my ebay dispute...with delicious irony

I purchased a pair of AE park avenues on ebay. I paid via paypal but never heard from the seller. After a number of emails, I called the seller directly and left a VM. He responded via email that he was in the process of moving, apologized and would send the shoes immediately. Once thy arrived, I realized they were undisclosed seconds with a number of visible imperfections that weren't in the item description.

I emailed the seller, offering to return the shoes at my cost and requestied a full refund. No reply. Another email and VM later with no reply, I decided to open a paypal dispute, my first. The seller never responded to the paypal dispute so they refunded my money. Now I was in possession of the shoes and the money! Additionally, I was convinced that the seller didn't realize that paypal moved the money into my account...after all, he just had to tell paypal he agreed to refund my money to avoid having them deduct money from his account.

About a week later, the seller emailed me agreeing to a refund. I asked for an updated address as he mentioned he was moving and posted the shoes to him. On vacation last week, he sent me a note claiming the shoes never reached him. Given our history, it seemed much more likely that he was yanking my chain than the shoes were lost. Back from vacation, picked up our mail, and there were his shoes...marked return to sender!!

The delicious irony here is that the seller decided to be a jerk, had me pay to return the shoes to him and marked them return to sender thinking it would cost me time and money. Instead, I now have my money and his shoes.

Great story. If they are a size 10.5 D I expect you to sell them to me. Oh how I want some AE's!

Hmm are you sure they actually deducted money from him?

also, he said he was moving, couldn't it be that there was a problem with the address?

in any case, you are fine so that's good.

Which ebay seller is this?

I seriously doubt that he would purposefully have them returned to sender

>>If they are a size 10.5 D I expect you to sell them to me. Oh how I want some AE's!

they are 11Ds but I purchased a pair of used sutor mantellassis in 10.5D that don't fit. I was going to post them here...any interest?

>>Hmm are you sure they actually deducted money from him?'
yes, there is a reversal transaction in my paypal account.

>>also, he said he was moving, couldn't it be that there was a problem with the address?
well, thats why I asked him for his address before I posted them.

>>Which ebay seller is this?
At the point I'm sure this wasn't an honest mistake, I'll post the sellers name.

Well you technically don't have his money. I had this happean before, I threw away a shipping address because I saw it was delivered, and a week later he claimed it never came. So I felt nothing was in my control at this point, so he appealed it on Ebay. I explained my story. And Paypal decided to appoint the buyer the winner, and refunded him.

The thing is, I withdrew the money from Paypal into my checking account. Then my paypal account was -43 dollars. But it didn't come out of my checking. So I closed the Paypal account, made a new one, and they never contacted me in regards to it. So, I guess.. you have Paypal's money.

Sutor Mantellassis are way out of my range, haha. I'm only like 20! Maybe someday I'll get some though.

>>Sutor Mantellassis are way out of my range, haha. I'm only like 20! Maybe someday I'll get some though.

well, they are used...$150 shipped.

Originally Posted by elnatural

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The thing is, I withdrew the money from Paypal into my checking account. Then my paypal account was -43 dollars. But it didn't come out of my checking. So I closed the Paypal account, made a new one, and they never contacted me in regards to it. So, I guess.. you have Paypal's money.

yeah, this is what I'm thinking.

I don't get it. Why would he mark them "return to sender" himself? You mean, to make you ship them a second time, at no direct benefit to him?

From his point of view, lets assume he's not happy about the refund and he thinks he has my money. So he says, "yes, return them to me" with no intention of issuing a refund. I spend $15 sending the shoes to him and he marks them return to sender.

From his point of view, I've now spent another $15 on the shoes and he has still has no intention of issuing a refund.

At this point, I'll give him another chance as it might have been an honest mistake. ..but he has to send me $20 to cover shipping costs.

I don't think that Paypal EVER pays from its own money. They only give you a negative in your account if you don't have funds and thats all.

So, never think that Paypal is something important.

Originally Posted by harryx2

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I don't think that Paypal EVER pays from its own money.

hmm not sure what you mean. as a buyer, if you paid with paypal via cc and do a chargeback, paypal most certainly has to cough it up, regardless of whether the seller refunds it or has flown on his learjet to the Cayman Islands.

Originally Posted by vinouspleasure

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The delicious irony here is that the seller decided to be a jerk, had me pay to return the shoes to him and marked them return to sender thinking it would cost me time and money. Instead, I now have my money and his shoes.

Something strikes me as wrong about this whole situation, and I don't think your gloating is helping me either. I'm not saying that the seller treated you fairly, but it seems like you are being kind of unfair, by either ripping off the seller or paypal. You've got both the goods and the money. There's just something a little ethically off about that. First, I don't think it's that weird for you to have to pay return shipping. Granted, if he misdescribed the shoes, then he should probably step up and pay the shipping. But this happens all the time, both on ebay and on legit online stores like STP. It's part of the price we pay for shopping online. You just send it back and suck up the small cost.

Next, I'd give the seller one last chance to get his goods back. It's just not right for you to have both. It's either unfair to him, if his paypal account was actually deducted. Or unfair to paypal, if you keep both. Just send him an email, explain the situation, tell him he should be pay return shipping and reimburse you for your earlier costs/annoyances. If he doesn't agree to that, then keep the shoes.