Advice needed

[oddsandendsoz]

Hi community,

I recently bought a bunch of items from a seller who was having a stock take sale. The order arrived yesterday by Fastway Couriers in two packages. They attempted delivery on Saturday but I wasn't home and so the Courier guy rang me to ask if I would be home on Monday. I have dealth with this guy a few times, and always found him to be good to deal with.

When the parcels arrived yesterday they were signed for by my wife. When I came home later I checked the parcels as straight away as I was excited by some of the items. I discovered that one item valued at nearly $500 was not there, and potentially another item that was a freebie as part of the deal also not there. I immediately contacted the seller to ask if they had made a mistake and not sent the item. I am still awaiting a reply.

I am asking on the selling board as I trust this board having never really spent much time on the buying board. I am wondering what is the best way and correct way of dealing with this? As a seller myself I want to work with them for a resolution that does not put there account at risk, but also with this being an expensive item, I also need to protect myself. Obviously the best scenario is that they somehow forgot to pack the item, but what if they did pack it? This can only mean that it has been stolen in transit, and I wonder at that point what do I need to do?

Really stressful so close to Christmas to lose an item so expensive. I would love suggestions on the best way of dealing with this?

Thanks and hope you are all well and looking forward to Christmas!!!

[springyzone]

Whoa, there is a lot wrong with this whole scenario.

Firstly, communication. I can't understand why the seller is sending messages only via email. Surely you would expect them to be sent through ebay, as cathjoy said.

Maybe this seller doesn't want you to have definite evidence of what has been written.

Secondly, the seller has known since before he sent the parcel that he didn't have the item. Presumably the parcels took a few days to get to you so any paypal issues should have been cleared up by then. The money should have been refunded by now. If the seller was trying to avoid a defect he could have asked if you would wait a week or two but he hasn't, he has said there is a problem with his paypal account.

He's had his chance, time to open a dispute for sure.

[justcruising48]

Have to agree and advise you to open a dispute. You should have got a refund staight away before they posted the rest, as they have your money, and to not even let you know beforehand is really bad.  And all communication needs to be via ebay

[oddsandendsoz]

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@cathyjoyjoy wrote:

" ......... the seller had emailed me on an email account I rarely use ......."

____________________________________________________________

The first thing you must do as a result of this is check your communication contact details, specifically your email, and make sure you change it to an email you actually access.

However, all communication should always go through eBay messages, that way if there are any problems the evidence is there if you need to involve eBay.  You should then easily see all messages sent and received within your eBay account.  It sounds like you've tried to contact the seller via eBay, but the seller has not responded through eBay messages. ??

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Thanks for the advice. Yes, I do have some messages in eBay that do discuss the refund and the issues they have been having with PayPal. To be honest, I believe the issues they are having are that they will cop a defect by issuing a partial refund, and have been trying to avoid that scenarion, at least thats my gut feeling on it.

I contacted them after realizing the highest valued item was not in the two parcels sent. They responded (through eBay) saying they had emailed me asking if I wanted a refund or other items. As I mentioned earlier it was to an email address I rarely use, and probably need to sync me emails together? Thanks again!

[oddsandendsoz]

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@springyzone wrote:

Whoa, there is a lot wrong with this whole scenario.

Firstly, communication. I can't understand why the seller is sending messages only via email. Surely you would expect them to be sent through ebay, as cathjoy said.

Maybe this seller doesn't want you to have definite evidence of what has been written.

Secondly, the seller has known since before he sent the parcel that he didn't have the item. Presumably the parcels took a few days to get to you so any paypal issues should have been cleared up by then. The money should have been refunded by now. If the seller was trying to avoid a defect he could have asked if you would wait a week or two but he hasn't, he has said there is a problem with his paypal account.

He's had his chance, time to open a dispute for sure.

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Thanks for the suggestion. Perhaps I have not been too clear, they initially contacted me by email, when I sent a message asking why the most expensive item was not part of the shipment, they messaged back (through eBy) saying they had tried to contact me through email. A few days later they messaged to say they were having issues with PayPal, again this was through ebay messages.

Really annoying that they had no stock of the item I bought, they have a website and obviously they sold on both platforms. To be fair to them I have noticed that all their listings now show 'one left' of most of their stock, probably to avoid the same thing happening again. Annoying, because I bit the bullet, mostly because I really wanted that particular item.

[oddsandendsoz]

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@justcruising48 wrote:

Have to agree and advise you to open a dispute. You should have got a refund staight away before they posted the rest, as they have your money, and to not even let you know beforehand is really bad.  And all communication needs to be via ebay

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Hi and thanks for your concern! I will be doing so first thing n the morning if the funds are not sent through by then. I am probably being way too forgiving but I think there has been a little cross communication and the holiday period has also contributed as a couple of times the communication has been either on Christmas eve, or NYE? No excuses though if it is not paid first thing in the morning!

[*tippy*toes*]

He wouldn't get a defect for a partial refund. Sellers partially refund all the time for excess postage. If that's what he's trying to avoid, then he's going to get one anyway.

As for lack of communication over the holiday period, if he still had items for sale, then he's chosen to "work" over that time. If he's ended all his items, or put his store in holiday mode, that's a bit different, but if it's all systems go, then there shouldn't be too much delay in replies.

It's also possible that the delay tactics are to try and get more stock in. The chances of that happening at any speed over the last week or so is close to zero!

[collect247]

You're in the same situation as my daughter,she purchased an item it never arrived after 2 weeks,she then contacted the seller to find out what the problem was and the seller replied sorry but I'm out of stock can you wait another week or so?

My daughter is giving the seller another week but I asked her not too and open an INR because basically what this seller has done is sold 5000 of these items at $50 a pop so you do the math,while not having any in stock.

So the seller has used all the money from the sales to finally or apparently purchase new stock.

If the item arrives this week then ok but if it doesn't I've asked her to open a claim b4 it's too late.

This seller should've had the courtesy to at least inform my daughter and the other 5000 buyers that they were out of stock as she needed the item at a certain date which she thought she was going to receive it.

[*tippy*toes*]

Do they seem like a legitimate seller? That sounds quite concerning. Maybe he's banking on some of the newer buyers to think it's in the mail and never send it, hoping they don't know about getting refunds. I hope she listens to you! If it does turn up, she can always repay.

[collect247]

The seller does have alot of ''item never received'' in their feedback.

She informed me of this after she purchased it and I said to her doesn't she understand what that means for goodness sakes.

I've told her goodluck if she thinks she's going to receive it,silly kids can't tell them nothing lol.