Seller is saying their wages will be garnished if I ask for a refund on an item I never received...?

[b-loisel]

I ordered a set of snap clips from a seller in China on Jan-27; the item was meant to be delivered between Feb-28 and Mar-28.  

Today is Mar-30 and nothing has arrived in the mail. I contacted the seller.  The person responding offered to ship the item again - this time through a different carrier, one that is hopefully "better and faster."  I asked how long it would take.  They said the reshipment could take 20 to 25 business days due to "delays and a backlog of parcels at the post office."  However, the seller offered to "help by urging the post office to process my shipment more quickly," which I highly doubt - how would a seller in China access Canada Post on my behalf?  Anyways, since it's already been 2 months, I  opted not to wait and asked for a refund, again via private message.

The next message I received was a first for me, and I find it concerning.  In a nutshell, the person said this:

"I am an employee of this particular store and my employer has rules; if the refund is greater than a set amount, my employer will garnish my wages.  Please don't ask for a refund and let me try sending the item again."

I don't want to get mixed up in this situation; I've never received this type of message before and I've ordered from different eBay sellers over the years.  I also have friends/family who've order from eBay.  No one that I know of has come across this type of plea from a seller before.  Anyone have similar thing happen to them?

[mcrlmn]

Start an 'Item not received' claim.

[reallynicestamps]

I ordered from a seller in China on Jan-27;

....today is Mar-30 and nothing has arrived in the mail.

For various reasons, shipping from China is very slow these days,.

 The person responding offered to ship the item again -

Uh-oh.

This is a common scam. It is very likely nothing was sent in the first place.

And since you only have 30 days to open a Dispute on eBay, waiting for the non-existent replacement would make that impossible.

I  opted not to wait and asked for a refund, again via private message.

 ...Please don't ask for a refund and let me try sending the item again."

The seller is lying lying lying.

Go to eBay's Resolution Centre at the bottom of this page and open an Item Not Received dispute.

The first suggestion is to contact the seller but you have already done this.

Ask eBay to step in and escalate to a Claim.

If the scammer seller cannot prove delivery (not shipping , delivery) you will be refunded.

Promptly.

FWIW- The claim that the scammer will have wages garnisheed is a new one. Still - pants on fire.

[3islanders]

Unfortunately some small packages are taking longer than 2 months to arrive.  I got one at 10 weeks.  You can ask for a refund up to 30 days after the last expected delivery date; timelines are on this page:  http://pages.ebay.ca/help/buy/item-not-received.html#notreceived

So you still have a month to request that refund, and your package may still come.  If you want to wait a little longer, you have time.  However, don't let the seller talk you into waiting for a replacement, because even if they do send one, it will likely come too late for you to make a claim. 

I've never heard of that plea before, and it's quite possible it IS an employee not wanting to get in trouble for an unsatisfied customer.  But don't let them talk you out of making the refund claim.  I would not bother messaging again; they're not going to refund you just through messages, apparently, so just go through the eBay not-received process, at whatever point you decide to make the claim.

[b-loisel]

Thanks all, for responding. I called eBay customer service the other morning and a rep started the refund process for me. I still DID want the wage issue to be recorded, whether it's actionable or not. I checked my account and the refund was indeed processed. Strange, strange, strange, situation, but I'm happy to be done with it.