I think I've just been had! WARNING: BAD EBay seller

Homerr · Sep 13, 2003

I think I finally got my first BAD transaction on EBay as a buyer. This dirt-bag hasn't sent my item, and has not sent any e-mails past the time I sent payment. They were quick to respond to e-mails before my payment, now nothing. This seller was selling Dvd movies for a Buy-It now of $5.00 to $5.50. I should have known it was too good to be true when they were selling new and top titles for this Buy-It-Now price, and a "Pay-Pal" only requirement. I've been contacted by other EBay buyers with the same problem with this flake. I then did some research and e-mails, and it would seems this POS has done this to many others. I figure he/she has got away with at least $450. I have made a claim with Pay-Pal and EBay. We'll see if they can nail this deadbeat. Don't they realize they have crossed the line? The laws have changed, and it's going to be real difficult to get away with this. If all this money has gone into Pay-Pal, they have their ID ? I won't list the sellers ID on here YET in case there are legal issues. I don't want to give this seller any edge before I get my money back!! So in the mean time, watch out for a seller who has Buy-It-Now DVDs for real cheap (5.00 - 5.50) H.

SoulWinner · Sep 13, 2003

Re: I think I've just been had! WARNING: BAD EBay seller

If you paid with a visa your OK, they cover stuff like that. Otherwise, Paypal, if I remember correctly, covers it until the problem is resolved. I wish you the best in this because I can't abide a thief

Homerr · Sep 13, 2003

Re: I think I've just been had! WARNING: BAD EBay seller

I paid with my PayPal balance. We'll se what happens. The dogs are loose and on his trail! H.

12Footer · Sep 13, 2003

Re: I think I've just been had! WARNING: BAD EBay seller

Which begs the question: Is Paypal worth what they charge for it? We shall see. (dependen on how this turns out).

roscoe · Sep 13, 2003

Re: I think I've just been had! WARNING: BAD EBay seller

Hi 12footer, hope all is well with you and yours. PayPal is worth it to me. Definitely has some value as a seller. Bidding activity generally increases on items accepting PayPal. As a buyer, PayPal is fast, convenient, easy, and gets the items shipped tomorrow instead of next week sometime.

Ralph 123 · Sep 13, 2003

Re: I think I've just been had! WARNING: BAD EBay seller

H, What's the guy's feedback look like? There has been a lot of ID theft on eBay lately. Hackers sending very real looking emails that get you to log into a phoney site that looks real to steal your id and password. They are doing the same thing with Paypal. I was getting several a week for a while. I don't think you'll have a problem with paypal covering it. I've never had a problem in 5,000 or more transactions. Always do a quick feedback check to look for a recent string of negatives. When I am on the buy side I do it habitually. 12, Paypal is free for the buyer (person sending the payment). It cost us sellers 3% but it is worth it. It makes business possible. It cuts the labor involved in processing a buyers payment by about 90%.

Jwill · Sep 13, 2003

Re: I think I've just been had! WARNING: BAD EBay seller

I don't thnk anything happens to people that rip others off on Ebay. Last year I bought a Shimano Curado baitcasting reel off Ebay from a guy that just happened to live about a half hours drive from me. I paid for it right after the auction ended. A few hours later he refunded my money because he said his wife inandvertantly (spelling???) listed the reel when it had already been sold previously on Ebay. I thought thats ok atleast he was honest and I left him + feedback. A few days later I received a few e-mails from people stating that they hadn't received the items they bought from him and he wouldn't return their e-mails. They were wondering how my transaction through him went. He had flawless feedback up until this point. I kept an eye on his feedback and within a couple weeks he had about 15 negative messages left. He took one guy for $1400. Total he stole about $3500 worth of other peoples hard earned money. He changed his phone number and e-mail address so the people he stole from couldn't get ahold of him. I figured out who he was and knew that he was a regular visitor of a local bass fishing forum. I made sure his friends on the board knew what he did. At the time he was trying to sell his bassboat in the classified section of the bassfishing forum website. I was able to get his new e-mail address and his new phone number so I e-mailed it to all the people he ripped off. They were very happy to get that information. One guy e-mailed me and said he gave the thief a call and the thief said his Brother hacked into his Ebay account and listed the stuff without him knowing it. I wonder how his Brother hacked his way into Paypal so he could send the money to his Brothers checking account than he would have to hack his way into his checking account to retrieve the money (LIAR!!!)? Besides his Brother surely wouldn't had refunded my money. The only reason he refunded my money was that he didn't want me to come knocking on his door. Bottomline is I don't think anything happened to the thief because he never stopped posting on the bassfishing forum.

