Ebay Paypal Charge Back questions

[Shelcoof]

Hey guys

A bit of anxiety on my part here. I've been having a nightmare of a time with a seller on ebay and have jumped through hoops on trying to get a refund.

I've gone through many stages of escalation and I'm unsure how the end results are going to go from here.

So last year December 22nd 2019 I made a purchase for a ZN2 Motherboard with Rival Schools from a Japanese seller for 145$.

Upon arrival on January 16th 2020 I only received the Rival Schools Game PCB and not the Motherboard that was pictured complete in the photos posted.

Seller's English was terrible and made no mentions of excluding anything. It essentially had all the wording that you would use to show up on search results.

Once I received the item I immediately contacted the seller via regular messages. I addressed the issue and tried to work things out.

A week goes by and I hear nothing from him so I escalate it and made it official through ebay stating there were missing parts in my order. He counters with a partial refund of a 15$
[Now before this I had bought a complete ZN-2 System with Rival Schools for 180$ USD. Stupid me I busted the sound amp two days upon receiving it and now I get no sound.]

During this time I asked for the motherboard. Seller claimed that offering a motherboard would be too costly for him so he denied that.

We went back and forth with him but he wouldn't budge and approved the return stating that I message him with shipping cost.

At this I can no longer add a message in the claim section of ebay and so messaged him with the quote which was 75$CAD roughly.

Did not hear from him and was not sure how to proceed so I open a claim with Paypal.
Within a week he replies to the Paypal claim and approves the return again. Messages me outside of Paypal and says he's having family problems and that he'll fund the cost of shipping.

Great I think and I provide him with my paypal information again via ebay messages. Well 7 days go by and not a word or anything from him. I even sent him multiple paypal request for the funds to ship it back.

Because the Seller approved of the return on Paypal all they wanted was tracking information. There was really nothing else they would accept.

I call up Paypal at this time and ask for an extension and they said Nope not extending. Explained to them the situation and Paypal tells me that is something I have to work out or let ebay step in. At this point I didn't see an option for ebay to to step in.

I asked them if I could go back and see if I could have ebay step in and they said "NO"
Because I escalated the case with Paypal I can't go back.

So time ran out and Paypal ruled in favor of the Seller.

Call my Credit Card. Tried to file a chare back and they said my case was weak. Recommend that I try to sort things out with ebay.

At this point I'm sunk deep. My understanding is that if I fork the bill for return shipping I'll never get it back. Also the seller closed up shop on ebay. He no longer has any listings available and also has disappeared and not returning messages. The chances of him declining to receive the package when it arrives is possible. That would leave me with not only losing on my refund but also postage paid at my own expense as well.

So at this point I'm feeling that the chances of seeing my money again is slim. However I go back to my claim on ebay and I find now a tab where it was never there before to have ebay step in. Great clicked on it and within a few hours a rep messages me and says we're giving the seller until the 6th of March to provide you with a shipping label or send you the funds.

If they fail they will force a refund.

That's great news but what I worry about is that I already opened up a claim with Paypal and lost. From my understanding once a case is closed on Paypal it cannot be re-opened. Can ebay force a refund?

Assuming I win and worst case scenario ebay can't refund me but has sided with me. Would that be enough proof for me to file a charge back?

I'm going to bed but I will reply when I'm at work on break

[Steamflogger Boss]

You should never jump to other options when you have the return approved on ebay. Too late for this, just putting that out there as a psa.

After reading this right now it sounds like you have a $145 Rival Schools. Your other option is spending $75 and having nothing.

I guess if ebay gives you a prepaid international label this could work out, I've never had something like this happen internationally. I've also never had the added caveat of opening and losing a paypal claim on the same item. But I do have experience with a few forced returns on ebay where the seller quit ebay over my return. In every instance I returned the item with the label from eBay and got my money back. This case has so many more layers, I hope it ends well for you.

[Austin]

Yeah, this is an odd scenario since you went about things sort of in a reverse order. Ideally you open a case through eBay first. In a situation like this, you are clearly in the right. If the seller doesn't want to lift a finger for you or wants to give you a bad deal on return shipping (or something along those lines), then eBay will refund you. It's a clear-cut case based on what you have told us. Side note that doing all this via an eBay case gives you an official paper trail of all communications tracked through the case itself.

Let us know how it works out for you.

[Shelcoof]

If I had known there was an option to escalate my claim within ebay I would have done so. Obviously I was an idiot and did not do my research jumping the gun escalating right to paypal.

I swear though the option to have ebay jump wasn't available until weeks later. That or I'm the blindest guy in the world.

Without a doubt I know ebay will side with me. The only problem is would they be able to force a refund and get my money back for me since Paypal has already opened and closed the case against me.

Also in the event the seller does fund the return shipping will I even get a refund because the case had been closed?

[Austin]

Yeah, actually you might be correct--You may have to wait before you can open a case with eBay. I can't remember. I am looking through my recently purchased items on eBay and it doesn't give me the option to open a case. It might be under the "Contact Seller" option. Hmm.

In the past I have sent messages to the sellers directly. In most cases they sort me out fine. In the situations where they don't, then I open a case the second the option becomes available (if it's not right away). I've had to do it for import games that never showed up, other items that came incomplete when they were distinctly photographed and described to be, etc. It's not often but it's good to know the process when it happens.

[Shelcoof]

Opening up a claim is done through contact seller and then you choose your option there.

I'm so use to contacting them via other options because I've always been asked by sellers if there are any issues just send them a message or an e-mail and not to open any sort of claim.

The way I see it if I can work things out with them without making it formal its not an issue so long as things get resolved and both parties are happy.

[Austin]

Oh yeah, I hear you there. That's generally the preferred way to handle things, but some sellers can be real asshats.