Community Newsletter: Q&A: I got scammed on eBay, what can I do now?
- 9/28/07 3:22 PM
ebay purchasing
by lilkoala64 - 9/15/07 5:43 AM In reply to: I got scammed on eBay, what can I do now? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I have been buying on ebay for about one year. I have had nothing but positive experiences. I have saved literally hundreds of dollars. When we remodeled our kitchen, I saved over $150 just on our stainless steel sink! My first tip would be to check out the sellers score and percentage of positive feedbacks. I usually like to stick with someone who has over 50 for a score and over 98% positive feedback. Read the negative reviews. Some times things happen but do your homework on the seller. Use your credit card or paypal for extra protection. As far as your ipod transaction, did you pay paypal with a credit card? If yes, check with your credit card for disputing this purchase.
eBay Payments
by Oldveteran - 9/15/07 5:57 AM In reply to: I got scammed on eBay, what can I do now? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I learned form experience that the first thing you do is make sure you pay for all items through PayPal and use a credit card ONLY to make the payment. PaPal likes for you to use your bank to certify your account, that is fine, but always change the method of payment when it comes down to making the payment. The reason I use the credit card, when a seller defaults on shipping the item, I go to the credit card company and dispute the payment, the credit card company puts the item on hold, they don't charge me for it. Since PayPal cannot dispute that you didn't receive the item, you are not charged for the item. The credit card company goes to PayPal and takes the money back and puts the ball in PayPals court to get their money back. I had one claim where an individual didn't ship an item and went through the PayPal procedures and it cost me $25 for them to give my money back. Never again. I have had two such incidents since the first one, but used my credit card and got all of my money back. The folks that didn't ship the items, were removed from eBay, their account was closed. Just make sure your credit card company will handle purchases in the same way. I think most will.
This is information that eBay will not tell you as they don't want to have to go after the money with out being paid for doing it. Another way for them to make money, and that is fine, but protect your self.
Next make very sure you check the person's status before you bit or buy, they musy have been on eBay a while before I buy, or there advertisement of the item must be very detailed and sound reasonable. If it sounds too good to be true, I stay away. It probably is a scam.
Lock him up!
by Poindexter718 - 9/15/07 6:00 AM In reply to: I got scammed on eBay, what can I do now? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
As an attorney and former cop, I can tell you that it appears you have been scammed. Take the telephone number and name to your local state police and report it. They can use that info to get his address and other info. Then, take the info to your local prosecutor and file criminal charges. Hopefully it is a felony in your state which will get him extradited. Once he is arrested, the prosecutor will negotiate a plea including restitution of your money.
Stephen P.
Getting your money back........
by ciscokid - 9/15/07 6:05 AM In reply to: I got scammed on eBay, what can I do now? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
If you used PayPal DIRECTLY transferring money from your bank account. You should call your bank and tell them of the fraudulent transaction. They may be of help here.
Since you have the phone number of the seller, contact the local police department of the seller and tell them you want to file a criminal fraud complaint against the seller. Police intervention alone may get the seller into action.
Lastly this should teach everyone to ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS use a credit card in your PayPal transaction. Costly, fraudulent transactions will be a thing of the past since the credit card company will simply reverse the fraudulent PayPal transaction after a simple explanatory phone call.
e bay
by timmy 22 - 9/15/07 6:28 AM In reply to: I got scammed on eBay, what can I do now? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
hi jim g, i know exatly how your feeling i brought some dvds on ebay and payed by paypal. next minute i knew they had taken his account off ebay and advised me to try and contact the seller myself. without sucsess, he didnt respond, turns out he was giving a false address and was selling from japan.still havnt resolved it, had no dvds or no money back either. ebay said i need to phone the police. but without a valid address im not going to get anyware. now i always read the feedback and ask the seller a few quetions before i buy.and make sure there uk verified with paypal. hope it helps you a little.
homework before you buy from eBay
by stblumen - 9/15/07 6:53 AM In reply to: I got scammed on eBay, what can I do now? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Hi, sorry for your experience! I buy and sell on eBay and have been had on both ends before. Overall though, I made out good over the years. Here's some things I have learned:
Get informed: There are several ways to be on the up-and-up about scams running on ebay. One of them is the community board, where members tell of their terrible experiences and give each other often very helpful advice.
