Watch purchase go bad

Good morning all (at least if you are in the PST), I wanted to vent about a purchase experience that happened to me yesterday and is still on going.

I happened to be browsing on ebay.co.uk when I came upon a really nice deal on a watch. I could not tell if the watch or seller would ship to the US so I decided to make contact with the seller. Shortly after the seller contacted me saying that they would ship but the new price would include the price of the watch plus the new shipping cost to the US.

The seller said that if I agreed, to send money via Paypal to the email address that was given and make sure to send it as a gift to avoid fees and that it would be greatly appreciated. The total price for the watch plus the shipping was still nice and have done the gift request when buying watches before (from members of this forum and WUS), so didn't see a problem.

I noticed that the post had not been taken down, and got a message back stating that the money still had not been received. I had just gotten an email from paypal saying that the money had been sent and replied to the seller letting them know. Well, the seller messaged me that by mistake, they had sent me the wrong email address! They then wanted me to resend the money to supposedly their correct email address and then they would ship out the watch once they got the money from the other email address (which I guess they may know who it is) they would then credit my paypal account.

I don't know about you, but I did not feel comfortable with this at all and let the seller know that I would not be sending any more money! I also told them that it was an unfortunate mistake on their part, but I should not have to suffer and they needed to ship the watch and they can get their money back from the person who mistakenly got the money. The seller said that they did not receive the money so the watch would not be shipped until they recover the money so I would have to wait until that happened! I tried reasoning with the seller on integrety and the fact that this error was not mine and I expect for them to do the right thing and ship the watch and they would have the money agreed to once they recovered it from whoever got the money.Of course they refused and said I would get the watch if and when they recovered the money. Meanwhile the post is still up for the watch so I am thinking that if someone else purchases it I am out the watch plus my money!

I contacted Paypal and explained the situation to them. At first they were saying that I may not be covered due to it being purchased personal/gift, but when I told them that it was requested by the seller for the payment to be sent that way, they said that they would help me. I have plenty of messages sent through Ebay that they can have to prove everything that happened. Paypal said that they have the transaction and will stop the payment from getting to the incorrect email address. They said that they would attempt to speak with the seller and if I don't hear back from the seller in 10 days, they would refund my money. They also sent me an email with the case # and let me know that they may require more information from me.

This experience has definitely caused me to be more aware of how I do business and has caused me to be a little "gun shy" on making future purchases. I wanted to share this in hopes that it may help somebody else from making the same mistake I did, and for others to be careful.

Never, ever send money by Paypal gift unless you know the seller well. I hope it all gets sorted out for you though.

This:

psweeting said:

never, ever send money by paypal gift unless you know the seller well. I hope it all gets sorted out for you though.

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Live and learn, thanks.

Sorry to hear that happened to you.

The case you want to make is not concerning the payment being sent as "gift," rather that it was sent to the wrong address, which the person provided you. It was not your mistake (wrong email), as that was the address provided by the seller, and has definite grounds for fraud if you can present your evidence properly. Since you would have been duped even if you had not sent it as a "gift." You will stand a better shot if you argue your case by taking screen grabs of the conversation you had with this seller, whether on ebay messages or email and attach it to your case or whatever email they give you.

I hope you can resolve this, as this is my biggest fear as a buyer and a seller. I usually request the "gift" option myself, but that is usually to protect myself from a new member who doesn't have a lot of history with the forum or for an international shipping option. I am lucky to say I have never had to deal with a similar situation, but it is always a risk.

Sorry to hear that, hope you manage to get something back. Always hope people are honest but in this case it's hard not to think the worst.

Heavily involved with another (not watch related) forum and we have countless issues with people using paypal gift. If you trust someone it's fine but basically it's like putting the cash in an envelope - something which isn't necessarily obvious until you have cause to contact paypal.

Mate, I hope it all works out or you. We do rely heavily on honest and trust worthy people in the pursuits of our hobby.