HELP!! EBAY "SITUATION"

[bevernie]

GREETINGS!! About 3-4 weeks ago, I won an auction on Ebay(A nice train!). The final cost was $30.85, so I went and got a money order and sent it off (Dec. 22). Well, the person on the other end never got it. I learned that it will costs $10 to trace the MO, but they can only tell you if it has been cashed. They do not do stop payments or do refunds. What should I do?
            1. Do the trace just to see if it has been cashed.
            2. Swallow my loss and get another MO (From the POST OFFICE!!).
            3. Just forget the whole thing!
            4. Any other suggestions?
                                                                                            THANX!!
                                                                                            Ernie

[SteamGene]

I thought one of the advantages of a money order was that if it didn't make it to its intended recipient, one could get a replacement. 
Gene

[jayl1]

I thought one of the advantages of a money order was that if it didn't make it to its intended recipient, one could get a replacement. 
Gene

Yes,  but it is NOT immediate.  I believe the window was at least 60 (maybe 90??) days before a claim could be made at the post office.

Suggestion - Buy at your local hobby shop or an online retailer AND use a credit card..

[GN.2-6-8-0]

One of the reasons i use Paypal.....

[ccooper]

I strongly suggest using Paypal when buying from E-bay. In fact I stay away from sellers that do not use Paypal services. registering with Paypl is easy and can be done from E-bay ( it's free ).
Curtis

[Pacific Northern]

The main reason for using PayPal if buying on E-Bay. I stay away from vendors who do not use PayPal.

[Jim Banner]

The three best pieces of advice:
PayPal
PayPal
PayPal

[Jim Banner]

In the days before PayPal, I ran into the same problem.  Here is what I did.  I kept in very close contact with the seller, emailing him every 2 or 3 days.  I discussed with him what I should do, including twice offering to purchase and send a new money order.  After about 6 weeks, his money order finally arrived and he shipped the goods.  I thanked him for his being patient far beyond any reasonable time limit.  His answer was that he was not worried about the extreme wait because he figured anybody trying to stiff him would not have kept in such close communication.

Based on that, better advice would be:
Communicate
Communicate
Communicate

[Stephen D. Richards]

bevernie,  if the above sugestions are not to your satisfaction, contact me off line and I can advise legal procedures.   Stephen

[az2rail]

Well as of Jan 15, paypal will be the only accepable form of payment on ebay. But this does not solve his problem.

Read the feedback on the seller, If there are a lot of negative feedbacks, then you might consider bitting the bullet and let the auction go. But if he has a good rating, and you don't think you are being ripped off, and you want the item, get another money order.

If he is honest, he will refund the first money order if it should show up at a later date. Another thing is, check that the mailing address was correct. You may have sent it to the wrong address. That happened to me once, and the money order came back as undeliverable a month later.

Bruce

[jestor]

All my EBay paypal purchases debit my checking account. 

[richG]

All my EBay paypal purchases debit my checking account. 

Same here. I have not had a credit card for over ten years.

Rich

[James in FL]

Ernie,
From some of your previous posts you "claim" to be an "older gentleman" (55+) I can only give you the benefit of the doubt.

However from some of your previous posts, I question that claim.

That said:
Surely, if in fact, you claim your are somewhat advanced in age (40+) you are familiar with the term "Return receipt".
My dilemma is that whenever sending "monies" through the postal system (Cash, Checks, or Money Orders) you would not request a return receipt.

Something smells like fish to me.
You post on a forum that you "sent it".
What proof do you have?

Hopefully (if the seller never received the money order) the seller will give you a negative feedback as some type of scam artist.
I would.

Bid on my item and don't pay.
I'd blast you.

You come here asking for help... we only know one side (allegedly) of the story.

No sympathy from here.
Suck it up

[Jim Banner]

Ernie, I for one have no reason to doubt you.  I see on your profile that you list a town, state, age and email address.  Good enough for me.

I NEVER sent a payment by mail with a return receipt requested.  Why spend the extra when I already have a receipt showing that I bought and paid for the money order?  I assume it also works that way south of the border as well.

I never pay for insurance on shipments either.  Two reasons for that:
- if an item it lost or damaged, the USPS and Canada Post both point fingers and say the other did it.  Then neither pays.
- insurance is sold at a profit, which means on the average I pay more than I will on the average collect back.  My experience has been that about 1% of items get lost.  But insurance costs about $2 on a typical (for me) $50 purchase.  So on 100 items, I would pay $200 for insurance and collect only $50 back.  I still insure my home, my car, etc. because they are expensive items that I cannot afford to lose.  But a $50 or a $100 item is not going to cripple me financially.

Ernie, in your original post you gave four options.  The second one is probably the best.  But as I said before, discuss it with the seller. 

[WGL]

  Our credit union recently announced that it would not permit its debit card to be used in transactions with 3 states, because of widespread fraud. I wonder how many people lost money before issuers of debit cards stopped payments.
  When I pay by credit card, my credit card company & then I stand between the seller & my bank account.  If I find an unauthorized charge on my credit card bill, I just have to notify the company.  Nobody gets my money until I approve the charge.  As I see it, debit cards give sellers direct access to the buyer's bank account.   Debit cards may be popular because they omit the steps of an intermediary & writing a check, but do they have safeguards equivalent those that credit cards have?  I also don't trust banks to protect me from somebody's bad check, because they will cash it & make me pay them back if it bounces.
  There must be fans of debit cards who are at least as careful as I am & can explain why they think that debit cards are as safe as credit cards.