eBay or buyer scam me?

[pearlescent.ha]

I am a first-time eBay seller. Sold 1st item on 9/28/2018 and received messages from Ebay rushing me to ship the item and to pay the selling fee. On my site, eBay even posts that my fund will be available on 10/19/2019 although the buyer already paid because I'm new. I didn't get the fund and called Ebay on 10/20/2018. I was told that I have to wait for 21 days after the item received by the buyer. My USPS tracking showed the item is delivered on 10/9/2018. No fund on 10/31/2018! I called eBay again. First, the rep told me eBay already released the fund to Paypay, so ask Paypal. Transferred to Paypal who told me the buyer canceled the transaction. I called eBay again. This time the rep said to me that because I didn't have the bank in Paypal, so my money being held by eBay. As soon as I set-up a bank in Paypal, my money will go there. Setted-up a bank in Paypal. Still no fund! Called eBay again and was told that the buyer did cancel the payment and eBay now can't do anything because the timeline of 32 days had passed. WHAT?

I continuously called and question and was told so many different lies by eBay. Why I wasn't notified when the buyer canceled the transaction. Instead, eBay rushed me to ship the item and pay the selling fee! Second, when I called the first/second/third times, why didn't eBay tell me the truth so the issue can be resolved within the time frame they set! 

Who scams me?

eBay?

or the buyer

[creoleorchid]

It sounds like you didn't set up your Paypal account before you listed the item for sale. When this happens and the buyer pays, you will see it paid on the eBay side and the buyer will see a notation in his Paypal account like "seller hasn't accepted payment" or something along those lines.

So after 30 days of an unclaimed payment, which is what you have here if I'm reading you correctly, Paypal will refund the payment to the buyer. I believe this is what happened and eBay had no way of knowing that you didn't set up your Paypal account. All they could see was the email address you provided in the field provided for your Paypal account information.

The buyer also probably has no idea what happened. The only way to fix this is to send the buyer a Paypal invoice and hope she pays again. I would also email her apologizing and explain what happened.

I am curious about one thing though. How did you expect to get the money if you didn't have anything set up in Paypal? eBay doesn't send out checks, nor do they accept money from buyers. Paypal processes everything.

[lewisburggold]

Get everthing set right before you list anything else or you might end up in same boat.  Dont look like you were scammed by anyone.  Contact the buyer and let them know what happened.  The do not have to give it back so we would be very nice.  If they dont it happens just move on and call it a learning curve.  Best regards

[castlemagicmemories]

Scam is a very over used word on this Board.  Not everything is a scam, sometimes it is just an error such as not properly setting up a way to be paid.  

Hopefully your buyer will re pay you.  Good Luck.

[reallynicestamps]

It looks like all the errors are on your part.

When you set up your PP account add a credit card rather than or as well as a bank account.

And do some buying before attempting to sell. Get to know the quirks of the site.

Even if the transaction had gone smoothly, your customer's cleared payment would be Held for up to 21 days (less since you are US-based) against your performance.

You can use the Held funds to buy shipping labels through PP, sometimes at a discount from counter prices.

[castlemagicmemories]

Actually scam is a very over used word on ANY of the Boards.