Ebay jitters

[livendive 8]

So I've only bought things off of Ebay a couple times, and it always gives me the jitters that the benefit of the doubt goes to the seller (payment must be received before item will be shipped). Still, things have so far worked out well and I've gotten things that either were difficult/impossible to find elsewhere or that were at a substantial discount compared to elsewhere.

Anyhow, last Thursday I did a "Buy It Now" thing on a computer. Before exercising that option, I'd sent a message to the seller asking about accessories included with the machine. He got back to me within an hour. Now it's been 5 days since I PayPal'd him $830, and he hasn't responded to either of the messages I've sent him asking about shipping details (tracking number), and I'm migrating from the jitters to downright suspicion. What's the longest you've had to wait to hear back from a seller on something you'd bought? At what point should I start thinking about a next step? What should that next step be?

Blues,
Dave

"I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!"
(drink Mountain Dew)

[Pawel 0]

I have waited for 10 days before I received e-mail back guy was on vacation. After 10 days if you can't get in touch with the seller file a complaint with Pay Pal. and give him bad rating on E-bay.

[skinnyshrek 0]

Did you check his rating

http://www.skydivethefarm.com

do you realize that when you critisize people you dont know over the internet, you become part of a growing society of twats? ARE YOU ONE OF THEM?

[wildcard451 0]

PayPal will hook you up as the buyer if you get scammed. I sold an item on eBay once and the buyer was a hacked account. The real owners submitted a report and I lost the money.

Paypal protects the buyers first.

[pincheck 0]

ive had it where my mails and the sellers mails for some reason didn't arrive so it took about 5-6 days before we could arrange measurements. the seller made a complaint to ebay who said they would investigate where they went ? but the seller was great once contact had been established. In the past i've recieved e-mails not addressed to me and sent them back but why did i get them in the first place ?

Billy-Sonic Haggis Flickr-Fun

[tso-d_chris 0]

Quote

PayPal will hook you up as the buyer if you get scammed. I sold an item on eBay once and the buyer was a hacked account. The real owners submitted a report and I lost the money.

Paypal protects the buyers first.

My roommate was taken for a pretty significant amount on an item he purchased that was well used/worn out and advertised as new sealed in box.

PayPal didn't do shit for him.

Buyer beware. Use a credit card instead whenever possible so that you have some recourse.

[livendive 8]

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Did you check his rating

Yeah, he got feedback 575 times and it was 98.3% positive. I passed on a guy selling the same computer for a little less money who only had like 30 (positive) comments.

Blues,
Dave

"I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!"
(drink Mountain Dew)

[flyinghonu 0]

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Quote

Did you check his rating

Yeah, he got feedback 575 times and it was 98.3% positive. I passed on a guy selling the same computer for a little less money who only had like 30 (positive) comments.

Blues,
Dave

He's probably legite. Go through and read the negative comments and find out if any of them was failure to provide the goods after payment - and for those negative comments, see if he provide a legitimate response.

I've had to wait over 2 weeks once to get a reply from a dude (but he was stationed in Iraq so he had a pretty good excuse).

Good luck and if he screws you, I'll help break his kneecaps

"Excuse me while I kiss the sky..." - Jimi Hendrix

[vid666 0]

if the seller has not shipped an item within 7 days - you are fully legible to file a fraud alert
http://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_protections-buyer-outside

see

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_pbp-info-outside

sometimes shit hits the fan, but if you sent this seller emails for 5 days with no answer - perhaps there's more to the story. don't wait until he has no funds in paypal to refund you / or sends you an empty box.

out of curiosity - can you post his eBay userid ?

tnx !

[livendive 8]

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out of curiosity - can you post his eBay userid ?

7777ale. Since it's got Paypal's Buyer Protection program (and something else calling him a "SquareTrade Seller"), it doesn't matter if he still has the funds in his PayPal account does it?

Blues,
Dave

"I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!"
(drink Mountain Dew)

[ryoder 1,590]

Quote

PayPal will hook you up as the buyer if you get scammed. I sold an item on eBay once and the buyer was a hacked account. The real owners submitted a report and I lost the money.

Paypal protects the buyers first.

Paypal doesn't protect squat. I once received an unusable product from a seller who had a good rating. At around the same time I received the product, the sellers account got iced due to him screwing some other buyers. So I thought "no problem", I'll explain it to PayPal and get a refund. Well PayPay made it clear that if the seller sent me something, anything, (even a brick), then as far as they were concerned, there was no problem.

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

[ryoder 1,590]

I've been involved in ~300 transactions. About a 50/50 mix of buying and selling. Largest purchase: $2000.

Longest time to receive a product: 2 months. The seller was in Brazil, and the first shipment was apparently lost, so he re-shipped it.

If the seller is in the US or Canada, it should arrive in less than 2 weeks.

FedEx and UPS are very good for online tracking info. USPS tracking numbers are utterly worthless. The online USPS tracking site never shows any useful info, so I would never send anything valuable via USPS.

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

[j0nes 0]

I got hosed buying a video camera to the tune of about $1300. Ebay cut me a check for $250.

Lesson learned.

[lummy 4]

If you read his feedback, this looks to be his MO. There's quite a few "no contact, slow shipping" but from what I can see, everyone has gotten what they ordered, even the negative comments.

As for paypal buyer protection, I had to use it once for a large item that was mirepresented. I had to send them the merchandise so they could investigate the claim but I eventually got my money from Paypal. I think it took a little over 2 months.

I couldn't say what would happen if you never recieve the item tho.