Ralph 123 · Sep 13, 2003

Re: I think I've just been had! WARNING: BAD EBay seller

Good work Jay! I think it's hard to get ripped off if you go paypal - the people who can get burned are people who pay by money order or check - they have no recourse except to file fraud charges and go through the legal process. Most likely the people taken in that case paid by a method other than paypal. One of my cousins is a police detective and I know he has investigated a few cases of fraud. The buyers call the police department in the town the seller lives in and files a complaint. As a general rule, buy from powersellers when you can. We have proven track records (must have a 98% positive feedback rating and sell like at least $1k a month min), are professionals and depend on it for our living so we take it seriously. We aren't likely to have our IDs stolen either.

Homerr · Sep 13, 2003

Re: I think I've just been had! WARNING: BAD EBay seller

This person's feedback is relatively good. 103 positives, 1 neutral, and 2 recent negatives. Most of the feedback is from multiple auction winners. I thought it may be a case of someone stealing their EBay identity, but the person has broken all contact with not only me, but the other EBay bidders. You would think they would have said something by now if they had their ID stolen. I counted approx. 45 DVD auctions they had going. Some were multiple winners. In short...there's potentially a lot of P.O'd people! I confirmed 4 of them so far. I'm going to get busy and try to contact the rest. I agree...I think it's pretty darn hard to rip someone off using Pay-Pal. You have to enter some specific and verified information to sign up with them. And how would they collect and hope to get away? Even if they were crooks, why would they go to the trouble to spoof EBay and Pay-Pal for such small change? Unless of course...they had multiple EBay accounts. No way to tell. This will no doubt get interesting as the investigation continues. I regularly change my passwords to EBay and PayPal. A pain in the @ss, but worth the security. H.

Ralph 123 · Sep 13, 2003

Re: I think I've just been had! WARNING: BAD EBay seller

Problem is when they steal the ID they change the email address so there is no way to know for sure who you have talked to. When you check his feedback has he been selling DVDs all along? If he has, then it may indeed be him. These thieves steal lots at a time so it adds up. They also change all the paypal info so they can get the money. You can quickly "buy" something else with your balance and get your hands on the money quickly.

roscoe · Sep 14, 2003

Re: I think I've just been had! WARNING: BAD EBay seller

Recently thought I was snagged for $1000. Not just a slow shipper, but a total disappearing act. He was selling dozens of $50 to $2000 items, he was selling off his parents estate. All positive feedback, watched his auctions for 3 weeks till 2 items came along that I wanted. I am sure the money order payment kept the bidding low I was real leary about sending m/o for that amount, but after a phone call and several emails I did it. He emails confirming payment rec'd. Then the guy disappears. I'm ready to drive the 500 miles to his house. 2+ weeks later I get an email from his sister, saying he had a heart attack and triple bypass surgery. I now have my Merc 7.5 and Evinrude 40e-t/t-tiller in my garage.

I got lucky he didn't die, turns out the email, phone, and ebay account he was using was in his dead fathers name, and I never would have been able to track him down. Now I need a few more boats to go with the 8 outboards. And a bigger garage.

wikelam · Sep 15, 2003

Re: I think I've just been had! WARNING: BAD EBay seller

Yeh you really have to be carefull when doing business on the net. I frequently buy stuff online(ebay, etc.) never had any bad luck yet. did have one guy take almost 4 weeks to ship my laptop. but i recieved it and it works great. got it for 300$ less than the book value so no complaints. I am like roscoe, i will drive to a persons house if i get ripped off by someone. where i come from stealing and cheatin don't go over to well.

