Seller locked me into endless loop, can't return item. Need advice.

[mrshansolo]

Hi, almost a month ago, I purchased http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Car-Stereo-MP3-Player-Bluetooth-Usb-Radio-Boss-Audio-50W-Wireless-Remote... this item. The title (at the time) and description said it had a CD player. I looked up the model number from the pictures online and it seemed NOT to have a CD player. So I asked the seller a question to confirm, they said "Yes, don't worry, it has a CD player". So I went ahead and bought it. Keep in mind, I thought the seller was a USA seller, and they physically had the item they were selling.

A few days later, the item comes in an Amazon Prime shipping box. With amazon tracking numbers on it. I open it, it's the model in the pictures, and its unopened/new. But it does NOT have CD player functionality as the seller promised. So I messaged the seller hoping for a refund/return. The seller tells me something I've never heard before in a return in all my years... "I'll send a special delivery service to your house to pick up the package, they'll deliver the shipping label". So to initiate the return, I clicked "Print Shipping Label" but only printed a packing slip. Oddly enough, it issued me a UPS tracking number ( 1ZW995X22601930045 ) and marked the item as "shipped" even though I still have the item.

So a few days pass, and luckily I happen to be home all day for these days. But I never hear any doorbell. No knocks. Nothing. No steps on the front porch, no notes "Sorry we missed you." left on the door. Nothing. So I place the package on the front porch, with a note that reads "Hello UPS, this is the package you're meant to pick up from me. Please just take it. If you need me, I AM HOME, please ring doorbell or knock. Thanks". 3 more days or so pass, NO sign of UPS. No sign anyone's been. I event cancelled my plans for several days just to stay home and wait. One of the days I WAITED on the front porch, eventually I saw UPS drive by, circling my cul-de-sac, but they did NOT stop. At this point, its been a week and I'm furious. So I tried checking tracking information. You can see from the tracking they "made several attempts". Strangely, I was home and by the door near the listed time of all attempts, never heard or saw anything/anyone. And likewise, its very unusual how many attempts have been made. If you look up the info, it says "First attempt made, a second attempt will be made", then "Second attempt, a final attempt will be made"... Then it just says "First attempt made, a second attempt will be made" again and starts over.... Something fishy is going on and at this point I have no idea what the problem is. My house number is clearly marked on mailbox and the house.

At this point, I'm done dealing with waiting for UPS to come. So I headed off to the local UPS store (in Snellville GA). I tried dropping off the package their. They told me "Sorry, we don't have the shipping label, the carrier has it. So we can't accept it. Only your local carrier can accept it. Try calling UPS support". So I phoned up UPS support. Placed on hold for 20 minutes. Finally someone speaks to me and I tell them all this, they say they're very sorry and they too don't know what's going on, so they'll alert my local UPS depot. Apparently, that's all they can do on their end. The depot calls me, saying "We'll be certain to make sure your driver knows to knock or ring. They'll make another attempt tomorrow, Friday 14th". So I wait on my porch all day Friday, with package out there and a note. NEVER seen UPS truck. I call back at around 7pm. They tell me they don't know why an attempt was not made. They explain they're sorry for problems, but whatever it is could be solved if I'd just contact Amazon. I tell them I didn't buy the item through Amazon, I bought it from Ebay. They tell me its an AMAZON Return Service! Meaning the ebay seller is selling products he doesn't even have, and when someone buys it from him, he THEN turns around and buys it from Amazon at a slightly cheaper price, inputs the his buyers address on Amazon shipping address box... Very sketchy and unscrupulous. At the time I bought the item, he was selling it for $23, Amazon had it for like $17. His actual location as indicated by his ebay profile is ISRAEL. Not even in the country. Anyway, I tell UPS I can't contact Amazon because I don't have access to the Israeli's Amazon account form which the item was actually purchased. They keep telling me there's nothing they can do or tell me on their end, to try to contact Amazon for a shipping label so I can drop the item off at the UPS store, or contact the ebay seller. They schedule one last pick up date... Monday 17th.

So I contacted the seller about a shipping label. I told him all my horror stories and how I'm basically stuck in purgatory. He was speaking perfect english before. Now in broken english, in response to all of what I've typed here, he says "they take package??? you drop off to UPS store near you?"... Totally ignoring everything I've said. Totally refusing to offer me a damned shipping label so I can ship this back and get a refund. I'm not sure how he'd conspire with UPS to make it this hard to return an item, but it really seems like he's intentionally being no help to me. Just so he can keep ~$6 he made off of me. On Monday, same story. Waited all day outside, UPS truck never even dropped by. The tracking information isn't even updating anymore.

The point I'm at now. I've talked to UPS on 5 occasions, always telling me the same thing, they don't know why the driver won't pick it up, and they don't seem willing to help me, aside from rescheduling fake pick up days and wasting my time. I'm tired of my time being wasted on this, but I have a right to return an item that was not as described. I shouldn't have to talk to deal with Amazon when I'm an EBAY user! The seller should do that. He could probably send me a shipping label to print in email with a few clicks. It shouldn't be my job to force UPS to come here either. The WORST part is I can't even escalate this complaint to Ebay and get my money back from them, because when I printed the packing slip, it automatically marked the item "Shipped", and now there's no recourse. All the buttons are gone or greyed out and just says "You'll get your refund when the seller receives the item". They don't even realize the seller is in Israel. I'm not sure if its against Ebay's policies to be selling things you don't even have access to, but it should be. That's why I'm posting this here. Because I don't know how to proceed, and I want my story to be a cautionary tale for those willing to listen. Thank you.