Goddamn it, eBay

[Sir Shockwave]

Ugh.

Abridging the story down a bit, I bought an item from a US Seller little over a month ago. Purchased it, waited for it to arrive...and then found out it was not the item I purchased. Sent it back to the seller twice (it was redelivered to my address once, and then again approximately four days later. It has not be redelivered since).

I waited and waited. Despite being promised a refund and never receiving one, I escalated my case with eBay. I waited for them to make a decision. I provided all the information I could provide.

Then eBay tells me this morning that it can't refund me. At all.

Why? Because the return had no tracking information.

Here's the loophole - Royal Mail does not do tracked shipping to PO Box addresses because policies. It can only do standard (i.e: untracked) delivery to such addresses. I can understand why you need tracking information, but this is a system that opens itself up to exploitation of the highest order.

Something needs to be done about this, because from the look of things, there's no way I can appeal against eBay's decision. They've effectively allowed a scammer to go unpunished and unhindered and continue to operate and rip off god knows how many other people (feedback FYI is not a very reliable system since almost everyone has 100% feedback, and even then I've never seen an eBay account with less than 90% positive).

So what the hell do I do? PayPal won't allow me to appeal the case there, the Seller obviously won't give me my goddamned money back, and I can't reopen the case or appeal the decision. Heck, I tried emailing them and got an automated email back! It's the YouTube of selling your stuff!

Small footnote: If nobody feels the advice forum is the best place for this, could you please move the topic? Thanks in advance.

 

[Batou667]

Damn, that's really annoying. I didn't know about that PO Box loophole - what delivery method did you use, and if you asked for registered/tracked delivery, did the Post Office staff make you aware of that? Why did the escalated case close; because the returned item was untrackable?

I'm not sure if you're still able to perform a chargeback action or whether that'd fall under the PayPal appeal process.

To be brutally honest it sounds like you're going to have to chalk this one up as a loss. Send some stinking feedback, blacklist the seller, and try your best to avoid that situation in the future.

(I can sympathise as I've been caught out by ebay loopholes regarding postage in the past. I made the mistake of sending an item overseas by standard delivery as the Post Office staff assured me the receipt counted as proof of sending - however a basic PO receipt is inadmissible as evidence in a dispute as it usually only lists the country, not the recipient's address. I ended up basically giving some **** in Australia a phone for free due to this. Highly annoying.)

 

[nyankaty]

eBay is pure shit, I guarantee. They threatened to suspend/deactivate my account because I left a few negative feedbacks when they seller sent me bootleg items. Since then, I've avoided eBay like the plague because they are very careful to have such loopholes as the one they're pulling on you as well as silencing people like myself who want to tell the truth about bad sellers.

As for advice? Unfortunately, I don't have any because eBay has you directly where they want you - helpless. All I would be able to suggest is to calmly try to communicate with the seller and see if they will make right on it all. if not, you'll just have to accept the loss and do as I have - swear off eBay forever.

 

[lechat]

i generally find ebay sellers would rather slice off their own balls than receive bad feedback so i would suggest doing anything in your power to start a dialog with the seller.