Paypal Transaction going sour- advice? (1 Viewer)

[Todd Hochard]

All,

I recently purchased some items (Large rear disc brake kit for my old Z28) from a private seller, and used Paypal to pay him. I sent him the funds on Oct 10, he FINALLY shipped the package on the 16th, and it arrived on Friday. It shipped weighing 65lbs (verified by the post office), and arrived, battered, weighing 16lbs. I refused delivery, as most of the parts are most certainly missing.

I had been in contact with the seller via email several times, due to the delay. After all, he had my money, and I had no package. He always responded within a few hours. Now that I've refused the package, I'm getting no response. It's been two days. I intend to give him the benefit of the doubt (out of town for the weekend), and wait until Monday evening for a response.

I'm relatively inexperienced at the whole "buy online from private seller" thing. I intend to pursue the Paypal Buyer complaint route, and also call AMEX, looking for a chargeback. I tied this card to my account, and used it, hoping for the additional buying protection that it offers. Shame on me for not using an escrow service, I know.
Anyone have any advice on how best to resolve this?

Todd

 

[DavidAM]

It might have been easier to accept the package and make a claim with the post office as its not really the senders fault the package opened and lost its contents. This sounds more like the post office's fault for mishandling the package. Did you pay for postal insurance?

 

[Todd Hochard]

I was the receiver, not the sender. We agreed on a "shipped" price, and he sent it (and he did so uninsured). The packing was woefully inadequate, at best. A thin cardboard box, with three strips of tape around it, to hold 65lbs of metal. I refused on the advice of the postal worker at the counter of my local post office.
THAT aspect of it is definitely not my problem.

And I agree, it IS partly the post office's problem, but why is that my problem and not his?

Todd

 

[Leila Dougan]

I had some problems from an ebay seller who refused to ship the items to me, yet I had already paid via paypal. On paypal's website, you can file a claim with them and if they find you to be in the right, they will refund the money. Apparently the woman I was buying items from was out of town for 2 weeks (??) and when paypal tried to investigate she didn't answer her email. Paypal refunded me the money and the woman didn't even know about it till she got home. That might be worth a try.

 

[Philip_G]

usually paypal can only refund the money if it's still in the guys paypal account though, so if his balance is zero you're SOL.

also, ebay has some insurance don't they? up to a couple hundred bucks or so