any suggestions? worried i'm getting screwed over...

I'm sorry if this is inappropriate, but idk what else to do.

Almost a month ago, I purchased something from a fellow 3reefer. This person asked that I "gift" the purchase price to them which has been a pretty common thing that I've come across. I have only received 1 email from them despite multiple pm's here and emails to them. This email stated that this persons spouse was supposed to have shipped and that they'd contact me with shipping info asap. Is there anything that I should do to try to correct this for myself? I tried to dispute the transaction through paypal but since it was "not a purchase", they can't help me. Should I just kiss that $$ goodbye?

 

Can't help out too much, but I've been hearing about the "gift me" instead thing
Lately. My friend was in a similar situation and was also worried about the "gift". Hope you don't get screwed.

 

My suggestion would be to talk to the person you got if from

whilst our natural instincts in these situations is that something is amiss
there could be valid reasons for the lack of contact (we cannot know the circumstances of everyone we deal with, and worse case scenario is that something unpleasant has happened to this person, which has affected your transaction)
so benefit of the doubt would be my suggestion at present

try and contact the person who you purchased the item/ items from
explain your concerns over lack of communications
and try to ascertain what the problem is

Steve

 

Good call Steve. +1 a call and message always helps. How much time has passed since the purchase?

 

What was the payment method used through paypal? Paypal balance? Credit card? Never EVER send as a gift unless you know the person you are sending the money to and trust them 100%. You dont have a leg to stand on as far as paypal is concerned. If you used a credit card as payment source, you can call the credit card company and do a charge back. If you didnt use a credit card, you just have to cross your fingers and hope the person you sent the money to comes through on his end of the deal.

 

^^ He said a month
Sorry about this, sucks that someone might have done this to you...on the other hand it could have all been a huge misunderstanding!

 

I had almost the exact same thing happen on RC, except that I didn't do the gift thing. Wife was going to ship it, she forgot, etc. I researched into it more, and there were other people who had made purchases from the same person, and were being given similar stories. I pm'd the others, filed a dispute with PayPal, then confronted the seller. I gave him the option to return my money, and he did, as well as the other buyers. He claimed that he ran into some financial trouble, but wanted to preserve his good standing on RC.

As you've learned, there is nothing that PayPal can do since you payed as a gift. The only thing that you can do is follow Steve's advice, and stay in contact with the seller. A word of caution to everyone, is to NEVER pay a transaction as a gift.