Ebay scam.

bill12 · Guru

Ebay scam.

bill12 · Guru

I bought a small fishfinder for my small inflatable boat from a mob called Ausprosellers. On getting the sounder, I found it was a toy, and asked for a refund.So I posted it- first mistake - always send back items registered mail. I didn,t , and they said they never recieved it.So now they have the item and my money, and because I can,t prove they recieved it, No refund.They even won,t respond to ebay customer support. So I am in the process of reporting them to the police and the fair trading mob in their state.The whole thing sucks.Beware! Bill

neilnruth · Guru

Thanks for the warning bill12. Buyer beware again. Pity it happens.

Gerty Dancer · Guru

Another scam is ink cartridges... good price, but no ink in them! We just threw them out, didnt seem any way of getting a refund.

Jillybeans · Veteran Member

Sorry to hear you got stung, I was bitten once quite a long time ago, was much the same experience, I also posted the item back (niave). Long story short I lost out. Thankfully its not the norn , I've have found more honesty than dishonesty. Paypal offers good protection and has compensated my daughter on a couple of occasions......the most important a wedding dress purchased on ebay, they were reasonable to deal with and acted quickly so my daughter had both time and $$$ to have the dress re-made localy.

Don't give up on ebay they are slow but I'm sure the "seller" will not escape unscathed......if other complaints have been lodged then they can take his option to trade on ebay away.

Sadly honesty can make you vulnerable.

Roving-Dutchy · Guru

I have had one purchase go wrong on ebay and the seller was shut down and Pay Pal reimbursed me, so happy to buy on Ebay

Happywanderer · The Master

Give them really bad feedback. All sellers hate getting back feedback. I've even been threatend to give good feedback. When they do that I give them nothing.

Happywanderer · The Master

If you used Paypal Bill, they will do everything to give you a refund. I've never had a problem with Paypal.

Yes you should have sent it back by registered post, but lets hope they can still do something for you.

bill12 · Guru

That,s the problem- I didn,t register the item when I sent it back.And these smart asses know that I can,t track it. Paypal don,t guarentee refunds unless they can prove the seller got the item back.I think I will contact fair trading. Bill

GaryKelly · Guru

Bad luck, Bill. But I'm glad you're acting on principle and taking it to Fair Trading even though it's a hassle. Crooks should never be allowed to prosper.

2weis · Senior Member

bill 12
if you paid by credit card you may be entitled to a refund
contact your bank
brian

Hylda&Jon · Guru

bill12 wrote:
I went into feedback for this guy and there were 50 plus negative in the last month! I don,t knowhow ebay lets them continue to operate. Bill

-- Edited by bill12 on Monday 4th of March 2013 07:04:14 PM
Just curious! Why did you buy from him if he had over 50 negative feedbacks in the last month alone and you were already wondering why eBay lets him continue?

I've done 270 transactions on eBay so far without a problem and I think a lot of that is due to me being diligent about who I deal with.

bill12 · Guru

I didn,t look at the feedback until I was starting to have problems.1. Look at feed back first. 2. register all returns.I won,t give in to these *******s as a matter of principle.I have done about the same amount of transactions, but have had a bit of trouble with misleading sites, and downright thievery. I still use ebay, but am VERY cautious. Bill

EllenajoeL · Senior Member

@bill12,

mate its a 'mistake' that many make re eBay and pre-purchase checks.....a 'trap for new players' perhaps? I hope it was a small $ outlay for you.

IMHO, as someone whom has bought and sold a fair bit on eBay, I reckon its MOST important to deal only with those sellers with at least 99% positive feedback, no exceptions....AND I too use Paypal; it has few weaknesses and many strengths when it comes to transferring $ for purchases (esp. if there is a problem)...just be careful of their suggested monetary conversion rate. wink

(Oh.... also if you ever start selling stuff on eBay, aim for a similar feedback score...it IS a key for transactions).

Meanwhile....now you are where you are etc, please consider contacting eBay and detailing your issue...they do have a followup procedure that aims at protecting future buyers from scams.

herbie · Guru

I hope you never lost a lot of money ,as even if you get lucky through e bay the last time i looked it was a disgrace on their part re embursing money to people who have been robbed by these sellers .Asi e- bay only gives you back up to $250.I have stopped useing e bay as the bad feed back it is getting from some of the general forums ,appears to be getting worse. The trouble is the scammers and the every day thief are way ahead of e _bays security...they have in place.

_wombat_ · Master (of Mischief)

I lost $4.22 on eBay a couple of months ago, now my policy is before buying I request from the seller if they use a PO Box number, if they do I do not purchase.

BTW Pay Pal is owned by eBay, that is not a problem, it's just that some people do not know this.

Santa · Guru

I'm a frequent Ebay/PayPal user, have been for the past 10 years, and have never had a problem, most of my purchases are from the US.

