Naughty seller 27 March 2022 at 6:29PM in Ebay, auctions, car boot sales, post & parcels 17 replies 1.1K views

sandeepamar

I recently bid for a GPS device on eBay and won.  Upon winning I went to pay via checkout and it said payment sent, without me authorising anything.  I was a bit baffled but assumed eBay had taken/made the payment and will invoice me, eBay had gone via my bank (which i thought odd), or there was some new system in place.  In the past I would pay via PayPal.  Anyway, I checked a few hours later and it still said payment sent.   A few days later the item arrives but it's clearly not what was listed, wrong colour, wrong model, used condition (supposed to be new).   I messaged the seller immediately with my complaint and despite them saying no returns on their listing they said yes they will take it back, no apology might I add.  For some reason neither of us could activate a return as you normally can on eBay.  I spoke to eBay and they can't find any payment but they do see that the listing has been triggered as payment received.   I'm certain this seller has intentionally tried to defraud me but now they have no item and no money, karma!?!?!  I will send the item back to them at their cost but they have to wait till i am certain that no payment is pending somewhere.  The seller has told me that they have now issued a missing payment concern with eBay and if I don't return the item they will contact the authorities.  Anyone had a similar experience or any thoughts on how to proceed?  I have spoken to eBay three times and as far as they are concerned, it says payment sent, and as they can't find a payment they may assume it's cash.  The seller must have hit the tab payment received when the auction ended.  Thanks for your time.

Ath_Wat

sandeepamar said:

  I will send the item back to them at their cost but they have to wait till i am certain that no payment is pending somewhere.  The seller has told me that they have now issued a missing payment concern with eBay and if I don't return the item they will contact the authorities. 

I'd just do what you propose there wait a bit and then send it back. All Ebay will do if he contacts them is tell you you have to send it back before you can have a refund, and there's nothing to refund, so so what.

The "authorities" won't be interested.

TripleH

As it's a 'not as described' claim, you should get a label from them and until you do, you don't have to send. Even if a claim is not possible to open.

You shouldn't get into trouble if you show you haven't breached ebays's policy.

JustAnotherSaver

Am I the only one curious how payment was just magically randomly sent?

They "went to pay" but payment was sent.

I've always had to click a few things to send payment. Be it via PayPal or card. Not once have I ever gone to pay but it's already magically been done.

soolin

JustAnotherSaver said:

Am I the only one curious how payment was just magically randomly sent?

They "went to pay" but payment was sent.

I've always had to click a few things to send payment. Be it via PayPal or card. Not once have I ever gone to pay but it's already magically been done.

There is a very simple and obvious explanation for this scenario.

There is no payment, all that has happened is that seller has accidentally clicked the ‘paid’ button . Ton a small screen the links to press to send invoice , despatched or mark as paid are very close together and anyone like me with fumble fingers can easily brush the wrong button.

that explains the whole lot , an INR can’t be opened as buyer hasn’t paid , so there is nothing to claim back.

Ebay CS haven’t helped the matter at all, this is so simple but it shows that the people they hire at CS have no idea how eBay works at all.

It’s just complicated by the fact that OP believes seller to be a scammer, when the seller has just made a mistake, and then complicated further by seller not sending exactly what was paid for.

sandeepamar

Thanks for your comment.  I'd like to point out that I believe the seller deliberately tried to cheat on the eBay listing and here is why:
1.  The item listed and photos displayed did not match what was sent
2.  The wrong model (significant feature difference)
3.  The wrong colour 
4.  Listed as New but clearly Used
5.  The seller stated via message that the item was New after I asked them to confirm the condition.

I think you are right about them hitting the paid button, which they must have done immediately the moment the auction ended as I was online trying to pay two minutes after the auction ended.

sandeepamar

JustAnotherSaver said:

Am I the only one curious how payment was just magically randomly sent?

They "went to pay" but payment was sent.

