E-bay and Paypal.. Out to screw sellers!!!!! help and advice please

des1978

Looking for some advice.

I recently sold an item on e-bay. It went for a lot of money £827. It's a lot of money to me. I was very careful to be incredibly honest about the item and was quite pleased with the final price.

The buyer paid through paypal that's fine. Paid be e-cheque which i had never hears of till then had to wait a week to get money cleared. Then sent the item fine.

Now 4 weeks later the buyer has opened a case with e-bay to say the item is not as expected. I had as i said been very careful to describe the item honestly and had even been contacted to send further detailed pictures of the item for the buyer to view. This i did from my googlemail account as i could send the photos in a much larger file format.

Now my problems arrive: my e-bay account is still working fine, my paypal account has had a hold placed on the money £827 which is not in the account any more so i'am now minus £827 and can not use my paypal account. I spoke to paypal who tried to tell me i could still use the account until i pointed out that i had tried but it wanted the money owing plus the money for 2 other items i was paying for. Had to get my husband to pay in the end.
Now e-bay and paypal say they are different companies so what is going on?? how can they do this??
And when i asked dhow to make a formal complaint i was told i couldn't. Paypal don't have a complaints department and are apparently not regulated by any one. Does any one know if this is true or how i can complain because as far as i can see i am the one who has played by the rules and because some one doesn't like what they got i am the one getting screwed over, yet the buyer is allowed to carry on as normal. I now have to prove my listings and everything were correct ( which i can).

Does any one have any advice????

Thank you for listening to the rantings of a crazy women but e-bay and paypal can do this to you.

sgh1976

In this case I think all you can do is request the item back and give the refund and then hope it sells for a similar amount upon relisting it.

hermum

The chances are the buyer will win the case & will have to return the item to you.
If they're saying that there's a problem with it & you put that in the listing then it may be worth giving ebay a call & telling them that you had described whatever it is they're disputing.

FuzzyMoose

Pal Pal are an electronic money firm and as such most defiately ARE regulated. The problem comes from the fact that they are incorporated in Luxemburg rather than the UK (I think)

As they are providing services in the UK the FSA and FOS may have some jurisdiction but I think overall it may come down their local regulator. Check with the FOS to see if they will accept complaints or not. If not they should hopefully be able to tell you who will.

gavjbrown

The buyer usually wins a SNAD so you will almost likely have to accept it back and refund. Even though this is a large amount of money it will be treated no different to a £1 SNAD. I cant see any point in checking out regulators.

freddysmith

The Buyer knows how to get their money back because they don't want the item anymore. It's a Sellers nightmare and happens alot according to this forum.
Paypal will refund the Buyer when the item is shown as returned. Buyer & Seller will be out of pocket and Seller may well receive a neg and low stars.

des1978

what i'm arguing with e-bay is that the item i sold was a diamond ring. As i said i was honest about the details. I'm not a dealer in jewelry and it was my engagement ring. The buyer is now saying that two of the prongs holding the stone are slightly closer than the others. My argument is that the buyer had detailed photos of the item prior to purchase.
Personally I think they need the cash back instead of the ring or have tried to sell it on and found no one buying at the moment.

amcluesent

This is tricky. YOu could offer a partial refund (£50?) to cover a jeweller adjusting the set.

TBH, if the buyer is a scammer, you risk getting a piece of glass back.

suburbanwifey

I think its disgusting that if the buyer sends back just a piece of glass then they will be refunded and get to keep the ring.

This is why I won't sell anything of great value on eBay, its all on the side of the buyer who can and do get away with things like this often!

des1978

I have just had a response from the buyer in the resolution center on e-bay. She now states that the ring is not the same as on the certificate that comes with the ring. And that a jeweler somewhere reckons there is a crack inside of the diamond which i have never heard of. And your right amcluesent my fear is exactly that i either wont get it back or it has been messed with and i get it back broken or with a piece of glass in it. Fortunately i know every mark and inclusion in the stone but that's little comfort if i don't get it back. I might post the resolution center messages on here see what you think!

des1978

The Case so far.
The conversation in the resolution center between me and my buyer: From the beginning


The buyer opened a case: Item doesn't match the description
Details provided by the buyer:
The buyer said the item doesn't match your description
The buyer has tried contacting you
The buyer paid on 01 Nov, 2011
The buyer contacted you through email.

