Advice for purchase issue with StyleForum member

[icehawk21]

Gentlemen,

I attempted to post this on the 'Buying and Selling - FS: Men's Clothing' forum but I have not been a member long enough to post on that forum.

I recently purchased 2 pairs of shoes from a forum member on November 3rd. I won't identify the forum member just yet but my understanding leads me to believe he/she is a reputable forum seller who has conducted numerous (successful) transactions. Nevertheless, I purchased the shoes on November 3rd and sent a PayPal payment. The PayPal payment was successfully transacted and the funds debited from my account.

Unfortunately, I have not received any response (either email, PM, or forum message) from the seller indicating the status of the purchase and whether or not the shoes were shipped. I've sent repeated PMs with no response. And, to be honest, I haven't seen any forum activity from the forum member.

I'll admit that I am a new forum member. This was only my 2nd purchase from this forum - my 1st purchase was swift and successful (thanks JeffsWood). As such, I'm not sure if what the normal protocol is. However, not receiving a single response since making payment 10 days ago is quite disconcerting and is causing me some grief.

At this point I'm comfortable cancelling the transaction and attempting to retrieve a refund. Does PayPal offer some form of buyer protection? Can I simply reverse the transaction due to "seller fraud" - similar to the method some credit cards use to protect buyers? As mentioned, I'm a new forum member and also a new PayPal user so any help/advice is appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

Bryan

 

[likeitaloud]

Yea paypal has a great buyer protection policy. Don't use it though so you'll have to get the details from someone else.

 

[Journeyman]

I'd advocate waiting a little longer - another few days, for example.
The people who sell here only do so as a sideline - it is not their business.
Whilst you are understandably frustrated, it is quite possible that the person in question has had to travel on business or has some sort of family issue.

Thankfully, I have never had to ask PayPal to refund money.
My impression (which could be mistaken) is that you can only get a refund from PayPal if there is money in the seller's PayPal account, so if they've already withdrawn your payment then you may be out of luck.
I think that you have 45 days in which to file a dispute and request a refund via PayPal, but you should check this with PayPal to be sure of the allowable period. Confusingly, I recall that PayPal's dispute/refund request period is shorter than eBay's dispute/refund request period.

Finally, if you used a credit card to pay via PayPal, then your credit card company will usually come to your assistance. I believe (but again, I might be mistaken) that you usually have at least 12 months to file a charge-back request with your credit card company.

 

[DoTheGrownup]

I have had to have PayPal refund money before, but that was through eBay. The seller claimed they had shipped an item that I never received, but they didn't use delivery confirmation, so they had no case. I did have to go through the PayPal dispute process, which takes a little while. I don't know how it works for transactions outside of eBay, but I don't think you will get a refund without the seller getting a chance to weigh in.

I would recommend waiting a little while. When I have bought and sold here, there are often other factors that can hold things up (such as my real job).

 

[CunningSmeagol]

How much money do you have tied up in this? If it's a lot, do what you have to do. I've done some selling, and while it's tough to get everything out on time, 2 weeks is bullshit, esp with no communication. If people are hesitant to buy for lack of confidence in sellers, well, the market locks up, which isn't good for any of us.

I can appreciate unique circumstances, but nothing is so severe as to prevent a quick note to your creditors saying you'll be a little delayed. "Established" sellers have vaporized before.

 

[haganah]

Originally Posted by RunningBeagle

How much money do you have tied up in this? If it's a lot, do what you have to do. I've done some selling, and while it's tough to get everything out on time, 2 weeks is bullshit, esp with no communication. If people are hesitant to buy for lack of confidence in sellers, well, the market locks up, which isn't good for any of us. I can appreciate unique circumstances, but nothing is so severe as to prevent a quick note to your creditors saying you'll be a little delayed. "Established" sellers have vaporized before.
You took 3 months to send me my stuff. I kid, I kid!!! You were great.

 

[icehawk21]

Gentlemen,

Thanks for the replies/pms - much appreciated. After posting the initial thread, I reviewed PayPal's policies and eventually initiated a dispute resolution. I'll give it some time before I escalate it to an actual claim with PayPal. I also made the purchase using my credit card. I'm Canadian so I'm not sure if Canadian-issued credit cards offer chargebacks but I'm sure they offer some form of purchase/fraud protection. Are there any Canadians who can offer some information into the purchase/fraud protection of their Canadian-issued credit cards?

