complicated EBAY question

[talulabelle]

I have a situation that I don't know how to handle. Hoping an EBAY expert can help.

Here is what happened: I bid on 2 separate auctions from the same seller and won both. Both auctions were for a hot name brand clothing item before Christmas. I payed through Paypal right away after winning both and they were to ship together. The seller gave me positive feedback right away and said they would ship. By the end of the same day I received 2 separate notices from ebay that they had removed both auctions that I had won since the manufacturer of the items thought them to be fakes. (HOW CAN THEY DO THIS AFTER AN AUCTION IS WON AND PAYED FOR???!!! Why wouldn't they have done it in the days the auction was still active?!) Anyway, since the auction was removed - I had no way of contacting the seller. The email from ebay says that if I already payed I can file a dispute with ebay or contact credit card company if I didn't pay through ebay. I did pay through ebay. So I go about the normal dispute process which you have to wait 7 days to file. I never received the items. SO I tell my DH who has never ebayed about it and he is upset and wants to contact the credit card company to reverse the charge to paypal. I tell him not to , that I need to handle it through ebay. So the seller claims they shipped them a week ago and don't know what happened, but i don't even want the items now if they are fake and want a refund. Seller claims they are real. I wait a couple days, they never come and I tell seller I am going to escalate the case with ebay and they offer a full refund on one of the items. This is not ok with hubby (or me) as we don't have either of the items and even if we did, I don't want potentially fake goods or anything from an auction the ebay has erased. I want the transaction over- as it is no longer through ebay at this point. DH is impatient and also concerned about escalating with ebay as they could rule against us and we are stuck. So he contacts the credit card company and the credit card company reverses the Paypal charge. So of course,later that day, the items come in the mail. They seem as fake as fake can be and poor quality. Ebay then contacts me that they have dropped the filed dispute because the credit card company has notified Paypal of the reversal of the charge, so basically there is nothing to dispute.

OK - if you followed all of that - this is my problem...what do I do with the merchandise? I want to do the right thing and don't want to keep something I didn't pay for. But I don't want to ship back to the shady seller at my cost. I don't think they belong to the seller - as the seller was paid by paypal and I don't think they were charged back. (were they? - they never contacted me about it) I think either the credit card company or paypal took the hit on this one. So do I keep the merchandise? What do I do? I ultimately did not pay for it - but the seller was paid for it- so they shouldn't have it either. Am I wrong about this? Any help is appreciated.

 

[mamacatnv]

I would wait for the seller to contact you and advise you how to return the merchandise to them at their cost.
If you don't hear from them, I would just let it go.

 

[pixiewings71]

Paypal takes the money back from the seller so the merchandise is the seller's. I too would just wait until you hear from the seller and let them know you will return the items but only at their expense. They can send you a prepaid label to attach and return the items.

 

[Imzadi]

So he contacts the credit card company and the credit card company reverses the Paypal charge. So of course,later that day, the items come in the mail. They seem as fake as fake can be and poor quality. Ebay then contacts me that they have dropped the filed dispute because the credit card company has notified Paypal of the reversal of the charge, so basically there is nothing to dispute.

as the seller was paid by paypal and I don't think they were charged back. (were they? - they never contacted me about it) I think either the credit card company or paypal took the hit on this one.

Paypal did contact you back - through eBay. Paypal is now owned by eBay, so basically the same company. PayPal is quite aware of the charge back. Since you originally disputed through eBay, they kept corresponding to you that way, to keep their own records straight on the case.

You might want to notify the Seller that the items have finally arrived. (Did she use Delivery Confirmation?) Ask her if she wants them back and to send you the amount to ship them back. If you state it that way, there is no guesswork that she pays for shipping.

 

[Pamlur]

Edited because I didn't read thoroughly the first time.

 

[Agri]

Wait for the seller to contact you, if they don't within a couple of weeks, do what you want with the items. I would say differently if they weren't fakes. My guess is someone got caught and you were lucky enough to get your money back.

 

[DMRick]

I would have waited for Paypal to rectify it, as part of the contract you have with them and only used my credit card if they didn't. Once they cancel an auction like that Paypal would have easily refunded you, and you wouldn't have that on your credit card reconrd (because it's not worth it for your cc to go after Paypal for the money, so they will eat the lost).
As another person said, wait for her to contact you since she has your email address and you apparently don't have hers (her's wasn't with the items?).

 

[talulabelle]

I would have waited for Paypal to rectify it, as part of the contract you have with them and only used my credit card if they didn't. Once they cancel an auction like that Paypal would have easily refunded you, and you wouldn't have that on your credit card reconrd (because it's not worth it for your cc to go after Paypal for the money, so they will eat the lost).
As another person said, wait for her to contact you since she has your email address and you apparently don't have hers (her's wasn't with the items?).

I do have her contact info now since it went to an ebay dispute and I wrote down her ebay ID. She is not that easy to correspond with. When I was trying to communicate with her she would just respond that the items were authentic and to please be patient. She was not responding to my clear request for a full refund since the auction was deleted from ebay and I didn't care if they were real or not, I wanted the transaction reversed.

I also think that the credit card company ate the loss because my paypal history still shows a payment to the seller, and if the seller took that money out of their acct right away - what can Paypal do? they can't make a charge to the sellers back up credit card or take money out of the sellers connected bank acct. without the sellers direction to do so.

I also wanted to wait for ebay and paypal to settle it, buy my DH ( again, he is not an ebayer and doesn't really get it) went ahead against my wishes and contacted the cc company because that is what he understands (cc acct charged- stop payment from cc company) He did it without me knowing. I would have shipped the items back to seller if paypal had gotten the money back from her - but they didn't. She got payed.

I think I will just go with the previous advice and sit and wait for her to contact me. If she was charged back by Paypal, and wants the items back, I will ship them back at her expense. If she doesn't contact me back- I don't know what I will do with the items...I definately can't sell them on ebay!

 

[LuvSulley]

If you did a chargeback, PayPal will take the money back from the seller. They will either take it from their account if it is funded or put a negative balance there (the seller won't be able to use their account till its paid back). You might not see anything reflecting this on your account though.

 

[3 MEN AND A BOAT]

I agree with your husband, the few times I have heard of friends disputing things they bought through paypal. Paypal seemed content with investigating. You only have about 60 days to dispute a charge on your credit card, and I would have no desire to wait until the the last minute.

As for the fake goods, if they are truely/obviously fakes, and were sold as "genuine" I would just throw-em in the trash. The person will only use them to con someone else.

 

[pixiewings71]

Paypal will absolutely take the money from the sellers account. That's in the TOS you agree to when you sign up with Paypal. I've had it happen with an eBay auction. I won some pins (really neat ones that I really wanted too) and I NEVER got them. I contacted the seller repeatedly and he would just say he shipped them to me, finally I contacted my cc company to dispute the charges because Paypal was not helping me. I contacted the seller to let him know I had elevated the dispute to my cc company and he was very upset with me. I asked what he wanted me to do? It had been almost 2 months with NO resolution from him or Paypal/eBay, if I'd waited much longer my cc company wouldn't have helped me either. either way Paypal took the $$ from his account and put it back to my cc after my cc company contacted Paypal.

 

[pyrxtc]

I would contact the seller and let them know that you turned the fakes over to your local PD since selling fakes is a crime, you are sure she wouldn't want to list them again.

 

[Imzadi]

I don't think the local PD will do anything if the items had crossed state lines.