Have I been scammed?

CantGetNoSleep

Bought a Microsoft Zune mp3 player on ebay from this seller over 5 weeks ago

http://myworld.ebay.ie/sportsfan331

Price was $262.50, so certainly not too good to be true

Before I bought it, he had a feedback score of 64, all of which was positive

However in the last week he has received 8 negative feedbacks, all from people who haven't received items. I have emailed him twice and have yet to receive any sort of satisfactory response. I have now opened a Paypal dispute, what are the chances I will get my money back?

Has he just done a runner?

viv2

He is no longer a registered user. I hope you get your money back

jor el

Strange one. Doesn't look like it was set up as a scam account either a lot of the previous positives were for good, high value, items, and not cheap €1 crap.

Since his eBay account is gone, it's likely his Paypal account is too, so they won't refund your money. You'll be best to go straight to your bank and try a credit card chargeback, if you used a card to fund the payment that is.

CantGetNoSleep

The c*nt!

I did, should I do this by email?

If so, does anyone have the BOI Mastercard email address handy?

jor el

Phone is better

Stokolan

jor el wrote: »

Since his eBay account is gone, it's likely his Paypal account is too, so they won't refund your money. You'll be best to go straight to your bank and try a credit card chargeback, if you used a card to fund the payment that is.

I had a similar problem before where I bought an item i never recieved and a few weeks later the guy was not a registered member of ebay and got my money back. I think the fact that he was no longer registerd made it easier for me to get my money back.

CantGetNoSleep

jor el wrote: »

Phone is better

1890 365 365?

Thanks for the replies so far, nothing I hate more than scammers, I'm sure we all feel the same

jor el

Stokolan wrote: »

I had a similar problem before where I bought an item i never recieved and a few weeks later the guy was not a registered member of ebay and got my money back. I think the fact that he was no longer registerd made it easier for me to get my money back.

Only if they froze his Paypal account before he took the money out, this is done when disputes are made against him. If he's withdrawn the money before this then Paypal will not recover the funds.

CantGetNoSleep wrote: »

1890 365 365?

Number should be on your card statement.

viv2

I did read on their ebay page that they said they were having problems with their paypal account.

CantGetNoSleep

What kind of problems I wonder? Stealing peoples money i'd say

He still says it has been posted

I see he has two new positive feedback ratings from this morning, both from the same buyer for dressed that cost $0.99 each, suspicious?

jor el

CantGetNoSleep wrote: »

I see he has two new positive feedback ratings from this morning, both from the same buyer for dressed that cost $0.99 each, suspicious?

Often yes, though in this case that buyer looks genuine. The items were bought nearly a month ago so could just be someone catching up on their feedbacks and probably hasn't noticed the seller is gone.

viv2

If they have gotten new feedback then their account has been reopened so you will either get what you bought or get a refund from paypal.If they were scamming people im sure they(ebay) wouldnt have reinstated the account.

username123

Happened me with an ebay seller, reported it, he was no longer registered with ebay OR paypal. Same thing, previously good feedback then starting with 2 days after I bought a whole slew of negative feedback.

Anyway, just over a year later I got the money back with an apology. Turned out the seller had gone bust, but just over a year later had decided to come back, he settled all his bad debts and reregistered with both ebay and paypal with a clean slate.

CantGetNoSleep

Did you try a chargeback using your credit card company?

CantGetNoSleep

Ok so here is the latest

Rang Bank of Ireland Credit Cards, they say they can't do anything until it has been 31 days since I paid, which it will be tomorrow

Opened Paypal dispute, it seems he hasn't closed his Paypal account, at the current stage Paypal are investigating - it has been escalated to a claim - although he never replied to the initial dispute on Paypal

Have contacted the seller several times by email, he is getting abusive and annoyed at me continuing to email him. He still maintains that he has posted it, and that the 9 negative feedbacks are all from international buyers trying to scam him by opening item not received disputes

Here is our email conversation so far

"Me:
I see you have cancelled your ebay account.

