Need help with an Ebay auction!

naughty_10382

Bear with me, this could get a little long, but I'm really in need of help!

On Monday, I won an iPhone on Ebay and paid (£220 plus £5 postage) for it within a few hours of winning, via Paypal. I added a credit card that night so I could pay for it as I don't get paid for a week or so.

Today, i happened to notice i had a message from the seller, which said

You have won the bid for the I phone im selling and i have received notification that payment has been received from paypal. I was going to post item today which has alarmed me from e bay stating that this may be a suspicious transaction and that i should refrain from sending the item !!! i will forward you the e mail so you can see what has been said. If you are still interested in the purchase of the phone then i would be prepared to do it on a cash on collection basis. Therefore both parties are secure in the knowledge of a safe deal. If you would like to do this then please let me know asap so that we can arrange the collection. I understand that you are in Kent. Im In essex so if you were to collect i would be happy to let it go for £210. in lieu of the fuel used.
Let me know your thoughts.

and the forwarded message from ebay was

Dear [my ebay user name]

eBay sent this message to [seller]
Your registered name is included to help confirm this message originated from eBay. Learn more.
MC098 FIB NOTICE: Suspicious Bidder Alert - item #290315956649 [this is the correct item number for the iphone I won]

Dear xxxxx ,

Our records show that member xxxxx [this was NOT my ebay username] recently won one of your items. We'd like to let you know that eBay has cancelled all this member's bids due to issues relating to their account.

As the buyer is no longer a registered user, you are no longer obliged to complete the sale. We recommend that you don't post the item or respond to further emails from the buyer.

If someone asks you to continue with the sale outside of the eBay platform, we strongly recommend you ignore the request. Transactions completed outside of eBay aren't protected by our Feedback system.

Here's what you should do now:

If you have already posted the item, we suggest you take steps to confirm the payment went through an (message ends here)

So I'm already a little confused. The message she forwarded me has the same item number as the item i have won, but the message they sent her has a different member's username.

I replied, quoting the message ebay had sent her, and said

Dear [seller],

"Our records show that member [who is not me] recently won one of your items."

This is not me! Is this the only email you have received or did you mean to send a different one?

Did paypal [I meant ebay:o] give the reason they think my payment is suspicious?

Thanks

I've checked my messages when i returned home, and she has replied, saying

Im sorry for any confusion. e- bay sent me the e mail you have got a copy of stating that they believed the transaction was suspicious. I have tried contacting them asking as to why ? but with no satisfactory answer. I appreciate that you feel alarmed by this as do i.

I am stuck as to what to do as i do not wish to offend you in any way but have never had a warning from e bay before about a transaction. I can see payment has been made to paypal.... but do not know if it will go through once package sent ?

My only feeling to resolve the matter was to meet and do the deal so that both parties would be happy.

Please accept my apologies but do not think im putting obstacles up. i am just trying to protect my interests as well as yours .

I've checked my Paypal account, it says the transation is complete. Does this mean it's cleared to her Paypal account, and all she would have to do would be collect it (or whatever you do... )

So my questions are:

1) Any idea why ebay has told her the transaction may be suspicious?
2) Should I be wary myself, especially since now she wants me to travel to get it, albeit for a reduced price?
3) Can it be resolved simply by her taking the money from Paypal?
4) Would ebay think it is suspicious as my Paypal address is unverified? Do they share the info like that? (Delivery address and cc address are different, I assume this is why it is unverified)

Looking at her feedback, it seems she has never sold anything on ebay (all her feedback is as a buyer) so could it just be she has no idea?

Thank you to all who have managed to trawl through my rambling and thanks in advance to anyone who can help me.

Do ebay have a phone number so i could call and see if they could help? ETA - just found a number for them.

soolin

It looks like there was another bidder, probably a 419 scammer and the seller has muddled up the alert on that buyer with you.

You do not have to cancel the paypal payment and pay cash on collection and the seller is leaving herself open to real problems by not sending you your phone. However, I can't see anyway of you dealing with a seller who doesn't understand what is happening here, could you suggest maybe that she contacts Live help and gets some help?

Snoopy_rules

Non of this sellers feedback is for items sold only items purchased therefore they are going to be cautious. Would you be willing to collect? I think they may be trying to avoid high paypal fees. Is your paypal address and your ebay address the same? I don't think the seller is protected if they ship to an unconfirmed address.

soolin

Snoopy_rules wrote: »

Non of this sellers feedback is for items sold only items purchased therefore they are going to be cautious. Would you be willing to collect? I think they may be trying to avoid high paypal fees. Is your paypal address and your ebay address the same? I don't think the seller is protected if they ship to an unconfirmed address.

Let them be cautious by all means but they will have their career on ebay ended if they don't get up to date with the rules pretty smartish.

Why should the buyer have to travel to collect an item which they bought on the asusmption it would be posted to them?

Also quick sale, no previous selling history, the wrong postage method offered and a stock photo, hmm if it wasn't for the fact that seller suggested cash on collection I would have marked this as a potential scam.

naughty_10382

update:

Sent a message to seller earlier, again stating the person named in her email was not me. Told her my paypal said it had completed. Said

"I'm hoping we can resolve this as I cannot travel to collect the item right now. I understand you may be being cautious, and I have contacted ebay myself to try to sort this out. Did you know they have a live chat help - maybe you'd get a satifactory response from them?

Look forward to hearing from you."

And I've received this back...

i will forward the phone via royal mail tomorrow. If you would be so kind as to leave positive feedback as soon as it arrives then paypal will release the funds to me. That way i will know that you have received the phone and that you have kept your word.
I hope this is satisfactory to you ?

So it seems I will have my phone! I didn't realised paypal released (or didn't) funds based on positive feedback... :rolleyes: but if it'll make her happy... :rotfl:

thanks for the replies above

soolin

In that case seller is in a muddle. She has had the payment held under the new 21 day rules, that will probably have confused the issue.

Once you get the phone and have checked it out thoroughly and are happy leave the seller positive feedback and she will get her funds.