I may have been scammed and I used PayPal gift payment...help!!

So I found something on Etsy that a friend would really like for their birthday.

At the time I couldn't afford it and the artists work is in high demand so I contacted them via etsy to see if they'd put a piece aside for me.

The seller was more than happy to as long as I paid a small deposit. She didn't request paypal gift payment but I thought it only fair to cover the fees seeing as she was doing me a favour.

Anyway I made the final payment (again paypal gift...I know I know) a week ago today. She thanked me for the payment and said she was away for a few days but would post it out on tues/wed this week and let me know the tracking number.

Three days have passed now and I've emailed her 3 times with no reply. I contacted her on Twitter this evening as she just posted she was in the studio working and asked her to get back to me AND I left a comment on her Facebook page as well which she only updated an hour ago.

She seems like a really nice person, has 1000+ followers on Facebook and the reviews for all of her sold items are 5 star positive. She has a comprehensive public profile showing off all of her work and makes regular contact with fans and purchasers. So I cannot understand why she's not getting back to me. Despite paying for postage I've ever offered to send a courier at my own cost to pick it up if she's really strapped for time.

I need it to be here before the 20th otherwise it'll never make the birthday on time. It was pretty expensive too. I wouldn't mind if she's not sending it out til monday and it's gonna be a really close call but something about this is worrying me.

I have records of our conversation on etsy, copies of the payments in paypal and on my bank statements. If the worst case scenario happens, what can I do to get my money back?

This is her Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/LauraMathewsArtist?hc_location=stream

 

You're expecting an artist to be on time? Her Facebook page has a phone number on it. Not sure what you can do on a gift payment. That's why I always just add a couple bucks and do an item payment, or have them send me an invoice.

 

I don't think you're being scammed. If she's been away then she may genuinely have a lot to catch up on and not been able to reply to your email. Or maybe she's just not got an update for you and that's why she's not replied. It's not ideal but it happens.

Where is she based? Do you have a contact number you can call?

Edit: I see on Facebook she's in London and has a mobile number. Call her up tomorrow and say your order was for a birthday gift and will she be able to send on Monday?

 

See if you can find a phone number and give her a call. If that doesn't work, leave a message on her Facebook page, so that others can see it. She will hopefully want to resolve any issues. Keep it polite, of course.

Do be aware that a lot of people on Etsy make things to order, and it can take some time to do so.

If you can't get anywhere, I'd speak to Etsy and maybe Trading Standards - as she's selling, she needs to be doing so legitimately as a sole trader. Try speaking to PayPal, but as it was a gift payment, I doubt they'll do anything.

 

Yeah, 3 days (if I read that correctly) isn't exactly a long time, especially in artists terms.

If you don't get it resolved in a shortish timeframe (and you are based in the UK) there's something called 'Actionfraud', which will take your details and pass them along to the appropriate police department.

 

Well you're screwed if you use gift option, as that method is to just send money :/

You should make a public statement like others have said...

 

I've got several items from several people sitting here for much longer than 3 days and if one of them were to call me a scammer they might have some merit in their argument except for the massive post count and 7 years of registration.

3 days is nothing. Now two weeks without anything and you can clearly tell they've been around to update listings? I'd get a bit angry then.

 

The product was already made, she doesn't sell anything until it's done.

I'm only freaking out because she's evidently still active on social networking sites and can clearly see my messages.

Will give it another day or so to see what happens. I was just looking to see if anyone had made any successful attempts to get money back on a gift payment but then I realise most of you aren't stupid enough to use that method in the first place.

 

Mate, I got done for £45 recently by paying using gift. I checked his feedback, all good, been a member for over a year on the forum (not this one) etc etc. I managed to track him down and the c*nt just laughs at me and hangs up.

My advice is don't let it get to you and give her a week. I'm pretty sure this will get sorted and if not, it'll be very easy to shame her into sorting it out.

 

Did you call her? That's what you need to do. Don't be afraid to pick up the phone and ask what the status of your order is. You've paid her for goods and you have every right to know what the situation is. Don't rely on email/facebook etc.

What did you buy?

 

Well, techinically I didn't buy anything, as buying involves handing over cash and receiving something (lol). It was for some SNES bits and bobs.

 

Generally scammers try to hide as much personal information as possible. It looks like she has a lot of reputation and scamming you would potentially hurt her in the long run. I do understand the fear since you paid via gift payment, but seeing as you have a lot of her personal and business information, you will probably be okay. Just continue to attempt to communicate with her.

 

Oh that sucks. I'd have been tempted to threaten him with being taken to a small claims court. I've seen it on other forums where people buy stuff and never receive it, seller disappears. If you have contact details (address ideally) then you can raise a case for a fee. As long as you have the communication trail you can submit that and if he fails to respond, he will be liable for refunding you and for the fees. Even if paid via Paypal gift.

Scumbags like this shouldn't be able to get away with it.

 

You cant claim on a paypal gift.

The payment type is in the name really and paypal even warn you that its not for paying for goods, as you wont be protected and cant raise a claim.

 

I didn't mean raising a paypal dispute. I meant raising a court case for money owed - https://www.gov.uk/make-court-claim-for-money/overview

I've seen on another forum someone paid £35 for an item, never received it. Raised a case for £25 and then the dodgy seller refunded the money as well as pay the £25 court fee, otherwise they'd have had a CCJ on their name. It works if you have contact details/address, cos who wants a CCJ/debt collector on their case?

 

I called her today. She apologised and said she hadn't seen any of my emails/posts (?? 99% sure she did) anyway she says she's going to post it tomorrow and give me the tracking details.

Pretty sure all is good but time will tell.

 

Thing is, to raise a small claims case, you need to pay around £50 IIRC - which can be added onto the judgement if it goes in your favour. But, firstly you need £50 (Twimfy has mentioned in another thread he couldnt spare £25 ish to fix his car) and you need to actually be prepared to go to court. Unless it was a large amount of money (which costs more to file the dispute = more money, more cost to you initially) - most people cant be bothered or figure its not worth the time/hassle.

 

Good news mate, phoning is the best option in these cases. People don't/don't want to keep up with online comms so much.

£25 if you do it online and owed up to £300 (going by the fees on the page I linked). Yes in Twimfy's case not ideal financially, but maybe for others. Chances are it won't go to court because the seller would accept liability and refund the cost. I mean who's gonna go to court and argue that it's ok to take money and not provide the goods!

Agree that most people wouldn't bother cos of the time/hassle, but personally I would give it a go because I hate these scammers who think it's ok to rip people off.

 

Dont get me wrong, its a very good tool to force people into providing or refunding what they owe.

Its just not often worth time/hassle. Which is why it seems some of these scams are for lower amounts of money - less likely for someone to pursue.

 

I know mate, I agree with you