Help Needed: Package Stolen, Purchased from Ebay

Hi,
I had purchased an item from eBay. It was quite a bit of amount I Paid for that. The seller shipped it and he provided UPS tracking number.
Although UPS is saying they have delivered but I didn't receive the package. According to UPS delivery confirmation they left the package at porch.

What should I do now? The seller is saying he did his part and he was on time in delivering the package. The UPS is saying only shipper can start a claim process. eBay is suggesting to resolve it mutually first then the buyer protection will come in effect.

But the point is I paid almost $700 for this item and it was a gift. I do not have another $700 to buy the gift.
Seems like my money got stuck there for long time.

Please suggest me what are my options.
Any help will be appreciated.

The seller should have required your signiture on delivery since the package cost over $250, per paypal rules.
Now he doesn't have seller protection and is personally responsible for it's delivery.

So you can file a 'not delivered' claim at paypal and get a full refund.
Do so immediately to start the process.

Or you can file a chargeback with your credit card, assuming that you paid for it completely with your credit card.

File claim on paypay. Do not close claim until you have the money or the item (common scam is sellers try to get the buyer to close before resolving knowing the buyer can't reopen the claim). In the unlikely event that does not work (it should since seller did not follow eBay rules) file chargeback with your credit card.

Thanks all for your reply.
The seller sent me an affidavit on my personal email, which I need to swear and sign, (a0ccording to seller) only then he will process refund/replacement. I do not mind signing such form but when I spoke to eBay/paypal they asked me not to reply or sign anything outside eBay/paypal communication channel.
My question here is: its already been 11 days since I made the purchase, should I escalate the matter in paypal to claims from dispute or should I wait for seller's reply/co-operation?
I am sorry if I am behaving like a noob but this is first time happened to me that ups delivery got missing and I do not know what are the right steps to take.

Thanks everyone for your help.

livingdivineus said:   Thanks all for your reply.
The seller sent me an affidavit on my personal email, which I need to swear and sign, (a0ccording to seller) only then he will process refund/replacement. I do not mind signing such form but when I spoke to eBay/paypal they asked me not to reply or sign anything outside eBay/paypal communication channel.
My question here is: its already been 11 days since I made the purchase, should I escalate the matter in paypal to claims from dispute or should I wait for seller's reply/co-operation?
I am sorry if I am behaving like a noob but this is first time happened to me that ups delivery got missing and I do not know what are the right steps to take.

Thanks everyone for your help.

Escalate it. If the seller wants this affidavit thing signed you can do it after you get your money back to be a nice guy as he might actually need it if he is using a 3rd party insurance, but even if that is the case he has to refund you regardless due to paypal/eBay rules. He can't try to wait for him to get refunded. Far more likely than that scenario is he is trying to scare you and drag this out. After he gets the affidavit he will likely ask you to file a police report etc. Anything to delay it hoping it goes over the time to dispute on eBay and/or the chargeback time.

Also he is probably hoping to scare you in case you really did get it and are scamming him. I've seen exactly what he did get recommended here to sellers who suspect a buyer is lying and a decent amount of the time the package is suddenly "found". Anyways he has good reason to ask for this... but there is no reason why you should respond to it. Only do what eBay tells you to do (or the CC company if this ends up going to a chargeback).

ganda said:   What a stupid seller.

agreed...what was he thinking...

BradMajors said:   The seller likely did ask for a signature from UPS. If he has been selling for any period of time he will know that eBay wants signatures for anything over $250:

* UPS often ignores "signature required" and delivers packages without signatures,
* UPS may have delivered the package to someone else who did sign for it. UPS does not care that the person who signs for the package has a different name from that who it has addressed to.

There is a good chance that the seller will win this dispute. He has a delivery confirmation and there is at least a 50% chance that he has a signature of some kind. eBay will not care that the signature is not yours. You shouldn't have escalated your dispute so quickly, if you lose your eBay dispute you will not get your money back without the seller's help.

OP checked tracking #, showed delivered to front porch. If anyone had signed for the package it would show online. Seller screwed up = takes the hit. Any update op?