Ebay/Paypal Dispute - What are my options

[papsrus]

I love happy endings.

Never really bothered with eBay myself. I think I purchased an item through them once several years ago and that was it. Do have a paypal account though, and it's linked to a low-balance account just for that purpose. But, usually use a credit card as a payment method anyways.

[ejp626]

Well, this is a new one. I'm having a problem with a Half.com seller. The items never showed up. I contacted the seller who blew me off. So I try to file the claim. It keeps sending me to Page Not Responding. I've tried this on multiple days, different browsers, emptying the cache, etc. So I finally find a way to complain to Half.com (which is a total black box compared to Ebay, even though Ebay owns Half.com). The person says, oh everything looks fine at this end, you should just file the claim. So I ask them to file the claim on my behalf. Oh no. They can't do that. I have to file the claim, despite their software having some weird bug. I suspect that this does violate some federal trade regulation of not having a non-electronic way of settling a dispute, but I can't find the relevant statute and I'm getting sick of this. Basically, I wrote back and said if they didn't find a way for me to file the claim, I was never going to buy on Half.com again. And I won't. I already scrapped my seller's account there because I disagreed with their policies. So it won't be hard for me to live up to this promise. Honestly, what a douchey website.

[Dave Garrett]

I just ran across this earlier today. Far worse than I'd realized, and I already had a pretty low opinion of some of their business practices:

The truth about PayPal

[Shrdlu]

A couple of years ago, I had a problem with a seller on eBay. The item was a spare cellphone charger, which went for a measly $2.00 or so. I paid for it promptly, using Paypal.

The seller, a real nasty bitch, ignored many emails, and claimed that I had not paid for the item. Eventually, she got eBay to give me a "negative strike". This was particularly annoying, as my eBay rating was 100% positive.

Fortunately, I had kept the email that Paypal had sent me, confirming the payment.

It took a long time to clear my eBay record, but by persisting, I got them to do so. They later kicked the seller off the site.

I hope this encourages anyone who has problems like Dan's and mine.

It was a very unpleasant and time-consuming experience though, especially when you consider the tiny price of the item in question. I am glad to say that no other buyer or seller has caused me problems.

[sonnymax]

I just ran across this earlier today. Far worse than I'd realized, and I already had a pretty low opinion of some of their business practices:

The truth about PayPal

So then, why does this person who filed the suit say:"We request that all payments be made via credit or debit card through paypal" to participants wanting to take her 2010 pet photography Workshops?

[Man with the Golden Arm]

another piddly price case in point / whaddaya do?

win an auction the old fashioned way.

pay for shipping.

took forever.

receive different item.

contact seller who sez he will credit you but fails to answer your requests for return shipping info. i'm being proactive trying to get the wrong item back to him - but I should not pay for it!

fails to credit you as promised.

finally tells you to send it back "...it's only a few bucks".

still no credit for original transaction.

do you keep the email chain going? waste of time.

or place an incorrect item dispute via paypal.

Edited June 25, 2010 by Man with the Golden Arm

[Dan Gould]

I'm sure Paypal will fix the problem. Seller sounds like a piece of work.

[ejp626]

Well, this appears to have a reasonable resolution, but I've been waiting for about a month on a Miriam Makeba LP I ordered off eBay. I decide I had better lodge a protest, so I go check my account. As it turns out, there is a shipping notice and supposedly the LP showed up today. But the seller waited nearly an entire month before shipping it out (it wasn't lost in the mail, just not shipped on time) without any comment or notice to me. Lame. Certainly deserving of negative feedback, though I don't know I want to deal with all the associated drama that comes when you "go negative."

[Dan Gould]

Now that they have the more informative feedback, just give him one star on shipping time.

[mellowT]

No drama, now that sellers can't neg you back. The worst that can happen is they put you on their blocked buyers list, but you're probably going to avoid that seller anyway...

[ejp626]

Now that they have the more informative feedback, just give him one star on shipping time.

Yeah, maybe so. The LP is in fact here. I'm going to take a look at the condition and see if that is satisfactory before making any final decisions. Who knew that within 10 years us old timers would be going on and on about how I remember a time before eBay became a cesspool and shipping costs weren't always a scam.

[Man with the Golden Arm]

another piece of work.

rcvd a CD - the kind in the thin cardboard - not even a digipack.

seller ships in an A size large office envelope. one little strip of bubble wrap. item shifting around all over.

disc is in three pieces - envelope however has NO damage aside from the usual that occurs when something is sent a thousand plus miles.

the seller is completely perplexed, his stellar feedback (one third of mine) he says shows that this can't be possible.

already has an attitude when calling him on completely imporoper packing.

how does one receive return shipping costs for these things or is one of those times I should have paid extra for to insure?

regardless the postal service has no issue here really even if it had been insured - what could be done about an item destined for failure.

sending it back for a refund and awaiting the chap's smarmy reply.

can't wait to drop a big messy one on his neatly trimmed feedback lawn !