Ebay Fraud

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jtd9046

Well-Known Member
Dec 20, 2006
2,457
39
48
Chicago
Anyone else every purchased something on Ebay and the seller was a fraud?

I bought 2 items for a total of $125 and didn't receive them. At the time the seller had 100% positive feedback, now the there are about 50 negative feedback postings in the last two days that are all claiming fraud.

I've filed a claim with Paypal. Has anyone had to do this and did you get fully reimbursed?
 

Cydar

Well-Known Member
Apr 2, 2006
5,749
6,212
113
Anyone else every purchased something on Ebay and the seller was a fraud?

I bought 2 items for a total of $125 and didn't receive them. At the time the seller had 100% positive feedback, now the there are about 50 negative feedback postings in the last two days that are all claiming fraud.

I've filed a claim with Paypal. Has anyone had to do this and did you get fully reimbursed?

If you paid with paypal you should be protected. The seller has to prove that something has been sent. I highly doubt the seller will respond to the dispute so paypal should refund your money.
 

ISUKyro

Well-Known Member
Oct 28, 2006
12,717
2,329
113
Houston, TX
I've not had a problem, but I don't use ebay much at all. My brother in law has had a couple of problems in the past and each time Pay Pal came through and took care of it.
 

state09

Member
Dec 19, 2007
126
2
18
I purchased sunglasses awhile ago and ended up not getting them. I was fully reimbursed for them through PayPal, so you should be okay.
 

1100011CS

Well-Known Member
Oct 5, 2007
15,722
5,421
113
Marshalltown
Yes I have had this problem. I filed complaints with ebay, the person's local authorities and some online fraud thing (I'm thinking it had to do with the FBI but could be way off base). I also got in touch with a bunch of the other people this person scammed and had them do the same. After doing all this the person refunded my money, 6 months later. Now, about 1 year later I got a letter from (again my memory is failing but I think the US Attorney General?) that they were investigating this person and to send them any info I had. And all this over a $60 dart board:skeptical: I guess the point is, don't just call it a lost cause. Eventually they will get theirs if you persist.

EDIT: I didn't pay through Paypal. You should have no problems getting your money back.

Anyone else every purchased something on Ebay and the seller was a fraud?

I bought 2 items for a total of $125 and didn't receive them. At the time the seller had 100% positive feedback, now the there are about 50 negative feedback postings in the last two days that are all claiming fraud.

I've filed a claim with Paypal. Has anyone had to do this and did you get fully reimbursed?
 

jtd9046

Well-Known Member
Dec 20, 2006
2,457
39
48
Chicago
If you paid with paypal you should be protected. The seller has to prove that something has been sent. I highly doubt the seller will respond to the dispute so paypal should refund your money.

I'm just worried about the fine print. From their FAQ:
If the claim is decided in my favor, will I get all of my money back?


If a claim is decided in your favor, PayPal will make every effort to recover funds from the seller. The amount of money you are eligible to receive depends on a number of factors, including where you made your purchase and whether your seller is eligible to offer PayPal Buyer Protection.
 

jdoggivjc

Well-Known Member
Sep 27, 2006
59,423
20,940
113
Macomb, MI
I would think PayPal would have to act very quickly to resolve this if they want to stay in business. As soon as they lose their reputation as not doing everything to ensure a customer's online transactions they go out of business.
 

ss

Member
Apr 10, 2006
265
4
18
48
hazleton
i had someone not send me something, had a big sob story but i contacted paypal. they couldnt get a response, so refunded my money. was really pretty painless. i was expecting a huge hassle.
 

Cydar

Well-Known Member
Apr 2, 2006
5,749
6,212
113
I'm just worried about the fine print. From their FAQ:

If you don't get the full refund here's the next step:

Hound them until you do.

From a seller's point of view Paypal tried to deny us a payment even though we provided tracking for the package. I hounded them daily until they finally gave in and gave us the payment.
 

aeroclone

Well-Known Member
Oct 30, 2006
9,770
5,768
113
Same experience here as everyone else. I had an item that never showed up. I had used paypal. I put in a claim, and I got a full refund. It didn't take all that long.
 

LindenCy

Kevin Dresser Fan Club
Staff member
Mar 19, 2006
32,232
3,903
113
Chicago, IL
I think Ebay has gotten a lot worse in the last couple of years. I wish they were better to the little guy.
 

jtd9046

Well-Known Member
Dec 20, 2006
2,457
39
48
Chicago
Thanks guys... making me feel better about this. I'm worried about $125, but there are some that posted feedback today claiming losses of more than $1000. Interesting too that most of the negative feedback is coming from buyers that have thousands of transactions in their history.

You'd think Paypal will get this done quick when they receive 50 claims about the same person in two days. :skeptical:
 

hort4cy

Member
Jun 29, 2006
714
16
18
55
Randalia, IA
We bought a Wii on Ebay from a seller that was only 30 miles away from me in NE Iowa. Never got it. Contacted the seller directly and told them I was going to file a claim and they responded with some story. Come to find out they never had the thing, it was coming from Califonia.
I filed a claim with PayPal. They reimbursed the first $200 and then our credit card company made up the balance. But it was damn irritating because our kids didn't get their Christmas Wii until March.
 

AirWalke

Well-Known Member
Aug 7, 2006
6,750
1,212
113
Des Moines
My girlfriend got a Coach bag on eBay for a huge discount. I told her after she had received the item to be careful about fakes... so she did her research and discovered it was indeed a fake. She confronted the seller about it, who denied that it was fake, but reimbursed her anyway (?). So, lesson learned: if it's sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
 

MNclone

Well-Known Member
Apr 10, 2006
3,687
119
63
Burnsville, MN
Anyone else every purchased something on Ebay and the seller was a fraud?

