Ever get boinked on ebay?

[gregintenn]

I need another front differential for my truck. I decided to buy one and replace it as a unit. I found one on ebay for a reasonable buy it now price, and free shipping. This was about three weeks ago. Fast forward to today. I've gotten about a half million dollars worth of excuses and hard luck stories from the seller. Just about everything you can imagine, except for a differential. I told him if it wasn't here by the weekend, I was filing a complaint and getting my money back. That was partly bluff, because I have no idea how to proceed with this. If you've ever had a similar problem, how did you handle it?

[Omega]

If you paid with PayPal you can get your money back. Otherwise eBay may suspend his account if he doesn't return your money. Visa also does guarantees, just not sure if eBay is covered.

[FUJIMO]

Your chances of refund depend on how embedded he is with ebay. Has he been on there a while ? A lot of feedback ? The more the flake he is the less chance you will have. I have filed a complaint and ebays first step as part of protocol use to be to tell both parties to attempt to work it out. Next level use to be ebay taking their steps at getting a refund.

How did you pay ?

[FUJIMO]

If you paid with PayPal you can get your money back. Otherwise eBay may suspend his account if he doesn't return your money. Visa also does guarantees, just not sure if eBay is covered.

This is very important. Only way I conduct business now because of scumbags.

[gregintenn]

I think paypal is now the ONLY way you can pay on ebay. I paid him via paypal, and paid paypal with a Discover card. I KNOW Discover will refund a B.S. charge. I've never had to try paypal.

 

I wish he'd just send the damned differential. He's in North Carolina....throw it in the truck bed and hit I-40!.

 

I'm quickly becoming a very cynical S.O.B. :wall:

[Omega]

Good, just follow up with PayPal. But hurry, there is a time limit.

[gregintenn]

Good, just follow up with PayPal. But hurry, there is a time limit.

How long?

[Sam1]

Just file a complaint with ebay, they work with paypal and will refund your money.  Make sure you file the complaint before the time limit expires though, you only have a certain period in which to file.

 

They will review the messages between the seller and yourself (why it's important to use their messaging system instead of personal email) and go from that.  Not really a big deal.  I've had to do it a few times over maybe 12-13 years and never had an issue.

[Sam1]

How long?

http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/money-back-guarantee.html

[56FordGuy]

You will get your money back. Ebay is biased toward the buyer. 

 

File a complaint with ebay, they will give you your money back. 

[gregintenn]

You will get your money back. Ebay is biased toward the buyer. 

 

File a complaint with ebay, they will give you your money back. 

I thought as much, but as much crap as I've purchased on there so far, I've been lucky. I guess I'm due.

[Oh Shoot]

... I KNOW Discover will refund a B.S. charge. I've never had to try paypal.

 

Best not to contest charge with credit card first, pisses off PayPal, and they used to sometimes terminate account if you did that, as it gives them no chance to try and get money back from the other guy's account.

 

- OS

Edited March 4, 2016 by Oh Shoot

[56FordGuy]

I bought a set of brackets from a seller on ebay. They arrived and were out of spec to the point they couldn't be used. I contacted the seller who blew me off, filed a claim with eBay. They gave me a prepaid shipping label to send the items back to the seller, then when the tracking number showed the seller had them eBay refunded my money. 

 

I suspect in your case they'll ask the seller for proof of delivery, he won't have it, you'll get a refund. 

[gregintenn]

I bought a set of brackets from a seller on ebay. They arrived and were out of spec to the point they couldn't be used. I contacted the seller who blew me off, filed a claim with eBay. They gave me a prepaid shipping label to send the items back to the seller, then when the tracking number showed the seller had them eBay refunded my money. 

 

I suspect in your case they'll ask the seller for proof of delivery, he won't have it, you'll get a refund. 

He admits he hasn't sent it yet. He has a wide array of excuses, and if I'll just bear with him..... :wall:

 

Everything he's told me is completely plausible, but if it's all true, he's the unluckiest guy on the planet. Either way, it doesn't concern me. I bought it at his price, and on his terms. Getting it here was part of the deal.

