I need some Ebay/Paypal advice!

[ShainaT]

Okay, let me try to sum this up:

Back in January I went on Ebay and bought my brother a cheap subscription to Sports Illustrated. (Nobody else in my family has an account with either Ebay or Paypal so they all do their ordering through me.)

Auction said it will take between 8-12 weeks for first issue. That's normal. I pay through Paypal.

Saturday night I get an email from Ebay's Loss Prevention Dept. saying they removed this seller's active listings and suspended their trading privileges. They recommend that I try to receive reimbursement.

I go through Paypal's resolution problem claims and find out that the claim is denied because it's over 45 days.

I go through Ebay and find out that they will give you sixty days to file a complaint and that is tomorrow for me. Ebay wants me to try to get my money back from Paypal (which is impossible). I can try to go through my credit card company but I think that will freeze my Paypal account.

I wrote Ebay last night and asked what to do but have received no reply.

Anyone have something similiar like this happen? I need some advice! TIA.

[Jennifer M.]

Did you pay with a credit card via Paypal? If so, I'd just contact your credit card company, explain what happened, and let them refund your payment, then they will have to deal with Paypal.

We've done several refunds through our credit card company, it does nothing to your Paypal account or it hasn't ours anyway.

[LesliM4]

WOW that really stinks! Have you heard anything back from ebay yet? Probably a stupid question, but as a last resort have you tried contacting the people you bought the subscription from? It will probably do no good, but it may make you feel better knowing that you tried.

[katlnhats]

Hi,
It sounds like you used paypal, but paid via credit card? I'd just go through your credit card company and then they'll go through paypal, after you get your money back and like Jenn says, it shouldn't affect your paypal account.
Good luck,
Kat

[ShainaT]

Thanks all.

Ebay is being very UNHELPFUL. We continue to correspond but we aren't getting anywhere. I also filed a claim by fax and was told since the item was under $25 they weren't going to do anything. The subscription was $24.95.

I also sent the seller an email. However, this seller has had like 7 Ebay name changes (which is why I only saw positive feedback). AARRRGGHH!!

I paid with my credit card VIA paypal. I will pull out that bill now and hopefully be able to go that route.

I called Sports Illustrated and they were fantastic. They let me sign up for a subscription for $29.95 for one year and put it on a "bill later" status so I can hopefully recoup the money I've already paid out to pay the bill. They, of course, had NO record of any information being set up for my brother.

[wuzzy]

if you never get file dispute

[munchkin_momma]

Sorry about what happened. One thing I don't like about eBay and PayPal is needing to dispute something, it takes forever and usually its too late anyhow. They are both extremely unhelpful when it comes to disputing something. They always recommend that you work it out with the other party. I say if you could work it out personally with the other party there wouldn't have been a need to file a complaint.

There is a way to see what other names someone uses on eBay as you are allowed to have more than one. I thoink you have to go to the page that tell you all about them. I forget what they call it. But as long as they used the same info when they signed up for each account (most do) it will show you any other name they have used.

I stopped using eBay for about 2 years because someone got my password and I was unable to get back in to my eBay account. This was when they first started to let you access PayPal directly through eBay and before they made you jump through hoops to get into it. Someone had complete access to my bank account and my credit card. I was unable to prove it due to have a revolving IP and I was unable to regain access to my eBay and PayPal account (silly me used the same password for EVERYTHING) I lost a decent amount of money and my credit is shot because of that. I filed my complaints with everyone and noone could help me. Like I said eBay and PayPal aren't good when it comes to handling complaints.

I hope you are able to get your money back somehow. Credit Card companies are usually the most helpful as long as you have proof of things so print all the correspondence between you and the seller, eBay, PayPal and anyone else that has direct involvement. Sometimes that helps if they can see it on paper with the dates and all.

Good Luck!!

[RHandbags]

Sounds like this scammer had this set up perfectly. This is just another reason why I am starting to really dislike eBay. Already am not thrilled with PayPal at all!

[BALLETRINA2007]

Did you contact your credit card company yet? If so, what did they say? Please let us know in case something like this happens to one of us in the future!

I've actually bought many magazine subscriptions on eBay without a problem. But it really is the perfect scam if you think about it. ANy subscription I've bought have been under $10, so I was willing to take the chance of it being a scam since it was such a small amount of money. But I guess I've been lucky so far!

[Smithwhick]

If you paid via paypal your case should be with them. Call their customer service hotline. i had a similar situation, and i got my money bizzack!

[ShainaT]

Thanks all.

My correspondence is done with Ebay. After numerous emails, they have basically told me TOUGH LUCK. The total amt. is under $25 so that's that.

Well, I went online and found the Paypal customer service phone number. I will call them on Monday. I know they are going to say that too much time has passed but that's how magazine subscriptions work supposedly. I am putting off calling my credit card company because I really, really, don't want my Paypal account put on hold. We'll see what happens.

Here's the funny thing.... I called Sports Illustrated less than two weeks ago and my brother just got his first issue directly from them! Why does it take so long when you order from someone on Ebay? I was amazed to hear that he got the subscription started so quickly.

[Smithwhick]

well even i could sell subscribtions to SI on ebay, so you're basically running on individual's time. and they can decide to mail the forms to SI magazine headquarters whenever they want.

[ShainaT]

UPDATE:

I just called my credit card company about the charge on there to Paypal from the middle of January. Mastercard asked me all sorts of questions but I told them that I'd tried to resolve this with Paypal AND Ebay to no avail. Mastercard credited the charge! They told me this should be the end of it but if they have any more questions they will contact me.

Now...I just hope this doesn't screw up my Paypal account.

Otherwise I am very pleased!

[derrick7847]

i know its very difficult dealing with paypal or ebay when you have issues. best of luck

[Senga]

For the future always use your credit card never your debit card when you are paying for goods from ebay and especially if you are using paypal.
Ebay are not the worlds best in dealing with complaints and paypal is no better. Actually its good to use a credit card for all purchases providing you remember to pay in full at the end of the month! I do hope you get this sorted. Good Luck