First time scammed on eBay

[GibH]

You people that keep saying "Don't worry, you'll get your money back" don't take into account pure sham artists who open sham accounts specifically to scam people, then they get closed and they open another.
Guaranteed the $$ was withdrawn into his pocket within hours, there will be nothing to refund - Unless you seriously think ebay/paypal are going to dig into their own pockets out of the kindness of their hearts.

I've gotten refunds TWICE from ebay. Not out of the goodness of their hearts, but a cost of doing business.

 

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[Geobound]

Can't you provide EBay with the original posting of what the necklace looked in the ad, vs the one you got?

Having said that, what's to prevent a buyer from getting the real thing but showing EBay something fake just to scam them?

Obviously not saying that's what you are trying to do, but I can see how easily it could be done.

 

[jerseyben]

You people that keep saying "Don't worry, you'll get your money back" don't take into account pure sham artists who open sham accounts specifically to scam people, then they get closed and they open another.
Guaranteed the $$ was withdrawn into his pocket within hours, there will be nothing to refund - Unless you seriously think ebay/paypal are going to dig into their own pockets out of the kindness of their hearts.

You can "guarantee" it all you want but that is simply not how it works. Paypal will indeed refund your money if you meet all of their buyer protection criteria and you follow the steps outlined in the process. It is like a small insurance policy.

 

[jerseyben]

I thought the return policy was easy. They want me to go get proof from the police department before I can return the item or get my money back.

View attachment 1421766

Due to the cost threshold of the item in question, yes, a police report is required.

How do they know that YOU aren't trying to scam them? I know the story, as I know your credentials, but paypal doesn't know that. You are just an anonymous random person claiming that they owe you $250, in their eyes.

 

[Old Bookaroo]

tomcat7544047:

Did you try to get your money back from the Seller (no chance there since it was a scam) or from ebay? PayPal?

Unfortunately, after 7 months it is probably too late.

Good luck to all,

The Old Bookaroo, CM

 

[Beachkid23]

Every person you talk to was different. I just talk to a supervisor there and they said a jeweler is fine as well. So I will definitely get that taken care of on Monday.

 

[KirkS]

If you haven't done it yet, make sure you start the "Item Not As Described" case. Even if they are wanting an 'official' report on the item, it will freeze the funds in the seller's account until a decision is made.

FYI, I've been with Paypal since before it was Paypal (originally called x.com), and I am confident they will find in your favor. A lot of people have personal gripes with ebay and paypal, but I have always found both of them to be fair, and typically (not 100%) they side with the buyer.

 

[49er4ever44]

Bought a oz of pennys one time supposed to be wheats think i paid about 20 bucks there was one 1954 wheat the rest were just 1990 and above tried to contact the seller he never did answer me and i still haven't received my money back thats been 7 months ago.

You need to be more persistent with ebay. Not the scamming seller. It may be too late in your case.

 

[49er4ever44]

You people that keep saying "Don't worry, you'll get your money back" don't take into account pure sham artists who open sham accounts specifically to scam people, then they get closed and they open another.
Guaranteed the $$ was withdrawn into his pocket within hours, there will be nothing to refund - Unless you seriously think ebay/paypal are going to dig into their own pockets out of the kindness of their hearts.

You people? Oh man.... lol seriously though, foil hat time? If anyone can afford to please their customers it's ebay and paypal. Jesus ebay gets 11% of everything and paypal takes a quaint 3%. Of everything.

 

[49er4ever44]

You people that keep saying "Don't worry, you'll get your money back" don't take into account pure sham artists who open sham accounts specifically to scam people, then they get closed and they open another.
Guaranteed the $$ was withdrawn into his pocket within hours, there will be nothing to refund - Unless you seriously think ebay/paypal are going to dig into their own pockets out of the kindness of their hearts.

You people? Oh man.... lol seriously though, foil hat time? If anyone can afford to please their customers it's ebay and paypal. Jesus ebay gets 11% of everything and paypal takes a quaint 3%. Of everything.

 

[cyberdan]

...don't take into account pure sham artists who open sham accounts specifically to scam people, then they get closed and they open another.

You would think ebay/paypal would have a procedure in place to detect when someone gets kicked off for scamming (or anything else) and tries to come back as a new seller. If I remember you have to give personal and bank info to both places to get signed up. They should be able to cross reference all of that with existing and past seller accounts. Sure the scammer could open new bank accounts or move but that takes a long time to move or pretty soon the scammer will run out of banks.

If I remember, if a paypal account is empty and paypal needs to refund from that account they have a credit card of that scammer to pull money from.

