"KSM" wrote in message
link.net...
I have to agree with Jim on this one........buy through e-Bay and have
some
protection, or suffer the consequences as Chong did.
What protection is that?
I bought a used laptop on 12/11/2003, and paid via PayPal.. the ultimate in
protection as far as an ebay purchase, right?
I paid for Priority mail shipping, the item should have been here in time
for Christmas. Along about 1/2 or 1/3, I sent the seller an e-mail and
asked how it had been shipped, and when. They told me it had been delayed
in shipping, and offered to refund me the extra that I paid for Priority
Mail shipping, which they did, about a week later.
I then e-mailed them to let them know that I had received the refund for
the extra postage, and they said that it would be shipped as soon as
possible. At this point, I informed them that if it had yet to be shipped,
that they should just refund my money for the entire sale, as it had been a
month since the end of the auction.
I got no response from them for a few days, so I went to leave negative
feedback. To my surprise, they were no longer a registered ebay seller. At
this point I sent another e-mail to them, and also a PayPal request for
funds to refund my purchase price. This they (apparently) did, a few days
later. They did this by PayPal e-check, which normally takes a few days to
clear. On the day it was to have cleared, I checked my PayPal account to
find that it had been instead cancelled. The sellers e-mail accounts have
all been closed, and the contact information is invalid (disconnected
telephone, etc.).
Now, this seller had good feedback, in the hundreds of positive feedbacks
(only about 4 out of over 600 were negative)..
Long story short, I am out my money, and out the item. I have absolutely no
recourse whatsoever, because both PayPal and ebay require you to file a
complaint/claim within 30 days. This does not even allow time for delayed
deliveries or shipping on the seller's behalf..
In other words, there IS no protection, other than Caveat Emptor, when
buying from ebay..