I hope some of you Ebay experts can help me.

I purchased an item for approx 135 + 30something shipping. I purchased insurance as well. Item was received damaged. Seller had Fedex pick it up for damage inspection and insurance claim. I didn't hear from seller, and after a week or two, started suspecting that perhaps she might not come through. So I emailed her telling her that I am opening a dispute simply because of time limitations to open one. She kept on saying that she's waiting to hear from fedex. After a good few weeks of this back and forth I called fedex, and they told me that they picked up the item at her request, but in the end she didn't even try to file a claim and simply asked them to ship item back to her. So I've been waiting for nothing. I emailed her, telling her that I expect a refund within a week. No response. So I closed the dispute and filed a claim. I haven't heard from ebay and I think it's been 3 weeks or so.

What should my next step be? I'm just so frustrated, as I usually don't spend this kind of money on such stuff and ack! I'm just at a loss.

Did you pay via paypal? If I were you, I'd file a claim through them; they tend to give you your money back promptly as long as the item was sent back. Did you get a tracking number when you shipped it back? If so, your money will be refunded as soon as they confirm that possession was in fact taken by the seller.

Yes, I did. But paypal has a policy of only refunding if you file a claim within (I think) 45 or 60 days. It's way past that date. I think that that's what the crook wanted. And that's why I filed a dispute with Ebay, but it's not seeming to help. I called my bank as well and they said that being Paypal is a third party, they can't do a chargeback.

Wow, that's really too bad. Doesn't ebay afford some buyer protection up to a certain amount? Next time, file a dispute regardless of what the seller says - if they give you a hard time to begin with, chances are you aren't going to get your money back easily...

She didn't give me a hard time in the beginning. In fact, she even wrote - I'm so sorry to hear it was damaged, if fedex won't refund, I will do so from my own pocket blah blah blah. It made me a bit suspicous, and I right away feared that she's just trying to push me off. My hunch was correct, but ah, what to do????

You can threaten to leave negative feedback if you're not refunded by a certain date. Otherwise there ain't much else to do, sorry.

BTW, the S3 is awesome!!

Threaten her with negative feedback and a nasty remark to go along. It's your only shot. If she doesn't respond then give her the feedback she deserves, If she cares she will try and work with you to remove it.

Tell her you are a lawyer and will take her to small claims court or even file criminal charges against her... then do.

I work part time for someone who does quite a bit of business on Ebay and I've gone through this. The claim process with FedEx takes a while but it usually does come through. The seller may not be pulling your leg. It doesn't cost anything to file a claim with FedEx so there's no reason they would not do so.

What I'd do in your position knowing what I do is get my FedEx tracking number and call FedEx myself. Every day until it is approved. That actually does somehow tend to expedite things. Do not threaten the seller. This wasn't their fault. There's nothing they can do until the claim is either approved or denied.

Ah, but it's past the ninety days and I can't leave feedback anymore. Grrrrr!!!


I called Fedex, and they told me the info. She said that she requested the item be shipped back to her and didn't file a claim and SHE suggested that I just go for the refund, as she did nothing even though she claimed she's waiting to hear from Fedex.

Call FedEx and find out where it was shipped back to. Then send three thugs to her door...

Small claims court. She screwed you.

How do I go about filing a claim in small claims court? Do you think it'd pay to send a letter from a lawyer first?

Is all this really worth it to recover $135??? How much will the lawyer take just to sit down and TALK to you? And do you think the person will show up (are they even located anywhere NEAR you?).

Personally, I would use whatever means I could to pressure/threaten them, but if that is unsuccessful just write it off. Time and aggravation is also worth something...

It's 170 approx. and no, it's not worth my time and effort, being that I don't know what's involved. But is there ANY way I can get it back? I don't exactly have 170 to throw around with my husband out of a job (I bought this before he lost his job).

Your state bar association should have info on its website about how to file a claim in small claims court. I checked my state's site and in addition to that info it also had info about other consumer protection agencies (better business bureau, attorney general's office) that might be able to help if the seller is a business (as opposed to an individual).

TDP -- maybe you have a lawyer friend that can advise you on what to do without taking money?

If you paid through PayPal using a credit card, you can save much time and effort by simply contesting the charge with the credit card company. When dealing on eBay I always use a credit card through PayPal for this very reason.

Except that I spoke to my bank already and they said that being Paypal is a third party, they can't do the chargeback. Does that make sense?

Oh, and I got her contact info. This cheat has only a cell phone on file with ebay.

Do a paypal chargeback.

Read this page and, if you like it, the rest of the site. http://www.nycourts.gov/courts/nyc/smallcl...rcecenter.shtml

Never mind, it looks like that page is only talking about NYC. Not sure why because it has the look of a state website.

How does that work?