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Dispute route with Ebay

falter

falter

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 22, 2011
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Location
Vancouver, BC
I've a question -- as you may have seen in another thread I bought a DG Z80 computer online. In the auction pictures it showed the system, and, separately, its IO card. I received the system on Friday but there was no I/O card in the box. I sent a message to the seller immediately on Friday but have as yet received no response. This seller has excellent feedback generally but does seem to have a tendency to be slow or non-responsive on communications. I'm thinking I'll give him the weekend and then launch a dispute on Monday, but I'm not sure where? I know ebay and paypal are separate companies now and I'm not sure which is the right venue. I'm thinking paypal -- the only option ebay seems to have is to return the item. I don't want to do that unless there is no other choice -- I'd rather get the card or get a discount or something. Thoughts?
 
Not sure what the best protocol is for communicating with the seller before filing a dispute, but I think all you need to do is go in to you eBay item history select "return item" and in this case choose the option "not as described". If they refund you an amount for the missing card, or ship you the card then you can later close the dispute. The seller can't ignore that.

At least that is what I did the last couple of times a seller shipped me a wrong part. In one case they shipped me the correct part, and in a different case the seller refunded me the money, but neither made me ship anything back to them.

I think they used to call that form "return or refund" but now it is just labeled "return".
 
Thanks guys. I just wasn't sure which route to go, with Paypal and Ebay now being separate. Paypal has a more nuanced system that seems to allow for partial refunds. I don't want to send the system back -- if he can't produce the card, I could get one elsewhere. I just want to have enough money back to cover that.
 
I typically message a seller first. I prefer that courtesy if I'm the seller. That's what the dispute system is for though, and it will almost always result in a fire being lit under a non-responsive seller.
 
I had an issue with a non-responsive seller last year. He sold an item as tested, working, and there was no way it could have worked.

I sent many requests to him, i didn't want to send the item back, but would've appreciated a partial refund so i could buy repair parts. He never responded.

I gave up and gave him negative feedback. He responded instantly with a demand that i remove the negative feedback, in which case he would give me a partial refund. I became unresponsive.

I've had other times like that where i opened a case for a refund, and the seller gave me a partial refund. I even had one where i got a full refund and got to keep the item. The seller realised his error in packaging. It's a radio that I managed to find parts for and fix. It's scratched up, not the mint condition it was sold as, but I use it all the time.
 
falter said:
I'm thinking paypal -- the only option ebay seems to have is to return the item. I don't want to do that unless there is no other choice -- I'd rather get the card or get a discount or something. Thoughts?
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I had something like this happen to me where the seller didn't pack a lot properly and most of the lot items were smashed -- however, there was one item I really wanted, the one I bought the lot for, that was intact. I ended up contacting the seller directly and we worked out a 50% refund -- "That way, we both win". I was prepared to send the seller pictures as proof the contents were smashed but he didn't ask for them.
 
From my personal experience, PayPal now sucks, unfortunately.

I won a typewriter (expensive), in december 2015, was stated in "excellent working condition". Arrived, but it was not working, so I opened case in PayPal, requesting partial refund. It took 3 weeks for PayPal to make decision (note that there were no questions asked to me anymore, no additional information), and after 3 weeks I received a decision: "We decided you are eligible for item return, supply the tracking ID. I tried to communicate with PayPal in all available ways, even sending messages through help/contact PayPal, stating I was requesting only partial refund. Silence, the only message I received was a questionaire how did I like the communication (there was none of course).

At the end time passed, and the case was closed from PayPal. No feedback ever received from them. I do not know if it was Christmas, New Year or something else, but I no longer trust PayPal. Ironically, the seller agreed to refund 50EUR from my purchase, whicn I disagreed, because it was too little for non-working item. Well, as a result I even did not got this amount refunded.

My advice - try to resolve everything with the seller first, use PayPal as a last result. When PayPal and Ebay were one company, I never had such horrible experience as a buyer - communication was smooth, and partial returns were no problem, besides, it did not take several weeks for decision.
 
I understand where you are coming from. Many times when something arrives not as advertised, the Buyer is willing to accept a partial refund instead of returning the it me, because the Buyer has determined that the item in it's new condition would be acceptable at a lower price.

Unfortunately, some unscrupulous/dishonest Buyers are claiming they everything they recieve is not as advertised to force the Seller to give a partial refund whether it is warranted or deserved.

The time to have brought up a partial refund instead of a return and refund is before eBay gets involved, and if you can't come to an agreement with the Seller, at the beginning of the complaint process with eBay, mention that you tried to come to an agreement about a partial refund instead of a full refund with the Seller, but the Seller was uncooperative.

When the eBay decision came down, you were finished and your only choices were return for full refund or keep it and eat it. Since you didn't respond by sending the item back and sending proof to eBay that you returned the item, eBay considered the matter closed.
 
MicrocomputerSolutions said:
The time to have brought up a partial refund instead of a return and refund is before eBay gets involved, and if you can't come to an agreement with the Seller, at the beginning of the complaint process with eBay, mention that you tried to come to an agreement about a partial refund instead of a full refund with the Seller, but the Seller was uncooperative.

When the eBay decision came down, you were finished and your only choices were return for full refund or keep it and eat it. Since you didn't respond by sending the item back and sending proof to eBay that you returned the item, eBay considered the matter closed.
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I believe it would be better to stay more close to the topic, rather than making statements about curren situation you really do know nothing about.

Ebay and PayPal are different companies now, you can open case either in Ebay, or in PayPal, and this is not the same. I can only tell, that PayPal can be very unhelpful and unresponsive. I believe most of the cases are "decided" by a software rather than human involvement, most tasks are automated, and you might not get any response.
 
Adventurer said:
I believe it would be better to stay more close to the topic, rather than making statements about curren situation you really do know nothing about.

Ebay and PayPal are different companies now, you can open case either in Ebay, or in PayPal, and this is not the same. I can only tell, that PayPal can be very unhelpful and unresponsive. I believe most of the cases are "decided" by a software rather than human involvement, most tasks are automated, and you might not get any response.
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You missed the point. The OP got two replies that said that the way to get the process going with with a private message directly to the Seller, BEFORE getting eBay or PayPal involved. Once you make a formal complaint, you lose the flexibility to choose a different path from what eBay and PayPal usually decide on.

eBay and PayPal both track Buyer complaints (I don't think they care about when a Seller gets screwed). It's in the Seller's best interest to try and resolve a Buyer Complaint without getting eBay or PayPal involved, and In Fact both Companies recommend contacting the Seller and trying to work something out, before contacting them.
 
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