More eBay woes, your experiences please...

[Osian85]

Hello all,

Well it looks like I might been joining a long list of people who have been buggered on eBay.

I was tempted by a rather nice (read: cheap!) Tag Heuer F1 recently, It was up as £xxx or best offer, so after a little back and forth with offers and counter offers I ended up with a purchase, not before first asking more questions as to the condition of the watch as the pics were a little vague, also one pictured appeared to show some damage that wasn't described - when I specifically asked about this area I was told 'that is just light reflecting off the edge'.

So anyway the item arrived in a crap state! loads of extra marks and damage, and low and behold the so called light reflections turned out to be major dings, and to really make things worse (in my eyes at least) it was filthy, really filthy. Obviously I fired a message off to the seller immediately stating the issue and asking for a refund, this wasn't well received and the reply was along the lines of 'bugger off!' and 'raise a case with eBay, let them decide', no problem I said, Iv had this happen before and through some research I could see all over the internet that eBay tend to favour the buyer, not to mention this was a genuine gripe and I had prepared my pictures and write up for eBay to review.

Fast forward to today, a week after opening the case, eBay have closed the case and given no explanation, reasoning or instructions whatsoever? it doesn't say who they found in favour of, no mention of a refund, no money returned to me (via same payment method; Paypal) and, well, nothing!

After scouring the internet for answers, maybe even some chatter on the various internet forums I have completely drawn a blank, it seems no-one else has had this or talked about it on the net?

It doesn't help matters that i'm the USA with work at the moment so ringing customer services is a bit more difficult - although I tried to anticipate every eventuality before coming away, and packaged the watch up with the sellers address on ready for the wife to post for me when the time came.

So my question/request is this; has this happened to any of you? how did you resolve it? is all of the above actually a good sign and I should just wait for the money to appear in my account? or have I been bent right over with this one?

TIA.

[Osian85]

A little extra info - I have read in eBay FAQs that if this happens and its not gone in your favour you can appeal the decision by clicking on the drop down options on the item and click 'appeal' - I do not have this option, so perhaps it went in my favour? Also there is a tiny box with three pieces of information about this particular return they are 'return ID' 'return username' and 'responsible for return postage - seller' - again this makes it look like its gone in my favour, so wheres my dosh?

[wookie]

Hi
I'm not sure they will refund your money until the watch is back with the original owner, I'd guess they require you to fill in tracking information in the little box's to confirm its being returned.
This may all be completely wrong but best of luck with getting it sorted, I hope it all works out for you
Wook

[Osian85]

Hi
I'm not sure they will refund your money until the watch is back with the original owner, I'd guess they require you to fill in tracking information in the little box's to confirm its being returned.
This may all be completely wrong but best of luck with getting it sorted, I hope it all works out for you
Wook

Sounds good to me Wook, but there are no boxes to fill in, no other options available with the case whatsoever thats what makes it so confusing!

Also if I post it back now, and it turns out it wasn't in my favour what do you think this (so far unscrupulous!) seller is going to do? - keep the watch and money thats what!

[markrlondon]

Don't post it back until you're clear that that's what you should do. If you can't see what to do in the Resolution Center, as eBay optimistically call it, then it seems to me that calling them is the only thing you can do.

[Michael 38]

You certainly won't get a refund until ebay gets the tracking info to confirm he has got the watch back

[snowman]

Do NOT return it before eBay tell you to!!!

I did this once and ended up out of pocket and without the item.

M.

[village]

If you are in the US then rather than phone them you can use 'live chat' to talk to them.
Definitely do not send anything back until you are sure the case is decided in your favour...you won't get a refund until the tracking shows that it has been delivered. As an aside,it doesn't have to be signed for by the bloke you are sending it back to for it to register as delivered in Ebays eyes....all they require is someone to have signed for it.

[morgandk]

eBay is useless as is PayPal.


Morgan

[Kakadu]

Amazing how many forum members rubbish ebay and yet still continue to let everybody know
the latest ebay "find" they have bought after a ruby murray.....cake and eat it springs to mind.

David

[mjrennie]

I am sure there is a telephone number for them. They span the pond, obviously, so maybe search for it and bell them?

[Osian85]

Amazing how many forum members rubbish ebay and yet still continue to let everybody know
the latest ebay "find" they have bought after a ruby murray.....cake and eat it springs to mind.

David

Thanks for this comment, very constructive and helpful! I think you will find I have never done what you are saying so kindly bugger off with your pointless and condescending post.

[Osian85]

Update on this - during a live chat help session - they were at first unable to find my case number or transaction, then they could not find that I had opened a case! now they are saying i must have closed the case as ebay wont make a mistake like this! incedible, I didnt have any options at all nevermind to close the case.

They said they will get back to me within 15 days, madness.

[steve1975i]

Not sure how you paid for the watch and what case you opened exactly? What does it say within the resolution centre for your closed case? The community forum on eBay is very knowledgeable place.

[TBKBABAB]

Doesnt help you're case but i recently had 3 watches listed on Ebay, I had deliberately listed them before the final value
fee limit increased from £75 to £250.
After 3 days without any notice they withdrew the listings and froze my PayPal account. On contacting them they said they needed
proof of ownership of the watches and that I wasnt a business. If they had bothered to check they could have found that I purchased
2 of them on Ebay and Paid via Paypal, all I did was send them copy of the Paypal payment details plus had to send a utility bill and copy
of my passport. Frankly was extremely suspicious that this wasnt deliberately done in order to increase the fees.
One day later my account was restored but I had to relist them and of course the final value limit had now gone up.
Despite contacting them and them replying saying they would discuss with the relevant department about the increase in fees and reply to me
I have heard nothing and it cost me an extra £100 pounds in fees.
I did call them as well but all the person on the phone would say was I wouldnt have to pay the original listing fees £0.50 and when I
kept pointing out that wasnt what I was calling about they eventually just put the phone down on me so I wouldnt hold out that calling
them will get you anywhere.

[webvan]

Did you check to see if you had the option to open a claim with Paypal ? I've always found the eBay "resolution center" a bit confusing to use and I thought they actually sent you directly to Paypal, if that's what you used for payment of course. Not paying with Paypal means you're pretty much alone in case of a problem too...

[markrlondon]

I thought they actually sent you directly to Paypal, if that's what you used for payment of course.

It was this way once upon a time but now all eBay disputes (which, as you say, require PayPal to have been used for payment) are dealt with from within eBay via the Resolution Centre.

[webvan]

Thanks for the info, well I guess it shows I haven't had to worry about disputes recently ;-)

[Osian85]

To answer a few questions above, I paid via Paypal, so thats where the refund should appear.

In the resolution centre (and anywhere else I click regarding the case, including within Paypal) it always takes me to a page that says only one thing 'This return request was closed on 01 Oct, 2014' and there are no options and no more information than this.

So eBay and Paypal are linked and both saying the same thing 'this case is closed' but it doesnt say in whose favour, or what next.

Iv just got to wait now, some bloke on the eBay chat help said he will look into it and contact me within 15days.

I just wondered if this happened to anyone else and what the outcome was, I appreciate all your interest and help/suggestions, I don't appreciate snide comments and talking rubbish though sorry!

Il update what happens here incase this happens to you...

Osh.