Refund not received, pursue further?

[spawne32]

So back on September 1st I sent someone $380 dollars from funds that I already had in my paypal account to pay for an engine management system for my car. As soon as I transfered the funds, the seller told me he would be out of town for a week before he could ship the item....despite the fact that I specifically said I needed it asap. Fine, I waited until he got back on Monday the 6th, and sent him a message asking for a tracking #, he said he could not ship the item because of the holiday....fine...tuesday I sent him another email, asking for a tracking #, he responded later on during the day to tell me that he sold the item to someone else, after I already paid for it, and waited a week. He refunded the money via paypal, and paypal immediately put a hold on the refund and listed it as pending until the 13th. It is now the 13th, its 5:20pm in the afternoon, and I do not have my  money back after sending out cash money directly from my account. If I dont have my money back in my account tomorrow, Im contemplating calling the attorney generals office, and filing a BBB complaint directly against paypal, as well as submitting another fraud claim against the seller. I would assume by the inability of paypal to return my funds that he immediately spent the money or removed it from the account, and cleaned out his bank account as well to prevent the refund. Anyone have any tips on how I should go about this? A $380 dollar loss is unacceptable, and I will go any means nessecary to return my funds, even if that means getting a lawyer against paypal for not providing buyer protection as they claim.

[profdata]

Your seller didn't have an funds in their paypal account so the refund came from the seller bank account.

Sounds like the sellers bank funded refund bounced, and it was sent through a second time.

If you don't see the refund by this Thursday, it probably means the bank funded refund bounced a second time.

If it does make sure you file an Item Not Received complaint with Paypal. 

paypal his two protection plans one for ebay and one for off ebay purchases.

The ebay protection has full protection, they will pay out out of their own pocket if the seller has cleaned out their paypal account.

The non ebay purchases have limited buyer protection, and you will only be refunded if the seller still has funds in their paypal account.

Always, always fund non ebay purchases wit ha credit card or branded (m/c, visa) debit card for full protection

[spawne32]

Thanks for the info, I actually opened a dispute on the transaction last week right after he issued the refund since it wasnt refunded immediately. The item not received dispute is still pending until the 17th, as it is at the step where they have asked for information from the seller, since he immediately escalated it to a claim with paypal when he saw i opened the dispute. So i guess this looks like i got at least another few weeks before i see a refund then?