Forum

Need advice on a dispute.
 

I recently used my stealth account to make a purchase as I had done two or three times before with success. (using stealth details, but telling the seller that I was temporarily unavailable at that address, and getting it posted to my real address). This time, i've run into a problem:

Immediately after purchase, the seller sent me an invoice from his 'merchant account' which made no reference to what I had bought (auto part), ie it was not linked to the ebay purchase. I was suspicious of this as if anything went wrong, he could just claimed I never paid on ebay, and this was an unrelated transaction and "outside ebay" we know that different rules apply.

I emailed him back, telling him I wanted him to invoice me through ebay, so the transactions were linked, and therefore offered protection.

So I paid for the auto part (200 euro+), and in the paypal slip told the seller where to post it to. I then mailed them on ebay with the same message, just to be 100% that they'd get it. I asked them to confirm that they received this change of address.

No reply on two requests. On the third time I emailed him a few days later, he tells me that he shipped it to my address (stealth, not 100% sure if it exists!, but it's in my area), and that he didn't see any instructions on paypal payment confirmation, as he got it on his "phone", and had already packed up and labeled the parcel with my ebay address details. I paid at 10pm tho, so there's no way he was at the post office at that time and had sent a separate email straight after.

He said it had been sent, and should be with me soon.

So obviously, the parcel is on the way to the stealth address. I emailed him twice over three days asking for the tracking number, so I could get it redirected, but no answer. He's either sent it with no tracking, and that's why he's not answering, or there's something more sinister at play..

Just back from the post office, asking was there a delivery attempt at the stealth address, but there wasn't.

I'm a bit suspicious of the sellers behavior in this case, i've a gut feeling that he's a bit dodgy.

How do I handle this one properly guys?

Sorry for such a long post, but any advice is greatly appreciated!

How long has it been since you made purchase? Seller's feedback?

You do have to give bit of time. E-mail him for tracking number. Wait 48 hours - if nothing, open dispute and e-mail him that you are covering yourself in case of non-delivery.

You have "kind" of come onto a forum meant for sellers primarily so you need to understand that from the seller's point of view, time is required for response, shipping, etc.

If he did ship to a stealth address with tracking/signature, it would return to him as undeliverable.

I'm a seller myself, so i'm not being overly harsh, i'm definitely aware that issues can arise.

This guy has 70 feedback, one negative. Not too much to worry about, and not a pro seller by the looks of it.

Payment was made 9 days ago. Shipping from UK to Ireland is maximum of 4 days, often 2-3.

I have sent him two emails requesting tracking over the past two or three days. Now with no response from him, i'm looking at my actions.

I obviously don't want to draw too much attention to myself as it's a stealth account, but it looks like opening a dispute is the best way.

9 days? No response? Open dispute asap. Does not matter if stealth or not - cover yourself, your account will be fine.