£180 bank transfer,item never arrived,any way to get money back ?

Peakma

My brother bought something on Ebay for £180,and had to pay via bank transfer.The seller says he posted the item, but it never arrived.Is there anything he can do to get his money back, if so is there a time limit to take action ? Thanks.

Hintza

Hope your brother has some big friends.


But before that; ask the seller for the tracking details which for that amount of money he will have if he is genuine????

Start gathering as much information as you can about the guy report to EBay and do what they tell you. This might be hard and I am not sure how EBay will respond.

Might need to get police involved, but they probably won't be interested.

Comes back to big mates who like the New York Yankees!!!

Peakma

I know this should and probably is obvious, but how do you go about complaining to ebay ?

masonic

Peakma wrote:

I know this should and probably is obvious, but how do you go about complaining to ebay ?

It is normally done from here.

soolin

From a buying point of view bank transfers are terrible, you have no way of getting your money back via normal means at all. The problem lies with the fact that bank transfers are to some extent anonymous, all you have is a transfer made to a bank account in a certain name, that bank account might not even be the same person as the ebay seller.

However, there is one hope and that is a complaint through the ebay system as others have already suggested. There is an admin fee of £15 and an upper claim limit of (I Think) £105? (Someone else will know that limit and will advise you later). I've never had to do one as I only buy using paypal, but I undersatnd it can take a while and you need to keep on at ebay to see how things are progressing.

As a seller bank transfers are wonderful, but as a buyer, be very very cautious and think carefully before buying something that requires that payment method.

Soo

bleugh

..........the police won't want to know as it's a breach of contract / a civil matter,
all the police will say is that 'we're not a debt collection agency'

if you have his postal address, then the best thing you can do is to file a small claim

you can do it online at

https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/csmco2/index.jsp

it costs you £30 but, should you get the money back, he has to pay that £30,
if he doesnt pay up, he'll get a County Court Judgement (CCJ) that'll make him struggle to get cheap credit

failing that, you could turn up at his house with some friends round the corner, and ask politley for the goods/proof of post/refund, if you can it's advisable to record the meeting (without his knowledge is pref), then you can, 'in theory' approach the police as i believe it may become a legal matter if he's witholding goods that are paid for

whats the guys feedback like?

Bossyboots

bleugh wrote:

..........the police won't want to know as it's a breach of contract / a civil matter,
all the police will say is that 'we're not a debt collection agency'

It may also be obtaining goods by deception which IS a criminal offence although I agree it would not be one given much priority. The intention never to supply the goods will be impossible to prove unless this "seller" does this on a regular basis, in which case reporting it to e-bay is stil the first port of call.

ben500

One option might be to do a check on his address on ebay and compare with a local map, send him an email stating you have a brother,cousin,uncle Jolly Green Giant who lives in Coronation St (any street within a block or two of his address) and can you make arrangements for him to call around and discuss the matter with him, if he is trying to screw you the distance between yourselves will play a good deal on his reaction and smugness, finding out that you have closed that distance may just make him more accomodating in your refund or the despatch of your product.

Bossyboots

ben500 wrote:

One option might be to do a check on his address on ebay and compare with a local map, send him an email stating you have a brother,cousin,uncle Jolly Green Giant who lives in Coronation St (any street within a block or two of his address) and can you make arrangements for him to call around and discuss the matter with him, if he is trying to screw you the distance between yourselves will play a good deal on his reaction and smugness, finding out that you have closed that distance may just make him more accomodating in your refund or the despatch of your product.

Providing of course that he doesn't perceive this as a threat and call the police himself.