Ebay Seller Not Responding - Cannot Obtain Contact Details

Sy1

Hello,

I bought a ticket for a Radiohead gig from a seller on ebay at the end of December. As the gig is not until the end of June, at the point of my purchase in December the seller had not received the ticket he had purchased as tickets are not usually released until closer to the date of the actual event.

As we are now into June with the event just over 2 weeks away, I would expect that the seller will have, or will shortly receive the ticket I have purchased. I sent him a message via ebay a few days ago with the original item number, and have not yet received a response.

As the transaction was over 90 days ago, ebay will not allow me to request his contact details.

Having checked his feedback again, he does have a very good positive feedback score, and with feedback in the last month he is clearly still using ebay - so I cannot understand why he is not responding to me - I paid immediately in December using PayPal and he has left me positive feedback.

Does anyone have any suggestions or ideas as to what action I might be able to take if I do not received the ticket I bought, as I have been unable to contact him using the only details I have, and he is not responding?

frivolous_fay

How did you fund your paypal payment?

He was breaking the rules by listing the tickets so far in advance. This is a good example of why ebay have this rule

I would be tempted to try to contact a recent winner of an item from him... if there are some.... and ask them to pass on his details.

Premier_2

I believe concert tickets are the one exception to the 30 day pre-sale limit otherwise imposed.

Sadly, if you don't know the persons address, you are kind of stuck.

eBay & Paypal won't help you. You could try contacting a recent trading partner of the seller to see if they will help, but they may not, especially as the listing showing you as the winner of the item has probably also been removed from ebay.

You only other option I can think of is to buy/win another item from the seller so that you can obtain contact details through ebay. (but that might just be a telephone number!)

soolin

Tickets are not exempted from the 30 day rule. Anyone offering tickets that cannot be delivered within 30 days is in breach of ebay regulations and anyone buying them should accept that their paypal protection expires on day 45.

Hopefully all is well and tickets ar ejust late, but if there are problems then the only recourse, asusming there are no time limits, would be small claims.

Sy1

frivolous_fay wrote: »

How did you fund your paypal payment?

He was breaking the rules by listing the tickets so far in advance. This is a good example of why ebay have this rule

I would be tempted to try to contact a recent winner of an item from him... if there are some.... and ask them to pass on his details.

Thank you for your response!

I funded my PayPal payment with a Direct Debit transfer from my Bank Account. Had I used a Credit Card instead would there have been a possibility of claiming for non-delivered goods from my CC company?

The seller has sold items recently in the last month, but has no items currently for sale - therefore there is a possibility that he may not have seen my ebay message if he has not been logged into ebay.

I have managed to find his email address from the PayPal transaction and have emailed him directly now, and awaiting a response!

Sy1

Premier wrote: »

I believe concert tickets are the one exception to the 30 day pre-sale limit otherwise imposed.

Sadly, if you don't know the persons address, you are kind of stuck.

eBay & Paypal won't help you. You could try contacting a recent trading partner of the seller to see if they will help, but they may not, especially as the listing showing you as the winner of the item has probably also been removed from ebay.

You only other option I can think of is to buy/win another item from the seller so that you can obtain contact details through ebay. (but that might just be a telephone number!)

Thanks for your help. If I don't receive a response to my email to him I will try this to obtain some more contact details.

Sy1

soolin wrote: »

Tickets are not exempted from the 30 day rule. Anyone offering tickets that cannot be delivered within 30 days is in breach of ebay regulations and anyone buying them should accept that their paypal protection expires on day 45.

Hopefully all is well and tickets ar ejust late, but if there are problems then the only recourse, asusming there are no time limits, would be small claims.

Thanks for this info Soolin, I will bear this in mind if I buy tickets through ebay in the future.

The seller's feedback seems good, and almost all of his sales are of tickets, so hopefully all will be fine.

Will keep you posted.....

Premier_2

soolin wrote: »

Tickets are not exempted from the 30 day rule. Anyone offering tickets that cannot be delivered within 30 days is in breach of ebay regulations...

Do you have a link to that policy?

This is the one I was thinking of:

Pre-sale listings are those that describe items for sale that are not in the control or possession of the seller at the time of the listing. These listings generally consist of items that are sold in advance of a delivery date to the public.

eBay permits pre-sale listings only on a limited basis. The seller must guarantee that the item will be available for dispatch within 30 days from the date of purchase (i.e., the day the listing ends or the date the item is purchased from a shop front listing). ...

The exception to this policy pertains to tickets. eBay permits sellers to list tickets that they have bought even if they do not physically have them in their possession as it is common practice now for event organisers to send out their tickets close to events...

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/pre-sale.html

soolin

That policy appears to suggest that you are allowed to list items that you do not have in your possession, like tickets, as long as you can guarantee that you will have them in time to meet the 30 day rule.

Just expand the examples where it says:

Some Examples



The following is permissible:

• You’ll receive delivery of a new video game from the publisher within 39 days. You start a 10-day online auction on eBay, offering these games to buyers. Your online auction clearly states that these games are offered as pre-sale items, but that you will send them to buyers within 30 days of the end of the auction.

The following is not permitted:

• Your competitor will also receive delivery from the same publisher within 39 days. They start an online auction identical to yours, except that they choose a 5-day format. This is a breach of eBay’s Pre-Sale Listings policy because you will not be able to dispatch the item within 30 days after the listing closes.

It also states:

eBay, at its discretion, for special promotional events, may approve an actual manufacturer of an item to sell an item outside the 30-day pre-sale guideline as long as the manufacturer is supplying the item for sale. These exceptions will be made for certain promotions and must be approved prior to listing items for sale on eBay that fit the exception above.

frivolous_fay

Hm. Well they bloody well should be part of the 30 day rule.

Premier_2

Sy1 wrote: »

...Had I used a Credit Card instead would there have been a possibility of claiming for non-delivered goods from my CC company?...

Possibly, but in my opinion people overestimate the protection offered.

Paying by credit card through paypal does not give you any protection under the consumer credit act
http://www.wider-implications.info/case_studies/wi_03.html

So the only hope would be that the credit card company issues a chargeback on paypal. You would only get any money back if the credit card company got it's money back.

Paypal could contest/win a chargeback dispute in which case you would fail to get any refund, or paypal could pay pay up (to maintain goodwill with the credit card company) and pursue you for the loss it incurred due to the chargeback claim.