Research the seller: First read the item description very careful, including the shipping terms. If anything is not explained, don't hesitate to ask the seller. If he doesn't answer, skip him and try another auction.
Check out his feedback: not just the percentage, but also the comments other people leave. Some percentage look bad, but upon reading it sometimes shows an understandable story behind the negative, like retalatory feedback. Sometimes the score is high, but if you read the comments, their shipping is consistantly slow or communication us non-existent.
Other items from seller: Scammers often list multiple high-priced items within a very short period. They often hi-jack decent seller accounts and list 20 ipods that all end around the same time, after nothing was listed for sale from this seller for a long time before this. In the description, they will often ask NOT to use ebay's message system, but show an email address to contact them through. If you contact them through ebay channels, you will never hear back from them.
Payment form: The safest way to pay for an eBay item is through Paypal with a credit card. In case paypal doesn't decide your way in case of loss, you can charge back through your credit card.
Timely responses and results: If the auction states you'll have the item within a certain time, stick with this. If not, inform yourself how much time you have to file a dispute and educate yourself on paypal's website etc about the time frames etc. Set a reasonable date and disregard any excuse from the seller why the item hasn't come yet. After the date is up, take action. File a dispute, get your money back. The seller has the burden of proof whether the item is in transit, and even if it is, you can send it back. An honest seller will refund you, if he can't comply with the terms he himself established in his auction. If he made an honest mistake, him losing money will teach him not to make those in the future. Better for him and his customers.
Hope this helps,
Aussy
RE: Regarding ebay
by jmp54 - 9/15/07 7:12 AM In reply to: I got scammed on eBay, what can I do now? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
You can contact ebay themselves to resolve the issue. It worked for me. As a last resort you can take them to court. I actually saw a Judge Judy show where someone sued an ebay user and they won their case.
Ebay IPod
by ajkendall - 9/15/07 7:32 AM In reply to: I got scammed on eBay, what can I do now? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Hi Jim G.
My name is Amy K. and my husband and I went through that 2 christmas' ago. We bought 4 playstation 2's and 1 PSP for $700. We sent the check out to the guy and never have received any of our products. We sent ebay & paypal a complaint. They told us there was nothing they can do. We tried the BBB, The BBB in Canada, which is where he was located, and still nothing. I called the guy several times and like you we this song and dance. This guy even gave us a tracking number and when I called the Canadian UPS they told me that yes the tracking number is good but the guy never sent out the products.
I think ebay and paypal needs to do more about our protection of products we buy from them as buyers. I wish I had some answers for you but we tried everything and all we got was charged for phone calls and out of $700 and our Kids did without Christmas that year. It was the worst Christmas WE ever had and having to look at the kid's faces that did just broke my heart. We don't make that kind of money just to lose it to some greaty butthole! I'm on disability and my husband is the only one that works so our money is tight and we have 7 kids and 4 grandchildren.
The only thing that we didn't go through with is taking him to small claims court cause we didn't know where to go in Canada to file plus we didn't have that kind of money to drive up there. So the only thing next for you to do is file a small claim against this person.
Good Luck!
Amy K.
eBay Cautions
by Black Jazzmine - 9/15/07 7:50 AM In reply to: I got scammed on eBay, what can I do now? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Hi, I've recently had a similar experience. I purchased a cell phone for $102.00 that didn't work. I contacted the seller, and he was very reluctant to help me because it was 8 days after purchase - their warranty goes for 7 days only...we got the phone right before our cruise. However, he did send a replacement battery. The phone worked for 24 hours and never worked again. I've spent hours in Cingular and other places trying to see if anyone could repair it. The seller won't make good on the purchase. I bought a Square Trade insurance plan on it, but they won't cover something that never worked from the get-go. I haven't tried Paypal yet, but I will. Besides leaving scathing feedback to your seller, I don't know what to do. eBay should do something about these unethical techy sellers. None of the rest of eBay suffers from this - I'm an eBay Power Seller. But I've never gotten screwed before now. So sorry for your financial loss and the stress it's causing...you have company.
