Not received goods won on Ebay (4 weeks ago) and paid by cheque - Help!

jolly-jen

I won an item from a new seller on Ebay (2 feedbacks) on 1st April and have still not received it. Apparently the seller was on hols for a couple of weeks and only has access to computer at work, which allowed for part of the delay. I eventually got their telephone no. and spoke to them to find out what was going on. They informed me that they wanted to send the parcel by recordered delivery in case it got lost and they had just found out that this was going to cost more than the price of the auction (£20) so did I want my money back. Like a fool I said no, just send it by parcel post as I had always used this service and never had any probs. Apparently it was sent out 2 weeks ago but I have still not received it. I e-mailed them earler in the week to double-check it had been sent and was told that it was. I then e-mailed them the next day to say that after speaking with the PO it seems the parcel must have got lost, and they should have proof of posting which enables them to claim up to £30. They have not returned my e-mails since or any message that I have left on their answering service. What do I do now! I cannot prove if parcel was sent or not, (they did sound like they were being truthful!), but have waited nearly 6 weeks and have still not got anything! Please someone help me!

soolin

Jolly-Jen I'm not sure there is anything now that I can suggest to help you.

You can try putting in a non performing seller report to ebay, although you might be late on the time frame for that, I'm not sure. Even that alert won't help you get your money back.

A new user only taking cheques is something to be avoided, and as for sounding sympathetic, scammers are the worlds best talkers, that's how they succeed, if they didn't sound 'right' people wouldn't fall for their patter. This might just be an innocent seller and a lost parcel, but then why list something and claim to be away on holiday for two weeks?

Parcels can take weeks to arrive, I had one once take 6 weeks but that was unusual. I am more concerned that the seller has stopped communicating with you. Check out their recent feedback, are they still selling, have they any recent neutrals or negs for non delivery?

I think though you may find yourself out of pocket by £20.

Soo

Tojo_Ralph

It may sound like a daft question, but have you been to the Post Office and asked if there is a parcel sitting there for you?

I know in this instance it may not be the case, but from experience, 8 out of 10 of the "missing" parcels I've sent have been found sitting in the local Post Office. All too often posties attempt delivery, fail to do so, and fail to leave a card advising the recipient that this is the case.

apprentice_tycoon

Tojo_Ralph wrote:

It may sound like a daft question, but have you been to the Post Office and asked if there is a parcel sitting there for you?

I know in this instance it may not be the case, but from experience, 8 out of 10 of the "missing" parcels I've sent have been found sitting in the local Post Office. All too often posties attempt delivery, fail to do so, and fail to leave a card advising the recipient that this is the case.

Exactly - I have had this too - the buyer eventualy said that the card from the postie had been put in the junk mail stack of rubbish and wasn't seen or read

magoogy

do a chargeback on ebay and use paypal next time....

bridiej

Can you ask the seller for proof of postage? Usually the post office will give him a receipt showing he paid for the parcel, OK may not be your parcel but may put your mind at rest a bit.

soolin

magoogy wrote:

do a chargeback on ebay and use paypal next time....

You can't do a chargeback through ebay as they were not involved with the payment at all. The word chargeback implies they are somehow responsible for transferring payments.

The only reason chargebacks can be made against paypal is because payments go via them and can be seen to have been made.

Soo

soolin

bridiej wrote:

Can you ask the seller for proof of postage? Usually the post office will give him a receipt showing he paid for the parcel, OK may not be your parcel but may put your mind at rest a bit.

The trouble is that the OP has said that the seller isn't responding to emails any more. This could either mean that the seller is 'bad' or possibly more likely he feels there is nothing more that can be said as he believes the parcel is lost.

The seller probably realises the money is safe as it was a cheque payment, so he has no worries about getting hit wth a paypal chargeback.

The fact that the OP said that he was asked for more money to pay for recorded delivery which he declined to do, also worries me. It is a strange thing for a seller to do unless he thought that the OP was going to pay by paypal and therefore needed to protect himself against a chargeback. Why suddenly ask for extra postage to send recorded once he knew the buyer was paying by cheque and therefore knew the buyer didn't have paypal protection?

It just strikes me all as odd.

Soo