Purchaser warning

[lkn4fish]

Long time ebay and paypal member here and I want to bring to light for other buyers what I have had to go through 

I purchased a $425 item Dec 27 on ebay and immediately paid with paypal as I always do. Reletively new seller with only 68 feedback. Item was listed with 5 day processing time. On the 5th day seller sends message stating they can't ship item and would be issuing a refund. Refund initiated 1/2/18 and still shows pending so I call paypal. Here is where things go wrong for the ebay purchaser (consumer).  The reason my refund is pending and funds not available are the seller withdrew the funds from their paypal account. There is no money to refund me with! Now there is a echeck processing from the sellers bank but there is no guarantee that it will clear (3 to 5 days and probably not)! In the mean time, I am out $425!!!!! Now I have been told that if the echeck fails they will initiate a second one(3 to 5 more days wait for me). For any customer of any entity or store this is unacceptable. So here I sit $425 less and I've been told I have to wait for a refund! Well paypal and ebay has about lost a very good loyal customer and I will move on with my purchases and never look back. 

How would you feel if that was your Christmas money and some crook tied it up and not being able to buy gifts? 

Furthermore, how was that new of a seller able to withdraw the funds without ever shipping the item, the 21 day hold or without receiving positive feedback???????

Please pay attention to what you just read it can happen to you also.

[janet9988]

I would not be happy.

File the item not received claim as soon as the last expected delivery date has passed. 

Seems this seller was no longer on the 21 day hold.

[flyinhawaiiangirl]

Call your credit card and start a chargeback

[mudshark61369]

@lkn4fish,

You really didn't do much research into the seller.  They only have 12 feedback for selling starting in the last 6 months. Two of their sold items were much cheaper.  The rest of their feedback is for buying.  They had received one neutral feedback for the same item, that was removed by ebay.  Since ebay does not remove feedback for many reasons, it was most likely removed for slow or non shipping, and the item arrived, or the buyer mentioned an ebay/paypal dispute.  Either way it was a warning for an expensive item. 

You are stuck now since you involved PayPal. You will have to wait out the 3-5 business days for the e-check to clear or not. Depending on when you contacted Paypal that will likely be next week some time since Sat., Sun. & National Holidays are not business days. If the check does not clear, you have to actually file an Item Not Received (INR) dispute, through PayPal, to invoke their protections,  unless their reps have done that for you already. 

"For any customer of any entity or store this is unacceptable. So here I sit $425 less and I've been told I have to wait for a refund! Well paypal and ebay has about lost a very good loyal customer and I will move on with my purchases and never look back".

eBay and PayPal both have good buyer protections, but you have to follow their time lines. Had you contacted ebay with the seller's message and let them know about the Pending refund, they may have allowed you to open the INR through them sooner.  The Money Back Guarantee would have kicked in, and they would refund you, and gone after the seller themselves. Even stores have their procedures for returns/refunds, and you have to follow them. 

"Furthermore, how was that new of a seller able to withdraw the funds without ever shipping the item, the 21 day hold or without receiving positive feedback???????"

The info below is from Paypal's terms about when payment holds for ebay transactions end.

" you may be able to have funds made available to you immediately if you meet certain requirements, which include:

• At least 25 transactions
• $250.00 USD in sales
• 90 days since your first sale

Your seller qualified to have the hold removed because of the last two. 

[c.b.]

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@mudshark61369 wrote:

@lkn4fish,

You really didn't do much research into the seller. 

please do not blame the victim.  ebay encourages buyers to trust the system.  your advice is sage. so hopefully the OP will take it into account next time, but let's not make the op feel any worse.

OP - i doubt you are out the money as long as you follow people's instructions and file your claim on time with ebay and paypal.  and if you paid by cc, then also do what they said about contacting your cc company.  good luck!

[mudshark61369]

@c.b.,

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@c.b. wrote:

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@mudshark61369 wrote:

@lkn4fish,

You really didn't do much research into the seller. 

please do not blame the victim.  ebay encourages buyers to trust the system.  your advice is sage. so hopefully the OP will take it into account next time, but let's not make the op feel any worse.

