Originally Posted by senyuizu

Thanks for the responses guys. I do realize it's not really a scam but I'm not too sure what else to call it I guess. Still haven't heard from the buyer, but it has only been a day. Anyways I will wait it out for a day or two. I've sent the buyer a PayPal invoice and well send a reminder in a couple of days. Hopefully the seller is honest and will pay me back. Also so what you guys are saying is that I shouldn't let the buyer know that I will take legal action if they do not cooperate and just go ahead and do it? Or let them know and follow through if they do not cooperate? I'm pretty new to filing for all the legal action so I'm not too sure how to go about doing it all.

It may not be technically a scam but it is a dishonest and unethical buyer who would get a refund and keep the item.

I agree. Give it some time. Was the item insured? If so and you don't hear back from the buyer, can you launch some kind of insurance investigation? This might nudge the buyer into paying for the item.

Originally Posted by senyuizu

Hi, So I recently sold a designer bag on eBay to a buyer in Malaysia. I sent the item with a tracking number and everything. Along the way the item ended up getting lost and taking about 3 months to finally get to the buyer. In the meantime the buyer had filed a non receipt dispute case and won (because tracking number had not been updated for a while) and ended up getting a full refund back of $700. Well today the bag finally got delivered to the buyer...so now the buyer has the bag and the money..... I called up PayPal and opened an appeal to get my money back only to have it closed 4 hours later due to the package not having a signature confirmation. (You need to have one for items over $250, which I did not know) I've sent the buyer an email, hoping for them to be honest and hopefully pay me, but I highly doubt that will happen. Is there anything I could possibly due to get my money back if the buyer does not cooperate? Or am I SOL? Thanks so much

I would file a claim against the post office. When you shipped this, they agreed to deliver this w/i a reasonable time. Due to their failure to do so, you lost the PayPal claim and you lost the appeal. I'm afraid you've exhausted all your remedies with PayPal. As far as the police are concerned, forget it. You can threaten her with legal action, but frankly it will be an idle threat.
If you file a complaint with the post office, I expect it would be denied--because the package was delivered. But that's not the point, it was not timely delivered, and as a result of their breach you lost all available options.
My recommendation is to write the General Counsel's office at the Postmaster General in D.C.-tell them what happened and ask them to reimburse you. If they refuse, I would then file in Small Claims Court against the post office. I expect they'll settle. It will cost them far more than $700 to fight this.
Good luck and let us know what happens.

I would give it another couple of days... you already have sent an invoice so

let's see if this buyer is going to pony up the $700 for the bag she has received..

I would remind the buyer nicely that you do intend to pursue the matter

& you are giving her every opportunity to pay for this bag that she has already

received a refund for... the post office did deliver this bag perhaps not in a timely

manner.. I would try anything & everything to recoup your money...

Originally Posted by northerndancer

It may not be technically a scam but it is a dishonest and unethical buyer who would get a refund and keep the item. I agree. Give it some time. Was the item insured? If so and you don't hear back from the buyer, can you launch some kind of insurance investigation? This might nudge the buyer into paying for the item.

No, you should let the buyer know you intend to proceed with legal action. By doing so, you encourage her to resolve this amicably. You need to mention also, that if you proceed, in addition to the cost of the bag you will be seeking compensation for your legal fees and expenses, and that you intend to have her banned from ebay for her fraudulent conduct. You should also indicate a deadline, e.g., if you don't hear from her within a specified timeframe, you will proceed as indicated.
The point is, you spell out what you intend to do (how mean and nasty this will get) all of which can be obverted by her paying for the bag you can prove she received.

Originally Posted by POODLGRL

No, you should let the buyer know you intend to proceed with legal action. By doing so, you encourage her to resolve this amicably. You need to mention also, that if you proceed, in addition to the cost of the bag you will be seeking compensation for your legal fees and expenses, and that you intend to have her banned from ebay for her fraudulent conduct. You should also indicate a deadline, e.g., if you don't hear from her within a specified timeframe, you will proceed as indicated. The point is, you spell out what you intend to do (how mean and nasty this will get) all of which can be obverted by her paying for the bag you can prove she received.

