posted on July 19, 2002 02:19:44 PM
Hi all,
I purchased an item from a buyer in Singapore. I paid with my credit card via PayPal at the end of May. The seller said that the shipping would take about 6 weeks. To this day I've received nothing. I was patient, but finally emailed the seller to find out what was up. My emails were ignored until I said that I was going to inform eBay of fraud. Then she says that she has proof of delivery in the form of a postal mailing receipt, so they can't touch her.
I contacted PayPal, but they cancelled the investigation because I filed it AFTER 30 days (I couldn't file within 30 days because the package would've taken 6 weeks to reach me--catch-22). They say there's nothing they can do now.
I contacted my credit card company and they issued me a temporary credit until they investigate.
I'm also thinking of filing a fraud complaint with eBay as the seller is very uncooperative. She's not actually rude, but she's not forthcoming either. Basically, she's like, "Look, I mailed out the item and it got lost. Now it's your problem, tough luck." The item was not insured because the shipping price was ridiculous already coming from Singapore. The seller DID indicate to me that she would provide tracking though. So far, none of that has panned out. She won't provide the tracking info. This makes me suspicious. The item's value was about $75.
I can blame myself for not insuring, or I can perhaps do something to get my money back. I'm not just going to roll over and go away. I'm not unfair, but I'd like to think that the seller was doing all she could to help me locate the package. I don't get that feeling from her at all. She has no negative feedback, but sells a lot of stuff off eBay (she told me this). Mine was an on-eBay transaction.
Questions:
What is the probability of me getting my money back?
Will her mailing receipt stand up against my credit card company's investigation? How will they handle that? Do they contact her thru PayPal?
I'm not unreasonable or panicky. I try to give sellers the benefit of the doubt as I sell myself once in a while, but her lax attitude leaves a lot to be desired.
Thanks
posted on July 19, 2002 02:28:42 PM
well the situation i had was i paid a seller $158 for 3 auctions. tried to file with paypal but it was to late for that. they did nothing but froze her paypal account. the seller gave me a bogus tracking number and didnt even have a receipt. i paid for insurance on all 3 auctions but really insurance does no good unless the seller actually buys it at the post office or if they even manage to get your stuff there in the 1st place. i filed fraud with ebay, paypal, the post office, fraud.org and even contacted the attorney general in her area since i was not the only one who had complaints. i even called her post office and they sided with her! did not use a cc so a chargback was not an option. well end of story i got NOTHING. she ignored me, ignored the fraud complaints. she was narued off of ebay as was her other seller name i discovered. i wish you luck. hope someone here can give you some positive advice.
[ edited by sn0bbish on Jul 19, 2002 02:30 PM ]
I had a similar problem. Hopefully you do not sell on eBay and use Paypal to receive payments. I purchased something to the tune of $1600 using my credit card and did not get what I ordered. More than 30 days passed and Paypal would not help. I filed with my credit card for a chargeback and I did get the money back. Paypal then froze my account and would not let me withdraw any money from it. People were sending money daily, I had to ship the items but could not get the money. Paypal's terms of service state you cannot file a chargeback.
posted on July 20, 2002 10:05:53 AM
Thanks guys for your responses. I'm sorry to hear that you got burned as well. When I sell, I don't accept PayPal anymore. I only use it to purchase and with my credit card. Ironically, I am soured on PayPal because at one time I DID accept it and someone from the UK did a chargeback on me (the buyer received the item and said that he did not file a chargeback, that PayPal was lying. I don't know what that was all about), but I DO know that PayPal wrongly froze my account. Mind you, the chargeback was allowed MONTHS after the transaction! I guess they changed that policy. Luckily, I had no money in the PayPal account. So it was just their loss.