 

[oredigger62]

I recently opened another ebay account because i wanted to keep my auto parts separate from my clothing and antiques. Ebay quickly detected " similarities " between accounts. I set my paypal up using a reloadable generic visa prepaid card loaded with 50 bucks and was good to go. A scammer could get this guy's 250 bucks and send it as a gift to another account and completely bypass his registered bank. Ultimately there is going to be a paper trail somewhere. But ebay has had policies in place for this very thing. Sometime this month they are instituting polices where a buyer doesn't even have to send an item back for refund.. Ebay has always been tilted toward the buyer so there is no need for police reports and crap like that. It appears as if that response came from a " community member "... and not ebay proper. You will get your money back. The sellers listing is kept on the servers for quite a while so it is easy to retrieve . Let us know when you get your refund , and best of luck in the future. If it seems too good to be true it probably is. ( 95% accuracy)

 

[Xraywolf]

You would think ebay/paypal would have a procedure in place to detect when someone gets kicked off for scamming (or anything else) and tries to come back as a new seller. If I remember you have to give personal and bank info to both places to get signed up. They should be able to cross reference all of that with existing and past seller accounts. Sure the scammer could open new bank accounts or move but that takes a long time to move or pretty soon the scammer will run out of banks.

If I remember, if a paypal account is empty and paypal needs to refund from that account they have a credit card of that scammer to pull money from.

Of course they have procedures in place and its not simple to set up accounts.
Alls it takes is the will, you can easily google to see how it is done.
[Credit card on file is not necessary]

 

[AlienLifeForm]

I once had a 10.4 gram 14K gold ring go for less than 80% of Spot. Take into account my ebay fees and paypal fees, and I ended up with something like 67% of spot. It taught me that stuff DOES go for cheaper than it's worth on e-bay. I now don't even bother listing it for less than what I'll take for it. And all gold and jewelry goes to the refinery. I can guarantee a better return that way.

But... If it's fraudulent, the OP shouldn't have any problem getting his refund. Might be annoying, but fraud is fraud, and he'll be protected. There's no protection for the seller, though, when a pricey item auctions for less than intended!

Skippy

Your "seller protection" is called a reserve.

 

[vpnavy]

Beachkid23 - how does the sellers feedback look?

 

[cyberdan]

Your "seller protection" is called a reserve.

doesn't feeBay charge extra for that?

If I want a at least $50 for something I will start my auction at $50 + fees + shipping. If a buyer doesn't like that, too bad. ebay has not yet figured out a way to charge me extra for that. oops, if they are reading this it will be brought up at the next "lets screw sellers meeting"

 

[JoeDirty]

They can also change the name of the account. I ran into a trickster awhile back. I was selling something and I started investigating him when he didn't pay on time. He would forward the mailing address and say he didn't get the item. Feedback was great accept one bad one. When i he started lying to be about being hunkered down for the hurricane and couldn't make the payment, but his address was not florida and he was online emailing me. SO paypal still works if you have the net. Much more to the story but there is a way to investigate weather the account name has been changed or not. They also sell what they steal from time to time, and have multiple accounts to buy from one another. I also noticed he was selling exactly what he was buying from me. Kind of odd i thought. Well he is stealing also not shipping what people buy and maintaining great feedback. I guess some are just naturals at it.

 

[jerseyben]

They can also change the name of the account. I ran into a trickster awhile back. I was selling something and I started investigating him when he didn't pay on time. He would forward the mailing address and say he didn't get the item. Feedback was great accept one bad one. When i he started lying to be about being hunkered down for the hurricane and couldn't make the payment, but his address was not florida and he was online emailing me. SO paypal still works if you have the net. Much more to the story but there is a way to investigate weather the account name has been changed or not. They also sell what they steal from time to time, and have multiple accounts to buy from one another. I also noticed he was selling exactly what he was buying from me. Kind of odd i thought. Well he is stealing also not shipping what people buy and maintaining great feedback. I guess some are just naturals at it.

 

[GibH]

Your "seller protection" is called a reserve.

I've noticed people tend to avoid reserve price auctions. Just start at the lowest price you will accept.

 

[AlienLifeForm]

doesn't feeBay charge extra for that?

If I want a at least $50 for something I will start my auction at $50 + fees + shipping. If a buyer doesn't like that, too bad. ebay has not yet figured out a way to charge me extra for that. oops, if they are reading this it will be brought up at the next "lets screw sellers meeting"

I'm not sure, I usually only use fixed price listings with the best offer feature.