I bought 2 items for a total of $125 and didn't receive them. At the time the seller had 100% positive feedback, now the there are about 50 negative feedback postings in the last two days that are all claiming fraud.

I've filed a claim with Paypal. Has anyone had to do this and did you get fully reimbursed?


I had almost the exact same thing happen to me. The seller was actually in England. (said Texas on the listing) They had a flawless record, and had even sold a car on Ebay. I bought a couple of DVD sets from them in two different transactions. I sent payments right around $25 each for them. Never got the dvd's about the time that I was wondering if they would ever come, the seller's account suddenly filled with negative feedback. I looked at their seller history and there were hundreds of people who purchased DVD's and never got them after I purchased mine.
I believe that I got $1.89 or some other paultry amount back from Paypal, because there was some fine print in their policy saying that there was a $25 surcharge on the return. I talked to people at paypal about it and got nothing. Since he was overseas, I don't think they had any legal jurisdiciton over what had happened. I just got the "Can't give you details due to an ongoing investigation line." Whenever I tried to talk to someone about it.
I haven't bought anything on Ebay since.
 

LindenCy

Kevin Dresser Fan Club
Staff member
Mar 19, 2006
32,232
3,903
113
Chicago, IL
I had almost the exact same thing happen to me. The seller was actually in England. (said Texas on the listing) They had a flawless record, and had even sold a car on Ebay. I bought a couple of DVD sets from them in two different transactions. I sent payments right around $25 each for them. Never got the dvd's about the time that I was wondering if they would ever come, the seller's account suddenly filled with negative feedback. I looked at their seller history and there were hundreds of people who purchased DVD's and never got them after I purchased mine.
I believe that I got $1.89 or some other paultry amount back from Paypal, because there was some fine print in their policy saying that there was a $25 surcharge on the return. I talked to people at paypal about it and got nothing. Since he was overseas, I don't think they had any legal jurisdiciton over what had happened. I just got the "Can't give you details due to an ongoing investigation line." Whenever I tried to talk to someone about it.
I haven't bought anything on Ebay since.

I have had a lot of trouble with paypal. When everything is smooth they were great, but later they basically gave me the "our policy" run around. It was a unique situation though.
 
Last edited:

tube1

Well-Known Member
Oct 19, 2006
2,144
160
63
I've personally never had a problem, but know some that have. PayPal was great for each of them as well. Just be timely and honest with your filing and you should be good.

Good luck.
 

Psyclone

Active Member
Mar 18, 2006
967
210
43
Oakland>Ames>Cedar Rapids
Anyone else every purchased something on Ebay and the seller was a fraud?

I bought 2 items for a total of $125 and didn't receive them. At the time the seller had 100% positive feedback, now the there are about 50 negative feedback postings in the last two days that are all claiming fraud.

I've filed a claim with Paypal. Has anyone had to do this and did you get fully reimbursed?

I had an issue with a Salt Water Chlorinator I order on eBay. The device was supposed to have been shipped via UPS and I had the information from the originating UPS store. But no package ever arrived. I was a bit worried I was being scammed. It was a device that would have cost me a couple of thousand dollars locally, but I "won" it at $666.

When the problems started the guy seemed legit, but I was worried that I may get my money back, but would have lost the huge savings. That made me believe he would rather refund my money than replace the device. But I gave him the opportunity to fix the problem and he did. He sent me another model and asked that I send the first one back should it arrive. He even went to the extent to provide a return prepaid shipping and only asked that if it didn't show that I would return the label to him after a few weeks.

I felt kind of bad for this seller, because it was costing him for something he had no control of. But I did some Internet sleuthing and discovered his name in an obscure place that allowed me to connect the dots and discovered that he was a pool contractor. I even viewed his business and maybe even his home using Google Earth. Amazing what you can learn in unpredictable ways. At any rate this guy was an honorable seller and the device is making my pool life so much easier.
 

AIT

Well-Known Member
May 29, 2008
2,743
101
63
Johnston, IA
I bought a camera on Ebay a few years ago that never arrived, and it turned into a giant mess. I filed a claim through Paypal, they ruled in my favor, and said I was due a full refund. The guy didn't have enough money in his Paypal account to cover the refund, though. I got a partial refund (I think it was about $150 on a $1300 purchase), and Paypal froze the seller's account until he had enough money to cover the refund. Of course the seller disappeared right after that and never used his account again. When it was obvious I wasn't going to get my money back, I called the credit card linked to my Paypal account, and they did a chargeback to Paypal, refunding me the difference and leaving Paypal out $1000+. I don't think Paypal liked that, but I never heard back from them.

This was a $2000 camera for retail, so yeah, if it sounds too good to be true it probably is.
 

MNclone

Well-Known Member
Apr 10, 2006
3,687
119
63
Burnsville, MN
I bought a camera on Ebay a few years ago that never arrived, and it turned into a giant mess. I filed a claim through Paypal, they ruled in my favor, and said I was due a full refund. The guy didn't have enough money in his Paypal account to cover the refund, though. I got a partial refund (I think it was about $150 on a $1300 purchase), and Paypal froze the seller's account until he had enough money to cover the refund. Of course the seller disappeared right after that and never used his account again. When it was obvious I wasn't going to get my money back, I called the credit card linked to my Paypal account, and they did a chargeback to Paypal, refunding me the difference and leaving Paypal out $1000+. I don't think Paypal liked that, but I never heard back from them.

This was a $2000 camera for retail, so yeah, if it sounds too good to be true it probably is.
Ahhh, yes, this is what happened with my case as well. They didn't have any money in their paypal account, and closed the bank account that it wa attached to. My paypal account was connected directly to my bank account, so I got no refund from that.