Scammed? What to do.....?

[i-love-my-sheep]

Asking for a friend if that's OK. He bought a digital camera last week, paid for it, the seller marked it as posted (no tracking number uploaded), yet it hasn't arrived. It was 40km from his place in Tassie, so the most it should've taken was 2 days. He has tried repeatedly to contact the seller to no avail. The really interesting thing is, the sold listing has disappeared completely. He can't view it if he clicks on it in his purchase history and it's not showing up on the sold or completed listings during a search for that particular camera (I checked from my login on my computer as well.....I am in NSW). I don't know exactly which day he bought it, but he sent me an email on June 13 telling me he'd bought it, so it was prior to that. I don't know if it was an auction or a BIN. He sent me a photo that he had saved and it looks second hand, so I would guess that it may've been an auction. He is starting to worry that he's been scammed and I am tending to agree with him. How soon after payment can you open a case for item not received? He's bought plenty of stuff before, and never had issues and has even sold plenty of things and never had any issues. I've not had issues either with having to open a case for item not received for a potential scammer. I'm waiting to hear back from him with the sellers name so I can see whether they are still active from my computer (in case he's been blocked or something). Of course I wouldn't post the sellers name here!

I know this probably should go on the buyers forum, but I don't frequent that board and I know there are a lot of experienced sellers (and buyers) on this forum who's opinions I respect and trust. Does anyone have any advice that I can pass on? 

Thanks heaps!

[kopenhagen5]

Hi,

Very difficult to read without paragraph breaks so didn't read all. 

But if paid via PayPal, your friend should open a case for Item Not Received as it appears ebay has removed the listing.

It can be opened now and if the listing is removed, escalate as soon as you can.

[i-love-my-sheep]

Thanks, I'll let him know. I just tried to edit my message, but there must be a time limit on editing? I thought I'd put paragraphs in, but as I was typing in a hurry, I may not have hit the enter button hard enough LOL! Thanks again.

[cq_tech]

Just so you know, chooks, there is indeed a 5-minute time limit on the editing of one's posts. Also, you must have finished your editing and clicked on "post" before the time limit has expired or you miss out altogether.

[j*oono]

Ask him for the item number.  Then you can easily check whether it's been removed by ebay.  If it has then he can claim with Paypal pretty much straight away I would have thought.

[go-tazz]

There was a poster on the boards yesterday with a similar scenario,(bought scam items and needed to claim

via Paypal).

They couldn't start the dispute as not enough time had elapsed,(eg: the postage time for it to arrive hadn't

passed apparently).

They had the item number on the boards and some other info but all of it got removed so we wont know how

they got on,(they had "bought" two iPads).

[i-love-my-sheep]

By the sounds of it, as this particular listing has been completely removed, he can open a case straight away......plus I think it's been a week. More than long enough to travel 40km.

He has opened a case and has escalated it. He got a message from eBay saying THEY had removed the listing, which means he can't leave feedback or contact the seller. It has also disappeared from his purchase history. I asked who the seller was and he said he didn't know and couldn't check because the listing was gone. I mentioned that he should've got an email when he won/purchased it.....you know, the "enjoy your............." emails that eBay send when you win/buy something and the sellers name would be in that.

He worked night shift last night so I don't expect to hear back until later this evening. I will update when I've got more to tell. The info could be useful for other members.