HELP: how to get money back from eBay/paypal scam

Josh Bass said:
Man you guys are freakin' me out. So if one wants to buy used, what can one do for maximum protection?
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I've generally had good luck over the years on eBay. Only three burns over maybe 15 years. The one that probably ticked me off the most was the seller selling counterfeit Sony headphones. But I have gotten some good deals on gear over the years: several decks(Betacam and P2), a D600, my last Fuji HD W/A, plus some lights that a friend bought in a lot off of eBay that I bought from him(they must have been cursed, because they were ultimately stolen from me. Lol).

I have no qualms buying from eBay. If I have a bad vibe on the seller or it doesn't look like something legit, I'm not gonna buy, but otherwise I'll go for it.
 
Josh Bass said:
is there some other escrow type service that protects both parties that you can use?
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I have used an escrow transaction very successfully on eBay for a camera purchase.
The escrow service holds the money until the buyer says that the item is what he was promised. If he breaks it or loses it, he forfeits the money.
 
LATEST UPDATE: Camera is supposed to arrive today. I arranged it to work at the home office all day. Almost 5pm here...and no camera yet. So......I'll hang tight. Time will tell.
 
so what is the current wisdom about what to look for/red flags when dealing with a seller? a long time ago you were supposed to look for someone with perfect or near perfect feedback, a fair number of transactions, somone that had been around for a while, amd that had sold similar items. there may be a few others I'm leaving out but those were the big ones I remember. Is that all still the case? This is probably 10+ year-old wisdom.
 
Just to add my two cents, lot of scams right now. I bought a C300 through ebay about two months ago, seller generated a tracking number then messaged me "Don't worry that it says the package was already delivered, UPS recycles old tracking numbers". In that exact moment I knew I was getting scammed. Went through ebay, they calmly walked me through the process via email. All was recovered in a matter of weeks. They threatened to make the seller reimburse me and Paypal separately, the money was in my account that night.
Buyer Protection is very powerful.
 
The majority of my ebay transaction have been great. But I sold a classic Ferrari last year on eBay and the buyer paid X amount with paypal and the remainder with a cashiers check. He then disputed the condition of the car upon arrival, and claimed the entire paypal amount as compensation for the dispute. Turns out this is his scam and he has done it to other car sellers. If i were still an angry youth I would have flown to Florida kicked his ass and drove my car back home. But being the older kinder gentler version of myself, I negotiated down to only being burned for $1700. The young voice in the back of my head still wants to kick his ass though.
 
cyclone said:
Those time limits don't apply if you paid by credit card - both Discover and VISA have anywhere from 60 days to 120 days to file a fraud charge. You did things in the right order, though:
First, you went through eBay and PayPal (which the credit card company requires). But if you don't get satisfaction that way...
Open a case with the credit card company.
I was in the same situation once and the credit card company refunded my money, telling PayPal to stuff it.
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Thank you I didn't know that and try that. Drat! Wish I had! Well, now too much time has passed for sure. So many crooked people. I jave a like-new Panasonic camcorder that I need to sell but I'd rather keep it than sell it and lose more money in another scam.
 
I definitely would not sale on eBay, now. Great if you're buying, but now almost all the risk has been flipped to the sellers.
 
I ordered something and it just didn't arrive, and non comms from the seller, so I went to ebay and opened a dispute - almost instantly he contacted me because they froze the amount in his paypal account. He pleaded with me to close the dispute because he needed the money to buy more stock. I replied saying that it was ok for hime to have my money for a month, but now he's had the money frozen, he wants ME to sort it for him, and it's one shot - once I close the dispute I can't open it again. The item arrived, I unfroze it. Contact ebay asap.
 
UPDATE: the package was supposed to arrive yesterday...then the status change to "awaiting payment." Apparently the check the seller wrote to the carrier has not cleared. So far everything is pointing at a scam...but you never know. I'll give it to the end of the week (now 2 weeks in). On Monday I'll open the claim.
 