I've always had to click a few things to send payment. Be it via PayPal or card. Not once have I ever gone to pay but it's already magically been done.

The only explanation is that they hit the paid button which disabled payment options on my side.  I believe that option exists as some people pay cash.  

sandeepamar

soolin said:

JustAnotherSaver said:

Am I the only one curious how payment was just magically randomly sent?

They "went to pay" but payment was sent.

I've always had to click a few things to send payment. Be it via PayPal or card. Not once have I ever gone to pay but it's already magically been done.

There is a very simple and obvious explanation for this scenario.

There is no payment, all that has happened is that seller has accidentally clicked the ‘paid’ button . Ton a small screen the links to press to send invoice , despatched or mark as paid are very close together and anyone like me with fumble fingers can easily brush the wrong button.

that explains the whole lot , an INR can’t be opened as buyer hasn’t paid , so there is nothing to claim back.

Ebay CS haven’t helped the matter at all, this is so simple but it shows that the people they hire at CS have no idea how eBay works at all.

It’s just complicated by the fact that OP believes seller to be a scammer, when the seller has just made a mistake, and then complicated further by seller not sending exactly what was paid for.

The Seller has now informed me that he has opened or requested a 'missing payment case' with eBay.   Do you think this needs be closed before sending the item back?

forgotmyname

Why do I get the feeling they will open a non paying bidder case?  Have you checked your payment methods? did the
funds get taken?

If not then the CS may suggest they open the NPB case, they cannot chase a missing payment that was not actually made.

soolin

sandeepamar said:

soolin said:

JustAnotherSaver said:

Am I the only one curious how payment was just magically randomly sent?

They "went to pay" but payment was sent.

I've always had to click a few things to send payment. Be it via PayPal or card. Not once have I ever gone to pay but it's already magically been done.

There is a very simple and obvious explanation for this scenario.

There is no payment, all that has happened is that seller has accidentally clicked the ‘paid’ button . Ton a small screen the links to press to send invoice , despatched or mark as paid are very close together and anyone like me with fumble fingers can easily brush the wrong button.

that explains the whole lot , an INR can’t be opened as buyer hasn’t paid , so there is nothing to claim back.

Ebay CS haven’t helped the matter at all, this is so simple but it shows that the people they hire at CS have no idea how eBay works at all.

It’s just complicated by the fact that OP believes seller to be a scammer, when the seller has just made a mistake, and then complicated further by seller not sending exactly what was paid for.

The Seller has now informed me that he has opened or requested a 'missing payment case' with eBay.   Do you think this needs be closed before sending the item back?

forgotmyname said:

Why do I get the feeling they will open a non paying bidder case?  Have you checked your payment methods? did the
funds get taken?

If not then the CS may suggest they open the NPB case, they cannot chase a missing payment that was not actually made.

A missing payment case should show up the fact that seller marked it paid himself, however this is ebay so the system probably will just throw out a 'does not compute' error.

If the seller is bright enough to accept they made a mistake and mark it as unpaid then an NPB is possible, but not until seller accepts their own error.

OP you haven't paid so can't keep the item, ask again for a pre paid return label (you can't open a case as you haven't paid) and wait until you get that label before you return anything. Again it relies on seller having the intelligence to realise that if they want to at least get their item back and not take a loss on this- that they need to actually send a label. However, no label equals no return as far as buyer is concerned.

I've just thought of something else - and it has completely slipped my mind- I'll add it as soon as I recall what it was!

sandeepamar

forgotmyname said:

Why do I get the feeling they will open a non paying bidder case?  Have you checked your payment methods? did the
funds get taken?

If not then the CS may suggest they open the NPB case, they cannot chase a missing payment that was not actually made.

I checked all payment methods at the time of the transaction and a few days after, no payments have left.   What I don't want is that I send the item back and suddenly there is a charge or this NPB case you mention.  Any suggestions?  Keep in mind the seller is not trustworthy.