Ebay purchase lost in mail. Who gets boned?

I bought Doom 64 on ebay a couple of weeks ago for $15. The first time the seller shipped the game, it got sent back because he said it was 1/2 ounce over weight. So he said he sent it out with a new tracking number. The package says it got delivered but never actually showed up. So I opened a case hoping to get a refund. My beliefs are that since he has an actual receipt for the shipment that he can get a refund for the package through USPS. I only have a tracking number to go off of so I don't know if I'll ever see any money or the package out of it.

I have 72 hours for Ebay to review my case but I'm wondering if any of this has happened to any of you guys before and what the outcome would probably be. $15 isn't too much money to eat so it isn't stomach turning upset, but I'm still upset by it. I'll probably never use Ebay again after this (if it doesn't turn out in my favor). It's not worth the risk.

To the Newmanium!

You will probably get burned. In my experience Ebay usually sides with the seller.

Ebay sides with the seller and Amazon sides with the customer, just use Amazon for now on

Yeah. The seller fulfilled his end of things. He put it in the mail and gave you a tracking number. Unless you paid to insure it, you are most likely boned.

I've had eBay refund me when I was sent bootlegged stuff, but never had anything get lost in the mail. They paid me back right away for the bootleg stuff, so they aren't all bad.

I can say pretty confidently that you're screwed. If the tracking information does indeed say that the package was "delivered" to you, that's all eBay will care about.

I have been on the buyer side of this issue. I sold a bunch of Star Wars CCG cards and the buyer reported that the package never reached him. I refunded his purchase since he never actually received what he paid for and I didn't want to deal with arbitration.

I honestly don't see much in the way of options though. Unless the seller is willing to meet you halfway, I don't think you will be compensated. I hope I'm wrong.

We have decided to issue you a courtesy refund for this case on Oct 18, 2012 to the PayPal account you used to purchase this item. The refund includes the purchase price plus original shipping. Please log in to PayPal to get your refund.

YEEEHAWWW

@Jams: lol, glad you got your refund

Paypal is pretty good about stuff like that.

I got stiffed by an eBay seller once: I never heard a peep from the guy after payment, and after waiting four weeks with no response to my three emails I filed a complaint with Paypal. They refunded my fifty-odd dollars fairly promptly, and a week later eBay offered another fifty as a coupon though I never contact them myself. A sort of a peace offering/confidence booster, I suppose.

PayPal always sides with the buyer. As an eBay member with 643 positive feedback, I've never had a problem getting refunded for not getting something. As a seller, I've gotten screwed over a few times when a package never made it.

Sellers always get screwed, buyers pretty much always win disputes. Glad to see you got your refund.

Was about to say. The first few posts are wrong, when you buy from ebay as long as you follow the channels and use paypal you are set....and that does not always mean good things, like that old violin that got destroyed cause of something tiny. Paypal said to destroy the object and take a pic, not to send it back to the selling. :/

@Nightriff said:

Ebay sides with the seller and Amazon sides with the customer, just use Amazon for now on

I agree, Amazon is very buyer centric in such matters, that's why I use them. You simply don't get some of the eBay stuff on there though...

@crusader8463 said:

You will probably get burned. In my experience Ebay usually sides with the seller.

They almost always side with the seller.

@Bloodgraiv3 said:

@crusader8463 said:

You will probably get burned. In my experience Ebay usually sides with the seller.

They almost always side with the seller.

Maybe things have changed, but it used to be they would always side with the buyer. It's the buyers that earn eBay and PayPal money. I would have assumed this is still the case since a few years ago they removed the ability for sellers to leave negative feedback. Is this still the case?

Well given the fact sellers can't even leave negative feedback to buyers anymore, it's pretty obvious who eBay is going to side with unless it is somehow provable the buyer is at fault.

Did you use Paypal? If you did, they have a policy to refund your money if anything goes wrong. I'd look/call them up (both ebay and paypal) and see what you can do.

@crusader8463 said:

You will probably get burned. In my experience Ebay usually sides with the seller.

Yeah. It's just because there used to be a ton of customers who would buy things and then say they never got the stuff, and got refunded, even though they did.

Never had an issue with eBay and I even bought a phone off of there. I use it way too much now though.

Bought an Alan wake code a wile back and when the dude sent it to me it did not work. Messaged him and got no answer afte two days. eBay got back to me in one day and gave me a refund and put the dude under investgation