ebay, Am I just Paranoid?

CyberGhost

Hey!

couple of days ago, I ordered "Klipsch Promedia Ultra 5.1" pc speakers, that are impossible to find here or anywhere in Europe! and no US shop ships them to Europe in either! because they are 110V only!

you can only get them on ebay! I once bought "Klipsch Promedia 2.1" on ebay without problems!

but Klipsch Promedia Ultra 5.1s are very hard to find! and even on ebay it's rare someone ships them worldwide!

so I'm browsing ebay, and I entered the name just for fun, and there is one guy that ships those worldwide!

he had only 6 feedbacks(5 of those from buyers), all positive(he has 10 now)

here's his policies:

Auction Details:



· All of our items are brand new and not refurbished. They are US Models and have a full USA Warranty. They are all in sealed boxes and you will get any rebates available as we are authorized dealers and you will receive a receipt.

· Winning Bidders will receive an E-mail from us soon after the auction is complete.

· Items ship within 24-48 hours after the payment is complete excluding weekends and holidays when shipping is not possible.

· All items will be shipped. We can not meet, pick up, or drop off items.

· Positive feedback will be posted soon after completion of sale.

· Payment must be received within 10 days of auction closing.

· Non Paying bidders will receive Negative Feedback and the Non-paying Bidder process will be started after 10 days.

SHIPPING

USA:

· We Will not ship unless you have a confirmed address thru paypal or we will need a copy of your drivers license

· Ground shipping in the lower 48 states is $35.00 for shipping and required insurance

· We only ship to a confirmed address when using Paypal or Bidpay. If you need the item shipped to a different address you can pay by Cashier’s Check, Money Order, Wire, or Personal Check.

· Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, APO, FPO, and other US Territories can E-mail us at [email]jasoncohen@*****[/email] for the rate to your location.

· Faster Domestic Shipping methods are available and we’ll give you a quote with your City and Zip Code

INTERNATIONAL:

· Please E-mail us at [email]jasoncohen@******[/email] for a shipping rate to your Country

· We Ship International Through UPS to the Confirmed Bidpay Address. If you need shipping to another address, please pay through a Cashier’s Check, Money Order or Wire Transfer all in US Funds.

· All International Orders must provide a phone number to be reached at.

PAYMENT

USA:

· Internet Payments can be made through Paypal at www.paypal.com ( Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover Card or Checking Account)

· Bidpay at www.bidpay.com ( Visa, MasterCard, or American Express)

· Money Order or Cashier’s Check

· Personal Check ( Requires a 5-7 day hold for bank clearance)

· Wire Transfer

INTERNATIONAL:

· Internet Payments can be made through Bidpay at www.bidpay.com ( Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover Card)

· Money Orders and Cashier’s Check

· Wire Transfer


here's our conversation:

Me: I don't have saved my first sent email so it was something like this: Hi!
how much is shipping to the Republic of Ireland? will I have to pay tax and duties?

him(Jason Cohen): $100 shipping and yes there will be duties. We will mark the value low for you though.


Jason

Me:

Hello Jason,

One more question,

on the page it says:
"We Ship International Through UPS to the Confirmed Bidpay Address"

but I think bidpay address cannot be confirmed with international
address?(I maybe wrong), Or did you mean, I have to pay with a credit card whose
address can be confirmed(is registered with my bank?)


Thanks!

him:Bidpay is fine. No worries

Jason


Me: Hey Jason!

I won! yippie!!!

I will pay you by bidpay!


you requested a telephone number, from international buyers so...

my telephone number is: +353 (0) 1 **********
or +353 (0) 1 *********

//I receive the reciept and it says on the bottom:
If you want to mail your payment, please send it and include a copy of this email to:
Tony Capezio
***** Bruce B. Downs,#***
Tampa, FL *****
United States
(813) *******
// what makes wonder here is the different name!

Me:(I figure I'd just ask him) btw, you wouldn't accept paypal(I'm verified) would you?


him:Paypal is fine.

