Help!!! Assistance Needed for Charge Back Claim

[Shelcoof]

Hi Guys

This is a last resort attempt to reclaim my money from a seller who went MIA after sending me a partial item on ebay

I’m looking for someone who’s an “expert” in the field of arcade PCBs that can write me a letter provided that they have the proper “credentials”. I know this is silly but my Bank will close my case if I do not get a professionals opinion on the matter.

December of 2019 I made a purchase for Rival Schools arcade PCB. Unfortunately for me the listing has now been taken down and I do not have it available to share.

The auction had a picture of the complete ZN2 Motherboard with the Rom Board for Rival Schools in tact as the first picture that he provided. The following pictures were just pictures of screenshots of the game.

Nowhere in the description did he say that the motherboard was not included.

When I received it I quickly contacted him about it. He apologized and offered me a refund of 20$. I declined as I had no use for just the ROM board. Prior to this I had bought a Rival Schools with the ZN2 Motherboard from another seller. Which I quickly broke the sound amp. This purchase was to replace the damage ZN2 Motherboard.

We couldn’t work it out and the seller stopped responding. I escalated and formally opened a claim on ebay. I gave him two options at the time send me the ZN2 board or I ship it back at his own expense. Ebay policy clearly states that if an item is not as described [and I’m going based off the picture and there was no description stating that anything was missing] then the seller is responsible for return shipping.

I even offered more money if he could provide me with the ZN2 motherboard. He declined unfortunately.

He went ahead and approved the return. Telling me he would cover the return shipping and to message him for the funds. So you know shipping cost was quite expensive. I tried that and after several weeks he was MIA. At the time I could not find any options for ebay to step in so I escalated with Paypal.

Opened the case up with Paypal and stated the exact same thing. Waited a couple of weeks for him to get back to me but never did then I escalated to have Paypal step in. One day was left and he approves the return stating he had family issues and that to “message” him again for funds. Not in those exact words but something like that. Soon after goes MIA again!

Time is almost up and Paypal was going to rule against me if I don’t upload tracking information. I called them up for an extension and told them that I was waiting on the seller to provide the funds. Paypal said they can’t extend it and I’m out of time. I know some people might think that I should have eaten the cost of return shipping. I thought about that but I had a gut feeling this seller might not even accept the return and tracking would show it for pick up and not received. Shipping cost to return the item back to Japan was really expensive and with a seller who was very sketchy and apparently having a life crisis is probably not a good idea to just go ahead with it.

In the end I lose the paypal case.

Next option and last resort would be to file a charge back with my Bank. My Bank was just like ebay and just like paypal not really helping me with much. I’m now requested by my bank that I need an expert to explain the invoice. I showed them pictures but they say they can’t use the picture that was portrayed in the auction to compare what I received. Tried to tell them that what is on the invoice are search words people use to find the product and that the auctions people go based on the images unless stated in the description of the item. Without looking at the image it would be very hard to explain what was being purchased

So this is a last cry for help. I know a number of community members here have a lot of experience with arcade PCBs. If someone could please do me a huge favor contacting me via PM to discuss this further I would greatly appreciate it!

Thank you
S

[XtraSmiley]

I don't know if I can help you, but when I return items on eBay, I click, item not as described I want to return, and eBay provides a free return label, effectively making the return shipping free for me.

Is that too late to look into?

Also, a sound amp is pretty easy to fix, so there is that as well.

Finally, I'd be happy to provide a letter explaining I'm a world known expert in all things arcade games and PCBs. Feel free to type up such a letter and send it to me. I'll finish it up with my info and send it to your bank.

[Austin]

I don't know if I can help you, but when I return items on eBay, I click, item not as described I want to return, and eBay provides a free return label, effectively making the return shipping free for me.

Is that too late to look into?

I remember when he first posted about this issue a little ways back. If I recall correctly, he bypassed eBay's dispute system and went to PayPal first, or something along those lines, and that sort of screwed things up.

To the OP, if Xtra gets you a note, definitely let us know if your bank rules in your favor.

[Shelcoof]

I don't know if I can help you, but when I return items on eBay, I click, item not as described I want to return, and eBay provides a free return label, effectively making the return shipping free for me.

Is that too late to look into?

I remember when he first posted about this issue a little ways back. If I recall correctly, he bypassed eBay's dispute system and went to PayPal first, or something along those lines, and that sort of screwed things up.

To the OP, if Xtra gets you a note, definitely let us know if your bank rules in your favor.

I had a merchant I frequently purchase MVS carts and other arcade hardware to provide me the letter. XtraSmiley was kind enough to try and help but I wanted to make sure I covered all corners of what my Bank required. Which was pretty vague if you ask me and my guess was they made these ridiculous request to try and deter me from going
through with my claim.

For Canadian's we aren't able to print any pre-paid shipping labels. I believe only USPS does.

I learned a lot through this whole process. Buying and selling goods/services online have changed so much since when I started over 20 years ago. Before I would be able to call my financial institution without any issues... then again I probably only have done that maybe three or four times over the years but the past two times I had issues they weren't supportive at all and gave me the run around like paypal.

What should of happened and this was a big mistake on my part is that I should have handled all this on ebay. Ebay would have enforced the policies both buyers and sellers agreed to when using their platform. Unfortunately for me I should have tried my best to resolve it on there. What screwed me over was the seller authorized a return and agreed to send me the funds for postage but then went MIA. This disabled me from making further comments in our case. A case can only be opened for a certain period until ebay closes it automatically. So I had to act as the time was coming to a close. I should have called or contacted ebay instead of escalating to paypal.

