comments of failure to supply goods.

[markovr]

Ebay definately doesnt have a 3 strikes youre out policy.....seems they want everybodys money no matter how the deal goes....I got picked off with a dodgy car kit from surfsimon...short of hunting him down I got taken....he gave me nice friendly emails before money changed hands .....afterwards no emails and repeated pleas went on deaf ears...even though I was not alone ebay lets him keep on trading

[calaiscruzer]

In ebay you can click "obtain seller details" or similar, this way you can get his/her full name, ph number, etc. Then you can look them up in the white pages and drop by their house for a friendly talk.

[andrewmac]

For legal reasons I wont post the sellers username (yet)
I will go to the police fraud squad first the we will see what happens.
I have lost $120 and I have copy's of all emails on in my email account and on ebays mailbox.
I have sent 1 final email advising to pay up or I will go to the police on moday so we will see what happens there.
I do have to say im quite suprised with the lack of protection ebay offer and there dispute procedure seems fairly redundant but we live and learn.
I will keep you all posted on what happens

[DANNY8]

The exact same thing has happened to me, but not ebay, but from SS Auto Imports. I've been in contact with The Office of Business and Consumer Affairs and they asked me to post or fax a letter to the guy telling him wat the situation is and wat I want done about it. Ask him to respond within 10 days, and if he doesn't respond or I don't like the response I just forward all the emails, sms's and other evidence to them at the office and they'll take it further.

But being an ebay seller not sure if u could take similar action or not.

[adam69]

What was it that you purchased?

[accentstencil]

I use PayPal wherever possible. I only ever had one problem on ebay and PayPal refunded my money without a major drama.

[commsirac]

I use ebay, but cant say Im really happy with it.

As stated ^, ebay is happy for scam artists and dodgy characters to get away with what they do, because ebay make money out of it either way!

Their feedback policy is simply absurd.

In most instances Ive been very reluctant to provide any neg feedback, and have settled for less than first rate service. why?

On the occasion that i did leave -ve feedback with something like:

"item not new as in description, refund refused",
the seller posted something -ve as well ie
" what a tosser, buyer got it for a song, whinger....etc"

I paid for the item instantly and did everything I could as a buyer could to have the sale happen properly, why should I get -ve feedback for exposing the seller?

Ebay, would do nothing about the situation regarding the feedback, which was clearly retaliatory, with even an admission from the seller(in the correspondence that followed and was forwarded to ebay) that the item wasnt as described.


Im also not a fan of ebay allowing the large postage with the small items caper. Many argue that one should just factor that into your overall price. That is fine, however, many of these scammers often provide rubbish items and will offer refunds, but not on the postage which is how they make their money,ie if you win an item for $5 and the postage is $20, item doesnt work, you send it back and they refund you $5 and it costs $5 to send it...... with the added bonus of not having to pay any commission on this with ebay

.........why does ebay allow it?

[andrewmac]

What was it that you purchased?

Dont laugh but it was a sega master system 2

I had one when I was a kid and wanted to get one.

[Julie]

I use ebay, but cant say Im really happy with it.

As stated ^, ebay is happy for scam artists and dodgy characters to get away with what they do, because ebay make money out of it either way!

Their feedback policy is simply absurd.

In most instances Ive been very reluctant to provide any neg feedback, and have settled for less than first rate service. why?

On the occasion that i did leave -ve feedback with something like:

"item not new as in description, refund refused",
the seller posted something -ve as well ie
" what a tosser, buyer got it for a song, whinger....etc"

I paid for the item instantly and did everything I could as a buyer could to have the sale happen properly, why should I get -ve feedback for exposing the seller?

Ebay, would do nothing about the situation regarding the feedback, which was clearly retaliatory, with even an admission from the seller(in the correspondence that followed and was forwarded to ebay) that the item wasnt as described.


Im also not a fan of ebay allowing the large postage with the small items caper. Many argue that one should just factor that into your overall price. That is fine, however, many of these scammers often provide rubbish items and will offer refunds, but not on the postage which is how they make their money,ie if you win an item for $5 and the postage is $20, item doesnt work, you send it back and they refund you $5 and it costs $5 to send it...... with the added bonus of not having to pay any commission on this with ebay

.........why does ebay allow it?

The retaliatory negative feedback won't be an issue much longer, ebay is implementing a need feedback system where sellers can NOT leave negative or neutral feedback period. The most a seller can do under the new system is leave no feedback.

The overpriced postage fees, sellers do this to lower their ebay fees, if you see a listing with excessive postage report the listing as circumventing ebay fees, they are generally pretty quick to axe the listings in my experience.

Andrewmac you shouldn't have closed the dispute, but its too late now, pull the ebayers contact details and give them a ring. I'd leave them neg feedback immediately to warn other ebayers so they aren't as likely to get burnt.

[azzfox]

Dont laugh but it was a sega master system 2

I had one when I was a kid and wanted to get one.

I got one in a box somewhere in the shed, its mums from when she was a kid.

...I also got a kick out of it when I was younger alex the kid FTW!

[andrewmac]

The problem is that I had no choice as to whether to close the dispute or not.
The only thing a dispute system does is send an email with what My dispute was and then the seller and the buyer communicate, eBay have no further involvment.
The seller did not respond and the dispute just sits there and eBay dont do anything else.
My choices were to sit there and wait for an email from the seller (nothing for 10 days), and the only way to escalate it is to close it advising im not sattisfied with the outcome.
As I said it is a redundant procedure cause eBay do nothing.
I have left negative feedback on the account so we will see if he responds to that.

[commsirac]

The retaliatory negative feedback won't be an issue much longer, ebay is implementing a need feedback system where sellers can NOT leave negative or neutral feedback period. The most a seller can do under the new system is leave no feedback.

The overpriced postage fees, sellers do this to lower their ebay fees, if you see a listing with excessive postage report the listing as circumventing ebay fees, they are generally pretty quick to axe the listings in my experience.
.

New system sounds better, perhaps even separate ratings for one's selling and buying would be good too.

I can report the overpriced postage to ebay and they'll do something?. Doesnt the seller just justify as postage and handling? They surely dont need my help to find them all. Nearly every big volume seller on ebay does it, ie, has postage charges of $20 for items that weigh in at less than 1kg.

[Darren]

Dont laugh but it was a sega master system 2

I had one when I was a kid and wanted to get one.

I did exactly the same thing, remember the good old Rubik's magic puzzle, the ring one? I had one some 20 odd years ago and thought the other week I'm going to get one.

[levymetal]

ebay is implementing a need feedback system where sellers can NOT leave negative or neutral feedback period.

Doesn't sound good to me, what if a buyer decides they don't want the item so they just refuse to pay or contact... Seller can't warn other people that this person doesn't comply with the contract... Also has to pay relisting fees etc,,,

perhaps even separate ratings for one's selling and buying would be good too.

This already exists!


I always use PayPal. I've got my money back twice now, and yes it does take 20 days but it works!