Got a refund... but didn't get it???

[tonedog83]

So I ordered a monitor, paid for it, then I get a message that they're out of stock and will instead offer a different monitor, I didn't want it. Actually regretted the purchase of the original monitor so was glad to have the opportunity to get a refund. I asked him for a refund and he was very professional and cool about it, apologised for the inconvenience and asked for my paypal details. I actually didn't have a paypal account (just buy things with my debit card), so I created one and gave him the details. Anyway he says refund completed, I even get an email saying I got a refund. However on my paypal account there is no evidence of anything at all, nothing pending, nothing. 

It's been well and truly 3 business days, more like 6 business days and still nothing. Can anyone see what the problem is just from what I've said? I'm very inexperienced with all this and worried. 

I've tried to contact the seller, he seemed cool before so hopefully still will be, but I'm concerned he might have actually done everything right and the problem is somehow with paypal or something. 

Any advice will be appreciated. 

[cq_tech]

How did you actually pay for the item in the first place? If you don't have a Paypal account (or didn't at the time) it sounds like you direct-debited the amount into the seller's bank account, in which case he really should be refunding you the same way.

Was the Paypal refund advice addressed to your proper name? If not, it could be a scam, but if it is, I'd be inclined to give Paypal a ring directly and ask them what's going on.

And please, in future, now that you have a Paypal account, make sure you use nothing else when buying through ebay, as you will have no buyer protection otherwise.

[the-kazbar]

did you pay through Paypal with your debit card or some other way?

[patchoo78]

Maybe the seller is a high volume seller and has a merchant account... The OP has stated that the payment was made with his debit card so that would be the only way of paying with his debit card

[tonedog83]

I clicked on pay with paypal but then it gives you the option to pay with your mastercard (or visa) debit card. My friend who has bought a million things suggested this is what most people do now and I thought why bother giving my bank details and etc etc to paypal when I can just debit it. This guy was happy to give the refund but said "just give me your paypal email" which I didn't have so I just thought fine I'll sign up with effing paypal if that's the only way to get the refund. 

I'll try and ring paypal I guess, but there's no record of it on paypal... ugh. 

[the-kazbar]

Have you checked to see if the refund has gone back to your debit account?

[digital*ghost]

Under normal circumstances, the refund is is processed direct to the card, so the amount itself wouldn't appear in your PayPal account, I'm not sure what's going to happen here, but the most important question is, did you use the same email address to create the PayPal account that you supplied when making the original payment?

If you did, then I think the refund will be processed as normal to your card as I know that if you use PayPal as a guest then later create an account with all the same details, the previous transactions are supposed to be attached to the account. Refunds to cards can also take a few days or so to appear. If you didn't use the same email address, then there might be an issue - I don't know any of this for sure, it's an educated guess, so either way I suggest phoning PayPal for clarification.

The other thing is, now that you have opened a PP account, have you added the card you used to it? If you do that, the transaction/refund might appear in your history.

[tonedog83]

Lol, my bad... I had checked up until yesterday, it's literally appeared at like midnight last night. I was really expecting it to go to paypal and appear as pending and then eventually appear and then I could put it in my bank account, etc....

anyway, false alarm, sorry! 

[lyndal1838]

tonedog, you can set up your paypal account with just the debit card attached for payment.  There is no need to use the bank account number if you don't want to.

Personally, I have to bank account number as well as the debit card number of the same account but always use the card number for maximum protection.

If you pay as a guest and have to open a dispute you will have to open a paypal account as that s the only way you have paypal protection.