When is it time to be concerned?

I am wondering what is an appropriate time to wait before issuing a warning for a seller after a payment via PayPal has been made and after an initial ship date agreement as come and gone. I am not new to forum classifieds purchases and buyer etiquette; however, this is my first purchase utilizing these classifieds after being a window shopper for over a year. I value the importance of people’s reputations and would hate to jump to conclusions. I realize things come up and delays naturally occur, yet unfortunately, as each day passes, two-weeks after tomorrow since my payment, I am starting to fear the worst.

The seller’s communication was great at first and immediately following payment. However, my expected delivery inquiries by phone, email, and pm have gone unanswered for more than a week. I have read the helpful BOI regulations thoroughly and obviously have my emails, but any advice or insights on protocol are greatly appreciated. I’m a patient person, but I hate the idea that I may have lost $230 for a Mussurana my sons and I have been looking forward to raising.

The problem here is that after a certain number of days (is it 30?), you can't file with paypal to get your money back. Scammers use this to their advantage, but well-meaning people play into the problem, too, not realizing how their procrastination is putting you into a financially bad situation. I would find out the paypal deadline for filing a greivance, then let the seller know you are filing a few days before that. He may not be answering, but he's probably reading. Be sure to save any correspondence in case this ends up in the BOI.
You can't name names here, but you could put an inquiry thread in the BOI and see if anyone knows the guy personally, and can give you advise on how to proceed.

Noelle

Thanks so much Noelle. That was just the kind of advice I was hoping for. PayPal seems to get quite a bit of grief, but in these types of situations their policies can be a real positive. I'll look in to it asap and in the meantime keep my fingers crossed.

It has been my experience that once someone stops returning calls or replying to emails, THAT is a bad sign that should not be ignored. No one is hard to get a hold of that WANTS to be gotten a hold of. It's YOUR money at risk, so you have a right to be concerned. Yeah, things CAN come up for anyone, but that is not your fault, nor problem. Nor should the burden be on you to cover for, and make allowances for, the one who has dropped the ball. If someone has MY money, and apparently dodging me, then I am certainly not worried about hurting their feelings by cranking it up a notch to get their attention.

If, by chance, you ARE dealing with a crook, the longer you give them, the better they can cover their tracks by emptying out their PayPal account and closing any associated bank account so you will be left holding the bag. Plus, if it IS a scam, they are quite likely working other people at the same time, so blowing the whistle on them early just might save a few of them from getting taken, as well as put a big crimp in the scammer's designs. Yeah, you might be wrong, but so what? I'd much rather give someone an apology than just hand them my money any day of the week.

Seriously, in this day and age, it's hard for someone to NOT be near a phone or computer to establish contact if they truly WANT to.

Thank you very much for the advice, and being new here I would never want to wrongly effect a seller's reputation, but if I learn from a expensive lesson, I will make sure to pass it on to warn others. It really seems after reviewing your BOI that by far the vast majority of members couldn't be more honest and responsible. The seller did respond to my last pm this morning and although still hasn't confirmed a ship date, hearing from him is at least, a positive sign for now. Fingers still crossed. Thank you again!

Well, after three weeks to the day since I purchased a young Mussurana it finally arrived by overnight Fed Ex dead. First time I had ever seen a dead snake and couldn't have been more disappointed. The odor also couldn't have been more gross. As soon as I got home from the Fed Ex office I recorded video, took photos of the deflated fella and his container, took his exterior body temp with a temp gun, and called the seller. I understand these things sadly happen, but if shipping time is any indication of how long it will be before I receive a refund of $230, it doesn't look good.

Seller sounded sincere and declined my offer to send it back incase he needed it to claim insurance from Fed Ex. Sent him the photos of course, but is there something else I should do to when this occurs? Again, this my first, and I hope last DOA. Thanks!

If you paid via Paypal there is a time window after which you cannot file a complaint. If the seller takes more than a day or two to refund you, I'd open a complaint, escalate it, and put the seller's name on the BOI. I believe that when a case is escalated a hold is put on the seller's funds pending the decision by Paypal.
I am thinking that you might have to entertain the possibility that it was shipped dead, I'm not sure how quickly deterioration takes place to the extent that a dead snake smells as gross as you describe. You might want to get in touch with Fedex and include the info about the smell. I'm not saying this happened, but if a less than ethical seller throws a dead or ailing snake in the freezer, then sells it and ships it out, he should not be able to recover the live cost of the snake.
I'm sorry this happened to you.

Thank you for your advice. It had never it occurred to me that it may have already been dead, but his container was filled with "juice" and the smell was so bad that the Fed Ex office put a plastic bag around it. The seller thought this may have caused suffocation, but it was only at Fed Ex a hour or so before I left work to pick him up. I considered attaching a photo, but it might be considered a bit too much. It was almost like his insides had liquified. Never seen anything like it.

I'm going to contact Pay Pal tomorrow. The fact that in a week it will be month, I don't want the window to close. He still has a few other snakes for sale right now in the classifieds and would hate to see a pattern. Thanks again!

I think it's time for ths to get the BOI. Maybe as an imformational post if not a bad guy post, dedpending of he is responding appropriately. Since the seller has other ads up, prospective buyers should have this info.

I wanted to give the seller the opportunity to correct a mistake or meet accepted seller practice, but after more than 48 hours without a reply I turned to the BOI. I left a warning for: Kevin Jarvis of Akron Reptiles and Bull123 to make sure this didn't happen to another buyer. Helpful contributers have clarified some of my fears and offered a number of possiabilites I never would have thought of. Thanks.