Bought A Buy It Now Item, Paid For It, Then Seller Removed Item And Refunded Money.

Here is an update on the issue with the seller I have on ebay. After taking a look at the refund amount and cost of the item I also realized he shorted me on the refund. The item cost $45.35 which was paid through Paypal and he refunded me $44.00. The item is pictured with this update. It was a 353 perf-12 coil on an advertising cover to Canada, a treaty rate use, which is much better than a domestic use. First one I have seen with this coil stamp. It would have been added to my exhibit as a new item.

Seller ID on ebay is: harco_2012

**Personal info removed by Mod**

The seller has refused to give a reason for removing the item and why he shorted me on the refund. He has only sold 189 items according to his ebay site.

Coilcollector,

I see the transaction only happened only two days ago and you have already slammed him with a negative feedback and are giving out his person details on a public forum. Did you try calling him on the phone? Did you try calling paypal on the phone to find out if there was a problem with processing your payment? For example: Recently there has been an issues with paypal payments being refunded automatically due to a connectivity issue between paypal and ebay servers.

It's also not clear what you mean 'he removed it from inventory'. I clearly see it as a sold item under his closed items.

To Dsmith: I am not sure how you contact a person by phone when their is no way to contact a seller on ebay other than by email. I have made 3 attempts to contact this person by email and have received no response from the seller. The item was paid for by Paypal and the amount refunded was less than the amount paid. I would think if there was a problem with Paypal the seller would respond with an answer.

To Dsmith: Here is his email response to the transaction.

"The item has been removed. Your paypal refund is $44.00. Thank you"

To get an Ebayer's phone number:

1) Next to the ebay search box is the word "advanced" click on it.
2) On the left hand side click on "find contact information"
3) Type in their user id & the ebay item number of the purchase/sale and click on search

ebay will email both the buyer and seller each others phone number.

coilcollector,
I understand it is disappointing but please do not post personal info (real name, address, phone number, email) publically. I removed them.

There are some things you can do. A negative feedback is one of them and making other buyers aware of the issue is another. ebay can 'ding' the seller on cancelled transactions but it is unclear if this always happens or if a seller can negotiate their way out of this happening. And of course there is always the civil legal path that Chris has outlined. I am not a lawyer but there might also be something in the Uniform Commercial Code laws (state by state) which might cover 'binding transactions' if you think the ethical reasons are worth the battle.

I dislike that ebay has this policy but 'binding transactions' are a sticky area for them (in both directions). At the end of the day eBay's policies allow the cancelling of a transaction and we all agree to their policies when we sign up and use their services.
Don

When this happens, it feels like getting the rug pulled from under one.

You can open a case with ebay and get the full refund.

The seller is an APS member. He still refuses to respond as to why he cancelled the sale and is not going to honor the transaction. If he does not respond I will open a dispute with the APS and ask them to step in.

Have you tried calling ebay? The idea of not giving you a full refund seems very odd to me. As it stands he has given you a partial refund and you can file DNR and leave Feedback. I think he can't or won't fulfil the sale but is trying to game the system and avoid canceling the sale. Canceling a sale is a defect with a low tolerance level.

If I were you I'd call ebay.

There is no reason coilcollector should have to phone anyone, period.