Seller says no paypal funds for refund

Heliflyguy

Morning

A pottery money box arrived smashed to pieces yesterday, so I contacted the seller last night, packing was hopeless.
They have replied saying that I will have to wait 7 days for a refund due to them having no funds available in their paypal account, or they can send a cheque (no thanks) and that it was well packed
I will supply a photo for them later, they can take it up with their shipper Collect plus.
Is this the only option for the seller or should I just raise the problem via Ebay and get the refund that way.
Not having much joy with sellers at the moment, a refurbished laptop from a well known Ebay outlet arrived with more scratches than a cats scratching post so that had to go back.

soolin

It is really up to you, you have plenty of time to get a refund so either wait the 7 days or open a case today and possibly have to wait longer for it to be sorted out.

Heliflyguy

Thanks soolin I have been fortunate with Ebay sellers, up to now and these have been the first problems encountered, I have never had to get a refund before.
Still not happy to have to wait, seller should have kept funds in thier account, its a pretty cut and dry case, would it take as long via ebay?

soolin

Heliflyguy wrote: »

Thanks soolin I have been fortunate with Ebay sellers, up to now and these have been the first problems encountered, I have never had to get a refund before.
Still not happy to have to wait, seller should have kept funds in thier account, its a pretty cut and dry case, would it take as long via ebay?

ebay can take a couple of weeks.

If it was me I would see whether the seller is still actively selling, if he isn't then he may well have to wait a few days to get funds back into this account If he is still actively selling then he is getting funds in and can use those to refund you- in which case I would insist on a refund immediately. If you open a case ebay will expect you to return the damaged goods before you get a refund anyway- so if seller is wiiling to refund without getting the goods back that is a better solution.

If he has a nil balance and he refunds then the refund will go through but will not clear with you for quite a few days.

However make sure you are back at him on day 7 asking for that refund and open a case if he goes quiet before then.

Lastly, if he wants photos then do assist, he may also want th epackaing as well but let him pay for the return postage. Collect plus do not insure glass and china so he is not going to be able ot make a claim anyway, but I wouldn't worry about that.

Mistral001

I would not be too suspicious of this. It is not straight-forward to put funds into a Paypal account. In fact I am not sure how it is done unless you get it from another Paypal account so 7 days is not really a long time to wait as they are probably waiting for other items to be sold on ebay to boost their Paypal balance.

Heliflyguy

Thanks soolin your a star!
...Just remembered goofbay looks like this seller has done approx £57.69 worth of sales since 16/11 including mine...must be spending it as fast as its coming in.
My refund is just over £5.

Meadows

I had to wait for a refund once as the seller had used all their funds and had to transfer the money to their account.
You can wait or open a dispute up to you. Bare in mind a cheque can take several days to clear (so it won't bounce back out of the account).

Crowqueen

It sounds a reasonable request - I'd follow Soo's advice.

While personally I wouldn't turn down a cheque point-blank, it would realistically take just as long to come/be banked/clear anyway.

Refunds can be difficult to action - much more difficult than a straight payment. Whilst I believe they can now be actioned through the transaction without money in the account, the money has to come from somewhere and that is what causes a delay. Also be aware that refunds go back to the source of the funding so it might not show in your Paypal account if you didn't use a balance to fund it.

Keeping your seller on-side is also important, including any request for photos and packaging. It's probably a good sign they have immediately agreed to refund though, rather than obfuscating about 'talking to the courier' or 'I packed it well so it can't have arrived broken' or demanding you send the broken pieces back etc.

Heliflyguy

I will reply to them tonight and accept the 7 day wait.
Thank you all for the advice.

forgotmyname

Won't the money automatically come out of their linked bank account or credit card when they refund?

soolin

forgotmyname wrote: »

Won't the money automatically come out of their linked bank account or credit card when they refund?

No, it sort of works similar to an excheque the refund shows as being made by seller but does not clear in buyers account until PayPal have the funds available from sellers account.