I recently sent an ebay shop owner $1075 for some goods outside of an auction.

The lack of communication and shipping number got me worried and after several chasing emails and phone calls without reply I filed a dispute.

He did reply to the dispute saying he would cancel the order, but has now gone quiet again. I sent him a note to say I would give him another 24 hours, and then escalated the claim to paypal.

Does anyone know what happens now in terms of the funds? What if he has withdrawn the $1075? Could he close his paypal account and give 2 fingers to everone?

He seems like a guy who sticks his head in the sand if he gets a problem.

 

Yep!!

After x-amount of time in dispute and once you've escalated this to a claim they then wait 10days for him to reply. If no reply after 10days they will close the claim in your favour and seek to recoup your monies. In the meantime he could certainly be doing a runner. Also if the funds aren't in his PayPal account or bank account you're stuffed. The most they will do is ban him from eBay only to pop up as another seller the same day and do his stuff all over again.

eBay and PayPal are a haven for scammers!!

Form a buyers point of view PayPal is a joke and takes forever to get any money back if you're lucky enough to get some money back. In relaity PayPal offers the buyer very little if any protection. It's not the same for sellers because if they sell something and it isn't paid for then they haven't really lost any money and can recoup their listing and final value fees without any problems, plus put the item up for resale.

 

However usually the funds are frozen once you open a dispute, so the money could still be there safely.

From experience, some people are just USELESS at this sort of thing, and should not be allowed to sell stuff online.

Hope it all works out mate.

 

If the money isn't there scoobiewrx555 is right in that you won't get it back.

But, even if he has removed the money from his Paypal account, paypal can take the amount from the bank account attached to the paypal account.

This happened to me. I sent something in the post, the buyer refused to sign the RD slip and told paypal I hadn't sent the item - I even sent paypal the RD receipt by fax which they ignored. I withdrew the money but when paypal found in his favour, they took the money out of my bank account.

If you think about it paypal gives and takes money from your bank account. If the dispute is found in your favour, paypal have every right to take that money from your account.

So, if this guy a shop then cancelling the bank account as well as removing all the funds seems quite complicated for $1000.

I'd actually be more interested to see if paypal find in your favour - so the money was sent for "goods" and not as "gift"?

 

It sureley depends on whether PayPal will give you the protection if you bought outside the auction. Ebay don't like that and they own PayPal a far as I know.

Les

 

Very true.
Seller/buyer protection is about as watertight as a tea strainer!
Its good for them though, they get to hold peoples money for another week (gaining interest etc) while disputes are "sorted out"

 

They don't miss a trick then do they!

Les

 

* 10/12/2009 07:05 PST - Buyer: I had recently agreed to buy 2 sets of motocross knee braces from this ebay seller. He has his own ebay shop, his feedback is very good, what could go wrong? When I finally made my mind up and arranged the funds, the auction had ended. However, the seller and I were in regular contact by this point and he agreed to send me an invoice for the goods. This was on the 5/12/2009 and I paid the invoice immediately. Since this time I have been in contact daily via email and in the last 24 hours by phone to try and get an update. I have heard nothing since paying. I appreciate only 5 days have passed, and I still want the goods but the distance and amount of money involved makes me feel very uncomfortable. Thanks

* 10/12/2009 09:40 PST - Seller: We just got your email today for the about the braces. it has only been 5 days and we are in a different country. Your product would not be to you until at least another 5-7 days. I under stand you uncomfortable about the large amount of money for products far away from you. But you understood we were far away from you when you made the purchase. That is the nice thing about paypal you are protected. But at this point we need to prooctet our self's and cancel the order. We cant afford to send out product that is now not paid for. We have no emails from you in ebay that you have contacted us as well. Thanks