I promise not to TP Davis under canopy.. I promise not to TP Davis under canopy.. eat sushi, get smoochieTTK#1

[vid666 0]

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Quote

out of curiosity - can you post his eBay userid ?

7777ale. Since it's got Paypal's Buyer Protection program (and something else calling him a "SquareTrade Seller"), it doesn't matter if he still has the funds in his PayPal account does it?

Blues,
Dave

the buyer protection program is totally independant of seller having the funds. If they deem him to be responsible, they will refund you, then put his account in the negative, and put him into collections if he doesn't pay within 30 days.

I have been on both ends of the stick as far as fraud - I have had transactions where I bought things, and never got 'em ( twice ) - I got refunded fully one time, and the other time was when the protection was only for $500, and the item was $1009. - so I got 500, then the seller had another 279 pulled from his account, and I am still waiting for the balance from Aug 2004 - :(

I have get different disputes filed against me probably once a month ( ~~ out of 450 or so transactions a month thats not bad ) and as long as I respond properly, it's all good. Most of the times it's people who are just plain impatient - like a few who would pay for first class shipping, not getting the item in 3 days, and then tell me that they think I scammed them, and file a report with paypal. All i have to do is give Paypal the tracer and prove it was shipped within 7 days - after that it's all good, unless they say that I shipped them an empty box ( "roduct not as described" ).

anyways, it looks like the seller is just plain slow, and perhaps likes to oversell things - if he doesn't respond by tomorrow, I would say it's a proper thing to request your money back through paypal.

You can also get his info through eBay and try calling him

http://cgi1.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?UserInformationRequest&hc=1&hm=td.s5ddl7437

[Thanatos340 1]

I started using Ebay in 1999. Never had a problem until recently.

It seems like Ebay has been completely over run with Scammers and Idiots.

Thread on the problems:
is here


I have attached a Copy of the Email sent to the second, Third and fourth Place Bidders by a Scam Artist. (One of these guys was suspicious (No way anyone in their right mind could possibly deliver this trailer from Tuscon to Virginia for Free and also the guy had been emailing me questions and knew that I was really in Georgia.) and contacted me to see If I really sent this, I did not)

1. Note how professional it looks.
2. Notice what I highlighted - It say on Page two that "I" recently changed my Address from Marietta, Georgia to Tuscon, AZ and that I will deliver the Trailer for the same price.
3. Notice they only take Western Union and claim to have all sort of "Protection".
4. Notice the part about how the seller has "$20,000.00" on account with Ebay.

And the MOST Frightening thing??? Somehow This Scammer had all the Bidders Full Name and Address directly from Ebay included in the Email.

I will NEVER deal with large Ticket items and Ebay again.

[nate_1979 9]

Fucking sucks that people always find a way to ruin a good thing..

I recently fell for an Ebay scam, but it wasnt buying or selling anything, I got a "Fraud Alert" or something like that saying that someone had claimed that I had not paid for something that I had purchased... I clicked the "My Ebay" link in the message which took me to what looked just like the ebay login page, so I entered my username and password.. Luckly, I immediately realized what had happened and had my password changed about 5 minutes later .... Assholes suck.

FGF #???
I miss the sky...
There are 10 types of people in the world... those who understand binary and those who don't.

[skiskyrock 0]

For a lot of things I wouldn't bat an eye at a 98% rating, but computers seem to be a huge problem area on ebay. I bought a Mac last year on ebay from someone who a good rating but didn't primarily sell computers.

I especially like the feedback from a few days ago where the buyer's payment was returned because the seller wasn't at the address (maybe because he can afford a plane ticket out of town , now).

Look on the bright side, if it wasn't a mac, you were at least partially screwed either way.

[livendive 8]

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If the seller is in the US or Canada, it should arrive in less than 2 weeks.

Today makes two weeks since I paid for it. The seller never did reply to any of my messages, but I was finally able to reach him on the phone. He called me today and said it should be delivered tomorrow.

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FedEx and UPS are very good for online tracking info. USPS tracking numbers are utterly worthless. The online USPS tracking site never shows any useful info, so I would never send anything valuable via USPS.

The real reason he called me today was to tell me the shipping came to $105 and to remind me that I only paid $73 for shipping. He'd like me to submit the balance once I've received the computer. I think I'll wait and see if he shipped exactly as he stated he would (USPS Priority Mail), and didn't wait until I got ahold of him and then ship next day.

Blues,
Dave

"I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!"
(drink Mountain Dew)

[azureriders 0]

You can file a complaint with PayPal and also file an "Item not recieved" claim with Ebay. If the seller intends to keep selling on Ebay, he will have to fix your problem or the rep he will get, from just your one incedent, will kill his sales. However, if he was a hack and does not plan to use his Ebay name anymore, there is not much that can be done.

I buy Ebay alot, and at times for a lot of money. Even a F350 duel wheel pick up, talk about the jitters.

[Kris 0]

$105 for shipping?!

I've used DHL next day AM for a 40 pound package, insured to $5K and it was 1/2 that! And this is USPS we're talking about.

Damn.

Sky, Muff Bro, Rodriguez Bro, and
Bastion of Purity and Innocence!™

[Keith 0]

My ex bought a pinball machine for $2500 iirc, on ebay one time. He paid immediately, and after several weeks didn't get the pinball machine. Ebay gave him the run around so he called the police in the town the seller lived in. Turns out the guy was a scam artist. The police went to the guys house and told him if he didn't send the machine they'd arest him. Paul eventually got the machine.

Keith

Don't Fuck with me Keith - J. Mandeville