Jason


Me: Hi Jason,

Thanks for allowing me to pay by paypal!

I sent you the payment!

will the you ship the speakers via UPS?
will I be able to track the package online?


Thanks!

him:Es and we will let you know the tracking very soon

Jason

// 2 days go by

Me:Hi Jason!

I was wondering if you shipped the package?

Thanks!

him:It was sent out today USPS

Jason

Me:but weren't you supposed to send it via the UPS?

did you send it via USPS EMS or USPS Airmail?

Since there is no tracking available for USPS, I'm a little worried,
cause I don't want to miss it when they deliver it here

//at this point I didn't want to be impolite and say: I don't fecking trust you! that's why I'm worried!//

him:It was EMS

Jason

Me:Ok!

should be here in about a week,

I will let you know when it arrives and leave you a feedback!

---

he had 6 Klipsch Promedia Ultra 5.1s for sale, and he still has 2 and there are 3 days left till the end

he had 9 feedbacks, 2 of the last feedbacks were left for 45$ things, that he refunded, the buyer said, because of the storm damaged the goods, the seller(Jason) refunded it! and did it promptly!

and there is another new feedback, he bought Ipod for 200$ and the seller said Jason payed fast and without problems!

Now! what strikes me, is that, what IF! he made those 2 bogus pages(last 2 Items that he refunded) and sold, and when he got the payment he just returned the money and said it was damaged! he didn't even have the product, so he would gain the feedback, and it takes days to get the product(klipsch) so he will sell those 2 left speakers, before the deadline-time we should get the speakers and panic, and just dissapears!? all those 6 speakers sold for like 260-320$

---

Am I just paranoid, or is there really something fishy? he was just so short/kinda cold, and agreed to accept paypal, even though he said internationals only pay by Bidpay! and then instead of UPS he shipped via the USPS, the service that cannot be tracked!

CyberGhost

what I wanted to say is: what if he didn't send anything at all! and just got the money! well he answered all the emails pretty fast, but! I don't know! *confused*

Waltons

I don't think you should be too worried. It all seems fairly ok, and as far as I know paypal provide protection to users (rather than bidpay or similiar services). You should probably start worrying when you don't get the stuff in a couple of weeks (or when a package sent first class from england has still to arrive after 2 weeks :rolleyes: ) as it'll take a while to get over here.
My advise would be to relax for a while.

Capt'n Midnight

Stupid question
Do you have a 230V to 110V converter / autotransformer ?

RobertFoster

$100 for shipping must be some speakers!

CyberGhost

Capt'n Midnight wrote:

Stupid question
Do you have a 230V to 110V converter / autotransformer ?

not stupid at all!

Yes, I have a step up and down stansformer!

CyberGhost

RobertFoster wrote:

$100 for shipping must be some speakers!

the Sub is HUGE!

btw, these speakers kill Logitech Z-680s!

and in 98% of the reviews get 5 out 5 score! the only drawback that the reviewers name is the price

I have older 2.1 versions of the series(promedia)

and they are AWESOME! unbelievably clear sounding!

CyberGhost

also what makes me more suspicious, is that those speakers weigh 47 pounds, and sending them via the EMS would cost 160 and he asked only for 100!

parsi

It's not unusual for sellers to accept a method of payment other than the ones they listed - it would be more strange if they wanted you to use some system that you didn't trust.. remember that the package will be dealt with in Europe by GLS so it could take more than a week to come !

Also you can do a chargeback on PayPal if you don't get the goods so give it around 10 days, see what happens...

CyberGhost

Also you can do a chargeback on PayPal if you don't get the goods?

what is that?

parsi, also about my above post, why did he ask for 100, if EMS costs 160?

CyberGhost

what I mean is that maybe he didn't look at all! just thought something up! 100$?

parsi

In my early days of selling on eBay I used make up postage rates - after getting caught I decided to weigh my items.. sometimes things were actually less than I thought they would be other times they were more..

