Online record purchase failure-advice?

[Dan R]

Sorry I know this is boring, but...

I made a Spanish discogs seller a near offer for a record of his (via message, he wasn't taking offers through the special button etc) and he agreed it IF we did the deal outside discogs

Guy seemed legit, very quick responses to all my messages, positive feedback etc, so I agreed.

I had some dough in my PayPal balance, so I sent it through as a gift

That was back in November, and he hasn't replied to a single message since...

He's clearly online... regularly lists new records on discogs, and even tried to list the record I 'bought' off him on eBay (I messaged him through there asking him what the hell he was doing, and although he didn't reply, he took it down)...

He's completed sales through discogs since I paid for my record, and received positive feedback etc. I've contacted some of his buyers and they all said they received their record without problems

But on his personal/PayPal email, discogs account or eBay account he's NEVER replied to one of my many messages asking where my €60 record is.

So, long story short; am I fucked? Gifted the payment so no chargeback option...

Has anyone managed to resolve a similar situation through other means? Complaining to discogs? Guess I can get him shut down but would be scared of them shutting me down too... I did bend the rules after all

Irksome.

[Turboellis]

Open another discogs account, find a record he wants and do the same to him, making sure the record is twice as expensive.

[amidar]

Paying via gift gives you no protection I'm afraid unless you could initiate some form of charge back if your payment or at least part of it came from a debit or credit card I'm not sure. You could certainly try using it as leverage in an email. Disgraceful behaviour from him basically theft and the way he is acting relisting the record then taking it down doesn't bode well. Are you communicating within discogs? Just a long shot that if not emails may be going astray.

I'm not sure how discogs are on closing accounts but I would report him because it would seem and an email could be worded to the effect that he has taken advantage of your naievty and whatever happens I'm sure you could open another account with a different email. I feel for you to be honest I don't like thieves full stop, lowest of the low from a seller who seems to be doing alright as is. Just send the record sounds like he got a fair price from your wording so he has no excuse. Hope you get it sorted.

[cratedigger]

I doubt Discogs staff will do much if you contact them. If they would act, does he have more to lose than you? Are you selling as well?

[reza]

sorry to hear , not much you can do really apart from as said, contact discogs but that will prob result in both yours and his accounts being closed down
lesson learnt never send payment as friend/family unless you know the person well, if they ask for payment that way just say you havn't enough funds in your account currently to send that way, but offfer to pay the fees on top and send payment as per norm, at least that way your covered

[stupidnation]

Oo sadly doesnt sound good!!
Paypal will do nothing about this as I have had this happen to me, they will simply state that you are not covered for paypal protection for gifted payments, also discogs will probably not do much either.
I had a guy buy a £100 odd record from me via discogs, I sent it tracked, the 12" was in great condition and he did not dispute this, it was a hand stamped WL and his problem was that the hand stamp was not stamped enough i.e the stamp was not as clearly / stamped as hard as the image on discogs that some one else has put up....Ok odd buyer but what can you do so I asked him to return the item via tracked shipping, send me the details and upon receipt of the record back I would send him a full refund..

However the record never came back, the tracking did not work etc. The guy was pestering me daily about this but at the time until it landed here there was not much I could do, anyway he tried the paypal route (they went in my favour as I had sent it tracked), asked me to send 50% back right away and as a last resort he contacted discogs but at the end of the day they did nothing to my account.

Never did receive the record back, I guess it still rests nicely in his collection in italy!

Anyway sorry to waffle but the general gist of my story is that discogs unless you constantly appear to be ripping people of on a daily basis will probably not step in

[Dan R]

Don't want my account closed down as I sell on there too and have my entire collection logged, wantlist and all sorts

So i'll have to pursue justice vigilante style

My next step is contacting people who've sold records to him and asking them for his postal address. Maybe i'll be able to get a phone number

[Milesago]

Post a message on discogs forum asking if anyone has experienced any problems with the seller - and publish his name.
What have you got to lose?

At the very least he'll be exposed to discogs as a seller who accepts offers off-site, cheating discogs out of their commission.

As for the payment itself, there is nothing you can do, as it was sourced from your paypal balance.
Never send a payment as a gift unless its sourced from a credit card.

[cratedigger]

Naming and shaming is not that effective on the forums, It will be deleted. And as the deal was off discogs noone can deduce from your profile who the culprit is.

[Dan R]

So, I'm buggered then.

I have discovered his postage address (through someone he'd bought from on discogs)

and found him on Facebook

What to do with that info though, given that he won't reply through 3 other contact mediums...

[Cacapo]

Had a somewhat similar case with a seller in Asia once. After a while I sent him a few messages that I was worried about him- I asked him to please reply in case he was injured in his apartment so I don't have to call medical assistance for him.

Got a reply soon after...

[Saint Jude]

Chalk it up to experience.

I've only paid gift for a record once and when it arrived it was massively over graded. I complained to the seller, but got no replies.

If a seller asks for gift payment now I refuse and agree to increase the price to cover the paypal fee.

[Paul-K]

never gift payment for anything. unless it is a gift. you lose all your buyer rights.

put it down to experience

[SirSlim]

Had a somewhat similar case with a seller in Asia once. After a while I sent him a few messages that I was worried about him- I asked him to please reply in case he was injured in his apartment so I don't have to call medical assistance for him.

Got a reply soon after...

[moecurlythanu]

You're almost certainly out the money. I would publish his username, real name & general location far and wide. Forums, Facebook, Twitter, whatever. Tell what he's done. Turn him into a pariah.

As for never sending gift payments through Paypal...I do that with Spiros of Crystal Thoughts and he's always golden. Think I've done it with Psychtron Pete as well, and never had a problem. You just have to know who you're dealing with.