Are you kidding me? The seller scammed the guy and an honest mistake was made in the return process. The seller 99.9% chance has the cards he sent in hand. All those in combination and you expect this guy to take a $200 loss?
It absolutely does not put him on the same level as the seller. If someone ran up to you and snatched $200 out of your hand you wouldn’t chase them down to get it back? I know I would.
I am with credits on this one. Two wrongs don’t make a right (but 3 lefts do).
I am also a bit with Sam on this one as well as it smells a bit fishy to me. Having both returned a few things and having had several things returned to me, I know how the eBay return process works. Why did the seller not simply print out the provided label for cost and then ship using that? I throw them in my mailbox, or a blue box or throw them in with my twice weekly selling shipments whenever I need to send one out. Having a roommate or any other party handle it is taking a risk, and how do we not know the roommate didn’t pocket them or sell them off for drugs or booze. We don’t know these people, all we know is the guy trusted his roommate and the seller claimed he didn’t get them back. Never in any instance do I think it is okay to lie about sending product in an envelope that isn’t what you say it is. That started this whole mess and isn’t the proper way to fix it. OP messed up and should be glad it was only $200 he is out.
The reason I didn’t print out the label was honestly because this was my first return, and I wasn’t 100% sure how the process worked at that point. I was also rushing, and didn’t take the time to look over anything.
And as for the seller, he never actually responded to anything I sent. So he never claimed to not receive the cards - he simply didn’t provide any insight.
Can you mark them as shipped without providing a tracking number? Perhaps marking as shipped will start some clock whereby his non response will result in you getting automatically refunded? If so, I would go that route for sure, but I kind of doubt they would have any auto refund process that didn’t trigger from delivery notification.
At least you’ll know in the future and looking at the sellers other listings it doesn’t appear that they will last too long. They likely clicked “sell one like this” on a listing that they thought looked similar enough to their own items. eBay really needs to do away with that feature or at least not have it grab the same exact description and photo. I understand why it works well for certain items grabbing specifics and UPC’s and things of that nature, but it shouldn’t grab photos or descriptions especially for cards when the people don’t know exactly how to describe what they are selling.
Unfortunately there is no way to prove acceptance without tracking. This sucks, but I do understand why Ebay can’t just give me my money back based on nothing. Seller is obviously someone who knows nothing about pokemon cards, but that’s what you encounter a lot on Ebay anyways!
My advice was given in the context that the op was telling the truth. The line where they’re contacting the seller by phone, and when they reveal who they are and the individual stops responding was all I needed to read to make my decision that the seller isn’t good.
If any of the information stated is false I don’t condone this activity. I’m simply trying to get the correct result to a situation gone wrong.
I’m not sure I understand why people are doubting me…there would be no reason to post to a forum and lie about something as trivial as this. I’m simply trying to figure out the best way to fix my situation.
I understand it must sound almost too stupid to do what I’ve done in this situation…but remember, some people are relatively new to collecting/Ebay as a whole. Just keep that in mind. And thanks to everyone so far who has provided advice.
I forget who and which thread exactly; but there’s another thread just like this one. Buyer attempted to call eBay after the seller re-listed the exact item and the eBay Rep. said that there’s really no way to tell whether or not it truly was the exact same item… However, that was a collection of loose cards. Being that this listing is for PSA Graded Cards, there might be the slightest chance OP could finagle a refund; however, I am not sure if that will ever happen - the seller could claim multiple reasons why he re-listed as the “same” item. Plus, I would assume it has to be within the time-frame of the eBay Case.
Context doesn’t apply really though. Too many layers, again OP could be misrepresenting it and the roommate could be a slimeball that kept the cards themselves. I am not saying that any of these are true, just making the point that doing something illegal/shady isn’t the right way to fix this regardless of whether the story is true or not.
@hammy your comparison is bad because in the case of someone stealing $200 from you, you certainly have the right to chase them down and get it back. (Whether or not any force was used would add complexity to this, but you get the point in that you have a right to legally try to retrieve stolen property) You do not however have the right to break into their house at night to steal it back which is comparable to what you would be doing in sending an empty envelope. Committing a crime to undo the effects of a prior crime. Big no-no. At that point you would contact authorities and go through proper legal channels to find justice. OP did that in the case of opening an eBay return. Ideally if done properly all would be well when tracking showed as delivered. Since OP ended up using a roommate as a middle man and was ignorant of the proper return procedures, they are taking the loss for it which is commendable since it sounds like they chose not to go empty envelope route.
Was mine, and I doubt it. The eBay reps pretty much explicitly told me I need a tracking number or for the seller to come clean, really no other option. Luckily I tracked down my tracking number.
Context does apply, they’ve stated in the beginning they know the seller received it. You’re right maybe they don’t actually know, but in the context of the information being presented as true, I don’t have an issue with it. Like I said if any information is being presented as false (I’ll add misrepresented), I don’t condone the activity.