DISPUTED ITEM HAS NEVER BEEN RETURNED BY BUYER

dw2547
Contributor
Contributor

An Item I sold on Ebay, the same one I had been selling for over 8 years with NO PROBLEM was disputed by a buyer in USA. I agreed with his request to refund in full inc the original mail costs within 3 days of receiving the returned item, which was to be returned at their expense. This was all done within 30 mins of 1st contact. He then ellevated it to another level and Ebay found that neither buyer nor seller were at fault and that I should refund within 3 days of item being returned, then closed the case. The Item has never been returned, the buyer will not answer my messages, I send him one every 24 hrs. BUT Ebay have refunded him the purchase cost and debited the amount to my Pay Pal account. I have tried every way possible to get either Ebay or Pay Pal to look into the reason, but no success, they just pass me on to another dept or another link. There are not even any CASES showing in my Pay pal account. I am at a loss. THIS IS THEFT BY THE BUYER. We as sellers have no protection at all. LEGAL ACTION seems to be the only way forward. Is anyone else who has had a similar problem willing to get together and take a CLASS ACTION against Pay Pal /  Ebay? For the return of our stolen money.

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9 REPLIES 9

BigKahuna97
Frequent Contributor
Frequent Contributor

If you mailed this item via the USPS I would file a complaint with the Postal Inspector for interstate mail fraud.  Be sure to include a DC or signature confirmation number so they can investigate.  I would also contact the buyer to let them know you are filing a complaint along with informing them this is felony charge if found guilty.  The postal inspectors can be a bit  aggressive in their wording and often scare scammers into doing the right thing.

 

Hope this helps.

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dw2547
Contributor
Contributor

Hi, Thanks, but my item was delivered to the buyer, he acknowledged this, my problem is  he was given a refund of the purchase price by Pay Pal as he disputed the item not being as ordered, even though he has NOT shipped the item back to me and will not answer my messages to him through Ebay. So he has the item and his money back. THEFT???

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BigKahuna97
Frequent Contributor
Frequent Contributor

This would still be a case of mail fraud as he ordered an item, paid for the item, and then received a refund for the item without returning it.  If you don't file a complaint with the postal inspector your only other recourse would be through civil court.

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fmk509
Contributor
Contributor

 


@dw2547 wrote:

Hi, Thanks, but my item was delivered to the buyer, he acknowledged this, my problem is  he was given a refund of the purchase price by Pay Pal as he disputed the item not being as ordered, even though he has NOT shipped the item back to me and will not answer my messages to him through Ebay. So he has the item and his money back. THEFT???


The same thing just happened to me. The buyer gave me positive feedback on eBay and then 3 weeks later filed a Not As Described claim with Pay Pal. They gave him his money back and did not require him to return the item. I was told by a Pay Pal rep that the customer was instructed to "destroy the item" Yeah, cuz I am sure THAT is what happened!! Get out while you can and before we all lose our money and our businesses. This is legal thievery and no one but us sellers seems to care!!

 

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dw2547
Contributor
Contributor

Maybe, we should all inform the Fraud Squad and also the MEDIA, they seem to like things like this , it may help our cases, OR go for the CLASS ACTION against Ebay / Pay Pal by employing a lawyer who works on a no WIN no payment strategy, he then gets his money when we win the case. WHAT DO YOU ALL THINK. Lets not let them Get away with it.

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BigKahuna97
Frequent Contributor
Frequent Contributor

I offered you the best advice possible.  When scammers realize the Postal Inspectors are being brough into play they typically re-issue payment and move on.  If you have not file a complaint yet I doubt there is much anyone can do.

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dpxlr8
Contributor
Contributor

I had the exact same thing happen to me recently.  I had an ebay buyer lodge a bogus complaint about the quality of the goods he bought from me, they immediately yanked the money from my account, and then he only returned a small portion of the goods to me.  Ebay was pretty helpful - they at least refunded the transaction fee to me without any problems... which was a small amount compared to the hundreds of dollars of goods that were stolen by the buyer, but I at least appreciated their help with that matter.  I have been mis-directed by every inept customer service rep that I've dealt with at Paypal.  So far, they have told me to have an affadavit drawn and notarized, go to the police, and have a local dealer appraise the odds and ends that I actually did get back (which makes no sense).  I've done it all and have gotten nowhere.  Paypal keeps closing the dispute without any explanation, and i have to fight to get it re-opened.  My next best piece of advice is to report the matter to the Better Business Bureau.  Go to the website and follow the prompts, then give a detailed explanation of your story.  I did this a couple of weeks ago, and it FINALLY looks like I might get my money back.  Paypal will send you on a wild goose chase, hoping that you'll just go away.  I can only imagine how many thousands of people have lost money because they didn't have the energy to fight it, but I hope that you do... it's theft and it's not right!

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dw2547
Contributor
Contributor

Thanks so much for your advise, I will definately continue with my efforts to bring Pay Pal / Ebay to realise they are totaly in the wrong.

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paulzuk45
New Community Member

I won an item on a auction site,payed through paypalbut the item has yet to be in my hands. Made a payment on 2/4/11.

I sent 2 e mails to the auction site and never received an answer. There weremany items I won and received but not the one I asked for a refund for.

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