Theft of Hard Drives need resolution
Summary: timtay_74 shared their experience of purchasing computers from an eBay seller, expecting 2TB hard drives as listed, but receiving 1TB drives. The seller blamed a mistake by AI and later claimed to have updated the listing post-purchase. roccotacodad54 advised filing a return for 'Item didn’t match description' through eBay’s automated process. bonanza125 emphasized the 30-day money-back guarantee, and christworks warned against asking for partial refunds outside official channels. timtay_74 thanked everyone for their input, mentioning they've begun the return process and are contemplating whether to keep the items or return them.
Not sure what to do about a bait and switch with computer bought off ebay.
I bought two machines from the seller. I have screen shots of the sale page that listed computers would come with a 2tb hard drive.
I contacted seller when I received order that the machines only came with just 1tb hard drives.
First seller said AI is the one who made the mistake.
Than seller said he revised the E-bay page after I bought the machines from 2tb hard to a 1tb drive after the sale.
I paid for machines with 2tb drives.
For me to replace the missing drives the cheapest 2tb drives are $89.99 x 2 + tax so this is really a $200 theft of drives I paid for with the computers.
Is this clearly not fraud?
I ask seller to refund the amount of the missing drives and they are refusing saying not there problem.
The seller said oops sorry not my problem because they thought it was a 2tb hard drive. But on the day I bought the machines after I paid they sure knew to cover there E-bay listing by changing the page header listing the 1tb hard drives That should be no excuse.
Seller even made no attempt to contact me that the drive was not what was posted and had no issue packing and shipping with hopes I would not notice.
bennotbill
·3 weeks agoI recently bought a PC on ebay and are now looking for another.
Frankly it's hard work as I'm finding it's common that the title, description, and item specifics often don't match. And on a few occasions, when emailing a question, being told there are also some missing parts.
timtay_74
OP3 weeks agoThank you everyone who has given your words of wisdom. It feels like a rock and a hard place. Keep and take the loss and know I have to spend more to get the missing drives as the rest of the parts are what we needed.
Or send back and start the search all over again to get to the finish line. Honestly if this was two years ago before hard drives and memory inflated in cost I just would have just grunted and moved on.
But it looks like maybe less trouble with a huge grunt keep and move on. Again thank you for the advice.
I have started the return of the computers and seller has accepted the return so I will sleep on the pros or cons of send back or keep with a loss.
christworks
·3 weeks agoYou have gotten good advice. I'll add one more tidbit: You have to be careful about asking for partial refunds in messages. That's actually against eBay policy. The reason is because eBay already has a money back guarantee which you implement the moment you open a return. That must be done within 3p days of delivery or you forefit your protection. There is no need to message the seller or continue to interact with them.
The other thing I will add is that a seller cannot edit a listing after a purchase has been made unless it is a multi quantity listing. When you go to the order, what you see in the description there is what counts.
If you looked at the listing and saw 2tb, but the seller edited the listing after you viewed it but before you bought it, then the seller would be in the right. I don't think that is what you are saying happened.
bonanza125
·3 weeks agoYou have a 30 day moneyback guarantee. File an "Item not described" case and return for a full refund within 30 days. So the sellers who are saying not there problem will come across surprised when they find out that yes it is a problem and they need to resolve this problem by Ebay forcing them to take the return for refund.
roccotacodad54
·3 weeks agoNo need for further communication with the seller.
Find the item(s) in your purchase history and to the right there is a drop down menu. Go from there to file a return/refund for "Item didn't match description".
The seller is then on the hook to send you a return label. If they don't after a few (3 or 4?) days ask eBay to step in. Through the automated process not CS.
Either way you'll be refunded. If the seller doesn't provide a label or you send it back on their dime you'll be made whole.
That is of course you initate said automated action within 30 days of delivery..................