I apologize if this isn’t allowed, but I figured I’d make a new thread to address this issue. My other thread (link) explains the situation. TLDR; bought something off eBay, seller messed up address and was returned to the seller. That is the last update on tracking. eBay originally denied my refund request but I appealed and now they’re telling me to file an incident report with the police.
Why should I have to file with the police? The package was never delivered to my address so it’s not like someone stole it. I don’t believe it’s gone missing with the Post Office either because the latest tracking update shows it was delivered to the original seller. The seller hasn’t responded to messages for weeks, though they left me feedback for some reason.
So what do I do? If anyone has been in a similar situation and filed the incident report, what did you file it under? Just taking a look at my local police station’s website, they have these categories to report a crime: Communicating Threats
, Harassing Phone Calls, Damage to Property
, Stolen Property
, Theft from Vehicle
, Lost Passport or Driver’s License
. But has a ‘crime’ been committed? Should I just call the non-emergency number and explain the situation to them? Any help would be appreciated as I’m thoroughly confused.
I had to do that once. An officer will come to your door, take about 30 seconds to write something down and hand the report to you (you’ll apologize for wasting his time ha) and then you scan that report to eBay.
Well this is getting a little ridiculous. My local police station, as I suspected, can’t write an incident report because there was no incident. The package was not lost or stolen from my doorstep, it was delivered back to the sender AS CONFIRMED BY THE TRACKING THAT EBAY USES. So my card is sitting at the seller’s house and I’m out $600 because eBay can’t see the evidence directly in front of their faces lol.
-last tracking update was ‘delivered back to sender’
-seller hasn’t responded to multiple messages and requests for refund
-police won’t step in because there was no crime
I called eBay - nothing they can do at this time. They need an affidavit from the police to release the funds. I told them that I spoke to the police and they told me they can’t file a report because there was no crime. Apparent legal expert from eBay says that the crime is not sending the package I paid for. I insisted I already called police and they won’t do anything, eBay man tells me there’s nothing they can do and to call the police.
I call the police again - tells me that in order to file the report, they need the name of the carrier that delivered the package to the sender to confirm. Tells me I need to call USPS and find the carrier’s name (good luck).
Called USPS - currently on hold for ~34-50 minutes, and I’m about 99% sure they’re just going to read me the update from the tracking number to tell me it was delivered to the sender.
The other option you have available to you is to try to go through Paypal. If all else fails, you could also try to get your money back through a credit card chargeback if you paid that way.
Do you have this proof through eBay messages? Did you bring this proof to eBay? I had this issue once and eBay refunded me the money with no questions asked.
Was the item shipped through eBay or did the seller manually upload tracking? If it was shipped through eBay, it can easily be overturned since they can view the incorrect shipping label.
I messaged the seller the day tracking updated to say it was coming back to him, he says ok i’ll check it out. 10 days later I messaged again asking if there was any update, no response. I brought this up to ebay multiple times already. Then I went through ebay saying Item Not Received, ebay denied me because for some reason they thought the package was stolen, then I appealed and my appeal was granted so now they need an incident report, which the police won’t give.
It was shipped through eBay. The tracking number clearly shows that it was never delivered to me and that it was confirmed as delivered back to the seller.
Figured I’d put some pictures in to try to explain this situation lol
1). This is directly from the eBay order showing that it was never delivered to me, but in fact back to the seller.
2). After attempting communication with the seller with no luck, I tried getting a refund via eBay to which they responded.
3). I appealed this decision to not issue a refund, won the appeal, and was sent this email
4). Spoke with police, they determined that since no crime was committed (package stolen, etc), they cannot file an incident report.
5). Spoke with eBay again (for quite a long time) and they tell me there’s nothing they can do, I have to get an incident report and that it’s illegal for the seller not to send me the item.
6). Police tell me they need proof that the carrier delivered the package back to the seller in order to file report
7). USPS opened a case for me, the local post office is going to contact me and get in touch with the carrier that delivered it so hopefully I can get the report filed and get my money back. They also confirmed that my address was correct at the point of sale and the seller forgot the Apartment Number on the package, which is why it went back in the first place
In short, eBay needs police(for some unknown reason), police needs USPS, USPS say it’s sellers fault. Rinse and repeat. Good thing I had nothing going on at work today.
I would say this, take a little rest from this, because back and forth attempts at problem solving will make you feel like you’re running in a hamster wheel in hell.
Take a break for a second because it is a frustrating circumstance.
Then I would honestly go through PayPal as mentioned before.
If it gets complicated, you can try to speak to an eBay higher up from the rep you speak with. eBay customer service holds are very painful I know, so if you really don’t want to do that, then I would do the credit card chargeback as mentioned above as well. That is if you hes a credit card.
Hope this helps, I know these transactions really suck.
Sorry. That sucks. Just keep calling and eBay will eventually refund you. I’d also stop calling the police over a $600 eBay transaction if they did not care in the first place. If all else fails, just take the L and move on. Life is full of headaches. This won’t be the last one.
I ordered a card off Mercari. I quickly put the card in my binder with abunch of others on a huge mail day. I left positive feedback because Mercari rushes you to leave feedback.
Card was fake. Mercari told me they couldn’t refund me. I was furious.
Opened case thru PayPal and it was quickly resolved in my favor.
The kicker is it was a $13 card Mercari refused to refund. Now ill never buy off Mercari again! Good luck and please let us know once it’s refunded! Also add seller to blacklist if mods allow it!
