Seller Claims Account Hacked and I Should Chase Hacker Myself

[gajit-dawg]

I recently bought something from eBay and after the due date for delivery, raised a Case to have the Seller return my funds or at least provide a tracking number

The seller responded saying they never sold me the item, their account was hacked and that I need to track down the hacker myself and claim the funds from them via eBay.

I have asked them for the eBay case ID that I assume they have raised but what is the best course of action for me to get my money back sooner rather than later?

Thanks for any advice I can get

[glenbankloel]

Sorry to hear that.

To keep things on track, use the system set up by eBay make sure you raise an "item not received" / INR case.

Unless you don't think the money involved is worth the time and effort. 

(You haven't revealed HM $'s are involved, how long ago you bought the item, and are they in Aust or is it International purchase?.)

Don't take his story as being correct as he quite possibly has your $'s,  and if he doesn't and his acc has really been hacked then he should be the one to be doing the work not you.

If his story is true then do feel for him, but he should be doing a bit more than telling you to chase the hacker. This doesn't sound right.

Use eBays system as this is what it has been designed for, and this way you have a record of all the transactions.

Make sure you keep everything recorded and don't initiate any conversations or transactions off eBay as this will negate any refunds or corrections for you.

You could talk to ebay via their chat session, and possibly get some help/advice there too.

Someone else might pop in here with some info for you so keep an eye on your query on the boards, many users have very good info that they will share. 

Good Luck

[digital*ghost]

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@gajit-dawg wrote:

The seller responded saying they never sold me the item, their account was hacked and that I need to track down the hacker myself and claim the funds from them via eBay.

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Highly doubtful, in fact pretty much unbeliveable.

When an eBay account is hijacked, and a suspicious sale is made, eBay remove all listings from the hijacked account and send a message to to any buyers of the item advising that the listing was suspect - the message advises buyers not to pay, or if they have paid that they may still receive their item but to raise a case if they don't. 

If this has not occurred, no reports of a hijacked account have been made to eBay. 

Also, it's irrelevant - you can't raise a claim against a phantom account (who says a hacker even has their own account or otherwise recorded identity on eBay?), you can only raise a claim on your actual transaction. The funds should be debited from the account the payment went to, so if they were truly hacked, they wouldn't have received the money, and it shouldn't be reversed from their PayPal account, either. If they're telling the truth, as far as I know their only issue is the case being recorded on their account, and that issue is up to them to take up with eBay. 

[brerrabbit585]

What do you mean you raised a case to have the seller return your funds or provide a tracking number?

You open cases for 'item not received' or 'not as described', so either you opened a case for one of those or you merely sent a message to them.  If you haven't opened a case for item not received and the due delivery date is already past (by at least a few days), then open a case now.