Can you confirm whether or not you actually shipped this item and will I ever receive it or not?

Him:
i am working on trying to see what happen with the shipping your item was shipped a long time ago and you are not the only one that has not receive the order

Me:
Why did you cancel your ebay account?

My item was insured, I paid you extra for this, can I claim the value from this insurance?

Him:
because i was tired of dealing with the fees and the ebay policy that does not protect sellers it was too much of a hassle and sellers really have no protection so prettymuch you are taking some risk

Me:
Sellers should not need as much protection as buyers

I have paid you for insurance, can I claim from this?

Him:
it is illegal to file a claim if the item is not stolen or damaged and i am looking into it to see whta you paid for, and did you file a claim with paypal, i can't do anything with you continuing to email me from taking care of my business. i am doing what is best for me i dont care about ebay its a joke and the sellers should be prorected from liars and people trying to file a claim and nothing has been stolen or damaged

Me:
It is perfectly legitimate to file a claim if an item is not received. It is clear that I am not going to receive this item. It is not a coincidince that 8 others have had items go missing from you on ebay. It is rare for items to go missing in the post, but I acknowledge that this does happen. But it does not happen 8 times in a week. These people have filed claims because they have not received their items within a reasonable time. If you had issues with Paypal you should refund the buyers money and cancel the transactions. You did not post my item on the date you should have. If you did, can you confirm the date that you posted it? Have you got a receipt from the postal service?

I have filed a claim with Paypal. I am waiting for you to respond to this.

Him:
well if you filed a claim with paypal i will deal with paypal only their is no need to talk to you

Me:
I have filed a claim, you have yet to respond to it

Him:
whati will deal with paypal why are you emailing me

Me:
Because you haven't responded to my Paypal claim

If you cancelled your ebay account you could also have cancelled your Paypal one

You have still failed to tell me what date this was posted on or give me any proof of postage

Him:
check your paypal i have not cancelled my pay pal account i am not going to go back and forth with you you file a claim so lets let paypal deal with it their is no need for you to keep emailing me, i will not be responding to you anymore

Me:
I have opened a dispute on Paypal, I am waiting for you to respond on Paypal before I escalate it to a claim.

Him:
you are a idiot stop emailing me please deal with paypal since you file a claim

Me:
You are a scammer, 8 other people on ebay in the last week will agree

Him:
no there idiots that are all international you all are scammers out of all the items that were bought from me you all international are the only liars go to hell i have documentation asshole dont ****ing email me again, your not confirmed and you want to buy from america but you want us to lie about wheter it is a gift, all it takes is one and they all follow i keep a paper trial, and if i am such a scammer why would i even bother to defend myself i will not be resonding to your emails anymore so dont ****ing email me anymore how about i am going to forward the emails to paypal about you trying to avoid customs dumb ass

Me:
Do that, but you didn't post my item, you know it

If you keep a paper trail why can't you give me proof of postage?

You were the one that offered to post worldwide with your ebay listing, you could have offered to post to America only. All international buyers are not scammers. 8 negative feedback in one week? Paypal will believe them over you.

I will admit to Paypal that I sent you those emails, but because I did doesn't mean that you can get away with not posting the items.

I will continue to email you until you

(a) Give me proof of postage (tracking number / scan of receipt and date of postage)
(b) Show me that you actually took out the insurance that I paid for

If you posted the items, you should easily be able to do this. If you do the above I will close the Paypal claim, and stop emailing you"


Notice how he has never even answered my questions about proof of postage or the insurance that I paid him extra for

I am not going to close the Paypal dispute even if he sends me the information I requested, I only said I would do this to see if he would be more likely to get anything out of him

I did ask him to mark the parcel as a gift (I realise this might not be allowed, even though it is genuinely a gift for someone, but I have since read the definition of gift on the revenue website and realise that I shouldn't have done this). Will this make any difference?

