If you're a bit puzzled about some of the nuances of the online auction world or just feel a bit lost trying to avoid the scams and rip-offs while still having fun buying stuff (or selling stuff, for that matter), then you've found the right place here at Dave's eBay Help Desk and Tutorials!

I've been a part of the eBay community for many years, wrote a book called "The eAuction Insider" years ago, and even had a successful online site called iTrack that offered eBay auction tracking services years ago. I'm not a hugely active seller, but I know how to create listings that will help generate top dollar for your items, and also how to avoid the tricksters who sneak additional charges or unexpected add-ons to otherwise exciting auctions too.

On my popular Q&A weblog, Ask Dave Taylor Tech Support, I also have an entire eBay Help Area, the best of which I'm also going to produce here, to help you learn how to be safe and happy here on eBay.

So if you do have questions, please either ask them here, or pop over to my other site and ask them there instead.

I bought an item off of eBay a while ago and sent the money the next day. I then never got the item. So I tried to contact the person and he said he would give me a refund but never did. So I waited patiently for his reply but never got one.

I then filed a report 40 days after the time I bought the item but there were a couple of problems. I closed my paypal account maybe 2 days after the transaction due to an identity theft reason (I was paranoid) and I opened a new account. I asked the paypal representative that if this was a problem and she told me no and it would be still investigated and then she filed the buyer complaint under my new account.

After about 2 months or so I never got a response and decided to call back for an update. Then the man told me that paypal investigated it and said there was nothing he can do because the transaction took place on an old account and that he will file another buyer's complaint stating that I had to close the account due to identity fraud and told me to call back in 2 days.

So I call 2 days later and they tell me now that they cannot get my money back because I filed a complaint 2 days ago and it was not covered because they have a 45 day policy that says I cannot file a claim after 45 days. And that I am not eligible for the buyer's protection because I closed the account that had the transaction on. And if I wanted to I can file a police report but they cannot give me a name, or email or anything.

Oh, I wish I had a good answer for you, but unfortunately the timing issues with eBay transactions are often a huge problem for fraudulent transactions: you can't file a non-receipt too soon, because the seller might genuinely need a week or two to get it to the post office and shipping might take another week or three.

Then you are expected to go back and forth with the seller before filing a complaint because, well, they might have thought they shipped it but forgotten or any of a dozen other quite credible and legitimate reasons. Ideally, the situation should be resolved between the two of you anyway because as eBay likes to highlight, caveat emptor, let the buyer beware.

On the other hand... continue reading about Ripped Off on eBay, Any Recourse?