Fraudulent Item Description - KN95 Masks Shipping Time Falsely Stated - NOT a USA seller as listed!

[whiz_wheels]

Hello.  Last weekend, Sunday, April 5th,  I purchased KN95 masks from what I thought was a USA seller. As per the shipping terms in the seller's item description, "Ship within 1-2 business day once payment completed, Orders placed on weekend will be shipped within 3 days.,  so my items should have been shipped on Tuesday.  After the sale, I received an message through Ebay from the seller that stated that it will take eight to ten days to ship the items. This is not acceptable. Most of us are currently on stay at home status due to the COVID-19 virus going around the country. Furthermore, what good are the masks being shipped and not received until two weeks from now, when my family needs them NOW? 

I believe in supporting companies in the USA, not overseas, especially during the pandemic that is causing hardship for many USA companies and their employees. I learned after the sale, that the seller is in China. Furthermore, I don't believe the items are in New Jersey or even in the USA as claimed by the seller. I believe the items are probably on a container ship, either currently en-route to a port in the USA, or still at a port in China, or aren't even available as adverstised. Who knows when they will arrive if at all, but they certainly aren't available for delivery right now. NOTE: When a seller is "Pre-Selling" items on Ebay, they ARE required to CLEARLY state that in their item description. The seller in this case did not do so. The seller also changed the time frame for shipment AFTER the sale was completed, which as a buyer, I do NOT have to agree to and I don't.

I sent the seller another Ebay message the other day, requesting that my order be canceled since the seller is not meeting the terms of sale as per their own shipping description, and that I obviously won't be getting the items in the time stated when I made the purchase. I do know that the seller apparently is not responding to other buyers who purchased the same masks, which is reflected in the negative feedback given to the seller. The seller has also suspended ALL  sales of their items, regardless of whether or not they have anything to do with healthcare supplies.

I have been trying to contact Ebay directly about this seller. As a buyer, I know what my rights are as per the Visa card that I used to pay for my items. I do not have a paypal account, nor do I want one. I am not going to play paypal's games when trying to get a refund. Can someone please point me in the right direction as to how I may contact Ebay directly to report this deceptive seller? As or now, all I seem to get is an endless loop back to where I started when trying to initiate a complaint.  If I am unable to contact Ebay, I will be forced to initiate a chargeback through my bank who issued me my Visa card. 

Thanks!

[pjcdn2005 · Accepted solution]

You can wait until the day after the original estimated delivery time and file an item not received claim through the resolution center. That way you won't have to contact eBay.   I suspect that if you did reach them, they would tell you to do that as well.

[whiz_wheels]

Thank You, pjcdn2005. I would really like to see some justice done. I've recently bought quite a number of new items from USA sellers on Ebay, all without any problems, even from sellers I've bought from over the years. I stopped doing business with overseas sellers because of their below board business practices.  It really irks me that they continue to get away with their blatant violations of Ebay's seller policies, policies that USA sellers have no problem adhering to, at least the USA sellers that I have dealt with, with the exception of one seller on the west coast who will never again get my business.

[bonjourami]

You do understand that unless your seller was in managed payments, that all credit and debit cards go thru Paypal?

[whiz_wheels]

Bonjourami, doesn't matter if Paypal processed the payment. Paypal is NOT a merchant bank. They do NOT have the final say. They must adhere to the rules set by Visa and every other credit and or debit card they have an agreement with the issuing CC company to accept. When there is fraud and or deception involved with a sale, the cardholder does have protection through their issuing bank. That's not to say that Ebay doesn't provide protection, they do to a degree and it's usually sufficient. However, a consumer should not have to jump through the hoops that Paypal requires, which most often is ridiculous. I've been that route with them before, and in the end, it was my bank who did the chargeback and it stuck because I, the consumer, had the evidence, Paypal and their overseas seller did NOT.

[judithh320]

Same exact thing happened to me , ordered N95 masks ,to be coming in a few days , ended up being weeks and coming from China . I sent in an INR when it was 3 days past due . Got refund .from EBay and seller was shut down .

[johnrj1226]

@whiz_wheels 

1.  Just  for the  record - masks have been banned from being sold on eBay as of March 5.  Possibly your purchase got caught up in the ban issue.

Read this link -

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Announcements/UPDATE-Important-information-about-listings-associated-w...

My understanding is  this is also true on other on-line selling venues

2.  Sellers/buyers are reporting delayed shipment of various other items coming from China.

3.  The only thing you can do is to file an Item Not Received case thru the Resolution Center after the latest Estimated Delivery Date you received.

[whiz_wheels]

Johnrj1226, Thank You for that information. I never saw it but I'm glad that Ebay took the necessary steps to put a stop to it.

[bonjourami]

Of course you have protection with your cc, I wasnt arguing that you dont. Just stating that unless your seller had managed payments, all credit and debit cards pass thru PP. Certainly your choice to use your cc protection, rather than PP.....

[whiz_wheels]

Johnrj1226, apparently Ebay is not blocking New listings for the face masks. There are listings up. I wonder why their programmers haven't changed their listing algorithms to detect the face masks listings when a seller tries to list them.  I'm sure the listings will eventually be cancelled, but it's a shame that buyers have to go through the headaches of waiting to file an INR complaint after the delivery window dates have passed.

[johnrj1226]

@whiz_wheels 

Do agree with your comments.  My best reply is that eBay all too often works in mysterious ways.