Ebay Dilemma

[Over Carl]

A while back I bought a poweredge 2900 server from ebay for £300 + £9.50p&p. Idiot didn't wrap it in any bubble wrap and when it came I could see the feet had been sheared off and front bezel was damaged.

I put a claim through ebay, seller offered full refund. When I called him, we then changed mind and settled on me running diagnostics to see what state the system was actually in.

The following faults were found on closer examination:
PC Casing slightly bent
One dead power supply
One 146Gb 15k SAS drive with errors.

He then said he would refund £159.50 if I was happy to keep the item and offered this through ebay, and mentioned the entire sum was frozen in his paypal account. I accepted this but nothing actually came.

My case was due to expire today so on Sat I called up paypal. First dozy bitch said as the money has been released to the sellers account and he had withdrawn in full, seller needed to add more funds for my refund to be processed. Everntually got through to someone who agreed with my complaint (I made it very clear I was only wishing for £159.50 to be returned).

Today I've discovered I've been refunded for the full amount.

I can't decide whether to keep the whole lot or not - part of me wants to do the honest thing, but if this guy has already tried to screw me and the case has gone to "court" (paypal) and the "judge" (paypal) has delivered the verdict, who am I to argue?

Have decided I am going to mull this over for the week - glad to hear any opinions.

[consoles]

I wouldn't say he tried to screw you since he offered money back when you reported your finds.
I'd just refund the difference and take the higher ground.

[Over Carl]

Sorry - I've been dozy enough to miss out the crucial line!!!

I've added it to the op in italics.

[Mystical_2K]

ah so paypal have paid you, not him?

will they not take it from his bank?

personally if its paypal thats overpaid you, fuck em the money grabbing bastards!, if its him thats paying it out then return the difference

[Geko]

Either way he tried to keep the money. I would keep it all. I hate all these dishonest wankers on ebay. I know you may feel bad, I might feel a bit bad too. But he tried to take it from you.


I lost £10 from a dishonest ex-DF member on ebay recently. Fobbed me off until the paypal case expired. It's not the money, it's the principal. I gave him bad feedback, as many others have done. Was it honestly worth it for a tenner?


Edit - I meant principle... lol

[Bald Bouncer]

Take £159.50 and refund the difference as should have been don't lower yourself to his level, if you do what is morally right I'm sure you will feel a lot better plus if he really wants to be awkward he could try and collect the server from you as he will own it again now.

[Roach-Rampino]

Yeah offer back the additional money mate. You are obviously a decent bloke with a conscience, which you will keep it clear if you give back the overpayment.

If the guy tried to knock you then he knows he is wanker and you know he is a wanker but that's his issue not yours.

[4me2]

It boils down the old saying " treat others as you'd like to be treated yourself ".

[Geko]

I'd take his money and sleep with his mother. See if he packs a parcel incorrectly again!

[Mr 250]

Send it back how you received it, hopefully it will get damaged a bit more. Then refund him what you agreed.

[rIKmAN]

Similar thing happened to me, but not as much money was involved.
My newsgroup company changed their payment providers, and randomly one day I spotted the new name on my bank statement, and didn't recognise it.
Of course it was for a funny amount like 10.71 or something, and I couldn;t think what I had bought from this company.

Long story short, I filed a paypal dispute thing, saying I had no record of this company and I had not dealt with them, I changed all my passwords etc too.
Anyway, a few hours later I realised it was my newsgroup provider, so I cancelled the dispute on the paypal site and thought no more of it.

Two days later I have about 9 emails from paypal, each one refunding a months payment from them, about £100 in total.
I didn't say anything, my newsgroups still worked, they still take the money from the same card/account, and I'm £100 up - winner!

I agree with above though, it's a little different if the person losing out is an individual as opposed to a massive company, but I'd wait for him to contact you before you do anything, and just say I havn't checked recently so didn't know about the full refund.

[DejaVu]

I would give it a couple of days and see if you hear from the seller.
If he says nothing, he's lost nothing yet and PayPal will pull him on the money. When they do, he'll be in touch.

My suggestion, wait.

If nothing comes of it, your up. If does he mentions it, say you did not realise and was still waiting any outcome/correspondence from him or PayPal, just blame PayPal for their incompetence. Simple.

[andy262000]

I'd buy what I needed to bring the server upto standard with the funds and return the difference with a copy of the invoices.

[JonEp]

I'm still in shock..... Paypal didn't have the cleared funds and still paid out. What did you use on them, a gun ?