Metropol

So I've been watching for any amazing Macbook Pro Retina bargains on eBay, just in case. There's one guy who was selling one that I actually bit the bullet and bought because it was "only" £750. I paid with paypal, did some waiting, heard nothing, then got a refund a day later: "Sorry m8, Paypal is witholding the payment for 21 days and I got a better cash offer from someone else". That's all fine, money's back.

The strange thing is this: I noticed he's re-listed the same computer at £450 at least three times since. Once he ended it early due to an "error with the listing" and twice he's sold it and - I assume - pulled the same stunt.

What could be the reason for all this? It costs money to list and there's clearly no laptop to sell, but given Paypal is relatively safe there's also no gain for him, is there?

Perhaps he's withdrawing the funds from a series of paypal accounts before the refund is given.

If the timing is right, perhaps paypal will deposit a full refund to the buyer despite the seller having a zero balance. I'm pretty sure I had a negative balance with them once.

Ebay allows you to associate a number of paypal accounts, don't they?

Gavin Scott wrote:Perhaps he's withdrawing the funds from a series of paypal accounts before the refund is given.

If the timing is right, perhaps paypal will deposit a full refund to the buyer despite the seller having a zero balance. I'm pretty sure I had a negative balance with them once.

Ebay allows you to associate a number of paypal accounts, don't they?

Yes - you can definitely have a negative balance if you withdraw then refund. That might be it, although you'd think they'd cotton on faster than this.

Perhaps they don't flag it for checking if less than £1,000.

Just shows how much money they're handling I suppose.

Nice work Gav - your devious mind has enlightened me

The prosecute limit is collosal probably. I had my current account plundered by someone who brazenly walked into two Edinburgh branches and paid paper bills.

Bank of Scotland refunded me hundreds of pounds and refused to pursue the matter - even after I reported it to the police.

I had a similar thing happen to me recently on ebay (although for nowhere near as much money). Bought a couple of books totaling about £30. The books never came. I opened a complaint with ebay, the seller immediately refunded but offered no explanation at all. Since I had a refund, ebay closed the case with no further investigation. The same books which they couldn't supply were then immediately relisted.

The seller has tons of positive feedback, but stories like mine appear on an almost weekly basis (some are had to spot as they've been reported as positive feedback due to the refund, but the issue is the same).

There isn't enough money involved for it to be a serious fraud, but it happens far too often for it to be a mistake or misunderstanding, and in every case they never explain why they can't fulfill the order. It's just weird.

I'm not mega-concerned as the refund is long since cleared and back in my bank account: It was all done through PayPal, he attached a note to the refund explaining he didn't want to complete the transaction, and there'd be no proof of postage to my address in the event of a claim.

*Bump*

Something I found a little odd - bought something off eBay which turned out to be a fake. Exchanged various arguments with the seller which went nowhere and then opened a case this morning for eBay to review.

EBay responded 2 hours later announcing that had reviewed the case, and were ruling in my favour and issuing a refund. But I already knew I was getting one - PayPal sent me an email about it literally within seconds of opening the case.

So eBay have just refunded me automatically despite not reviewing the case at all, even putting in a delay on the email to create the illusion that they had reviewed it. And I still have the item to boot (not that I want it, it's junk)!

Obviously I'm happy to have gotten my refund, but not even bothering to check into it first just seems like potential fraud against sellers waiting to happen.

eBay is crazy biased towards buyers now, its great as a buyer, but as a seller you can sometimes be left with a bad outcome through no fault of your own.

And I don't like their new logo either.

See this is what gets me, surely there can be some sort of come back here? Even the threat of small claims would surely deal with most chancers?