'eBay owes me £164 – why won't it pay?'

One reader who sold trainers on eBay had problems with the site and PayPal - AP

I sold a pair of collectable trainers on eBay some nine months ago. The person who bought them from me put in a return request as they found a small mark on one of the shoes.

I accepted this before realising I’d missed the end of their message where they said they would keep the shoes for a £14 reimbursement. I decided that would be the better option.

I rechecked with them that this £14 would be accepted instead of a return. They said it would be. However I was now unable to retract the fact that I’d clicked to accept a return.

I contacted eBay, which put me through to eBay Canada, as that is where the buyer is from. It confirmed it had changed the case from a return to a partial refund.

What followed was a terrible muddle until I decided to try to forget about it as I suffer from clinical depression and social anxiety and really couldn’t deal with it anymore. However eBay still owes me £164.39.

I still feel so bitter and anxious about the hole in my pocket, the way it has treated me, and things I need that money for.

AC, Dorset

After the buyer’s money had gone into your PayPal account and before you knew there was any issue with the shoes you spent the £164.39, the price of the shoes.

Following the initial stages of the issue, you received an email from eBay’s resolution centre confirming it had processed the refund and closed the case.

That should have been the end of it but then PayPal, knowing there was an issue with the sale, froze the transaction at minus £164.39.

Due to a case having been opened, the transaction stayed on hold at this stage for nearly two weeks. You thought your whole account was frozen presumably because the shoe issue was all you were focusing on.

You called eBay and got passed back and forth. It closed the case, only for some reason to reopen it and close it again 17 days later. Meanwhile you had paid the £164.39 back into your PayPal account to ward off any further trouble.

Now eBay said it would reimburse the £14 refund because of all the hassle you had gone through. It instructed PayPal to carry out the larger refund. Again it seemed that the dispute was concluded. Now though, because of a technical error, PayPal decided to delay the resolution.

Around five months before you wrote to me, eBay had emailed you to say that it was still keeping an eye on the case. The email telling you this wouldn’t let you respond to it.

Further to my involvement with both eBay and PayPal the money was refunded at last. PayPal said: “We apologise for the delay on our side in resolving Mrs C’s case.”

It has also paid £100 for goodwill, and eBay says it is glad that this matter has been resolved.