All EBAY/PayPal related posts here please

[Mayhem]

If you go into your feedback page, you see the four ratings for "Item as described", "Communication", "Dispatch time" and "P&P charges". I was wrong earlier btw, it's below 4.5 average not 4.7, and it isn't the only reason, this section on eBay's site gives a few more.

[ascender]

My other half picked up a £75 iTunes voucher from eBay over the weekend. She won the auction and a few hours later got the activation code which turned out to be for a £10 voucher. When I got home later on, I emailed the guy through eBay's messaging system and have heard nothing since.

He's obviously been online during this time as others have bought vouchers from him and have left feedback for him. I've mailed him again this morning and asked him to refund me or send me the correct code by tonight, but can I then open a PayPal dispute, or should I give him longer to sort things out? I get the feeling he's not going to respond and now that I've read his feedback, he does have a few negatives against him for this sort of thing. I'm thinking he's maybe making enough money from the ones that work, that he's happy to take the hit on a few not working.

So, how long is reasonable before I file a dispute with PayPal?

[rumbletum]

Had an email from eBay today, from January you have to provide free P&P if selling a DVD.

They are really going out of their way to screw every penny out of you.

[fallenangle]

It sounds a bit cheeky. If I understand correctly this will mean sellers having to raise their start price to cover p&p and consequently eBay will get more/sale. Yes?

If so: is this just a new way to rip off sellers or have some DVD sellers been abusing the p&p system listing items stupidly cheap and getting their profit from higher than actual cost p&p thus minimising eBay's cut?

[ascender]

I think quite a lot of sellers have used that trick before to increase the P&P costs and making the actual item cost very low. Which wasn't a problem as you knew what was going on before you bought it. So yes, its just a case of eBay wanting to make more money.

[Mayhem]

If so: is this just a new way to rip off sellers or have some DVD sellers been abusing the p&p system listing items stupidly cheap and getting their profit from higher than actual cost p&p thus minimising eBay's cut?

Both.

As for your issue Ascender, file a claim now as "item not described" because it isn't. Hopefully he hasn't cleared his account so you can get your money back...

[BearBoy]

Is anyone having problems using Paypal to pay for ebay items at the moment? I won something at the end of last week and paid for it successfully but the seller's e-mail address in ebay was incorrect. I have cancelled that payment but now the transaction fails about half way through.

Just wondered if there is an issue at the moment or whether this is specific to me.

Cheers,
BB

[fallenangle]

I've paid for 5 items recently (last one on Sunday) by Paypal - no problem at all.

Perhaps I'm missing something but I don't quite understand what's happened here. Were you/are you paying by Paypal through the usual 'Pay For Item Now' eBay listing links to the Paypal site?

How did you find out the listing quoted e-mail address was wrong and. in any case, why did that make you withdraw a successfully completed payment?

[BearBoy]

Hi Fallenangle,

I paid using the "pay now" link in ebay. The payment appeared to go through okay on Thursday morning when I won the item and I got a Paypal receipt etc.

The payment remained "in progress" rather than "completed" and then I got an e-mail from the seller advising that ebay had his old e-mail address and so could I cancel the payment the re-send it to his new e-mail address as he would not be able to withdraw the money.

I cancelled the original payment in Paypal (the seller does not appear to have taken the money) and I had the amount refunded to my account.

Ebay is now showing that I have 1 item to pay for. I click on the "pay now" link and log in to Paypal but then get an error message saying "Checkout is currently unavailable".

Any ideas?

cheers,
BB

[fallenangle]

The "1 Item to Pay For" notification remains in your My Ebay pages even with refunded payments, I found that out for myself recently ie. there's no automatic marking of those transactions as refunded, it will just show it as unpaid. Your Paypal account is what matters, that should show the money as having been refunded.

It could be that Paypal has suspended his account until the e-mail situation is sorted but obviously that will be up to the seller to do. A seller changing his e-mail address mid-transaction is a bit odd and might have flagged the account.

Try to pay again and if it gets blocked for a third time either give up or contact Paypal customer services to findout what is going on.

I can't think what kind scam he might be trying to pull if any. There might be a perfectly reasonable explanation but personally, unless I was desperate, I'd walk away from any transaction like this. You've still got your money, the seller still has the item so let him sort out his e-mail address issues and relist it if he's genuine.

E-mail the seller to tell him your attempts to make payments into his Paypal account appear to have been blocked because of the problem with the e-mail address (whether actually the case or not). Mutually agree to void the transaction and leave no feedback.

[BearBoy]

Thanks for the advice Fallenangle.

I've contacted Paypal customer services so I'll see what they can do. I don't think it's a scam (it's for less than $20), and certainly wouldn't accuse the seller of trying it on, but I may have to give up on it if Paypal can't resolve it soon.

Shame, I was looking forward to getting the game

Cheers,
BB

[oracle]

gah paypal have still not released my money, its been over a week now!!!

I keep complaining but they keep sending the same cut and paste response

tis really annoying.

[Jurassic]

Hi guys I'm needing some advice. I'm looking to buy something quite expensive off ebay for a Christmas pressie. A large chunk of that cost is postage as the item is coming from abroad and will be pretty heavy (looking at about ?80 just for postage).

Now I've used the seller before so believe them to be trustworthy but as its ebay you never know! If something was to go wrong and the item didn't turn up, can you claim for the total amount back including postage charges or is it just what you bid up to on the item? I've never had to claim for anything before so wanted to make sure before I took the plunge. Cheers for any help!

[honeymustard]

Postage as well through a Paypal claim, it treats the payment as one lump.

[Jurassic]

Great, thanks for that.