I am going to continue emailing him until this is resolved


What should I do next?
(a) Wait for Paypal to resolve dispute? Bearing in mind there many be 8 similar disputes against this seller and there may not be the funds in his account to get my money back

(b) Go straight to my credit card company once 31 days has passed i.e. tomorrow

CantGetNoSleep

Yeah thats exactly what i'm thinking, he says he has proof of purchase to email to Paypal but if he is so annoyed with me emailing him he could have just showed me the proof

I'll be getting onto some poor girl working for BOI tomorrow

CantGetNoSleep

Just found this email in my inbox dated July 16

I am informing you that I will be going on vacation, and i want to get your
items out to you before I leave on Vacation. I will be leaving on 7/18-7/28,
I will be shipping everyday this week up until I leave. At my absence i will
not be communicating with ebay, and all shipping problems will be address
when I return. In my absence I would appreciate you not filing a complaint
or leaving negative feedback against me , because i am informing you of what
my plans or going to be.
How ever you paid for the items being shipped is how i am going to send them,
parcel post, is the longest of the shipping and most of you all have used
that. International buyers only, please go get your items from customs and
pay the fee if any, I dont want to come back and have a claim file against
me because of you not wanting to pay taxes.
"Please note I do not ship as a gift international, and all the emails requesting
I do have them and will report if a claim is file against me in my absence
or because you are not going to pay the taxes."


Thank you

F. Hutt

Id he had posted my item by then why would he have sent me this?

Vikings

Is this your item? http://cgi.ebay.ie/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250266575372

If so you will get your money back through the PayPal claim. Even if he has closed his account and withdrew all the money, you are covered by PayPal Buyer Protection up to €1000 - the only way he can win the claim is by proving you received the item. The only way he can do this is if he has postal tracking showing delivery to you.

As you havn't received the item he wont have this so you should win that claim and get your money back. I wouldn't go worrying just yet.

sunny2004

Its a scam, either he has decided to rip a few people off or the account is hijacked..

Go the credit card charge back root.. or if not possible stick with paypal..

I would also get his details from "Phone number" and give him a late night call

Works for me ...

StormWarrior

I would escalate it to a claim ASAP if I were you.

CantGetNoSleep

sunny2004 wrote: »

Its a scam, either he has decided to rip a few people off or the account is hijacked..

Go the credit card charge back root.. or if not possible stick with paypal..

I would also get his details from "Phone number" and give him a late night call

Works for me ...

Where would I get that? Might bell him when I'm getting up for work tomorrow

pissed

When logged into Ebay click on the help tab top right, enter request contact details and it will be the first link in the search. Only thing is that when you request his details he also gets yours....... which is ok if you gave a mobile as you can turn it off

CantGetNoSleep

Called the credit card company, they want me to wait for Paypal to make a decision on the case before they will do a chargeback

Number of negative feedbacks for items not received in the last week or so is now up to 15, can't say i'd be too hopeful of there being any money in that Paypal account

A Dub in Glasgo

Have you escalated to a claim? If not, why not?

CantGetNoSleep

Already have, there will probably be 15 or more Paypal claims against him at the moment though so not sure if I will get anything out of it

CantGetNoSleep

Got $200 back from Paypal so i'm happy enough with that, it cost around $260, should I go to the credit card company to look for the rest?

Lenny

Howcome they only gave ya 200back?
I wouldn't settle for that off paypal to be honest, your still out of pocket like

shrapnel222

Lenny wrote: »

Howcome they only gave ya 200back?
I wouldn't settle for that off paypal to be honest, your still out of pocket like

i agree. By paying you they are saying you got scammed and should get your money back. only paying part of it just seems completely stupid and wrong.

CantGetNoSleep

They said that they would only cover the transaction up to $200, and they will try to recover the remainder from the sellers account

sunny2004

CantGetNoSleep wrote: »

They said that they would only cover the transaction up to $200, and they will try to recover the remainder from the sellers account

you will never hear another thing from them or see the rest of the money.
It seems to be paypals way of doing business.


I speak from experience..