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Dude ripped me off on eBay
contraband
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Bought an album online about a month or so ago, payed via PayPal, he never shipped it, and since then his comment box has been filling up with negatives. Scam. What steps can I take now? Is PayPal/eBay merciful in reimbursing its customers?
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If he doesn't reply to your dispute after a day or two, then escalate it to a claim, and let PayPal/eBay deal with the rest. Chances are they'll notice his pile up of recent negatives and disputes/claims, and give you your money back, don't worry.
Just do it now, in case it's close to sixty days already.
Don't forget to put as many details as you can into the box where it asks you to tell your side of the story. Be as detailed as possible.
Pokeymanz: 4081 1995 6825 (If you add me, let me know!
Pokeymanz: 4081 1995 6825 (If you add me, let me know!
if not, well that's 2 lessons learned.
Getting ripped off on a $40 video game only to get $15 back eventually == not fun.
You have 45 days from the time the payment was sent actually. Then after you have filed, a further 20 from that date to escalate to a claim. That would max out at 65 days, but only if you opened the dispute the last possible day, and escalated it again the last possible day.
This is actually untrue. PayPal disputes do not come with any insurance/fee. If your item was $1.00 and you use the dispute console, and win, you get back $1.00.
There is a $25 fee TO THE SELLER, when the buyer files a chargeback with the credit card company. This has NOTHING to do with the PayPal dispute process, its completely different. However, the buyers account may "wear" this fee in some situations (I believe, not 100% sure), such as if the seller has no funds/funding sources in their account. If the seller ever wants to reactivate their account/use it again, they will have to pay this fee to clear it from the buyer.
There are sellers with reduced protection, some have $200, some $2000. You can check into this before bidding, the PayPal protection is displayed for that item so you can make an informed choice.
The eBay protection program (no longer available/open) used to have a $25 fee too. That program is defunct though. Perhaps this was the confusion.
If you would like to verify any of this information:
Buyer protection program (tiered coverage / filing deadlines):
https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=xpt/UserAgreement/ua/USUA-outside#pbp-policy
No fees for disputes:
https://www.paypal.com/helpcenter/main.jsp;jsessionid=L9pXDyj3DMZqs18TjGwnCDkzwpD6mbhstpRkT784XbqvPrTWppw8!-1368611499?locale=en_US&_dyncharset=UTF-8&countrycode=US&cmd=_help&serverInstance=9004&t=solutionTab&ft=searchTab&ps=solutionPanels&solutionId=10302&isSrch=Yes
Settlement fees for chargeback:
https://www.paypal.com/helpcenter/main.jsp;jsessionid=L9bVBjXn0GJfwBgBGfMNTLxm5X69zBTxcCdpv5JsvMyJLKJc9J7P!-543855949?t=solutionTab&ft=homeTab&ps=&solutionId=12072&locale=en_US&_dyncharset=UTF-8&countrycode=US&cmd=_help&serverInstance=9003
PayPal disputes will review the tracking number the seller provides. If it shows that it showed up to the right address, you may be in trouble. Have you logged into the shipping site (whatever company it is) and reviewed the tracking ID yourself?
I just requested the tracking ID from him a few days ago and have received no response. He sent it to the address I've used for eBay before (my parent's house) and my parents say it hasn't shown up yet.
I hope it's a misunderstanding because the guy's feedback was pretty solid and the poster looked neat, but who knows. I just sent him another e-mail telling him that my parents had not received the item and that if I didn't hear back from him by the end of next week I was going to file a dispute.
EDIT: This was my first eBay attempt and I'm hoping this doesn't end with me getting screwed. It was only 25 bucks, but it's going to leave a sour taste in my mouth for future Ebay transactions.
Don't let one negative experience turn you off completely, the vast majority of Ebay sellers are honest.
If there is tracking, and it shows delivered, well, maybe it's actually the postal company screwing you rather than the seller. Unfortunate for the first transaction but people getting their mail stolen is probably about as common as fraud on eBay.
Also, this is a long shot and sounds stupid, but sometimes mail guys will have a neighbour sign for the package or take it in for you, its cheaper to deliver just the once, anything to not have to come back. Worth a thought. You did the right thing to check the feedback. Most fraudsters don't make a business selling posters and not mailing them, so ... yeah I hope this works out.
Except in reality, outside of PayPal's PR crap, the buyer always has to take the $25 fee, because the seller always cleans out his account before scamming people and never tries to use the service again with the same bank account/credit card information.
I'd be calling up PayPal if they tried shit like that with me. They shouldn't be doing that, and they probably won't if you complain up a storm. Maybe they will though, I dunno.
It's hard to get mad at PayPal, though, because PayPal didn't scam you, some ebay guy did and PayPal's just a money moving service. In the long run I didn't feel like spending hours yelling at some poor shmuck in a call center to get my $25 back.
But you're absolutely right, professional scammers - where you wait too long and expire your 45 day wait, may leave you with a $25 fee if you choose to go through the chargeback process with your CC company.
You'll note that eBay / PayPal have started holding funds in suspicious accounts so this "clean out" can't occur, but nobody will catch everything.
Still, I agree with you, nothing is 100% perfect in the world, there are always ways to get scammed if you are unlucky.
You just wouldn't think some guy would need to fucking scam 24.95 (with shipping) off of a guy who just wanted a Resident Evil 4 poster for his living room.
He had an auction for some MS Point cards that seemed too good to be true, and it was. I paid with Paypal, waited about a week, and then started the "Where's my codes?" emails. In the few days that followed, I got a few emails from other buyers warning me about this guy, and then I got some codes from him that were already used. He said I was dumb and didn't know how to enter codes right (insults are almost always the sign of a scammer). So rather than file a dispute with Paypal, I did some digging and found out all kinds of information about this guy (thanks, Google!). I found his name, address, phone number, how old he was, his parents' names, and tons of random info from forum accounts and blogs and what not. So I let him know that if he didn't rectify, I would call his local police department and his parents, and let them all know he was comitting wire fraud across state lines to a military member. Hey, that's a felony, right?
Yeah, he went from asshole to very nice guy in almost no time at all, and I got what I paid for.
Wii U NNID: MegaSpooky
It was never my intention. I just wanted to give him a little scare, and get what I paid for. I'm pretty sure he'll never try to scam anyone again.
Wii U NNID: MegaSpooky
Not really, considering they're punishing you because they can't get money from the seller.
THIS. The police almost NEVER do ANYTHING about theft, even if it is pretty major. They just don't have the resources to investigate or follow up on leads for anything other than major crime, and theft and scams apparently don't qualify, most of the time.
So, if you want your stuff back, you had better get it yourself, if you can.