Edited March 4, 2016 by gregintenn

[WindHawk]

"Everything he's told me is completely plausible..."  SOP for a scammer.  If he can delay you until the refund period is used up he "wins" and you "lose"...   your money.

[TripleGGG]

He admits he hasn't sent it yet. He has a wide array of excuses, and if I'll just bear with him..... :wall:

Everything he's told me is completely plausible, but if it's all true, he's the unluckiest guy on the planet. Either way, it doesn't concern me. I bought it at his price, and on his terms. Getting it here was part of the deal.

Apply for refund immediately or as soon as the window of opportunity opens.

[maroonandwhite]

Go ahead and start a claim. You still attempt to get the item through the claim process. If you don't though you escalate it and get your money back. Need to go ahead and get the process started though.


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[Oh Shoot]

Go ahead and start a claim. You still attempt to get the item through the claim process. If you don't though you escalate it and get your money back. Need to go ahead and get the process started though.

 

For items not yet received, if the shipping time span in the ad has been exceeded, first step is that you choose "have not received item" and then whether you still want the item, or want a refund.

 

- OS

Edited March 4, 2016 by Oh Shoot

[kcruisin]

I love e-bay, and pay-pal.
There is a delivery agreement with the sales on e-bay. When they're not met, there are certain steps to take on e-bay, I can say with experience, they have your back.
I buy everything I can directly from China, it saves me about 50%. Delivery from there is about 45 days sometime.

Be sure to check the gear ratio, (turn the out-put 360* and count the revs on the yolk.)

[Randall53]

I've had to file a couple of claims through the years with ebay. They will contact him and set a fire under his ass. If he wasn't ready to sell  and ship, he shouldn't have listed it IMO.

Edited March 4, 2016 by Randall53

[macville]

About 10 years ago we ordered a glass microwave plate (the glass tray that goes in the microwave) off ebay and it never came. When we filed with Paypal they said, "oh your too late, the guy has closed his account and we can't get your money back." I was pretty pissed. However, ebay and paypal have gotten much better about being on the buyer's side now and especially if they don't ship anything.

[Oh Shoot]

....However, ebay and paypal have gotten much better about being on the buyer's side now and especially if they don't ship anything.

 

Big change was about what, five years ago now?, when sellers could no longer even leave bad feedback for buyers. And sometime after that, seller feedback began determining the ranking in search results too, and now not just their overall FB level, but the smaller breakdown ratings also. And now, there's the eBay guarantee on top of all that for most items also.

 

So all in all, buyers are indeed much much more protected now than in the past.

 

- OS

[Dolomite_supafly]

I recently bought something off of Ebay that I never received. I contacted the seller and did not get a response so I filed a complaint and again contacted the seller 2-3 times over the time period Ebay wants to wait for the seller to respond. It is something like a week after you file a complaint before Ebay will do anything. You basically open a complaint and when you submit it to Ebay it also contacts the seller with what you have wrote in the complaint. The seller responds and then Ebay looks at everything and you get a refund. From the time I filed the complaint to the time I received my refund it was like 10 days. But that was with a seller that refused to respond to Ebay so it took the maximum amount of time. I imagine if the seller tells Ebay he hasn't shipped yet the refund should be very fast.

 

Even though Ebay can see all the communication between you it would probably be best to submit all his excuses in the original complaint.

 

And as someone else has said they are very, very biased towards the buyers.

[bubbadavis]

I recently purchased something from ebay that the seller provided a tracking number for. The tracking information never got updated and they didn't respond when I contacted them. Once the expected delivery date was past, I opened a complaint with Ebay. It only took a couple of days to have my money refunded.

[gregintenn]

I opened a complaint today, and somehow, magically, it's now supposedly shipped and on it's way. We'll see I guess. Maybe dude just has the worst luck of anybody in the world. Who knows.