Scammed on an EBay purchase
by brandrig - 9/15/07 7:57 AM In reply to: I got scammed on eBay, what can I do now? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I'm not familiar with how EBay treats their sellers
that don't deliver, but I would think you could get
this guy banned.
Since you have the person's phone number, use a
"reverse lookup" (there are such services on the
Internet) and find out who this person is and his
address. If you can document the failed transaction
as bogus, now you can contact the local police where
this person is and file a complaint. But be careful
about how you handle this, so you don't get in trouble
with what might appear to be a false report.
Contact the Consumer Fraud agency in that person's
state and file a written complaint. You will need
all the documentation you can muster at this point,
and not just recalled conversations.
Paying through PayPal
by bjgryskie - 9/15/07 8:00 AM In reply to: I got scammed on eBay, what can I do now? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
When you paid through PayPal, did you use a credit card? If you used a credit card, try contacting the credit card company to see if you can do anything. I haven't done this, by I know my boss has. He said he always pays with a Visa through PayPal because of the security they give. He bought something on eBay and either didn't get it or it was not even close to as described. The seller wouldn't return the money so he contacted Visa and got his money back. I hope this helps!!
Internet fraud & how to get your money back
by buffalogirl - 9/15/07 8:09 AM In reply to: I got scammed on eBay, what can I do now? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I have been scammed only a few times on ebay and at one time they had a direct link for filing 'federal fraud complaint', but I just looked and once again they have updated in regression. I DID file a fed claim and I DID get my money back. Here is just one link where you can file... http://www.fbi.gov/majcases/fraud/internetschemes.htm
You can also SEARCH 'internet fraud crimes' and get a list of other gov agencies that will help. What they do is turn the case over to the criminals local police and they take care of it. Worked great for me.
Ebay iPod buyer
by jazz4u_mbc61 - 9/15/07 8:21 AM In reply to: I got scammed on eBay, what can I do now? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Hi Jim, I am an ebay buyer/seller. My partner and I normally buys from ebay and sells items too. Since it is really hard to trust buyers and sellers I made sure that if the buyer decided to buy, we get full information as in complete address and phone number and meet in a specific area at his convenience... COD basis. Same thing if we buy, we get the seller's complete address and contact numbers and pay through Western Union. In your case, you have to protect yourself too from fraud. Like, if you decided to buy, make arrangegment with the seller for a 50/50 basis. That is why ebay, provided a section where in you can ask the seller a question. This way, you can negotiate and meet half way should you win in the bidding.
It is hard to trust most specially over the net! Always remember that there are people on the lookout to make money out of those they can outwit. And ebay is not an exemption.
What I want to say here is, learn to protect yourself, outwit fraudulent sellers. Don't just rely on words and promises, you need to have a concrete proof if something happen... things like that.
Hope you now learned your lesson.
PayPal and credit card, a good combination
by FriendlyMartian - 9/15/07 8:30 AM In reply to: I got scammed on eBay, what can I do now? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Jim:
If you didn't use a credit card when you made your payment through PayPal, you'll probably have a hard time collecting anything, especially 8 months into this issue. If in the future, the ebay seller has money in his/her account, then ebay should hold that money to settle your dispute.
But you do have another option if you paid with a credit card through PayPal. You can initiate a "chargeback" with your credit card company. Once you have gone through the PayPal dispute process and haven't collected anything, then contact your credit card company and start the “chargeback” process. The credit card company will investigate the dispute with PayPal and take the appropriate action. Hopefully in your favor, and credit your account with the funds that you've lost.
I always use a credit card for large purchases, or purchases from ebay sellers that I might not fully trust.
Good luck.
Sincerely,
Joe
Ebay non delivery
by shipjim - 9/15/07 8:57 AM In reply to: I got scammed on eBay, what can I do now? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Only use pay pal and when you submit the claim don't back down until it's resolved,I've had to go thru the process and got a timely refund from pay pal. Basically you're SOL on this deal.
| Forum legend: | |
 |
Locked thread |
 |
Moderator |
 |
CNET staff |
 |
Samsung staff |
 |
Norton Authorized Support team |
 |
AVG staff |
 |
Windows Outreach team |
 |
Dell staff |
 |
Intel staff |
