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eBay buyer may not return the refunded merchandise.

 

Customer Question

Hello, Me and my buyer are located in Southern California. I've listed an auction on eBay.com. The buyer won the auction, and he messaged me through eBay message (We communicated through eBay message system) that he wanted to complete the transaction outside eBay. He asked me to send the invoice to his PayPal account. The total price was $450. He paid for the item, and I shipped the item to him. After he received the item, he said that the item was significantly not as describe, and opened a claim on PayPal under the "Significantly Not as Describe" term. I agreed to refund him the purchase price minus the shipping cost upon receiving the item. However, I made a mistake by offering him partial refund (even though, on the partial refund page, I stated that the buyer need to return the item to me) and PayPal automatically refunded the buyer. The buyer contacted me and said he shipped the item back to me already, and provided a confirmation number. One month had passed, and I still did not receive anything. The confirmation number has not update. I am wondering if I could take this issue to a small claim court? If no, what can I do.

P. S. #1 Since this transaction is outside of eBay, I believe eBay contract and listing cannot be used in this case.

 

Optional Information:
Country relating to Question: United States
State (if USA): California

Already Tried:
I've contacted the buyer, but he did not respond.

Submitted: 278 days and 20 hours ago.
Category: Consumer Protection Law
Value: $25
Status: CLOSED
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Expert:  MDLaw replied 278 days and 19 hours ago.

Hello and thank you for using the JA website. Please remember that this site is intended to provide general legal information only.

Have you contacted Paypal to ask them why they refunded him before you received the item?

Customer replied 278 days and 19 hours ago.

I did, and PayPal said I was the one who offered him a refund prior the return. It was my own mistake.

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Expert:  MDLaw replied 278 days and 19 hours ago.

Okay, I understand. Fortunately, you still have a possible valid claim if you did not receive the item and if they put in a false tracking number. You can sue him or her in small claims court. You can also put in a request to the USPS to see if the tracking number he or she gave you was valid or not. You could also have a potential mail fraud claim against the buyer. You can also report him or her to Ebay since he or she won the auction but then violated the terms of service by asking you to bypass Ebay and sell him or her the item.

Please let me know if this has answered your question. If you need clarification, please do not select a rating yet. Instead, click the Reply or Continue Conversation button. If, however, I have fully answered your question, please remember to rate me a 3 or higher so that I may be compensated for the time it takes to respond to your questions. That is the only way that we experts get paid since we do not get paid by the site. Keep in mind that you are rating my service and not the website and that the site prohibits us from giving legal advice or opinions on your specific circumstances. We can only provide general legal information.

Remember that you are rating my service to you and you are not rating the law or the website.

Customer replied 278 days and 19 hours ago.

I've reported to eBay for non-paying, and that's why I think eBay transaction and listing description is invalid to use as evidence in a court. I don't know if I could use eBay message record as evidence in a court? If not, then I will not have anything to provide in my behalf.

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Expert:  MDLaw replied 278 days and 11 hours ago.

No, what I mean is to report them for violating the terms of service. It's not against the law to buy off of Ebay but it is against Ebay rules and so you should report him for asking you to sell off of Ebay. Has nothing to do with court. This is separate.

You stated that this was a Paypal dispute and so it would be the messages regarding the Paypal payment that would be used in court and the tracking number.

Please let me know if this has answered your question. If you need clarification, please do not select a rating yet. Instead, click the Reply or Continue Conversation button. If, however, I have fully answered your question, please remember to rate me a 3 or higher so that I may be compensated for the time it takes to respond to your questions. That is the only way that we experts get paid since we do not get paid by the site. Keep in mind that you are rating my service and not the website and that the site prohibits us from giving legal advice or opinions on your specific circumstances. We can only provide general legal information.

Remember that you are rating my service to you and you are not rating the law or the website.

Customer replied 278 days and 6 hours ago.

The delivery confirmation has updated to Available at P.O. Box in my City. I asked him to ship to my P.O. Box, but I still did not see anything in my P.O. Box. Post Office said they cannot give any other address information regarding this label number since it is not a tracking number. If the buyer sent the package to himself at my city's P.O. Box, how can I pursue this?

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Expert:  MDLaw replied 278 days and 5 hours ago.

I'm not sure what you are asking. Your legal remedies would still be the same if you have not received the item.

Please let me know if this has answered your question. If you need clarification, please do not select a rating yet. Instead, click the Reply or Continue Conversation button. If, however, I have fully answered your question, please remember to rate me a 3 or higher so that I may be compensated for the time it takes to respond to your questions. That is the only way that we experts get paid since we do not get paid by the site. Keep in mind that you are rating my service and not the website and that the site prohibits us from giving legal advice or opinions on your specific circumstances. We can only provide general legal information.

Remember that you are rating my service to you and you are not rating the law or the website.


Customer replied 277 days and 18 hours ago.

Talked to the attorney early today, and she said that it is not about me & the buyer anymore since the buyer can prove that he shipped the item to my PO Box and the delivery confirmation said delivered to my zip code. She said it is between me and the post office. Can I take USPS to lawsuit?

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Expert:  MDLaw replied 277 days and 13 hours ago.

Are you saying that it's not at the post office? I don't understand what you are now saying.

Customer replied 277 days and 2 hours ago.

The package was supposed to be at my P.O. Box inside the Post Office, but it was not. I do not know where the package is.

Accepted Answer

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Expert:  MDLaw replied 277 days and 2 hours ago.

You would need to then go through your post office to find out why it is scanned as delivered when it was not. Now, if it was delivered and the package was empty, then you could still go against the individual.

I believe I probably have answered your original question now since it's been 3 days of conversation :) I would appreciate it if you would rate my service so that I may be compensated for the time spent with you. Thanks!

Please let me know if this has answered your question. If you need clarification, please do not select a rating yet. Instead, click the Reply or Continue Conversation button. If, however, I have fully answered your question, please remember to rate me a 3 or higher so that I may be compensated for the time it takes to respond to your questions. That is the only way that we experts get paid since we do not get paid by the site. Keep in mind that you are rating my service and not the website and that the site prohibits us from giving legal advice or opinions on your specific circumstances. We can only provide general legal information.

Remember that you are rating my service to you and you are not rating the law or the website.



Expert TypeLawyer
Category: Consumer Protection Law
Pos. Feedback: 95.8 %
Accepts: 560
Answered: 7/10/2012

Experience: Experience in consumer litigation and FDCPA matters

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