whats the best way to sort out a transaction that goes wrong?

alooof

about a month ago i won an auction for a phone for £100+, and a few quid delivery

i paid straight away, and got an email back saying she'd gone on holiday for a week (why on earth would you put an auction for an item like that just when you are going away????) alarm bells should have started ringing, as the week delay would give her time to withdraw funds from her account with no questions from me

its now been about 4 weeks, and i've just had one email back in response to my many, asking for my address

i have threatened legal action, criminal and civil (small claims court) to get back the full amount, the court fee and a fair amount in compensation for leaving me without a phone for so long. i have put this figure initially at £50 but am thinking of raising it to £100 - but i am not sure what a 'fair' figure is.

i have filed a dispute with paypal, but even if i win they charge $25 for this.


the contact details i have are the sellers name, town and postcode (so i can narrow it down to the street). will this be enough, or would i be able to request more details via paypal/ebay?


this is the first time i've had a large transaction go pear and am looking for the best way to resolve it! thanks

Baby_J_2

Paypal do not charge the $25 fee.

alooof

when i escalated the dispute to a claim, this paragraph was in the email i got from paypal:

"Our investigation will be made on a best-effort basis and PayPal cannot
guarantee recovery of the funds. If the claim is decided in your favour,
you are eligible to receive $200.00 USD coverage with a $25.00 USD
processing fee. For more information about how PayPal investigates
complaints, please review the User Agreement."


i couldnt find more info in the user agreement, but i did learn that i wont qualify for buyer protection as the seller was less than 50 feedback


how does best-effort basis work? sounds like a cop out to me!

frivolous_fay

There isn't much proper information on the paypal help pages for UK users. The fee they mention is rarely, if ever, applied.

alooof

has anyone else been in a similar position and had any luck sorting it out? thanks

frivolous_fay

The dispute is your first port of call, and can often be successful.

2nd port of call is your credit card company (I hope you used your credit card to fund your payment) as they can often help, in the event that paypal fail.

Give the dispute time, keep an eye on it and see how that pans out.