Returning an item to the seller

it'smeinit

:mad: Hi, I am new to this so please forgive me if I make a mistake. I won the bidding for a designer handbag on ebay and payed for it by paypal. After a week it haden't arrived. I emailed the seller and she said she would not be sending it untill she had withdrawn my payment from her paypal account.
The bag did finaly arrive after about 10 days. it was a fake! a poor one at that, It was made of compressed cardbord.
I emailed the seller letting her know that I was not happy. The quality of the bag was so poor, but got no response.
I loged a dispute with paypal, they investigated my claim and have asked me to return the bag to the seller. But it has to be returned using an online postal Tracking service. I have to pay for the return postage.
Can anyone tell me the best online tracking service and what it would likely cost? Pay pal will also charge me around £15.00 admin charge if iam lucky enought to get anything back from her. It will probably be lost in cost and charges. The bag cost £39 with p&p.
Any advice would be much appreciated.

frivolous_fay

Hello,

Yes, you'll have to return the item - and definitely send it trackable. Recorded delivery (about 66p) insures for up to £32 - so decide whether to use it based on how much you paid for postage. If you paid more than £32 before postage, use Special delivery. (costs a few quid extra... it varies depending on the weight) Special delivery might be a wiser choice in this case, as it's a dispute situation, and Recorded isn't trackable until it is signed for.

It's very bad practice not to despatch goods until you've withdrawn money from paypal. Presumably this means you'll be waiting a while for your refund too! Don't worry about the admin charge - this is rarely enforced as far as I've heard.

Once you have your refund, make sure you report her for selling fakes - and I'd strongly suggest leaving feedback that reflects the shoddy, illegal goods she sells.

it'smeinit

Thanks.
Would Recorded Delivery be trackable online. That's what they have asked for?

frivolous_fay

It's only trackable online when it has been signed for. Ie - you can't track where it is until it's got there.

More info here:

https://www.paypal.com/uk/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_help-ext&nodeid=99937&leafid=95937&prior_transaction_id=237833&answer_id=16777216

https://www.paypal.com/uk/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_help-ext&eloc=5496&loc=5485&unique_id=1716517&source_page=_home&flow=

it'smeinit

Thank you, looks like recorded delivery will be best then. Any idea what the chance of getting my money back from the seller. Can she close her paypal account so she does not have to pay me, She only has feed back for 6 items

frivolous_fay

If the money is in her account, I think it will have been frozen.

If there wasn't any money in there when you filed ths dispute, you may be out of luck.

Hopefully you funded your payment with a credit card, and can claim your money back through them if necessary.

neilwoods

If you win dispute, paypal will pay you and take money out of her account, and if no money in account, then her account will go into the red, so she will then owe paypal.

Only times i have had heard of sellers withdrawing money from account before posting is if they know there product is dodgy.

it'smeinit

Yes, I was concerned that it was a fake when she said she would not post it until the funds cleared her account. But by that time there was not a lot that I could do. She has items listed at the moment. If they are paid for by paypal, could my refund be taken from that?

frivolous_fay

neilwoods wrote:

Only times i have had heard of sellers withdrawing money from account before posting is if they know there product is dodgy.

Equally, it's not completely surprising behaviour from a newbie.

Could be a combination of the two

Irezumi_Muzan

neilwoods wrote:

If you win dispute, paypal will pay you and take money out of her account, and if no money in account, then her account will go into the red, so she will then owe paypal.

I've been wondering about this... I had an item not show up and I opened a dispute through Paypal and they found in my favour but as the seller had no money in his account, Paypal told me they could not refund and the case was closed. This happened about 6 months ago. Has it changed recently?

neilwoods

Cant say i have read all the t&c but that is what i thought would happen, plus have read a few posts on here saying paypal took money out of there account after a dispute even though they did not have any money in account and then debt collectors were called in to retrieve money.