Homerr · Sep 15, 2003

Re: I think I've just been had! WARNING: BAD EBay seller

YEP! Looks like I've been duped. Now the S.O.B. is no longer a registered user of EBay. Took the money and run. I don't know if Pay-Pal can recover any money. I think it was covered by their protection program since I am all verified etc... We'll see. I can't file a fraud report to EBay until 30 days have past. Now I'm pissed! This is the dung-for-brains feedback: http://cgi2.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback&userid=raysofsunshine6 I hope the fleas of a thousand camels infect your groin raysofsunshine6 !!!!!

I feel better now....

H.

roscoe · Sep 15, 2003

Re: I think I've just been had! WARNING: BAD EBay seller

ebay makes you wait 30 days. PayPal says you have to file before 30 days.

Ralph 123 · Sep 15, 2003

Re: I think I've just been had! WARNING: BAD EBay seller

H, That was eBay closing the account due to the complaints. They do the same thing to buyers who bid and don't pay for 3 auctions. look how he bought a bunch of stuff in short order to get his feeback up (after a negative for not shipping). Most of the items were inexpensive. A couple where for cash equivalents (gift cards). He should be easy to find. Just contact the sellers he bought the gift cards from and find out where they shipped.

Homerr · Sep 16, 2003

Re: I think I've just been had! WARNING: BAD EBay seller

I was wondering if it was EBay closing their account due to the negatives. EBay must have some kind of automated thing with their negative feedback, since the account went unregistered shortly after I posted the negative feedback. I was also noticing the good feedback. That's why I hated to leave the negative. Their feedback was good. I still wonder if they had their account stolen, but I should have received an e-mail by now if they stayed on top of their EBay account. It is possible it was stolen. They were inactive since April with great feedback and now 8 negatives? That's fishy. Or the person is a very clever thief? Quickly building his feedback to dupe others at a given time? Still...only $400. Doesn't seem worth it. I didn't think about the stuff he bought to track him down. Good idea, I'll try to contact an authority in their last known area. H.

mikeandronda · Sep 16, 2003

Re: I think I've just been had! WARNING: BAD EBay seller

I will never buy anything from Ebay again after reading this post. In the past I have bought some guitar equipment and felt safe but now I just feel lucky to have gotten my stuff I paid for. Seems like an awful big gamble to buy something in the 100's or 1000's of dollar range.

Ralph 123 · Sep 16, 2003

Re: I think I've just been had! WARNING: BAD EBay seller

mikeandronda - you're fine if you stick with powersellers or pay only by paypal. Also, be sure to check feedback for people not in the triple digits or more. In this case I would not have bid becuase the guy had a negative on April 9th about taking money and not providing product. That is the kiss of death in my book. The other thing you can do is look for this logo on the person's feedback page, it means eBay knows exactly who the preson is:

H - yes, the closing of accounts is automated and tied to negatives.

Homerr · Sep 16, 2003

Re: I think I've just been had! WARNING: BAD EBay seller

mikeandronda , Don't let this mis-fortune drive you off of EBay. Like Ralph said, you have to do your homework on the feedback. That's your bible of bidding. In my case, however...It was a 50/50 chance. The person had good feedback, however I still got the shaft. This is truely the first time I've ever had a problem since I've bid on EBay. If I bid on a high-dollar item, I would certainly make good contact and telephone before I bid. Ralph...How do I get that ID certification with EBay? I've never seen that before? Do you have to be a power seller? H.

neumanns · Sep 16, 2003

Re: I think I've just been had! WARNING: BAD EBay seller

Homerr...Do you think it is a possability that these were stolen and the law caught up to him. If you think it out kinda makes sense. They watch pawn shops why not ebay.

I think I've just been had! WARNING: BAD EBay seller

Commander

Commander

Commander

Fleet Admiral

Supreme Mariner

Captain

Petty Officer 2nd Class

Captain

Commander

Captain

Supreme Mariner

Chief Petty Officer

Commander

Supreme Mariner

Captain

Commander

Lieutenant Commander

Captain

Commander

Lieutenant Commander