I think that you have two options:

1. Do an immediate chargeback through Paypal but without much to stand on..

2. Wait 10-12 days and see what transpires .

The fact that he is answering your emails is something... but in the meantime go along to the ebay site and readup about Non Performing Sellers and see what the procedure is and also see what needs to have happened (or not happened) in order to get money back...the community pages on eBay often have postings about what to do - they might make useful reading..

My only parcel from a US ebayer took ove two weeks to get to me (they had charged me less than actual postage by the way) - it took a week to get to europe and GLS had it for 10 days or so ... so bear in mind that it can take a while !

CyberGhost

Thanks parsi!

I'm gonna go with option #2

one more question, can I get a full amount with chargeback?

I have read ebay and paypal standard protection pages, and they say the max you can get is 90-100 pounds!

I payed 416$ for the speakers!!!

parsi

I honestly don't know but I always assumed that it was more or less the full amount..but maybe this is if you do a chargeback through your card provider rather than through PayPal ? I know from some postings on the eBay boards that people have had chargebacks for large amounts...Something else for you to check out !

Nice speakers by the way...

CyberGhost

Thank You Parsi!

parsi

You're welcome...I suggest you try and get some more info on when he posted it etc and then go and bang yer head against GLS's wall and see if they have any record of it arriving - even if it is doing the european grandtour at least you'd know he sent it

CyberGhost

well he told me when he sent it out

him:It was sent out today USPS

Jason

it was 16th

USPS don't provide tracking number for international shipments, so there is nothing do to but wait

btw, I think it will be delivered by SDS, because my previous speakers were!

anyways, I have recieved parcels/envelopes from the US by both EMS and Airmail, and EMS takes - 6, maximum 8 days, and Airmail takes about 2.5 weeks

so If it won't show up after 8 days, I'm raising a panic on the ship!

maxheadroom

CyberGhost wrote:

USPS don't provide tracking number for international shipments, so there is nothing do to but wait

btw, I think it will be delivered by SDS, because my previous speakers were!

anyways, I have recieved parcels/envelopes from the US by both EMS and Airmail, and EMS takes - 6, maximum 8 days, and Airmail takes about 2.5 weeks

so If it won't show up after 8 days, I'm raising a panic on the ship!

According to the USPS website, Global Express Mail (their brand for EMS) provides tracking.

And, it says it'll be delivered by GLS too. Agreement in force as of September 6, 2003.

Falkorre

If they dont come, let me know, i have many friends in Tampa FL, who will pay him a visit and tickle him into submission

B

l3rian

id be paranoid about ebay sellers without lots and lots of legit feedback

sooo many scammers on ebay

CyberGhost

maxheadroom wrote:

According to the USPS website, Global Express Mail (their brand for EMS) provides tracking.

And, it says it'll be delivered by GLS too. Agreement in force as of September 6, 2003.

hmm... I got EMS delivered by SDS! but maybe becaue it was declared a gift? and the value was low too?

anyways I sent him an email now,

Hi Jason,

Sorry to bother you!

Can you please give me the tracking number or insurance receipt number for the parcel? there is a
company here that lets you track EMS packages from the U.S.!


Thank You!


Regards,

if there is no tracking, at least he should tell me the insurance number! that he should have!

CyberGhost

Falkorre wrote:

If they dont come, let me know, i have many friends in Tampa FL, who will pay him a visit and tickle him into submission

B

heheh


well if it turns out he is a fraud and neither paypal nor ebay help me, I'm gonna go down there myself! and cripple him! at least I will get a moral satisfaction!

parsi

l3rian wrote:

id be paranoid about ebay sellers without lots and lots of legit feedback

sooo many scammers on ebay

Well you can really only get loads of feedback by completing loads of sales and if every took that view then you'd never make the sales needed - its like when you're looking for a job and you can't get one because you've no experience..