Am I getting scamed on ebay?

Filler Inc.

Hey, so I need help. I never use ebay. Never. Until I got high and decided I needed a wii.

Anyways, I payed, a couple days pass and I get this message from the seller;

Dear dublinfiller, Paypal has limited my account due to increase in sales. They won't let me print shipping labels, or withdraw money untill some items I send have been confirmed as delivered, this is gonna take about five days which means I can't ship your Wii till then, is this ok with you, I've been fighting with them telling them I was gonna have it delivered by xmas. But if I send it that late, I don's think it will arrive on time.
Let me know what you think. Email me ASAP
Sorry for any inconvinience.

does this look like a scam. Again, I'm not really familiar with the workings of ebay or paypal, so this may be a scam or it may be legit. I don't really know.

But I've read tons of stories like this where it turns out to be a scam.

Any thoughts on this?

Filler Inc.

Anyone?

grueslayah

Filler wrote:

Anyone?

Well, you can settle through Ebay most of the time if it is...but just keep all the e-mails and messages that you guys send, and if it's been a few days and no status updates...well, keep in contact with them, and if you don't hear from them, then it's time to act

I mean, you already paid, so...

Ranlin

Everything I've heard from friends/family who frequently use ebay as buyers and sellers has given me the impression that PayPal protects buyers much, much more than sellers, going so far as to return money to a buyer without much fuss, more often than not. That was one of the reasons a couple of my relatives stopped selling through ebay, the ease of being scammed by buyers was growing, which seems silly.

So, even if they are bullshitting you, to the best of my anecdotal knowledge, you should be able to fairly easily get your money taken back if you keep any kind of respectable record of communication.

SkyGheNe

My brother had his account frozen after selling a ps3 due to the amount.

Depending on the type of account this guy has, it could be true.

Give it five days. If you still don't have the console after 10, file a paypal dispute just to be safe.

EggyToast

The action itself doesn't sound too surprising. If he started this year and is suddenly selling a ton of stuff, it doesn't surprise me that eBay/Paypal would limit his account so he doesn't keep raking in money w/o actually sending anything.

Here's the rules, as I remember them: you have 3 days to contact each other and 7 to initiate the transaction. You have 30 days until the transaction is complete.

He's being up front with you, which is more than most scammers do. Most scammers don't email you at all, or they email you saying they sent it out and never did. However, I have bought things from people who were out of town, flaky w/ the email, and other questionable things. I've never gotten screwed, though. I don't buy a ton of stuff, but there's two things here that make me think it's a legit excuse:

1) he's receiving everything via Paypal, who are now rather well known to drain sellers accounts if they start screwing with customers, and

2) if he's selling Wiis and other video game things, it wouldn't surprise me if an uptick in sales raised some eyebrows at eBay/Paypal.

I personally would email him back and ask for a shipping estimate. Say that you understand, and if it's just for you say so. If it's a gift, say so, and that maybe he could work out some faster shipping? i.e. if he's shipping UPS, maybe he can check out FedEx as it'll get to you faster and probably for not much more money.

MegaMan001

I have a general question about paypal - I don't have an account because well, I've never fully trusted the system. How does it work? I have absolutely no interest in selling things, but would like to have access to ebay and the such.

Lew Zealand

Well, if you're just buying stuff with PayPal you don't have to give them a bank account. You can just use a credit card. If I remember correctly (it's been a while since I purchased anything), it just shows up on your statement as "Paypal- payment to [e-mail address]". It's only if you receive monies from someone and want it deposited into a bank account when you actually have to fork over the bank account number.

It seems to be a relatively secure service also. Lots of individual steps if account information is changed. I was stupid and clicked through a phishing e-mail. When I went to change my password and stuff, I actually received an automated call verifying the changes and making sure I made them. It worked pretty slick.

variant

A couple of my friends sell limited edition shoes and clothing on ebay, pay pal freezes their account pretty often due to the high amount and number of transactions....

Also, this past month, they were selling PS3s, using the same account, got frozen then too.

DrFrylock

PayPal does have a habit of jerking sellers around, so he might be telling the truth. You have to ask, however:

1. Why does he need PayPal to print a shipping label?
2. Why does he need to withdraw the money from his PayPal account before sending the item to you?

His beef, if any, is with PayPal. You've done your bit.

That said, eBay does have a minimum number of days you have to wait before escalating an issue. So, you need to give him at least that amount of time before doing anything.