* 10/12/2009 10:17 PST - Buyer: I have no problem waiting for goods, I am aware of how long things take to order from the US as I have done it many times before. But the the lack of communication was not acceptable. I've sent you several emails to several email addresses, these all seemed to reach you OK before I sent the money. I've also tried calling the number on your website at least 10 times over the last 2 days. These calls always go to the answerphone service. Clearly the goods have not been sent yet despite your claim that the goods will be shipped within 24 hours, therefore cancelling the order is best resolution. I look forward to the money returning to my palpal account. All $1075 of it. Regards Dave

* 10/12/2009 11:23 PST - Seller: no problem we will stop the shipment. Thanks

* 10/12/2009 11:37 PST - Buyer: Thank you. As soon as the money shows in my account, I will be happy to close the dispute. Regards

* 11/12/2009 09:17 PST - Buyer: Hello again, I'm not sure when you planned to return the funds, but after 12/12/2009 12:05 PST I can escalate the claim further with paypal. Thanks

* 13/12/2009 01:41 PST - Buyer: I'm not sure why there is a delay in refunding the money, but I will escalate this dispute to paypal in 24 hours. Regards

* 13/12/2009 22:28 PST - Buyer: The seller has stopped communicating after agreeing to cancel the sale. He claims I am protected by paypal but at the moment he has my $1075 and the goods. I cannot afford to lose this money. Regards

* 13/12/2009 22:28 PST - PayPal: Buyer escalated this dispute to a Claim.

 

Also had this done to me. I sold something for my brother in laws brother on ebay but when it came to actually selling it he 'changed his mind' only for me to be left with an angry buyer who had already sent the money via Paypal. I refunded them the money plus an extra tenner to say sorry.

The then filed a dispute saying that they had hired a van and I had agreed for them to come that weekend and they were out of pocket from the van rental. Complete bollocks.

Anyway messages went back and forward from the buyer and myself for about a week. by then I was due to go on holiday, went on holiday for a week and when icame back because I had not replied in that time the dispute went against me. I didn't have any funds in Paypal and cancelled any payment to them.

Paypal refunded the money and then sent debt collectors onto me! I paid the money in the end because it was getting ridiculous (for the sake of £65 they can ****ing have it the thieving *******s).

So you do have a chance.

I recently got scammed out of £500 by a show organiser (Modded UK/Plugged Events) but because I filed the dispute after 45 days they don't bother doing anything.

 

I do hope you get it sorted but i would suggest that you didn't give it enough time - granted the lack of response and telephone problems clearly didn't help but I would expect delivery to be at least 2 weeks. More so if they are drop shippers as they have to arrange the delivery.

I used to buy all my nitro RC parts from the states and some would take forever but they got here in the end.

 

I'd agree, but when someone has that much money and fails to respond what can you do? Escially when I bought them away from an ebay auction.

He did reply to paypal, but even now has gone quiet. I'd be happy to have the knee braces or the money.....but he just goes quiet.

 

I understand. When you hand over a wad of cash via paypal - even via ebay theres always that niggle your going to get stung.

I collect old Transformer toys and bought a job lot for £300. I sent the money over and nothing - this was when you could see the names of the other bidders so I emailed them via ebay - turns out the seller had offered the item to the highest 3 bidders!!

I told him I knew what he had been doing and I told paypal. A few days later the toys arrived. It hadn't been sent recorded or anything so no proof of delivery - had I wanted to be a c*ck, I could have escalated to a claim and got my £300 too but I didn't.

Mind you, I also used paypal to pay someone £1500 for a Jeep Cherokee (without actually looking at the Jeep other than a few pics) and that was off ebay as I wasn't the highest bidder. Turned out to be a mint bit of kit which I really regret selling.

Let us know the outcome.

 

Well, it didn't take paypal long to agree with me. About 36 hours from the time I escalated it.



Chuffed with that. However, paylpal claim I can only withdraw £500 a month!

 

Excellent - good news

So, was the money transferred as paid for for "goods" rather than "gift"?

Just asking because I understand that if its "gift" its gone.

Well done anyway.

 

Correct.

I paid for goods, but wanted them marked as a gift to avoid any customs.