Regardless, I will give it some time (a few day) to allow the seller to contact me. If I haven't heard from them by the middle/end of next week, I will escalate the issue to PayPal and contact my credit card company to pursue some form of purchase/fraud protection.

Any other thoughts?

BTW - The individual who PM'ed me was able to deduce the seller. I don't want to publically announce the seller just yet - in case there is a legitimate reason why I haven't heard from them. However, what is the forum's policy for "outing" or identifying fraudelent sellers to inform/assist other forum buyers?

Thanks again!

Bryan

 

[indy116]

Do you have the seller's phone number in any of the Paypal emails or something? Maybe a phone call would help light a fire..

 

[VMan]

Since you are Canadian and the seller is likely based in the US, you should wait at least another week (assuming USPS Priority) before worrying.

 

[icehawk21]

No, I don't have a phone number - only his PayPal email address. His profile indicates activity on this forum (as of this morning) and I've sent him repeated PMs. I'm sure PayPal has also contacted him via his PayPal email. If I don't receive any response (as I'm sure he's received at least one of my attempts at correspondence) then I will escalate to PayPal and issue a credit card chargeback (if possible).

Additionally, I've warned him that I will reveal his identity on this forum as a fraudelent seller to prevent other buyers from making purchases from him.

Hopefully this is nothing more than an oversight and all will be happily resolved forthright. At the end of the day it's only $175 USD (~$200 CDN) - a significant sum of money to be sure, but not enough to bankrupt me

Although, if my investment portfolio keeps sinking I might need this $175 soon enough!

Bryan

 

[icehawk21]

Originally Posted by VMan

Since you are Canadian and the seller is likely based in the US, you should wait at least another week (assuming USPS Priority) before worrying.

I agree - assuming I had received an email/PM indicating the shoes had been shipped. I understand the potential delays associated with cross-border shipping. But I don't even know if he's shipped them - he hasn't responded to one PM since his last message asking me for money! A simple acknowledment message indicating he'd received my payment and had shipped the product would be sufficient. No communication whatsoever since receiving my money is alarming and quite disconcerting.

Nonetheless, I have indicted to the seller that I will wait 3-4 days before escalating this issue. Wait and see, I guess!

What is it they say - caveat emptor (buyer beware). I guess this is the risk of buying online. If only retail shopping in Canada didn't suck as much as it does, I wouldn't be forced to hunt for deals and bargains online. Oh well, if I didn't spend my time cruising for bargains online, I'd be quite bored at work

 

[A Canuker]

As a Canadian who has placed many transactions on this site I would second that you should wait a bit longer. I have had packages take 3-4 weeks to show even though the date of transfer indicated it was sent ages before I recieved them. If customs have stopped it then it might take longer still.

You might want to send this person a link to this thread in the hopes that it helps to loosen some screws.

 

[CunningSmeagol]

Originally Posted by haganah

You took 3 months to send me my stuff. I kid, I kid!!! You were great.

Thx, you too.

Originally Posted by VMan

Since you are Canadian and the seller is likely based in the US, you should wait at least another week (assuming USPS Priority) before worrying.

I totally forgot about this. +1.

 

[lefty]

Once you contact him, there's a number on the USPS customs form he filled out that will act as a tracking number and show where the package is.

lefty

 

[icehawk21]

An update, if you will...

The seller has finally contacted me and has profusely apologised for "dropping off the planet". Without going into detail, it appears that he shipped the shoes last week but failed to inform me that he had shipped them. To reiterate, I was never concerned that I hadn't yet received the shoes, it was simply the lack of communication to indicate the shoes had been shipped and the transaction completed. The lack of communication was the cause for concern.

Nonetheless, it appears the shoes have been shipped and a US customs number was provided so all's well that (hopefully) ends well. I'm not sure if my escalation of this issue caused the seller to respond to my attempts at communication. Regardless, it was a learning experience for me - as a relative newcomer to this forum and online shopping.

Thanks to all who chimed in with their advice. I'm considering this matter resolved and all interested parties satisfied. As a parting comment, I will consider doing business with this seller again as I'm sure this was nothing more than an oversight on his part.

Thanks again!

Bryan