OP - i doubt you are out the money as long as you follow people's instructions and file your claim on time with ebay and paypal.  and if you paid by cc, then also do what they said about contacting your cc company.  good luck!

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I was not blaming the OP, but even ebay tells members to check a seller's feedback profile before buying from them. That is why the system is in place after all.

FYI, the OP can only file for a refund through one company, ebay, PayPal, or their credit card provider. They cannot file with more than one at a time. Opening more than one dispute at a time, could cause a member to lose their buyer protections, from ebay or paypal.  Credit card charge backs, should be the last resort. 

[lkn4fish]

FYI, I have had several calls with both ebay and paypal. I do know the system and play by their rules but that is where a buyer gets the shaft and is forced to wait for a refund. In this case with the seller stating they cancelled the order(not going to ship the item) and processed the refund, the buyer should not have to wait 5 days for the refund of his own money. Paypal processed both the purchase and the refund. No case can be opened at this time even with the seller stating the item will not be shipped due to estimated delivery date of 1/9 of the SYSTEM. I got ahold of management at ebay this am and they are supposedly going to override the system and try to push the return through by tomorrow am. I'm not out any money and that was not my complaint. The problem is MY MONEY has been tied up and not available to me since 12/27. Would be the same if you bought something online and the store was out of stock, and they told you that you will have to wait 10days for a refund! YOU DON'T HAVE ACCESS TO YOUR OWN MONEY! Best buy did the same to me 8 years ago with a purchase and as long as I live they will never get a purchase from me again!

[lkn4fish]

"eBay and PayPal both have good buyer protections, but you have to follow their time lines. Had you contacted ebay with the seller's message and let them know about the Pending refund, they may have allowed you to open the INR through them sooner.  The Money Back Guarantee would have kicked in, and they would refund you, and gone after the seller themselves. Even stores have their procedures for returns/refunds, and you have to follow them. "

This was done yesterday before I posted to this forum thus the reason for my original post here. This is not an ebay chargeback from a case, this is from a refund initiated by the seller!

[missjen831]

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@c.b. wrote:

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@mudshark61369 wrote:

@lkn4fish,

You really didn't do much research into the seller. 

please do not blame the victim.  ebay encourages buyers to trust the system.  your advice is sage. so hopefully the OP will take it into account next time, but let's not make the op feel any worse.

OP - i doubt you are out the money as long as you follow people's instructions and file your claim on time with ebay and paypal.  and if you paid by cc, then also do what they said about contacting your cc company.  good luck!

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Please don't mistake Mud's response as blaming the victim. That's not what he was doing. He was trying to show them the error of their ways & point out things that can help prevent this from happening. Thats all. Some of us feel its important to highlight things the buyer could have done differently so that they learn a lesson & have a better buying experience next time 🙂

[lkn4fish]

Just to be clear and hope other persons understand that this is from a refund from the seller

[misfitfun]

there is a lag as money goes back and forth.It has to clear to sellers account then clear back.

[lintbrush*]

You state you got the shaft.  No, you didn't.  You just got a delay in your refund.

Ever get a company check as a refund?  It used to be pretty common.

Actually AT&T issued me a check for closed account last year even though I pay automatically by credit card.  It took over a month to arrive.

Ever deposit or cash a check against your account?  It'll show the deposit and you even may be able to withdraw on it but that doesn't mean it won't come back a NSF a few days later.  PayPal is going to make sure the check clears before they (or the seller) gives you back money.

I'm not saying your situation doesn't suck.  It does.   Sometimes there isn't anything you can do other than wait out procedure.

[jrinam]

had an issue unrelated to ebay but paid threw paypal. they agreed to refund and as quick as i could hang up and log onto paypal, my money was already there!  literally less than 1 minute!

[lkn4fish]

Finally today my refund was released.