Warning for eBay Buyer's - Does eBay Buyer Protection Really Cover You?

[sparkyuiop]

I felt the need to share this information with all buyers from eBay.

I recently bought an item that cost £160 from a seller with a good feedback score. I read that the item would be sent by tracked parcel with Royal Mail so I went ahead with the purchase.

 

After a week and the item still not arriving I checked the provided tracking number to find to my surprise that it was reported to have been delivered.

I contacted the seller who was very unhelpful and stated that as far as eBay and they were concerned it had been delivered and that was that! He or she did say I should make a claim at my local post office for the lost item.

 

I first went to our local sorting office to see if it had been returned undelivered but it had not. I asked the clerk if he had any forms for me to make a claim but he said that only the poster can make the claim as they took out the insurance when they purchased the postage. He also stated that if it was signed for the sender could get evidence of the signature used to sign for it.

 

I emailed the seller again when I got home and asked if they could start a claim on the advice that the post office gave me and if they could request the signature card. Sadly the seller just stated back to me the tracking number and would not give me any of the information I requested or help in getting a copy of the signature card.

 

It is only myself and my family that live at my address and I don't share a post box or anything like that so I thought if I had the signature I could look up the surname and see if I could match it to anyone in my street who may have had my item delivered to them in error.

 

Because the seller declined to help me I was left with no options and had to start a dispute. I also decided to leave negative feedback stating that the seller would not help me with the information I needed to recover my parcel or my £160. To my shock eBay removed the feedback when the seller requested them to. When I asked eBay what was the justification in doing so I was told that it was likely an automated removal due to 'key words' being used. Just to clarify I used no bad or insulting language in the text whatsoever.

 

Several days later and after no response from the seller other than to gloat how they had the negative feedback removed I escalated the dispute to a claim. The dispute was quickly awarded in favour of the seller as providing a tracking number is all they need to do to cover themselves according to the eBay decision maker.

I have since found out that a tracking number can be bought for just £1.00 and the parcel doesn't need insurance or indeed to be signed for in order to have a tracking number attached to it.

 

I am quite sure my seller did not insure the goods nor had them to be signed for which is why they were avoiding answering any of my questions.

So there you go, when you're thinking you have eBay's 'buyer protection', think again! It just cost me £160 and I feel like eBay have not even considered a single effort that I have made or that the seller was in any way negligent for sending high value goods through (most likely) a standard postal service with no cover.

I have appealed the decision but it looks pretty hopeless. I may very well take this to small claims just out of principle.

Edited March 22, 2013 by citizenB

[dx100uk]

do a chargeback then.

[sparkyuiop]

Unfortunately I topped up my PayPal account with a PAYG credit card.

[dx100uk]

if it still has a visa or mastercard logo you can do it.

[Northernpug]

I had a similar situation with Ebay a while ago. Tried a chargeback but my bank refused unless I could produce evidence that it was fraudulent. I sent t the seller a LBA giving them 14 days to pay which they didn't so issued a summons through Money Claim Online which I won by default because they didn't defend. They still didn't pay so sent the baliffs round and they paid up.

[just_jue]

Hi, I had a motherboard returned to me on Ebay, and it said it had been delivered, which it hadn't. I looked into it further and the parcel had been delivered to Peterhead in Scotland and I am in Crawley West Sussex.

I would double check with the post office to see where the parcel was delivered from then raise a complaint with them to find out where you package has gone.

 

JJ

[Northernpug]

sparkyuiop, have you tried inputting the the tracking number online at http://track2.royalmail.com/portal/rm/track?catId=500185&mediaId=22700601&keyname=track_home ?

[citizenB]

The following response was provided by Lorrainexx - unfortunately the post was redirected to Admin.

 

Go to Royal Mail and input the tracking number. If the item was valuable, it should

have been sent Special Delivery so input the number against Special Delivery.

 

Then try the number against Recorded Delivery. If it was recorded, it will show you

the signature of who signed it online.

 

If the number does not match either of these I would ring Royal Mail and ask them

which service matches the tracking number