Seller doesn't own item?

SPONGEBOB

Hi all

My boyfriend won and paid for an item on the 3rd September and by the 13 September he hadn't recieved it even though it was supposed to be 1st class postage.So he sent the seller a message asking whether they had posted it yet as he really needed the item for the weekend but he got no reply. He sent another message on the 15th September asking the same question but still no reply grrrrrrrrrr!
Anyway by the 19th September he opened a dispute via paypal......... and today he recieved a message from the seller saying this


Firstly i would like to sincerely apologise for any inconvenience this has caused you. This item was listed on ebay without my consent. I do not own this item. Hopefully security will not be an issue for now on. Secondly, how do i refund you the money? once i know how, this will be carried out immediately!
again, i send my apologies!

Just wondering if anyone has come across anything similar? and what to do about it?

Badger_Lady

Sounds to me like he's just a bit novice and 'as been 'acked.

Can you just explain the dispute process to him, get your refund and go home?

soolin

Tell seller to log into the paypal account and refund money in full. If they don't do that within 24 hours open a full paypal (not ebay!) chargeback. Then once you have your refund leave feedback to warn other potential buyers that seller does not have control of their own account.

Somehting like 'seller refused to sell as alledgedly did not list item'

Yes it is harsh, but I don't see why buyers should suffer just because a seller doesn't know how to stay safe online. Anyway, why wait so long to get back to you and offer a refund? Sounds very suspicious to me.

SPONGEBOB

Thanks for the advice just sent a message to the seller and told him to log into his paypal account and refund money asap.Hopefully he will and i am definetly going to leave negative feedback.This is the first time we have had any problem with an ebay seller so have never had to open a dispute before(bit of a novice myself) as we only ever buy off ebay not sell.

sarahg1969

SPONGEBOB wrote: »

Thanks for the advice just sent a message to the seller and told him to log into his paypal account and refund money asap.Hopefully he will and i am definetly going to leave negative feedback.This is the first time we have had any problem with an ebay seller so have never had to open a dispute before(bit of a novice myself) as we only ever buy off ebay not sell.

Leaving negative feedback might be a little harsh. Is he a regular seller? Has there been much activity on his account recently? He might not even have known it had been listed, or may not have been able to access his account if it had been hacked. Does he have a lot of feedback?

SPONGEBOB

Just had a look at his feedback and he hasn't sold anything since feb 11 and hasn't got anymore items for sale. But since i've replied to his message he hasn't yet refunded us or replied back. Maybe i'm being a little impatient but his communication is pretty poor.
How long should i wait for refund before escalating the claim?

soolin

SPONGEBOB wrote: »

Just had a look at his feedback and he hasn't sold anything since feb 11 and hasn't got anymore items for sale. But since i've replied to his message he hasn't yet refunded us or replied back. Maybe i'm being a little impatient but his communication is pretty poor.
How long should i wait for refund before escalating the claim?

I'd escalate immediately, the seller obviously isn't bothered. I'm sure if any of us had had issues we would have been falling over ourselves to get the buyer sorted out.

sarahg1969

SPONGEBOB wrote: »

Just had a look at his feedback and he hasn't sold anything since feb 11 and hasn't got anymore items for sale. But since i've replied to his message he hasn't yet refunded us or replied back. Maybe i'm being a little impatient but his communication is pretty poor.
How long should i wait for refund before escalating the claim?

How long since you emailed him with details of how to do the refund? Hours or days or weeks? He may be at work? Or away?

bris

sarahg1969 wrote: »

Leaving negative feedback might be a little harsh. Is he a regular seller? Has there been much activity on his account recently? He might not even have known it had been listed, or may not have been able to access his account if it had been hacked. Does he have a lot of feedback?

Or he may just not be happy with the price he got for it and wants to renegue on the sale. Make sure you report him as a NPS and leave the neg.

sarahg1969

bris wrote: »

Or he may just not be happy with the price he got for it and wants to renegue on the sale. Make sure you report him as a NPS and leave the neg.

You are assuming that he's lying about the listing? How do you know?

soolin

sarahg1969 wrote: »

You are assuming that he's lying about the listing? How do you know?

If seller really had been hacked I'm sure he would be a great deal more concerned about it than it appears. You get hacked- someone has access to your ebay/paypal and email accounts and you don't keep on top of it once you realise what is going on? Also if seller really had been hacked he wouldn't have the money to refund- it would be a very daft scammer who allowed the money to go to the original account owner.

I think buyers are fed up of all the excuses now- if the seller has been hacked then it is really nothing to do with the buyer.