Possible scam

[caatki_7613]

I purchased an item a few days ago from a seller for 130+ GBP  the postage and postal method was part of the listing so I thought it would be a straightforward purchase.

The seller waited a day or two then decided to send it via special delivery implying he was wanting to offer more protection on the postage if the item was to go missing in the post.

Prior to sending it he had sent a message to me asking me to confirm my address and wrote a partial address for me.

I didn't notice this message for several hours so replied as soon as noticed it, early the next morning I noticed a message from the seller and when I looked at it, it was a photo of the postage receipt showing that he had gone ahead and posted it to the partial address before I confirmed it was correct.

The next morning the tracking number showed the item was out for delivery but royal mail returned the parcel due to it having an incomplete address I contacted the seller and he told me that was the address that was shown to him to send it to.

I checked and nowhere on my eBay shows a partial address all is in order plus I received a watch purchased on the same day from another seller and have received it today with no issues whatsoever.

I have never received this parcel and the item has been returned to sender I have contacted eBay to report the seller but have received nothing back from eBay other than they are looking into it.

I am now in a position where I can't ask for a refund or in essence do anything about it as the original postage tracking is showing although the tracking page is not even showing as  (posted to you)  the tracking has never been used for any parcel but ebay is making me wait until the 20th before I can even click on item not received etc.

Apologies this was a bit long winded just looking for a bit of advice with anything I may be able to do about this.

Thanks Carl

[**peaseblossom**]

It sounds like the seller didn't want to use ebay's Simple Delivery postage because they thought the cover would be better with Special Delivery (it isn't).   

When eBay's SD is not used sellers only get a partial address for the buyer (unless they print the original postage label, but most don't realise that).    We hear of this happening fairly regularly on here.   It's the seller getting into a muddle, it is not a scam.

To get your money back wait for the last estimated delivery date on the listing to pass then select "Report an item you didn't receive" on here:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/buying/returns-items-not-received-refunds-buyers/get-help-item-hasnt-arr...
and escalate it 3 complete working days later.

[red_magpie]

ebay is making me wait until the 20th before I can even click on item not received etc.

If 19th May is the latest estimated delivery date in your order then yes, you will need to wait until 20th May to open an item not received case. eBay isn't "making you" wait until then; these are the conditions you accepted in the user agreement - as did your seller and eBay.

It's always difficult to predict the outcome of "item not received" cases due to  eBay's arcane policies on proof of delivery. But if the seller didn't send it to the postal address provided by eBay, and the item was returned to sender for this reason, you can be fairly confident of winning.

We don't know why the seller asked you to confirm your address, but this wasn't necessary and has only complicated matters. It seems foolish to have asked as sellers themselves are sometimes scammed by buyers who have persuaded them to alter this address. (Sellers are required to deliver items to the address provided by eBay.)

[caatki_7613]

I understand what your saying about what myself and the seller agreed under the user agreement.

The reason I am frustrated is because surely the 20th applied to the original postage method as it was a slower form of postage.

I have provided proof in my messages, a screenshot of the tracking page relating to the special delivery method he alternatively used to show the item was rejected by royal mail at my end and is now been returned to the seller, so in essence I am now waiting to challenge things until the postage method which was never used runs out as it says if I haven't received my item by the 19th you can challenge it.

Surely the date provided in regard to delivery varies based on the type of delivery method used, I purchased a similar priced item on eBay the same day and the dates to  - from were different as the other seller used a different method of delivery.