The seller does not identify how this was sent. Insurance might be avaiable, but you would need to check with the terms of the policy. If you were insured, you should ask the carrier for a copy of the policy.
The problem with shipping insurance, is that it probably only covers loss or damage. It wasn't damaged, nor was it w lost-it was delivered, so depending on the terms of the policy, insurance on the parcel may not be available.
However, if you have homeowners or tenants insurance, this might be a covered loss. Call your insurance agent and ask, and also ask if there are any adverse consequences from making a claim. The downside is that if you make a claim, you run the risk of being cancelled or have your premium increase. You need to figure out if compensation for this loss is worth that risk.
Finally, if you can't get reimbursed, you can always take it off your taxes as a business loss.

Hope you're dealing with an honest buyer and it all works out.

Any updates?

thinking the same, any updates OP???

None yet :(
Sent a reminder out on Friday. Going to wait till tomorrow to see if anything happens, but so far no response from buyer...

Originally Posted by POODLGRL

I would file a claim against the post office. When you shipped this, they agreed to deliver this w/i a reasonable time. Due to their failure to do so, you lost the PayPal claim and you lost the appeal. I'm afraid you've exhausted all your remedies with PayPal. As far as the police are concerned, forget it. You can threaten her with legal action, but frankly it will be an idle threat. If you file a complaint with the post office, I expect it would be denied--because the package was delivered. But that's not the point, it was not timely delivered, and as a result of their breach you lost all available options. My recommendation is to write the General Counsel's office at the Postmaster General in D.C.-tell them what happened and ask them to reimburse you. If they refuse, I would then file in Small Claims Court against the post office. I expect they'll settle. It will cost them far more than $700 to fight this. Good luck and let us know what happens.

Any time you ship out of the US to another country the item will go threw customs. The PO can not control how quickly items go threw customs, obviously priority is given to express mail. The ONLY way I ship outside of the US is express mail(which requires a signature for delivery) and fully insured. It costs a lot more but it's the only way to ensure the item will get there with in a week and it protects me from someone claiming they never received it. If it gets lost in the mail it's insured so I won't be out the cost of my item. I've purchased a item on Bonz from Spain it took almost 3 months to get threw customs the seller shipped it "regular mail". It was in customs the whole time and it was VERY frustrating for me as a buyer, basically the tracking stopped tracking once it hit customs and it never showed that it was delivered after it was. That however may be due to that countries PO system, I know when I ship USPS it will show me delivery. After this experience the seller will only ship dhl express when she has to ship out of her country.

That being said it's an unfortunate lesson to have to learn that anything over $250 needs a signature confirmation, the hard way. Along with the only way to ship out of the US is express to insure a timely delivery. Hopefully the buyer will respond to you and offer to either pay you for the bag if they want to keep it or ship it back too you. However a lot of people use a separate email account for their ebay/paypal accounts so it could be possible that the buyer never received your emails/invoices. Since they did receive the bag hopefully they'll hop back on ebay soon to let you know they finally got the bag.

Sending invoices to the buyer doesn't mean that they are going to pay up. And unfortunately at this point you can't force them to pay. Sadly this may just be a costly lesson for you.

I also don't really see how you can file a police report for this. Yes you sold a item, the buyer paid, and the buyer did not receive the item in a timely manner. So the buyer did what most people would do in that situation and file a never received item case. The case was decided on in favor of the buyer, because the item did not require a signature confirmation. Three months later the buyer finally receives the item from the auction.

So what exactly is the crime people?!? The buyer didn't do anything wrong in my eyes. It's not the buyers fault the item took so long to get threw customs. It's not the buyers fault the seller failed to ship it without a signature confirmation or the fact that the seller shipped it regular mail which is why it took so long to get threw customs. IMO at this point it's more of a moral dilemma hopefully the buyer will do the right thing and contact you as that would be the right thing to do in this situation. Keeping the bag after finally receive it would be lousy but I fail to see how this is a crime the buyer did not willfully try to deceive/scam the seller.

The way I see it, if the buyer received a refund, and later received the bag, she would be obliged to return the bag at the sellers expense. Because the item was 'not received,' she was refunded; this is fair. Now that it has been delivered, what she has doesn't exactly constitute a 'refund' anymore. That being said, I'm unsure of what you would call it.

On the other hand, in stating that the post office cannot control customs delays, international buyers also cannot really expect to receive any package in a 'timely manner.' I too, have waited excess 2 months for a package to arrive from an established company. As the buyer now has the bag, should her 'refund' not be reversed?

Wow, I cannot believe that there are so many horror stories on ebay. I am so sorry OP that this happened to you. Hopefully the buyer will respond soon.

Certainly hope this buyer will do the right thing...