The shipping is likely a scam too. I bought a couch cover last year (yeah, seriously! scamming someone over an Ikea couch cover!) and went through this. The scammer/seller ships an empty box with your initials instead of your name to an address in your zip code with a similar address and then uses that proof of delivery to get paid when you dispute it. Then you're left to deal with the post office to file a claim for a lost shipment.
Unfortunately for the person who tried this crap on me I'm friends with my postman and the fake address was only two blocks away and part of his route. With his help I was able to recover the bogus box and open a fraud complaint against them. They refunded my money right away and made up some BS when they realized they were caught. Ebay closed them down and criminal charges are ongoing.
 
ReelWorksMedia said:
UPDATE: the package was supposed to arrive yesterday...then the status change to "awaiting payment." Apparently the check the seller wrote to the carrier has not cleared. So far everything is pointing at a scam...but you never know. I'll give it to the end of the week (now 2 weeks in). On Monday I'll open the claim.
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The shipping carrier still has a status listing as "awaiting payment." The shipping carrier is a company called "Krone Sende" who, on their about us page, only reference a specialty in shipping motorcycles. I can't find a thing online about the company. They do have my address listed as the receiver and there are details about what is stated to be in the package.

So its really a guessing game for me right now. I could totally be getting scammed....or it could be totally legit...but just a reeeeeealllly crappy transaction.

So to summarize, I bought a 1DC from a fellow in Miami. After agreeing on a price. I submitted a "best offer" which was accepted. After paying via paypal he said he was preparing the shipment that day. 4 days later I contacted him to get tracking info. I figured coming from FL to VA...it would pretty much be here at that point.

Come to find out, it was not shipped yet. There were plenty of excuses why. Things like, he took it there, but then the company informed him it was not packaged right....ect. he needed to order packaging materials....ect. I'm thinking...this is insane.....UPS and FedEX are pretty darn easy to work with.

So finally, more than a week goes by and I inform him I plan on cancelling. He lets me know that he is shipping it out that day and to hang tight. I let him know if there wasn't a tracking number by that evening, I would cancel. He sent a number, but it was from this unknown carrier overseas. I look at the address...and its not coming from FL at all. Its coming from the U.K. I'm like WTF. Thats not what I ordered and not what I signed up for.

So I have been tracking it with this carrier. Now it says its in my city....but its been sitting for days with a status of "awaiting payment." I questioned the buyer and he says its because his check has to cleared yet and to give it a few days.

He has also never signed his name though I do have the origen information from the shipping carrier.

Crazy stuff....what do you guys think?
 
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Scott F said:
you got scammed, hardcore.

What a bunch of baloney from that "seller". Makes me glad I just buy 5 dollar items off eBay. If my Gerry Rafferty CD, coffee stirrers, or underwear don't show up, I'll live.

eBay is such a roll of the dice, you're much better off going with a legit decently-priced site like B&H or similar. The potential savings aren't worth it. Also, this here Marketplace has been great for me through the years both buying and selling.

OP, I hope you can recoup your money, this sounds like such a scam.
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Yea, it kinda seems that way. Shocking really. I am a fairly cautious person. I get scam attempts all the time...but no one has ever actually succeeded. I have a 275 rating with 100% positive feedback score. I have done a lot of business on there...and never once has any actually pulled one over on me.

The verdict is still out....but connecting the dots...looks like a pretty sad outcome.

I'm not really sweating it though since I did things by the book and I am sure eBay/paypal will cover it. It is very much a shame though that people do things like this to each other.
 
What I am expecting next: I bet I'll get a notification that I need to pay the carrier....which is an attempt to get bank account info. Or....I will be notified that the item needs to go back to the sender since his payment was not cleared...and things get drawn out more... in an attempt to wait it out past the paypal claim deadline.

Of course I will not entertain any of those scenarios...though that is what I am expecting to happen next.
 
What were your seller's feedback score/etc. like? Did he have a lot of other similar items sold in the past? How long had he been registered? There are a few other criteria but those are some of the things I look at.
 
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