Being blatantly scammed and eBay can't step in to resolve it.

[turgsh01]

I don't know how I made this mistake, but I accidentally bought from a "seller" who now has -1 rating (it was a lot better than that at the time of purchase) and had put my product on a 4 month shipping ETA, refuses to talk to me / resolve anything. I waited over a month and a half for the product to get shipped off to me, but according to the tracking number, the product still has not left his store at all. I took the only available eBay option which was to return the product since "Cancel Order" was not an option for some dumb reason. But now I'm stuck in this loop (since a return is impossible as the product does not exist) and I still cannot get eBay to step in to resolve this blatant scam. As I said, this seller refuses to communicate with me. I don't know what else to do. This seller is obviously never going to refund me unless I can force it somehow.

Advice?

[femmefan1946 · Accepted solution]

You have 30 days from last estimated date for delivery to open a Dispute. It sounds as if you accidentally opened an Not As Described dispute rather than a Not Received dispute.

I'd suggest using the eBay FaceBook workers , who are well trained employees, to help you switch the reason for the Dispute.
https://www.facebook.com/eBayForBusiness/   --Message button in upper right on landing page.

EBay is now calling both Disputes and Cancellations  "cancellations" which is very confusing.

In addition, you are covered by Paypal for 180 days from PAYMENT, which may be easier. The PP Resolution Centre is at the top of your PP account page under Activities.  Choose your reason carefully.

And of course, if you used a credit card, you can phone them as enquire about a chargeback. Card policies differ, but usually you have 180 days from payment to start the chargeback.

[turgsh01]

I don't have Facebook, so I did the PayPal thing and it eventually worked out in my favor (took a week and a half to get a result, but still worth it). Will be receiving a full refund.

I'm so glad PayPal is there to take up the slack when eBay fails to protect me from ppl like that. Hopefully eBay fixes this issue so things like this don't happen anymore.

Anyway, thanks for the response.

[femmefan1946]

NO.

You made the error of opening a Not As Described dispute, which set you on the wrong path for the refund.

There are backups as you learned, and I am happy you were able to resolve this.

[turgsh01]

I didn't use the Not as described dispute. I used the Changed my mind dispute as it was the only option available to me since the ETA for shipping still had another 3 months left so I could not choose any other option yet.

[mcrlmn]

AKA the 'Buyer's remorse' option.

Regardless of the lack of a tracking number, communication, and etc., if you had not received your purchase before eBay's estimated delivery date had elapsed, you could've then opened an item not received claim.

Without legitimate proof of delivery, your claim would be validated.

Tracking benefits the seller.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

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@mcrlmn wrote:

AKA the 'Buyer's remorse' option.

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It would make life so much easier if there was an option called "Other" vs the current "Close enough"  mini grab bag. This current situation results in many both buyers and sellers not showing the actual correct reason for cases. 

-Lotz

[turgsh01]

Wrong. "Item not received" option only allows you to "Contact Seller" which in this case wasn't doing me any good as the seller refused to respond. A claim under that option would not be available until the shipping ETA expired. I don't know how eBay handles accounts with a -1 rating, but I was nervous that the account would get banned or something before I could open a claim. Besides, I shouldn't have to wait that long to cancel an obvious scam order. PayPal handled it when eBay couldn't, which is all that really matters to me in the end.

Side note, would you believe this user still has over 250 random items listed for sale? It's only a matter of time before someone else accidentally falls into that trap again.

[mcrlmn]

Really?

 As you say, "seller refused to respond"... in 3 days you're good to go.

[turgsh01]

Was there still a shipping ETA when you made that screenshot? Cuz that doesn't appear for me at all until after the ETA expires.