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Preordered item not sent, the seller refuses to refund
Summary: aureliengrand02 bought a statue on pre-order on eBay from a seller in Hong Kong in 2020. Although it is now available elsewhere, the seller never shipped it and refuses to refund him, offering only items from his store in exchange. koalagris and lingma85 explain that neither eBay nor PayPal can intervene after so much time, and advise against accepting the seller’s offer. aureliengrand02 expresses frustration with eBay’s pre-order policies and decides to unsubscribe, unhappy with the lack of protection.
Hello,
I bought a statue from a seller located in Hong Kong for a total of $820.
This purchase was made in November 2020 and it was clearly stated in the listing that it was a pre-sale, with the manufacturer planning production for the end of 2021, the Hong Kong reseller I paid the preorder to saying that shipping would take place right after.
With no news in spring 2022, I contacted the seller, who explained that he himself had no news from the manufacturer, but that many factories had slowed down their activity following the Covid crisis and that I needed to be patient.
Since then I have been able to confirm that the statue was produced since it is available on several specialized sites all over the world (I saw it "available on American and Belgian sites), but after months of exchanges punctuated by long waiting periods, the Hong Kong Ebay seller tells me he does not have the statue and cannot send it to me. He tells me that too much time has passed since the payment and he is категорically refusing to refund me. He says my only option is to choose one or more other items from his store with a similar total amount. Except that nothing in his Ebay store appeals to me.
This transaction is old enough that it no longer appears in my purchases on my Ebay account... Can Ebay step in, and how can I contact them?
The approach recommended by Ebay is to open a dispute when an item has not been received 30 days after the announced delivery date, but in the case of a preorder scheduled for a year later, this does not work: in that case, why does Ebay allow listings for presales?
I paid by PayPal: can they do anything on their end?
Is the only option left for me to accept the seller's offer to have him send me random items from his store, which I would then resell to get my money back?
The amount paid is significant and I am furious at having been taken in; I will never buy anything on preorder again. In the meantime, I am lost and I don't know how to handle the situation... Thanks for your advice!
aureliengrand02
OP2 years agoThanks to both of you for the answers.
I can’t help but wonder why Ebay doesn’t ban sales for items that won’t be available for months, sometimes a year or two, since there’s then no guarantee of anything, despite the generic message "Buy with confidence, your purchase is protected by a guarantee /No worries! Returns accepted", which in those cases is clearly inapplicable and misleading. Yet all it takes is a search with "preorder" as a keyword to see that there are hundreds of listings like this, and one has to wonder how many of them are scams.
lingma85
Mentor2 years agoGood evening @aureliengrand02
"there is then no guarantee of anything whatsoever, despite the generic message "Buy with confidence, your purchase is protected by a warranty / No worries! Returns accepted, which in cases like this is clearly inapplicable and misleading"
It's just advertising... like the kind you see on laundry detergent packs... there are lots of sales platforms like here... and to attract customers, you have to lure them in...
As for the customer, they have no right to let themselves be manipulated without first checking what they're in for... because it's their money and their trust... So they need to be careful...
The terms of use are clear and preventative... you need to read them before diving headfirst into a random purchase whose conditions are foreign to what is recommended to be "protected"... "buyer protection" is regulated and, above all, described in detail (that's what you need to read and understand before committing to any purchase...)
You're here on eBay.fr... your purchase comes from H.Kong... so the seller is registered on another eBay.fr site whose terms are probably different ( eBay.com.hk is not eBay.fr...) ... What's allowed on one may not be allowed on the other (see international sales and seller responsibilities across all eBays...)
And then... let's not forget that there's a forum that can alert you when an action seems suspicious... but, you still have to come before and not come crying after when it's too late...
Kind regards...
PS . 1
Sellers who have international stores can sell their products on all eBays... That's why you saw that "plethora" of pre-sale listings with a more or less distant deadline... which some shady sellers take advantage of to make money cheaply and without prosecution, because they are foreign, for the most part...
PS . 2
It's obvious that you made a wrong move and/or were too credulous... You should try to forget this bad experience and move on...
clt
aureliengrand02
OP2 years agoSorry for coming here to "whine" about having been scammed with the blatant and direct complicity of Ebay, and thanks for your condescending tone. What’s for sure is that I won’t be taken in again in the future, since I’m going to unsubscribe from a site this unscrupulous right away.
lingma85
Mentor2 years ago"to be scammed with the blatant and direct complicity of Ebay" you write...
In this case... there is no complicity because eBay buys nothing and sells nothing....
Only the sellers are responsible for all the information they give in their listings...
And it’s up to you, as the buyer, to be cautious and do your research before buying....
Your purchase dates from Nov. 2020 for a production, supposedly end of 2021...
We are in 2024.. what have you done in the meantime??..
- you exchanged with a sly seller... and you believed him...?
Christmas is on December 25... neither before nor after....
"and thanks for your condescending tone."
🤔 🤔 🤔
- Well NO.... just polite..
(I understand very well that it is hard to accept a view different from yours... but here, no one can do anything else for this transaction, which dates back 3 years...)
Regards
lingma85
Mentor2 years agoHello @aureliengrand02
You bought an item in pre-sale with a lead time of 1 year (or more).... = bad move...
Indeed.. if eBay can accept a pre-sale of less than 30 days.... it means that any problem can fall under the scope of the "buyer protection" that gives you certain tools to get out of a bad deal.
Paypal covers you for 180 days after payment... There too, you are out of time...
As for getting compensated with trinkets to resell or things you don't like... I don't see the point and that wasn't the purpose of your original purchase ....=... so, it would be + prudent to do nothing than to get involved in another story that smells "rotten"...
Given the amount... see what the cost of an international legal proceeding would be in your case...
If that exceeds the price paid.. it's better to give up because it won't be worth it.
I’m sorry if my message seems blunt, but you made a misstep that you now have to take responsibility for.
As you say----> "avoid pre-sales" it's + prudent , and above all, try to forget this bad experience...
Regards
PS
Since you say that the figurine exists elsewhere... why doesn't this seller buy it and send it to you as compensation.. it would be the least he could do... since he has already been paid...!
koalagris
Mentor2 years agoHello @aureliengrand02
Since the purchase dates back more than 3 years, it is obvious that neither eBay nor PayPal can help you; it's far too late.
"Is the only option left to me to accept the seller's offer and ask him to send me random items from his shop, which I would then resell to get my money back?" = yes, hoping that it isn't an empty promise...
Best regards