More comments: The seller is a friendly lady, we had good communication before i received the ring. The ring looked shiny and pretty at the beginning, however soon when i paid more attention to the details i found out that few prong of the ring are slightly disordered, the distance between two of them is much more closer than the rest others. That makes such an expensive ring look quite weird, and of course..suspicious too (like the diamond has been removed once for some reasons). I immediately wrote a message to the seller to ask the reason, but weeks later even till now still didn't get any reply. I tried to bring the ring to few of the local jewellery shops to ask them fix it for me, unfortunately they all said they're not able to do it as in that case they had to remove the whole prong together with the diamond itself, and i could only go to see a specialist diamond jewellery maker to get it fixed, but which will be very costly!! I am very disappointed now, there are many sellers on ebay sell diamond rings but i bought this one from this seller because i've been informed by the listing that the ring had a formal certificate and was in "immaculate condition"! I would not bid such big amount money for it if i knew the condition of the ring was like this! I hope the seller could let me know the reason and refund me £100 to fix the ring by a specialist, or i also don't mind to return it back and get the full refund. thanks.
The buyer did not give permission to share a phone number with you.
The item is wrong
Additional information:
"few prong of the ring are slightly disordered, the distance between two of them is much more closer than the rest others."
The buyer wanted:
The buyer prefers to return the item in exchange for a full refund.
Transaction information:
A temporary hold has been placed on the funds associated with this transaction whilst you and the buyer work to resolve this case. View PayPal transaction


Your message to the buyer:
"Hi, In response to the case you have opened with the resolution center. I never received any message telling me there was a problem with the item. The ring was sold as used. No where in the listing have ever said the item was in immaculate condition. I said the wooden box was in immaculate condition. The ring does have a formal certificate and this was sent with the item. I have no idea about the prongs on the ring it has never had any work done on it for any reason. The item was sold as I had bought it. I was also contacted to e-mail further more detailed pictures of the ring to the buyer which I did and I still have the e-mails on file if required this shows the ring from the top and shows clearly the placement of these prongs. If the buyer has not paid full attention to the details of the listing and the additional photos of the item I should not be made responsible for this. "

The buyer has responded to you.

Buyer's message:
"Hi, firstly i sent you a message to ask about the prongs problem on 10th Nov,you can check it out in your message box. And all i could see from the pretty pics you sent to me was how nice the ring is! As a ebay seller, that is your responsibility to describe your items clearly and accurately, especially an expensive item like this, rather than just sending some pics and letting buyers find problems out themselves!But in your listing you never mentioned anything about the prongs problem,and it's easy to see it once you see the ring in real so i don't think you never really noticed it! Furthermore,i brought the ring to see a diamond specialist,he already checked and confimed that beside the natural inclusions there's also a crack inside the diamond,so it's definitly not as good condition as stated on the certificate!With the weird placement of prongs i couldn't help but feel suspicious that the diamond's not the same one as stated on the certificate! So i'm sorry but i need to refund it!"

You have responded to the buyer.

Your message to the buyer:
"Hi, The ring has been sold as i bought it. I have not been made aware or noticed any problem with the prongs. You are the first person to ever mention anything. Therefore the description given was 100 0/0 accurate. So there are no problems to list in the advert. I also had previously taken the ring to 3 different jewelers 2 of which deal with diamonds. Both confirmed the stone and no mention of a crack on the inside of the stone. I also had agi confirm the certificate and clarify the stones grading for me which they did. As listed in the advert agi are also willing to do up to date valuations on their stones. I believe that you need the refund and to return the item because you need the money not the ring. Or that you thought you could sell the ring on at a much larger price and in todays economic climate are having problems doing this so you are creating a problem to make a return easier. I listed the item honestly. I was not aware of any problems with the ring and i still don't believe there are any. The additional pictures i sent you were very clear close ups of the ring and in a large picture format. So you had all the information that i could give. e-bay have informed me that this case will be escalated on the 7th of December when a customer service person will be able to review the case. As we can not come to an agreement i welcome this option. I however do not want the ring back as i have the feeling it may very well have been tampered with while in your care. I am not a jewelry expert I do not deal in diamonds i'am a mother who sold her engagement ring as i needed extra cash."