Six days ago I bought a G-Shock Moda watch from an eBay seller. Six days later he contaced me to tell me he didn't have it in stock but I could buy another watch from his site. I said no thanks; I want a refund. He then emailed me to offer me the same watch when he gets it next month. I said no thanks again; I want a refund.
This morning I saw he hasn't refunded the PayPal money. I called PayPal and they said there was nothing they could do. The money was already transferred.
The PayPal and eBay resolution sites don't address my problem. I called eBay and a voice recording told me to use the "live help link" on the eBay home page but it wasn't active even though it was 5:30AM and the site says it's active at 5:00AM.
I have always had confidence in PayPal and eBay until now. Now I'm full of dread and frustration.
To be continued.
Update:
I called another PayPal rep and she was shocked when I told her the rep I spoke with this morning said it was too late for them to get me my money back. This rep is filing a dispute and at the latest I will get my money refunded by January 28th.
Needless to say, I will never use this seller from Las Vegas again (I will withhold his name).
Second and Hopefully Last Update:
Seller just contacted me to say my refund will be issued today.
Just initiate a chargeback through your credit card company. (hopefully you didn't fund the purchase through your checking account)
Posted by: DanHL | January 17, 2012 at 06:56 AM
Follow the instructions from the Ebay website. They even refund shipping charges. It takes a little while but works. I was refunded $270 for a radio I bought that arrived not as described. The whole process took about 2 weeks. You are protected on Ebay.
Frank
Posted by: Frank | January 17, 2012 at 07:01 AM
This is quite disturbing. I thought the advantage of PayPal was that the service gave buyers and sellers protection on such basics as getting what you paid for and getting paid for what you sold. If not, what is their purpose? Without some sort of intermediary guarantor, eBay is just a long-distance flea market with an extra dash of fly-by-night disadvantges. What sort of seller rating did this merchant have? I've never bought from anyone with less than 98% positive ratings, and I've never lost money, even when I had to collect insurance for an item damaged in shipping because of poor packing. I want to hear how this turns out.
Posted by: Bill B. | January 17, 2012 at 07:01 AM
I'm confused as to the response from PayPal, which in my experience has been great the couple of times I had an issue with an eBay seller. Is it because not enough time has passed? I seem to remember that they will not step in until a certain amount of time passes. They once refunded a purchase to me that the vendor refused to on an item that was received unusable and not replaced or refunded. At the 30 day mark, I received the equivalent of single-fingered gesture in an email from the seller, assuming that he had won his little scam. PayPal then surprised me by refunding the purchase and stating that they were having the sellers eBay account frozen. Good luck with this one!
Posted by: Neilgoldstein.blogspot.com | January 17, 2012 at 07:12 AM
Ebay and Paypal are two of the most dishonest and misleading entities on the web. Paypal is now asking sellers for their Social Security numbers. Don't do it!
Only deal with people with perfect or close to perfect feedbacks (at least 100 transactions). Paypal custumer service is nothing but a series of links that lead to dead-ends. Visit the paypalsucks.com website and read the stories.
Posted by: Shorty | January 17, 2012 at 07:15 AM
Meant to type "customer" - not "custumer."
Excuse the typo please.
Posted by: Shorty | January 17, 2012 at 07:16 AM
I still haven't heard from seller. I will call PayPal again.
Posted by: Jeffrey McMahon | January 17, 2012 at 07:25 AM
I'm sorry, but I need to comment again. PayPal and eBay are fine if you follow the directions they give you. Yes, there is no person sitting at a counter to yell at, but if you follow the procedures, you will not have issues. The Social Security Numbers are required by new tax laws for business users: https://cms.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/marketingweb?cmd=_render-content&content_ID=marketing_us/IRS6050W . A little research can save a lot of ranting. I have called PayPal on several occasions, and get a live person after not a lot of waiting. They are usually helpful and informed too. Much better than most other web-based entities I have dealt with.
Posted by: Neil | January 17, 2012 at 07:46 AM
Like I said... Follow the instructions refund given. People are morons but Ebay or Paypal will fix the problem.
Posted by: Frank | January 17, 2012 at 09:17 AM
I stand corrected. Paypal is an upstanding and honest web-based entity, and Ebay is a bastion of integrity on the net. And they have legions of nice people waiting by the phone just itching to help their valued customers.
What was I thinking? Forgive me PayPal!
Give them all the info they ask for. After all, it's to serve you better.
Bless your heart Neil.
Posted by: Shorty | January 17, 2012 at 12:53 PM