Also do not return items at your own cost if it is the fault of the seller. There is no way you can force them to pay you back. Ebay customer service had made that very clear to me.

Once I escalated there was no turning back. You can't open multiple claims. Paypal does not care what was agreed on and won't enforce anything prior to opening a claim. All they are looking for is confirmation that you either received it or the seller received the return. The time frame to uploading proof that sent the item back is short as well. Seller at this time responded and authorized the return again and agreed to send me funds for postage but never did. Paypal will not extend for you to provide tracking. At this point even if I took the risk of losing money for postage it does not guarantee that the seller will accept the item when it arrives. I wasn't going to take that gamble with all things considered.

My financial institution was the worst. I had such a hard time. Its very clear they have no interest in helping you and will do their best to prevent you from going with the claim. This letter from an expert I needed I can tell was a way to deter me from my claim.

If you are going to file a charge back here are a few key things to remember. There is a time limit on when you can file your claim. With my financial institution it was 100 days from purchase date. I found this out when I waited 101 days the previous time I tried filing a charge back.

Another is your invoice needs to outline exactly what you purchased and all components of how much each item is worth. I know a little unrealistic because ebay sellers some of them their English isn't their first language and what is listed are usually tags they use to have their listing show up when there is a search. Say for example you buy a DVD Movie listed as complete and it comes in as disc only. Your financial institution will rule against you because the DVD Box and inserts weren't listed on the invoice. To them complete could mean you get the full movie and not half of it. If you want to push that complete meant you get the DVD Box and Art inserts they'll make you go and find an expert to have you write them a letter that that is what "complete" meant.

The person that worked on my case provided me with another example. If I was to order a pair of shoes and I received a scarf. I would need to have an "expert" explain that I did not receive what I purchased.

Yes its that crazy and yes this example actually came from the person who was dealing with my case.

That all said I have my letter but I'm pretty certain they'll try and find another way to close my case. This could take up to a year to resolve possibly so I'm told.

[Steamflogger Boss]

Probably repeating myself from last time this thread came up but it seems good to reiterate.

Spoiler

At least you learned some lessons. I become unwilling to budge when a seller sends me something broken, the wrong item etc. It's how you have to be. I've had the gamut of experiences on eBay. The very typical one is the seller never responds so I force escalation to eBay get a prepaid label, send it back get my refund as soon as the delivery scan hits. The most interesting one (that really sticks with me) was when I bought an older power amp and I left the case open while working things out with the seller. They ended up sending me gifted pp from their wife's account to cover the repair after I uploaded a scan of the repair bill. I'm still shocked that one worked out, communication started out very rough (from their end) but then things got more cordial. It worked out better for them too, because if I had to ship it back on their dime they were looking at losing somewhere around $300 and having an amp with leaky caps.

TL;DR: Always file a claim, never close it until the issue is resolved. You really really want things to be resolved through eBay because as we see from Shelcoof's interactions, anything else is a big pita in comparison.

I hope it works out for you in the end Shelcoof, this is INSANE.

[Shelcoof]

Probably repeating myself from last time this thread came up but it seems good to reiterate.

Spoiler

At least you learned some lessons. I become unwilling to budge when a seller sends me something broken, the wrong item etc. It's how you have to be. I've had the gamut of experiences on eBay. The very typical one is the seller never responds so I force escalation to eBay get a prepaid label, send it back get my refund as soon as the delivery scan hits. The most interesting one (that really sticks with me) was when I bought an older power amp and I left the case open while working things out with the seller. They ended up sending me gifted pp from their wife's account to cover the repair after I uploaded a scan of the repair bill. I'm still shocked that one worked out, communication started out very rough (from their end) but then things got more cordial. It worked out better for them too, because if I had to ship it back on their dime they were looking at losing somewhere around $300 and having an amp with leaky caps.

TL;DR: Always file a claim, never close it until the issue is resolved. You really really want things to be resolved through eBay because as we see from Shelcoof's interactions, anything else is a big pita in comparison.

I hope it works out for you in the end Shelcoof, this is INSANE.

I've had many purchases where I'd contact the a seller and let them know its been months and nothing has arrived. Many of them would offer to reship which I usually accept. But some would also ask you to close the case after agreeing to waiting for the second shipment.

I usually refuse because once a case is closed you can't re-open it. I'll tell them until I have what I purchased in hand the case remains open. Usually soon after they would issue me an immediate refund as they don't want to wait for the case to close.

Glad things worked out for you. It only made sense for the merchant to cover cost of the repair instead of cost of return shipping.

I thought in my case the merchant would have offered what was missing in my order. Especially when I even offered to send him enough to cover shipping and more. Instead he offered me a refund of 20$ USD!

I knew right then and there I was going to have a hell of a time. Though I didn't realize it was going to be this bad. Hours on the phone with ebay, paypal and my Fiancial institution. On top of that my merchant who I frequently purchase from speaks Spanish and I spent hours with him on the letter too lol.

Sigh... oh well but you know I'm taking a back seat on ebay and everything else. I am though going to continue to support good quality merchants like the one who is providing me the letter. Definitely need to send more business his way.

[Shelcoof]

Just an Update my Bank has put the Charge Back Through based on my letter from my Merchant.

The seller I filed the charge back with has 45 days from April 30 to submit his documents to counter my claim.

Hoping for the Best!

Thanks to all those who have messaged me privately for support!