This is a pretty tricky one, so I thought I'd post it to see what people think the best way to go about sorting this out is. It all started back in July when I was selling loads of stuff on eBay, as I was moving out of my flat and going to Japan in August. Unfortunately, eBay placed a selling restriction on my account, as I had fallen foul to one of their seller performance indicators. I asked a friend of mine if I could use his account to list my remaining items, which included a R700 Toshiba laptop which sold for £353.69 (a bloody steal as well). Anyway, I received payment (or rather, my friend did) and sent the laptop to Poland by FedEx the day before I went to Japan. I could access my friend's eBay account, as I'd been using it to list everything, but couldn't get onto his Paypal account. I noticed that the buyer had put in a claim towards to end of August, saying that he had never received the laptop - as I couldn't get onto Paypal to update the claim on there, I emailed him through eBay and told him that the parcel was being held in FedEx's Warsaw depot and give him the number to call them to arrange for redelivery. Two days later, I checked the FedEx tracking and saw that it had been delivered, so assumed that everything was fine. It was only when I got back to the UK in mid October that I was able to check my bank balance and noticed it was lower than I'd expected. I then visited my friend, who assured me that he had transferred the whole balance of his Paypal account to me and upon checking his account we noticed that the claim that was made for the laptop had been processed and the transaction had been reversed. I had assumed that upon receiving my email and what I thought to be clearly acting on it, the buyer would have closed the Paypal claim. I then emailed the buyer and asked him to return the payment, but he was/is adamant that he never received the laptop. I'm not sure what to make of it - the buyer has cooperated with me so far and has replied to all my emails. He also is clearly not to strapped for cash judging by the amount of items he buys on eBay and has 100% feedback (although that's not indicative of much since eBay ridiculously removed anything but positive feedback for buyers). However, the fact that it was sitting around in a depot in Warsaw for 2 weeks and then delivered successfully 2 days after I emailed him about it seems odd. So, what I think has happened is either the buyer received the laptop and took the money, some other family member signed for it and neglected to tell them about it (have had this occur in the past, but not with something this large) or the Polish FedEx guys saw that the parcel had been hanging around for a while and just decided to offload it wherever was convenient for them. Any way, I need to know what's the best course of action - I've emailed FedEx about it and am waiting for a reply. Also, incidentally, this is an email I sent the buyer straight after he bought the laptop. He chose the cheaper option: "Cheapest postage to Poland would be by FedEx for £27 standard or £48 fully insured. However, please note that if the Paypal address differs substantially from the one you've provided below (as the eBay address does), I cannot accept any responsibility if the parcel fails to be delivered or is damaged for whatever reason. This is because if any Paypal claim should arise, the address I provide to FedEx MUST match the one the laptop is delivered to, otherwise any tracking details I supply will not be considered valid. Can you please reply to this message, confirming that you understand this and indicating whether you would prefer standard or insured delivery, the total costs of which are detailed below: Posted by FedEx European Economy (3-5 days) - £380.69 Posted by FedEx European Economy plus insurance up to £400 - £401.69 Regards"
If you have tracking showing it was delivered, you just need to appeal the dispute judgement. Provide tracking info, you will get money back.
I tried doing that, but couldn't find the option in Paypal. Maybe too much time had elapsed since the initial payment had been made for their liking? Don't want to contact them directly, as it's my friend's account, but can't really get him to do it as he's in London and I'm in Newcastle at the moment. I'll be back in London in January, so I may get him to contact them on my behalf then, if I haven't managed to sort it out with either the buyer or FedEx
