Got scammed by a seller who shipped the wrong item and couldn't do anything about it

[coolak-fantom]

It happened over 2 years ago, but I've come across the old associated emails and decided to ask for some advice for the future reference. Once I ordered a limited edition vinyl from the United States, being located far abroad myself. The seller shipped me a regular edition vinyl that costed way cheaper than what I paid for. I thought that eBay would definitely issue a full refund to me, but it turned out that there's absolutely no way for it. The only option that I had was to ship the item back at my expense, and it would cost me several times more than the item plus shipping combined (the delivery from my country to the US is a few times more expensive than the other way around, besides, the seller, apparently, pays bulk price for shipping with a huge discount). I tried reaching out to eBay in all ways possible, explaining the issue to them, but they confirmed that the only way to receive a refund is to ship the item back first.

So it appears that there's a great opportunity for sellers to scam internation buyers by shipping them whatever trash they can possibly think of, and this trash must be returned in order to receive a refund, which can cost much more than you've already paid. That particular dishonest seller is oldies-dot-com, by the way. The only thing I could do was to leave a negative feedback, and what's even more ridiculous, they claimed that I "threatened to leave a bad feedback unless refunded" in the response, which can't be further answered.

Is there any way I can prevent such stuff from occuring in the future?

[orangehound]

I am assuming that the Money Back Guarantee applies to you ...

If you receive the wrong item from a seller who shipped it to you internationally:

1. Open a "Not as Described" claim.
2. Tell the seller that they either need to provide you with a shipping label with TRACKED shipping back to their company, or that they need to send you money to your PayPal account to cover your purchase of shipping ... obviously, you need to figure out how much it costs before sending this note.
3. If the seller does not refund your money, give you a shipping label, or send money to your PayPal account, then after 3 days (I think) you can escalate the return request to get a refund.

[bonjourami]

Yet you are registered in the United States? Did you file a not as described case? If you did, the seller could not provide you with a shipping label, since it was an international sale, but he would have been responsible for reimbursing you for the return thru PP. If he didnt, Ebay would have closed the case, refunded you, and you wouldnt have had to return the item.

[coolak-fantom]

I lived in the United States for some time (in 2014) and apparently didn't change my country when I returned home. Maybe that was the reason why eBay only gave me the option to create a "return label"? We don't even have such thing as a "label" in our country.

[bonjourami]

Yes Im sure that was it, they thought it was a domestic sale since you were registered here.

[coolak-fantom]

How could they think it was a domestic sale if the item was delivered to another country? In any case, when I opened an "item not as described" case, the ONLY option was to create a return label. And I'm unaware of any mechanism to make the seller reimburse me for the return shipping.  At this point I'm not sure that changing the country will help me avoid this type of situations (maybe there won't be a "return label" thing, but I might still be obliged to return the item without understanding how to get reimbursed for it later on).

[bonjourami]

If the seller hadnt reimbursed you with PP funds for return shipping, Ebay would have closed the case in your favor, refunded you, without your having to return the item. As far as I know, Ebay goes only by the country you are registered in,not where the pkg shipped to, buyers request different delivery addresses all the time.And the seller would have been required to reimburse you before shipping, not 'later'.

[coolak-fantom]

If that was the thing, I would return the item. But when I contacted eBay, I was told that I needed to ship it at my expense, they didn't say anything about getting reimbursed.

[bonjourami]

Never believe what a csr tells you, they just want to get you off the phone, and on to the next call, they read from a script. If the seller didnt send you the PP funds to ship the item back, you should have asked Ebay to step in, or it sounds like the csr thought this was a remorse case.Then you would be responsible for return shipping.Did you file a not as described case? Or because you didnt print the return label,which you couldnt because it was an international sale, Ebay told you ship back at your own expense.

[bonjourami]

i think the whole problem was you were still registered in the U.S.,and couldnt print the domestic label, so thats on you.