Community : News : Chatter : Ask Griff : November 2005

Jim Griffith, also known as "Griff", is one of eBay's most beloved staff members. Griff has also authored the eBay "How to" guide, The Official eBay Bible, and is the host of eBay Radio, airing every Tuesday at 11:00 PT. Each month, Griff will take some of your questions about eBay, and answer them in his own inimitable style.

I was wondering about the protections offered to buyers on eBay. I purchased several small, inexpensive items from one seller. I then attempted to contact the seller, who had already sent me several emails saying some of my items had shipped. I never received a thing. The purchases came to only about $17.50, but I would like to get that money back. Can you help?

Although I don't have the details of your particular transaction, I still may be able to offer some first steps for a resolution.

All eBay buyers are eligible to receive up to $200 through eBay Standard Protection for any single eBay transaction. However, eBay Standard Protection carries a $25 deductible to cover processing costs.

If your purchases were for less than $25 and you paid using PayPal, you can utilize another program specifically, PayPal Buyer Protection. If the seller's listing is eligible for PayPal Buyer Protection, you are covered for up to $1000 with no deductible.

If the seller did not provide PayPal Buyer Protection, you can try the PayPal Buyer Complaint process. PayPal's Buyer Complaint Process helps protect members by covering non-delivery of items and items that are significantly not as described. However, PayPal's Buyer Complaint Policy applies only to payments for tangible, physical goods that can be shipped. It does not apply to intangibles, services, quasi-cash, non-physical goods or licenses, and other items such as access to digital content.

Click the Security Center link at the bottom of any PayPal page to start the PayPal Buyer Complaint process (if you have not already done so, of course).

Finally, if all of the above have not provided satisfaction, and if you paid through PayPal using a credit card, you may seek recourse with your credit card provider. Look under Credit Card Resources on the Additional Buyer Protection Resources page.

Q: I have an item that sold and the buyer has requested another invoice. This is because the buyer's original payment, which was a check, was returned in the mail due to an incorrect ZIP code. Now she wants to pay using PayPal. However, it seems she's unable to link to PayPal from her My eBay page, because she had already marked the item as “paid.”

When she requested another invoice, I went to the “Items I've Sold” section in My eBay to try and generate a new one for her. However, the only option I have there is to print the shipping label. How do I resend the invoice?

The buyer sent me a message today asking for my email address so she could use it to pay by PayPal. I sent her my email address, but I'm unclear how she can transfer money to me by PayPal without an invoice. I am new to this. Can this be done?

The buyer does not need an invoice to pay you through PayPal. Anyone can send money to another PayPal member to pay for eBay items or for transactions unrelated to eBay. All they need is the email address which is linked to your PayPal account.

If the buyer still has the eBay item number, she can enter it into the form on PayPal and PayPal will automatically fill in the rest of the transaction details for her.

I recommend that you email the buyer with the item number and your PayPal email address. Ask her to go to www.paypal.com, log in, click on the Send Money tab, fill in your email address, select "eBay Items" from the drop down options for "Category of Purchase" and follow the instructions from there. On the next page, she will be prompted to enter an eBay Item number. Once she completes the process, you will both have a record of the transaction in your PayPal accounts as well as in your My eBay pages.