E Bay / Paypal

[shoeshopper]

Hello everyone.

 

Am I in the right place to ask a question about E Bay and Paypal? If not could you please direct me to correct forum.

 

Many Thanks.

[davethorp]

This is as good a place as any so ask away

[shoeshopper]

I have been an E Bay member for 3 years buying and selling (private). I have a 100% rating and have never experienced any problems. A couple of weeks ago I listed an Ipod Shuffle for sale. It was brand new in a sealed box, which has an Apple guarantee in, which my daughter had won in a raffle. We didnt want it as we already have two (and 2 Nanos). The listing read as follows:-

IPOD SHUFFLE - NEW IN BOX - UNWANTED PRIZE - RRP £32.00

I offered to start the bidding at £19.99 or a Buy It Now price of £22.00. I had checked the Apple website for the current price which was £32.00. It was purchased straight away for £22 and the payment was completed through Paypal on 18th August. I transferred this money from my Paypal account into my bank account. After about a week I received an e mail from the buyer saying that the shuffle wasnt working and could he have a refund. I contacted E bay who said to refer to my listing for a return/refund policy. I hadnt specified one so they said I was not obliged to provide a refund. I informed the buyer of this along with an explanation of how one of my Ipod shuffles had started out being faulty but for some unexplained reason it had started working after a lot of help from Apple, and as he had a guarantee from them they would help him.The buyer said he'd tried everything but he still wanted a refund.

He then filed a dispute with Paypal, stating that the item was 'not as described', who put the payment (which had already cleared on 18th August) on 'hold'. The funds coming from other items that I had sold subsequently. Paypal informed me that I could carry on talking to the buyer or they would investigate both sides of the story and make a decision for us, which is the option I went for. They took about 1 hour to study the 'facts' and have told him to return the shuffle to me and I will refund the money. Talk about the seller not having any rights!

How can I be sure that this buyer did not already have a faulty Ipod that he is returning to me instead of the original one? He may of also downloaded from a dodgy music site and corrupted the shuffle. All I know is that I am now getting something that is faulty with the seal on the box broken and I cant chance connecting it to my computer in case it corrupts my itunes file. I think the description was accurate. It was new and in a sealed box, I couldnt guarantee it any further than that.

My personal thoughts are that if I purchase an item like this on E Bay at a discounted price, I am taking a chance. If I had wanted the peace of mind of guaranteed returns/refunds etc I would have paid the £10 extra and gone directly to Apple.

I'm rather disturbed also by Paypal being able to reverse transactions from 'completed' to 'held' and taking the money, which had been sourced by selling other items, from my account.

Yes, there are dodgy sellers out there, I am not one of them. But there are also dodgy buyers. I feel that any buyer can change their mind, break or mis-use something they have purchased and then, providing they have paid through Paypal, ask for their money back.

I am seriously thinking of closing my Paypal account.

 

Your thoughts please.

[davethorp]

If you have a note of the serial number of the ipod you could check this against the one returned

[shoeshopper]

Unfortunately I didnt make a note of the serial number. I thought that as it was new there wouldnt be a problem. Also that as it could be registered with Apple using the serial number I wouldnt have any comeback.

[SharpmanTF1]

The people who ran the raffle would, i presume have a reciept for the ipod. there may be a chance, depending where they bought it from a serial Number may have been written on te reciept.

 

Sharpman