Horrendous experience trying to get my money back. Item not arrived versus not as described

[tmahto]

So 7 weeks ago I spent $1200 with a seller of photo equipment. After 5 weeks. Nothig. Then I complaned. Then a package arrived. It contained 2 fo the 3 items, and NOT the $800 light. The courier label clearly showed that the light had never been in the package due to weight and description. I opened an Item Not Arrived case. After 1 week of agony the case was closed in the sellers favour and my feedback removed because apparently even though the item was not in the package, it actually comes under Item Not As Described. So, open a NEW case which has to be called RETURN REQUEST. So now the seller is supposed to pay for me to return the items which did arrive blag blah blah. So 7 weeks down the line and no light, no resolution, seller happily playing with my money etc etc. I have spent literally hours on the phone and sending evidence of the lack of item and have got nowhere and the seller doesnt even get bad feedback. Ebay then tell me that I have to give the seller a chance to respond. After 7 weeks! Crazy

[digital*ghost]

Has all of this been conducted via eBay's request system?

If so, and (presuming you paid by PayPal), it might be worth considering abandoning eBay's process and opening a Not as Described case via PayPal. 

As far as I know, once a case is closed by eBay, they will either blank any attempts at an appeal, or string it out until everyone gives up, but PayPal will action it as a new dispute (note: for future reference, when it comes to disputes, you can go from eBay to Paypal, if eBay is not successful, but you can not go from PayPal to eBay). 

If / when you open a dispute in PayPal, eBay will wash their hands of the case you had with them, so you would be required to comply with all of PayPal's policies regarding the dispute, possibly (probably) being required to return what you did receive, at your own expense, via a fully tracked and signed for method. (PayPal have a refunded returns program you can opt in to, that you may be able to take advantage of, the maximum reimbursement is $45). 

[lyndal1838]

The reason you lost the ebay dispute for Item Not Received was that the seller had proof that you did receive a package from him.....it just did not contain all the items you bought.

I am with Digi on this one....abandon the ebay dispute and go for a paypal dispute but make sure it is the right one this time.

[pacotrading]

Going to a battle i would say i believe the seller is based in China.

[imastawka]

Yes,  one of the 'protected ones'

[audistarelectronics]

This absolutely discusting. If this is the way things are going with ebay, then it is too big of a risk buying anything of value. I guess we have to consider how much we could afford to risk on a purchase, or even a sale of an item, and stick to that limit. For me it would be under 50 bucks max. No way I would risk funds in the hundreds any more due to my recent issues.  Goodbye ebay, you are cutting your own throat with these one sided rules.

[chameleon54]

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@audistarelectronics wrote:

This absolutely discusting. If this is the way things are going with ebay, then it is too big of a risk buying anything of value. I guess we have to consider how much we could afford to risk on a purchase, or even a sale of an item, and stick to that limit. For me it would be under 50 bucks max. No way I would risk funds in the hundreds any more due to my recent issues.  Goodbye ebay, you are cutting your own throat with these one sided rules.

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Unfortunately many sellers are also feeling this way. Our family have had several expensive musical instruments we would have sold on ebay a few years ago, but when it came time to sell these we opted for a different ( ebay owned ) platform that did not have the money back gaurantee. We felt it was simply too risky to sell these on ebay and have a buyer open some sort of case against us.

The result is ebay must be losing out on huge numbers of sales of expensive, high quality items.

[springyzone]

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@tmahto wrote:

So 7 weeks ago I spent $1200 with a seller of photo equipment. After 5 weeks. Nothig. Then I complaned. Then a package arrived. It contained 2 fo the 3 items, and NOT the $800 light. The courier label clearly showed that the light had never been in the package due to weight and description. I opened an Item Not Arrived case. After 1 week of agony the case was closed in the sellers favour and my feedback removed because apparently even though the item was not in the package, it actually comes under Item Not As Described. So, open a NEW case which has to be called RETURN REQUEST. So now the seller is supposed to pay for me to return the items which did arrive blag blah blah. So 7 weeks down the line and no light, no resolution, seller happily playing with my money etc etc. I have spent literally hours on the phone and sending evidence of the lack of item and have got nowhere and the seller doesnt even get bad feedback. Ebay then tell me that I have to give the seller a chance to respond. After 7 weeks! Crazy

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I've  thought for a while that selling expensive things on ebay is taking a bit of a risk.

But it seems to me that a lot of people who find a significant part of an order or item actually missing from a parcel could very well open an item not received case. Okay, all of us in here might know that it should be an 'item not as described' case, but that is not intuitive in those particular circumstances.

Ebay needs to add another category-something along the lines of 'item received was incomplete' or 'part of my order was missing', with a spot for buyers to list what was actually missing.

But when a buyer makes a mistake & does claim in the wrong category, and rings an ebay rep, surely it wouldn't be rocket science for the rep to work it out, swap things over, give some help. I don't get the impression ebay reps always use any initiative.