Item not received

[angiepatterson]

Hello, I recently purchased an item from someone outside of eBay using the pay for goods or services, after numerous shipping issues on the sellers behalf because I live in Canada the seller now states the item has been damaged during shipping and his account has been compromised therefore does not have the means to issue me a refund through their paypal account but wants to make sure they are covered legally when issuing a refund. First of all I want to know how long they legally have to issue my refund, second is there anything legally I can do if I don't receive a refund? Like file criminal charges etc.? I really don't think that they were trying to scam me, I have been in contact multiple times per week with the person via email,text messages, and phone calls therefore unless I am just really naive I think things just happened and now they don't have the money or whatnot to refund my payment of $550.00. What can or should I do? It has been a little over a month since the payment was made. Thank you for anything that might help

[kernowlass]

@angiepatterson

I think the seller is making excuses to try and stop you from opening a paypal dispute and getting your refund.

You have up to 180 days on paypal to open a dispute for non receipt of item > if the seller does not refund you then you should be covered by paypals buyer protection scheme. Then paypal would refund you and they would chase the seller to pay them back again.

>>

How do I open a dispute with a seller when a purchase goes wrong?

You can open a dispute in the Resolution Centre of your PayPal account within 180 days of payment if:
•You don’t receive the item
•You receive an item but it’s significantly different than the description on eBay or on the seller’s website

By opening a dispute, you can communicate directly with your seller to work out a problem transaction.
If you reach an agreement with the seller you can close the dispute. If you're still not happy with the result, you can escalate the dispute into a claim. We'll review the claim and decide on reimbursement.

These steps apply to Personal accounts. If you have a Business account, please log in to see the steps that apply to you.

To open a dispute:
1.Log in to your PayPal account.
2.Near the bottom of the page, under 'More about your account', click Resolve a problem in our Resolution Centre.
3.Click Dispute a Transaction.
4.Select the button beside the transaction you want to dispute, then click Continue.
5.Select ‘Item dispute’, click Continue and follow the on-screen instructions.

Note:
•Generally buyers must wait at least 7 days from the date of payment to escalate a dispute for an item not received
•Where an item has not been received, please ensure you have given the seller enough time before opening a dispute

https://www.paypal.com/webapps/mpp/first-dispute