Package lost

[Nlyk]

I need your advice on this issue that I am currently having.

I bought some goods from a private seller on Ebay, using "Paypal Business" to pay.

I can see that seller has given the items to the shipping company and that the shipping company have picked up the items.

Seller has provided me with shipping number.

However, since then (1 month ago!) nothing has happend. I contacted the shipping company (and the seller claims they did as well) and the package seems to be lost. The shipping company needs 6 weeks to find out if they can find it before they will reimburse the seller.

I am worried that the seller will try to avoid responsibility because he is already sending me messages saying it is the responsibility of the shipping company and not him, though he insists I will get my money back, but not until the shipping company reimburses him.

What should I do here? Should I start a dispute with the seller or wait for the shipping company to find out if they can find it? If I do that, I will need to wait up to 2 months after the initial purchase before I have a resolution. As I understand, Paypal will allow me to dispute up to 180 days after the purchase, so I should be ok to wait for the shipping company to decide if they can find it. How would you proceed here?

[kernowlass · Accepted solution]

@Nlyk 

Not your problem to contact the shipper, you should only have to deal with the seller and he should deal with the shipper.

If you file a dispute for non receipt of item and escalate to a claim then if the seller can't provide tracking you ''should'' get a refund but of course nothing is guaranteed. If you win the case and the seller refuses to reimburse you then paypal would under their buyer protection policy and then they would chase the seller to pay them back again. 

However as you have up to 180 days to open a dispute for non receipt then there is no harm in waiting a while for the seller to sort it with the shipper and then if they get a refund pass it on to you OR you can go down the dispute route if you want to.