I got stung on Ebay!!!**** UPDATE - THANK YOU PAYPAL ****

Twiggy69

Hi,
Last Saturday week, a friend phoned me to say that a Garda auction was on Ebay and there was great value. :rolleyes:

I bid on a "Buy it Now" item and payed my €62 through Paypal. Later that afternoon, I read on a post that this was suspected of being a scam & that Ebay had shut down the auction.


I contacted Paypal by e mail with this infrormation and recieved an e mail to say that I was to take it up directly with the Seller!!! (See Reply from Paypal below)Little hope of success there. I thought I was protected through Paypal against this type of fraud???

This is the reply from Paypal


Dear **********,

We have concluded our investigation into your case:

Case ID: PP-538-929-519
Transaction Date: Aug 30, 2008
Transaction Amount: -62.00 EUR
Seller's Email: dhfyrs@hotmail.com
Seller's Name: john mottram

Unfortunately, we were unable to resolve this claim in your favor because
the item purchased was virtual or intangible. As a result, we have not
taken any action against the seller at this time but we have noted your
dissatisfaction in the seller's record for future reference.

If you still have concerns about this transaction, we encourage you to
continue to work directly with the seller for an amicable resolution.

Thank you,
Daniel
Protection Services Department

Please do not reply to this email. This mailbox is not monitored and you
will not receive a response. For assistance, log in to your PayPal account
and click the Help link in the top right corner of any PayPal page.

---

Copyright © 1999-2008 PayPal. All rights reserved.

PayPal (Europe) S.à r.l. & Cie, S.C.A.
Société en Commandite par Actions
Registered Office: 5th Floor 22-24 Boulevard Royal L-2449, Luxembourg
RCS Luxembourg B 118 349

PayPal Email ID PP644




Any suggestions how I might get my money back???

Kimbot

I suspect you advertised for something like a ps3 or a tv??

If so can you link the item please as the description will tell you what you bid for.

misterq

tell paypal you are going to raise a chargeback against the paypal amount on your credit card. They might be more willing to assist you then...

Twiggy69

jonny24ie - I know what I bid for... I also know I haven't received it even though Paypal processed my transaction.


@ misterq "tell paypal you are going to raise a chargeback against the paypal amount on your credit card. They might be more willing to assist you then..."

Should I report this to my Credit card provider, as you can see from my original post, Paypal are wiping their hands of the matter.

Do I have any recourse with Ebay???

EKRIUQ

That's what I hate about E-Bay or Google, and the majority of these big Internet companies, there little or no customer support even though your their customer (Ebay selling, Google adwords etc)

You just get a regulated email from their knowledge base and they don’t really care

LolaDub

Yes i would stop the charge through your credit card company. Paypal are supposed to help but rarely do. I bought something ages ago to the value of 600 euro, seller kept putting off sending so i went to paypal to raise a dispute before 60 days. They never replied and shut it down when 60 days cam without having actioned a thing.

Nody

Read what you actually bought in the auction, what you bought was NOT an item but actually a notification of where Garda auctions are taking place.

Next time try to stop and think before you buy something which is a deal of a life time price because it WILL be a scam.

Twiggy69

Excuse me Nody,
You are incorrect. I did know EXACTLY what item I bid on. There was no ambiguity, I selected an item & went through the "BUY it Now" process. I did not bid on a notification!!!

As a matter of interest, where did you come up with that angle???

Musha

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055238624&highlight=gar

Try this one Twiggy, It has been mentioned on boards several times

the_syco

Twiggy69 wrote: »

Excuse me Nody,
You are incorrect. I did know EXACTLY what item I bid on. There was no ambiguity, I selected an item & went through the "BUY it Now" process. I did not bid on a notification!!!

As a matter of interest, where did you come up with that angle???

It's an old scam. It's being going on for a while, and a number of people have been fooled by it. The _EXTREMELY_ small print will tell you that you are bidding on the notification. Search for "Garda Auction" in ebay, and you'll find another one.

dudara

Moved to Online Buying and Auctions.

dudara

jor el

Twiggy69 wrote: »

I did not bid on a notification!!!

But you did, that's the scam. It will have been hidden in very fine print, but it's there. eBay do remove these types of auctions as soon as people start to report them, but will do nothing to help recover the funds for those who paid. Paypal will also do nothing, as you payed for a service (technically) and their protection is only on actual goods, and not services.

Try a chargeback with the credit card, that's your only hope. It may or may not work though, depends on how the credit card company look at it, especially if the "information" you bought does come through.

In future, think before buying, as it's just not even in the slightest bit feasible that you were going to get a 42" TV, or a PS3, for 62 euro.

Twiggy69

Thanks for the lesson, fellow Board members.

Apologies, Nody, you were right, I was wrong. It now transpires that I was mis-led and the scam was that I was bidding on information. I hope you took no offence.

Valuable lesson learned.

Off now to Halifax to report the matter.

Older, wiser & poorer!!!

Twiggy69

Nody

Twiggy69 wrote: »

Apologies, Nody, you were right, I was wrong. It now transpires that I was mis-led and the scam was that I was bidding on information. I hope you took no offence.

There was no offence to take from my point of view in the first place

Twiggy69

This story has a happy ending... This morning, I decided to visit my Paypal account and lo & behold, I see a trancaction reversal for the full amount of €62!

Scarcely believing my eyes, I contact Halifax (my Credit Card provider) who indeed cofirmed that my money had been returned to my account.

Result!!!!

So, for any of you who have suffered the same fate as I, follow up with Paypal & hopefully you will have the same result PLUS being more savvy and cautious about future transactions on the Web.

Best of luck,

T