The only deal I had go bad was a small purchase from a seller in Australia, never received, poor communication, claimed to have sent it etc, fortunately was only for a few dollars.

Nowadays I have a rule, dont buy from Aussie sellers.

Hylda&Jon · Guru

Santa wrote:
I'm a frequent Ebay/PayPal user, have been for the past 10 years, and have never had a problem, most of my purchases are from the US.

The only deal I had go bad was a small purchase from a seller in Australia, never received, poor communication, claimed to have sent it etc, fortunately was only for a few dollars.
Nowadays I have a rule, dont buy from Aussie sellers.

So you judge thousands ofeBay sellers on one Australian???

Having sold stuff on eBay should I be insulted?

Strange comment in my opinion.

Santa · Guru

Hylda&Jon wrote:
Santa wrote:
I'm a frequent Ebay/PayPal user, have been for the past 10 years, and have never had a problem, most of my purchases are from the US.

The only deal I had go bad was a small purchase from a seller in Australia, never received, poor communication, claimed to have sent it etc, fortunately was only for a few dollars.
Nowadays I have a rule, dont buy from Aussie sellers.
So you judge thousands ofeBay sellers on one Australian???
Having sold stuff on eBay should I be insulted?
Strange comment in my opinion.

You can only call em as you see em, hundreds of transactions in the US without problem, a single small deal on ebay Aust, the wheels fell off.

It's my cash and my call, I choose not to use Ebay Aust. biggrin

jetj · Guru

Hylda&Jon wrote:
So you judge thousands ofeBay sellers on one Australian???
Having sold stuff on eBay should I be insulted?
Strange comment in my opinion.

I doubt very much that anyone was trying to insult you or anyone else. I've found traders from Oz and O'seas a pleasure to deal with and particularly some oseas traders.

SaltyDog · Veteran Member

bill12, the Police now take a different view on Online Sales and scams.

Once they just used to say it was a Civil Matter, now they often get involved.
I have 2 friends on another forum that have recovered lost monies by using the Police.... They do treat these scammers as crooks if its proven.

Maybe an Option for you?

As always, READ THE FEEDBACK before you do a thing
Always use PayPal
And if its a large or expensive item, then do the transaction once you have inspected the item.

Sorry you had a bad experience. I'll also concur with one of the other posters, i have never had an issue with a a purchase from the USA or Japan (often fishing gear)
I've also had a good experiences with Australian sellers, although one Aust Seller (was a Tom Tom GPS unit) was a pain in bum, he declined to post the item and just relisted it as his auction went too cheap.

I think the biggest lesson in your case was to read the feedback.... you would never buy off someone with a feedback like you have explained.

-- Edited by SaltyDog on Saturday 9th of March 2013 12:15:50 PM

-- Edited by SaltyDog on Saturday 9th of March 2013 12:16:48 PM

Gerty Dancer · Guru

Thanks RD, he cant prove that it was done because of the transaction through Pay-pal, except this had been the only transaction in the previous week, then the credit card was used in France within a day after. The e-bay purchase went through ok, the goods arrived and all was well otherwise.
It might have been from a transaction made at any time earlier and it took the fraudsters a long time before they "did their thing".

After discovering the fraud, he cancelled the credit card, got a new one now, and eventually most of the money was refunded by the bank to his account... except for an $8 fee for being over the credit limit.

No serious damage done, except a lesson to be very careful who gets your credit card details.

Edit... HW dont give your savings account number, you could lose the whole account! A credit card with a small limit is safer.

-- Edited by Gerty Dancer on Saturday 9th of March 2013 05:07:17 PM

cannylass · Senior Member

I to have had no problem with E Bay I always check out there feed back before I buy anything

Gerty Dancer · Guru

We recently stopped using e-bay. My partners credit-card was maxed out (in Europe!) the day after an e-bay transaction. The item turned up alright, but previous purchases had been hit and miss, this was the last straw. The bank eventually reimbursed most of the money after a bit of angst with them too.

Happywanderer · The Master

I have 416 100% positvie feedback from both buying and selling on Ebay. Nearly all Australian transactions. Never had a problem.

herbie · Guru

What some of these crooks on e-bay are doing now is they just shut down one site if feed back catches up with them and open another in another name/details/ some times they even get family/ friiiiiiiiends to write these so called feed backs. You only have to get onto some of the sites regarding e-bay scams to see what is happining.

Roving-Dutchy · Guru

Gerty Dancer wrote:
We recently stopped using e-bay. My partners credit-card was maxed out (in Europe!) the day after an e-bay transaction. The item turned up alright, but previous purchases had been hit and miss, this was the last straw. The bank eventually reimbursed most of the money after a bit of angst with them too.

Hi Gerty

Did your partner use Pay Pal to pay for the Ebay transaction, if so I would have thought that it was not possible for an Ebay seller to have access to your credit card details and carry out fraudulent transactions.

Cheers

David