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Advice on buyer not responding

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So back to the bike. Is the guy going to return it to you? Have you contacted him? If this how eBay does it’s thing let’s all go buy killer prewar stuff and keep it and demand a refund. Free stuff! Nope just joking. Middle finger=eBay
I contacted him and no answer. I found the local PD in his town and told him I was going to call today if he doesn't answer by noon.

And on the money front, I just checked and there is a pending eBay trans to pull the money. So seems like their process is a bit delayed when they pull.
 
I believe that the seller might have to pay for the return shipping.

Once I received the wrong item and the seller sent me a prepaid shipping envelope from one of the private entities that collaborated with the USPS; I packed the item and dropped it off at the post office.

Not sure how that works with large bicycle boxes?
It depends on the sale. You can offer free returns, but the buyer pays that. I know now to add that but if they claim it is defective the seller still has to pay so basically this loop hole for buyers to claim it is defective is how sellers are scammed.

So I contacted the seller and asked when can FedEx come to pick it up, I'll send you the label. Crickets....
 
You can have eBay call you...it's tough to find, but it's there...you click a button, and eBay will call you back within minutes...you need to speak to THEM about this.....buyer doesn't keep the $$ and the item.....you may have to send him a shipping label...eBay will walk you thru that.....it's kind of a pain, but this is resolvable.......and if the buyer DOES NOT SHIP THE ITEM BACK, you get the $$.....
 
I contacted him and no answer. I found the local PD in his town and told him I was going to call today if he doesn't answer by noon.
Always an option.
I once sent a guy $50 for a bike frame, which he never bother to send me.
Numerous emails went unanswered, two months go by.
EBay "Service" was no help in the matter either.
Paid by Paypal, so I didn't have the guy's address or phone number.
Did a little internet sleuthing based on his name and the town EBay listed as "shipping from".

Couldn't find his home address but found out he worked as an assistant in his Church office.
Called him there one day, and boy, was he pissed!!
I told him - get off your arse and send me what I paid for and I promise you will never hear from me again.
Now, he started responding to my emails.
Then he gave me a bunch of crud about calling him at work and how I am being a jerk over a measly $50.
I replied "Hey, if you think I'm the bad guy here, you've got another think coming."
He refunded me in Paypal one day later.
 
You can have eBay call you...it's tough to find, but it's there...you click a button, and eBay will call you back within minutes...you need to speak to THEM about this.....buyer doesn't keep the $$ and the item.....you may have to send him a shipping label...eBay will walk you thru that.....it's kind of a pain, but this is resolvable.......and if the buyer DOES NOT SHIP THE ITEM BACK, you get the $$.....

i actually called the police in his town and talked to the officer for like 15mins and he said he would goto the house to speak to him. Which i thought was nice.

for the life of me i could not find that button to call me back! i emailed them and asked them. Ill try it again
 
Always an option.
I once sent a guy $50 for a bike frame, which he never bother to send me.
Numerous emails went unanswered, two months go by.
EBay "Service" was no help in the matter either.
Paid by Paypal, so I didn't have the guy's address or phone number.
Did a little internet sleuthing based on his name and the town EBay listed as "shipping from".

Couldn't find his home address but found out he worked as an assistant in his Church office.
Called him there one day, and boy, was he pissed!!
I told him - get off your arse and send me what I paid for and I promise you will never hear from me again.
Now, he started responding to my emails.
Then he gave me a bunch of crud about calling him at work and how I am being a jerk over a measly $50.
I replied "Hey, if you think I'm the bad guy here, you've got another think coming."
He refunded me in Paypal one day later.
that is a good idea!
 
So ... in the next episode of the ebay tale

I finally figured out how to get them to call me, i told them the story and how this guy wasnt responding, spoke to the supervisor and they creditted my account today.

The policeman also contacted me and said he went to the guys house - and the guy said he has the bke and the money and under ebay policy doesnt have to return it. So the policeman asked me if i had proof that ebay said he has to return it. So i sent him messages from ebay that said he did and to report him if he didnt. I also asked the policeman if he could confiscate the bike. At this point - i just dont want this guy to have the bike. I'd rather throw it into the ocean.

So we will see.... BUT - i guess lesson learned are
  • dont go through ebay arbitration even if you think you will win.
  • if you get screwed, call ebay and speak to a supervisor.

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File a claim with PayPal. You can actually talk to a person. have had better luck with them than ebay.
 
I have a perfect 100% positive feedback score on eBay as a seller And I’ve been screwed twice on returns for buyers that had less than 10 auctions. eBay sided with both buyers costing me over 100 dollars in shipping costs. Even when you state in your listing that you don’t accept returns you are still forced to by eBay. I have not done a single listing since and never will unless they change there policies. They need to figure out that there profits come from the sellers and not the buyers. Screw eBay.
 
I sell through eBay for a work account and ran into another unfortunate Ebay policy I was unaware of until this week...

Buyer opened a return, returned the item and when I opened the package it was their old non-functional item. I report the buyer for abusing returns and escalate the return case to ebay choosing the provided option . I included pictures of the item we sent and the clear differences in the item returned to us. Ebay decided in the buyer's favor meaning they got a refund and to keep the item. I called ebay to appeal, and because we are a Top Rated seller they decided in our favor and returned all of our money. That money is actually coming out of ebay's pocket and not from the buyers account, and because ebay is out the money this is a one-time option for us as a seller. Ebay is unwilling to fault a buyer, and so the next time this happens the BEST option we have (and only because we are a Top Rated Seller) is to return 50% of the item cost to the buyer to close the case. So the buyer would get to keep the good item for half the price. I've called, talked to a representative who stated this to me and so requested a supervisor who said the same thing. Worse yet, if you escalate the case to ebay they WILL side with the buyer and their will be a strike on your seller account for failing to resolve a return.

Just to be clear, this is not an isolated incident on ebay, this is their policy that all the reps follow.

The only real help I've found to better resolve this fraudulent return came from a message board with the suggestion of messaging the buyer BEFORE escalating the case to ebay informing them that they "may have mistakenly sent the wrong item back", and when you don't hear anything from them messaging them once more informing them that you are going to file a police report in their city, report them for mail fraud ( https://ehome.uspis.gov/fcsexternal/default.aspx ), and reporting it to IC3 ( https://www.ic3.gov/Home/FileComplaint ) and hoping that scares them enough to close the return case.


Hope this info helps someone else, as it's happened to us twice in the last 6 months. Not sure if it's becoming an increasingly common occurrence or just an unfortunate streak we're on.
 
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