Not playing ball

[davidcheshire]

Advice appreciated for this situation:

A forum member advertises parts for sale, receives payment in advance, but does not reply to two private messages when the goods have not arrived after nearly three weeks.

Seller and buyer are both in the UK.

Thanks.

[Antz]

Have you got an email address you can contact the buyer on?

Has the member been online recently and just ignored you?

How did you pay? If it was by PayPal (not as a gift) then you should be able to open a claim and get your money back.

Maybe one of the admin of the forum can step in and help out. Not sure who they are though.

[davidcheshire]

Thanks Ant.

Until this morning I could only contact him by private message, but I see now on another visit to his Sales advert on this forum that he gave his email address to someone else on 22 January 2018. That was also the date on which he acknowledged receipt of the £25 I transferred to his bank account, and when he said that he would post things off the following day.

So, I'll try his email address.

Being charitable, there may be a good reason for the absence of goods and response.

[mylittletony]

Originally Posted by davidcheshire

... I transferred to his bank account...

This is a BAD idea, you have absolutely no recourse.

Whenever I sell anything I ask the buyer to add a small amount to cover the paypal fees so everyone is covered, unless I either know the person or have dealt with them previously.

Any seller who declines to do this should be avoided IMO

I hope you get it sorted either way

[Antz]

Originally Posted by mylittletony

This is a BAD idea, you have absolutely no recourse.

Whenever I sell anything I ask the buyer to add a small amount to cover the paypal fees so everyone is covered, unless I either know the person or have dealt with them previously.

Any seller who declines to do this should be avoided IMO

I hope you get it sorted either way

See, I don't agree with asking the buyer to pay the fees and I certainly wont do it when I buy stuff. I wouldn't expect a shop to ask me to pay a bit more for a receipt because it costs them to print it. That's how business goes.

When I sell anything I will gladly accept the fees and give over my eBay name so people can see I'm a genuine person. My reputation, name and my eBay history is worth far more to me than trying to save a few pence of fees.

[mylittletony]

Originally Posted by Antz

I wouldn't expect a shop to ask me to pay a bit more for a receipt because it costs them to print it. That's how business goes.

It's completely different to that, it's more like insurance when you don't know or trust the seller/buyer (it benefits both e.g. in case the parcel doesn't arrive)

When I sell, it's advertised as a cash on collection price, not a guaranteed delivery price, hence the fees go on top.

If you're making a tidy profit then that's different. Or if the buyer doesn't care, but then I'm not going to then entertain someone saying it hasn't arrived...

[geoffo]

I sold a set of Volvo wheeltrims and after postage made 1p profit.

[Stephen Edwin]

I'll keep out of methods of payment. The issue now is:

Originally Posted by davidcheshire

Advice appreciated for this situation:

A forum member advertises parts for sale, receives payment in advance, but does not reply to two private messages when the goods have not arrived after nearly three weeks.

Seller and buyer are both in the UK.

Thanks.

Originally Posted by davidcheshire

Thanks Ant.

Until this morning I could only contact him by private message, but I see now on another visit to his Sales advert on this forum that he gave his email address to someone else on 22 January 2018. That was also the date on which he acknowledged receipt of the £25 I transferred to his bank account, and when he said that he would post things off the following day.

So, I'll try his email address.

Being charitable, there may be a good reason for the absence of goods and response.

There may indeed be a valid reason. Possibly illness. A forum member was incredibly patient with me when my post-mental-breakdown condition delayed my sending of a crankshaft pulley tool. The seller in this case might be trying to find the courage to just contact you.

Seller. Whatever the reason. If you talk to the buyer, I reckon all will be well.

Buyer. Have you had a response to your email yet?

Stephen

[davidcheshire]

I managed to get an email reply from the seller at the end of last week. His answer was that he had had difficulty finding the part in his store, but had posted it to me a couple of days earlier, 7 February 2018. He had also not been able to access his forum account.

Nothing had appeared by 14 Feb, and I've had no reply to two emails since then asking for the name of the carrier, and details of any documentation.

Next step? Give him a few more days, then complain to the management.

[davidcheshire]

Success, at last. Parts arrived today.

I don't know the story, but they were supposedly posted on 7 Feb 2018, yet the printed mail stamp is dated yesterday 16 Feb 2018.

All's well that . . . .