Ebay Buyer Protection Problem

[sarah]

I just bought a used laptop from an Ebay seller who is covered by the Buyer Protection plan. I bought the item for $241 on October 16. It has not arrived? I am starting to get nervous. I emailed the seller last Sunday and he said that he had shipped it without enough postage and it had been shipped again. OK. I wasn't happy about this. ITs a piece of electronics and the less time it spends being shipped the better. Ok it is the following Saturday I have neither received the item or heard from the seller. I've sent him an e-mail asking him if he has the tracking number. My question is this if I don't hear from him by Monday night should I open a dispute? I know many of you both buy and sell regularly on ebay what do you think? I 've bought many other items without difficulty on ebay including the laptop I'm typing on. This is disheartening.

[safari]

Do you know what shipper he used? If it's UPS or FedEx, you should have received it by now. USPS can take up 2 weeks, so I'd wait another week and then open a dispute. Don't worry, if you don't receive the laptop, you'll get your money back. If you paid with a credit card, you can also call them and dispute the charge, so you won't have to pay it.

[sarah]

Thanks that is very reassuring. No I am not certain what shipper they used.

[Hypersion]

If you don't receive a tracking # by monday I would open up a dispute with paypal.

[poundwise]

Originally Posted by Hypersion

If you don't receive a tracking # by monday I would open up a dispute with paypal.

The original poster didn't say anything about using PayPal.

[poundwise]

Originally Posted by sarah

I just bought a used laptop from an Ebay seller who is covered by the Buyer Protection plan. I bought the item for $241 on October 16. It has not arrived? I am starting to get nervous. I emailed the seller last Sunday and he said that he had shipped it without enough postage and it had been shipped again. OK. I wasn't happy about this. ITs a piece of electronics and the less time it spends being shipped the better. Ok it is the following Saturday I have neither received the item or heard from the seller. I've sent him an e-mail asking him if he has the tracking number. My question is this if I don't hear from him by Monday night should I open a dispute? I know many of you both buy and sell regularly on ebay what do you think? I 've bought many other items without difficulty on ebay including the laptop I'm typing on. This is disheartening.

eBay has a process for filing a dispute. That is, there are steps in the process, so yes, you should begin that as soon as you feel there is a real problem.

However, if the package had insufficient postage and is being sent again, that seems to indicate that the seller used USPS not UPS/FedEx/DHL. If so, he or she may have used parcel post shipping, which will take, as another poster indicated, a substantial amount of time longer than Priority Mail or shipment via a private carrier. Did the shipper indicate how he or she was shipping the item?

It's no help to you now but I would never buy an item like this without having shipping by UPS/FedEx/DHL and receiving a tracking number, etc. I also do not buy such items from anyone with less than a 98% positive feedback rating. What is this seller's rating? If it is 98% or better, then give them the benefit of the doubt more so than if the rating is less.

Based on what you have stated, I would continue to try to contact the seller. Once you have established clearly that you should have received the product and have not yet, or if you do not get any response from the seller, then start the process of filing a complaint.

[sarah]

The seller just refunded my money. This has been a very strange but reassuring experience.

[markio26]

my son has an ebay store.. a couple of people have tried to scam him.. he sold them "as is" items and a couple of months later.. they emailed him... he reminded them that they were sold as is... that was that... so, beware of sellers and buyers too... my son tries to please everyone he sells to and worries about them slamming him with a negative comment... i told him to relax, he is very honest and fair describing his items with lots of pics...glad you received your refund back...

[BillsGirl]

I have stopped using ebay there are just too many untrustworthy people who made it a bad experience even from the good ones!

[sweeps]

Originally Posted by BillsGirl

I have stopped using ebay there are just too many untrustworthy people who made it a bad experience even from the good ones!

I second that.

[tener]

did the seller give any explanation as to where the item ended up?

[sarah]

No he didn't give me any reason. I really like ebay. I do take some precautios. I don't buy from anyone who has less than a 98% positive feed back. I also always always use paypal. I have had only bad item and I think that one was my fault. I didn't read the description carefully enough.