This is an amalgamation of the emails that I sent to customer support at ebay.
I want to report that I returned a product to a seller because it was defective. The seller claimed he never received it. The seller did not respond to all my emails. As the deadline for filing a complaint approaches, he stated the package was still not there, and would check again tomorrow. I did not hear from him so I was going to do the complaint procedure with ebay, only ebay responded that I was a day late in filling it out, (missed by 1 hour actually). Because I did not do this in time, I have no recourse for ebay to or paypal to pursue the matter any further. I have to wait for another person to file a complaint before my case can be reopened.
This was what he did. He was late shipping the item to me, an mp3 player. The item was defective from the manufacturer, it could not be upgraded, could not be fixed. I sent him an email with all the problems I found. He acknowledged that there was no CD in the box, or anyway to upgrade the software, so I told him I'm returning it for a refund. Several weeks went by and He was not answering my emails. He managed to delay me from filing a complaint on time. Once ebay cut me off, he does not have to refund my money any longer.
It's painfully clear that he was just pawning off unusable junk with no intention of ever taking it back.
The problem: The ebay and paypal policy on time limits has interrupted the normal flow of business and money transactions. It has allowed another party to walk away from their financial obligations. This policy is wrong and needs to be replaced revised or removed!
This is what the scam targets:
Ebay and paypal transactions are based around the honor and feedback system. This feedback system means buyers provide feedback for other buyers by a rating system. It however is not always possible to complete this in time. No one wants to leave negative feedback unless it's warranted, and there are situations (specifically this one) where you can not leave feedback within the time lines you currently have in place. Most people (if not all) will leave feedback after a transaction is complete, thats when they receive a product, it works and they are happy with it. If it does not work, then they will return it. No all people leave feedback at this point, and this is the normal delay procedure that happens. The seller will wait for it to return, evaluate what the buyer had to say about it, and either return it or replace it with another one. This delay can take up to two months in any normal average business based on the least expensive form of shipping. Anything shipped via ground or sea will take at least a month to get anywhere. You have to factor in shipping destination times, and border delays. Border inspection times especially around holidays and Christmas can add up to 15 days on top of regular shipping times.
Once the information time expires off the web site there is no recourse for the innocent party. There is no requirement for the parties to complete the transaction, one side can walk away leaving the other hanging without recourse. Ebay and paypal simply wash their hands at this point. This is wrong!
This is where the current ebay and paypal system fail.
1) The seller can make up any story that he wants to keep the buyer delayed long enough that the deadline for filing a complaint is easily missed. Once this event is missed, there is no route for the buyer to go back on, and once the item no longer shows on the ebay web site, the seller does not have to do anything else, he can let everything go, and no matter what he said, even if there is a written record of it, there is no recourse for the buyer.
2) The 45 day time line does not take into consideration of shipping delays, mishandling or other time related delays that this scam, or even for real world problems that this situation exploits.
3) Your web site does not give a countdown time or date that can be used so the buyer has notification that the dateline is approaching.
4) There is no notification to the buyer of when the date and time of the deadline is, such as a reminder email that the 45 day deadline to file a complaint is around the corner.
5) There is no notification areas available on the website that the buyer or seller can add information on shipping or status of a package, problems with the company, shipping delays, postal strikes, etc
Since there are no notifications currently sent by ebay or paypal, it is not the fault of the customer if they miss that deadline. It is current practice by all companies and government departments to put out notifications when a deadline is approaching. For example, when it is time to renew subscriptions to magazines, or insurance for home, car, boat, tv, telephone, property taxes, that's all written notice. Lack of payment for anything gets at least three written notices, two warnings and one final, usually one per month is the normal standard.
If a local store has a seven day to two week return policy then the buyer has that amount of time to take it back at his or her convenience, and they can expect that store to have a replacement there, or a refund. Ebay and paypal are not that local store, but this time limit is representative of that position. That local store has to deal with everything that goes on in the world to get the product to the shelves. If the product is faulty then that is for the store to deal with, not the customer. The customer is not dealing with the stores business partners, shippers, or foreign companies that actually made the product. There is no 45 day limit for these companies to deal with. If a product is faulty, then back it goes, and a refund can be issued even many months afterwards.
Ebay is not a store, or a storefront, ebay is a middleman, and paypal, in this case is also a middleman. Middleman companies are suppose to facilitate communication between two parties, product exchange, information transfer, and financial transfers. It is not the job of middlemen to get involved by placing limits on transactions between two customers. This is called interference. This interference in this case, puts up a wall that allows one party to be able to skirt its business and financial obligations to the other party.
It is not the goal of banks and credit card companies to have limits on when businesses can transfer money or talk to each other. This very much goes against being involved in business transactions. Their only responsibility is to move money, not decide on when it can be moved. Ebay and paypal with their current time limit policy are causing interference by interrupting the normal flow of business. This time limit policy puts one side of the business transaction at a financial disadvantage, and from a legal perspective, this clearly puts ebay and paypal in the wrong!
As for my situation, ebay has pulled the information of my transaction off the web site because of it's time limit policy, so now the seller is no longer obligated (he has ignored my 5 emails) to contact me, or return my money.By keeping this web page active, it is a clear reminder that nothing is completed until the buyer finishes the feedback. The method ebay and paypal have choosen to display the information of how the two parties communicate or exchange information or products, means that if one side no longer wishes to communicate there is no method of tracing where that party came from. The shipping address of the product and the address of the seller is frequently not the same, therefore once the web site information listing is gone, there remains no method of communication, or information transfer. Without this page remaining active, there is no leverage that the buyer can use in case of any problems. When ebay deletes this page, it is essentially putting a wall up. This is also wrong.
Ebay and paypal's policy has directly affected me financially and I want to know what will ebay and paypal do to correct the situation and return my money?
Trev
richmond, British Columbia
Canada
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