Ebay scam

[amblypygi]

I had the same thing happen with some little porcelain figurine I was selling for a friend of mine. The guy tried to return a different one with two chips and claimed it happened in shipping. I always take very detailed pictures and keep them on file though, and I sent him the following message: "I'm sorry, but I cannot accept your return because I don't believe it is the same one I sold you. The original shipment was insured though, so you can file a claim with the postal service for full reimbursement. I will of course be providing them with all of the pictures I have in order to prevent any mail fraud"

Never heard another word from him, though he did give me my first and only negative feedback []

Sean

 

[dpbottleman]

Was it a 1867 sour mash whisky from Chapin & Gore?

 

[Dale]

dpbottleman

I notice you were from Texas and collected Dr.Pepper bottles. I try to collect Dr.Pepper bottles, but have only two good ones. There is a token at the bottom right of the picture that is good for Dr. Pepper at any fountain in Waco, Texas. I also live in Texas, south of Luling. Where in Texas are you located?

 

[bearswede]

Hi... I think buyers need to be heard too! I bought a flask on ebay; it was advertised as having hairline cracks, but the pictures didn't show much. I asked the seller if they were in-manufacture and stable... He assured me they were, so I got in the winning bid. The bottle arrived in a box without "fragile" written on it, and the flask had only one piece of bubble wrap. The cracks were NOT hairline; they were huge, much longer than advertised. One circumscribed a piece that was actually loose and about to fall out. The seller advertised a return policy within three days; since he had not answered any of my post-auction emails, I wrapped the flask up and sent it back asking for a refund. He refused, and Paypal would not help me even tho the item was supposed to be covered by a guarantee. Ebay didn't help either; so the guy has my $100 AND the flask!!!!

In this instance, the buyer is left helpless and that's just not right...

 

[LaidBackJack]

Almost the same thing happened to me, with a non-bottle purchase. Leaving me with no recourse, I proceeded to get a different user name, & then I bid on & won another of this crooks' items, for more than he had taken me for originally. Upon receiving his email after the sale, I informed him that I'd pay for the item when he repaid me for the first one. Of course he buffed me off. But then I proceeded to bid on everything he put up, after I had left him nasty feedback on the item I had won. After a few nasty emails, he sent me my refund. When dealing with one of these crooks, it's always informative to go back through their feedback & email the people they have screwed previously. The info is available through their feedback, just email any negatives & you will get a clear picture of what kind of jerk you are dealing with. Then go after them. If all you do is get them off Ebay, that will be a good thing. I was lucky, the guy wanted to keep his username, and so he paid me off. I never paid for the other item, but I abandoned that username...tough luck for him.

 

[kumtow]

Good on you laidbackjack, but how come he didn't just block you from bidding on his items? Or did you have to change you user name a number of times?
I have had no real problems on eBay yet...touch wood. I did buy a gin some time ago that had a small crack that was not mentioned in the discription of the item. I put it down to inexperience of the seller as he had very little feedback. He was more than willing to refund me if I sent the bottle back. I chose not to request a refund and let it ride, which I now regret as I resold the bottle some time later a lost a lot of money due to that small crack. I am now wiser, particularly about bottles I intend to resell.[8|].

 

[LaidBackJack]

This guy I was dealing with did not understand the system enough to know that I was someone he had burned before, using a different username. I got hip to him by checking his feedback, & monitoring his sales for a couple months. He sells 10 items, but only gets feedback for 1 or 2. A really squirelly character. I don't deal with anyone with much negative feedback anymore. There is little excuse for it. I have 1200+ transactions & 100% positive feedback, it's not hard if you're an honest dealer. You can email anyone who leaves feedback, and I recommend doing so about anyone with any negative feedback. There are some absolute rip-offs out there, protect yourself BEFORE you bid any serious money on anything. I also don't like dealing with people who have less than say....75 transactions. Check what the seller is selling, and if it's a bunch of $3 crap, but you're interested in something they are now selling for big money.....watch out! I was extremely lucky to get my money back in this one case, I have other stories where I didn't get diddley. Live & Learn. Let the Buyer Beware. Cheers!

 

[bearswede]

There's a larger issue here tho... As citizens of Ebay, we're given this false sense of security... We think: people won't screw us 'cause they want to continue dealing on Ebay and they don't want negative feedback... but if an Ebayer picks his/her spots and gets a few negatives among a whole bunch of positives, most people won't be bothered by it thinking it's just a few disgruntled people... So the treachery gets masked... And also, Ebay and Paypal tout all these protections against fraud, but don't you bother to try and utilize them... They are just as much a scam as what the scamers are perpetrating!

I really feel I don't ever want to do Ebay again after my experience... I've been having fun doing the other auctions like Glassworks and Heckler's... Unfortunately, there's too much down time between auctions...

 

[bearswede]

Hey...

Maybe there IS some justice out there! I just checked in with ebay and I discovered that the guy who screwed me is no longer a registered member of ebay... Maybe my bitter complaints were finally heard...

 

[ladyp3797]

Lots of photos are important to successful sales on eBay. We have a "hold for payment" file to store photos after an item has a bid. Then when the sale is over, and everybody is happy we delete them. (Did they buy insurance?)
Lp