I got hit by an ebay scammer..

[Glocksman]

Kinda sorta...

10 days ago I bought a new cellphone from a dealer on ebay for $32 shipped new in box. The guy had 99%+ positive feedback, was listed with Square Trade, and had Paypal's 'buyer protection' so I thought he was on the up and up.

I was wrong

It turns out (and I should have looked into it closer before bidding) that the guy sets 99 cent starting prices for his auctions and if the bidding doesn't go to a price he wants at the end, he'll just stall you until you ask for a refund.

For example, the phone I won for $12+$20 shipping, he was selling in buy it now auctions for $60+$20 shipping.

All his negative feedbacks had low winning bids and no communication from the seller until a refund was asked for. I've sent numerous emails and tried calling on the phone to no avail so far, but I suspect I'll get a refund offer with a bullshit excuse now that I've filed complaints with fleabay and paypal. Just like the other people who've 'won' his auctions with low bids.


Anyway this is a clear violation of fleabay's TOS and I raised nine kinds of hell over it when I sent ebay and paypal messages pointing out the pattern in the guy's feedbacks.

All I can say is I'm damn glad that not only did I pay using PayPal, I paid it with a credit card.
I called the CC company and they said if I don't get a complete refund, just call them and they'll send me the paperwork to fill out to get the charge taken off.

[Soontir C'boath]

I hate those people and I am glad I haven't met one yet. They just can't take a loss in profit no matter how small to keep face.

[Superman]

I wouldnt use ebay for something like that. Frankly, I rarely buy used shit at all unless its a collectible or something. If its a new phone, just buy it from a dealer so you know what you`re getting.

[Macross]

Sounds like you did everything right. Ebay usually does a good job dealing with scammers.

[Glocksman]

I hate those people and I am glad I haven't met one yet. They just can't take a loss in profit no matter how small to keep face.

And it's just plain stupid, as the way to avoid it is to simply set the starting bid at the minimum price you'll accept to make the sale.

I wouldnt use ebay for something like that. Frankly, I rarely buy used shit at all unless its a collectible or something. If its a new phone, just buy it from a dealer so you know what you`re getting.

The reason I've bought several used phones from ebay is that I'm somewhat hard of hearing and the Moto V220 phone I got from Cingular has such a low volume that I can hardly hear the caller unless the room is absolutely quiet.

Ironically, the best performing phones out of the several I've tried have been a cheap ex-T Mobile Nokia 3595 and a cheap Cingular Nokia 6010.
Loud volume, super reception and good battery life make them the best by far. The only drawback is that I prefer a flip phone.

I oughta post a mini review of all the ones I've used so far.

[Glocksman]

I just heard from the guy via Square Trade's dispute process:

I received feedback for this transaction and would like it withdrawn.

bolding in original


I replied with this:

Why should I?
There is nothing false in the feedback.

This the first response to my attempts to communicate with you over the issue despite your stated policy of same day or next day replies.

Seller 'speedycool' has it right. You simply don't ship unless the closing bid is high enough for you.

Regardless of that, I will withdraw it upon receipt of the working, new in the box phone that you are obligated to sell me under the terms of my winning bid.

No phone and the bad feedback stays.

I'm sure he'll tag me with bad feedback, but I don't sell very much there anyway and my others are glowing.

[Laird]

If and only if the seller has a "reserve" on the auction is he allowed to do that; however, if the assbag didn't you own his sack.

[Glocksman]

The Square Trade mediator wanted me to state my position, so I wrote back with this:

My position is as I stated earlier.
I will withdraw the feedback only upon completion of the terms of sale of the auction.

In other words, I want the working, new in box phone with promised accessories that I paid for via Paypal on 6/11/2005. Any other settlement at this stage, including a refund, is unacceptable given the seller's past history of refusing to honor winning bids that were low. Check his negatives, including one from buyer 'speedycool' for more details.

I do not feel that I am being unreasonable in asking the seller to merely honor the terms of the auction.

I don't take it well at all when someone tries to fuck me over financially.
My ideal resolution is to see the guy kicked off of ebay.

[Zed Snardbody]

Don't let the thread die, I want to see this cock bite nailed.

[Glocksman]

Don't let the thread die, I want to see this cock bite nailed.

Oh, I'll keep you all posted on this.
If the thread would die, I'll start a new one to let everyone know the outcome.

The mediator posted that he's now waiting to hear from this cockmunch:

Hello buyer thank you for your response I will get back to you as soon as I hear from the seller.

I emailed an old friend about this and told him that I'm vindictive as hell and will often cut off my nose to spite my face when dealing with shit like this, and the way he put it was this:

Where the fellow made his mistake was screwing with someone who has been an experienced asshole a lot longer than he's been an experienced eBay seller.

[Chris OFarrell]

Please keep this thread active....I really want to see how this turns out

[Setesh]

You used Paypal? are you nuts? You do realize they can take every cent off your CC advance or out of a bank account # if they have access at any time for no reason and you can never reclaim the money?

[Glocksman]

That's the reason why I don't 'verify' my PP account and let them have access to my checking account.
Since I use a CC for Paypal, if they'd try and fuck me over with an unauthorized charge, I have the right under the Fair Credit Reporting Act to dispute the charge and not pay it until the dispute is settled.

The worst that would happen is my CC company would issue a chargeback for the unauthorized charge and then PP would limit or cancel my account.

At that point I could care less about the PP account being cancelled.

[The Wookiee]

You used Paypal? are you nuts? You do realize they can take every cent off your CC advance or out of a bank account # if they have access at any time for no reason and you can never reclaim the money?

Really? I've never really had a problem with Paypal. They can't just drain your bank account without a cause, can they? Aren't they owned by eBay?

[Soontir C'boath]

PayPal is owned by eBay and I don't think they would do such a thing. That would be damn bad PR for them.

[Glocksman]

Update:

I got an email from the Square Trade mediator saying that the other party hasn't yet responded to the mediator's email.

**AUTOMATIC NOTIFICATION: DO NOT REPLY TO THIS EMAIL**

eBay Item Number: 5780214159
SquareTrade Case ID: 127052363
Merchandise Description: Motorola C195 BRAND NEW 850/1900 UNLOCKED

Hello,

The other party in this matter, eBay User ID: incomtel has not responded to the mediator in the last four days.We will continue to try to contact them and the mediator will contact you when they do respond.If you have not responded to a message from the mediator or to a posted resolution, please do so now.

Mediation is a voluntary process, and if a party does not want to participate there is really nothing that SquareTrade can do to assist you in resolving the dispute.
Therefore, if we do not hear from a party after 10 days from our initial contact, the case will have to be closed.

Looks to me like the sonofabitch was hoping that I wouldn't respond to the mediation that he initiated, and thus the negative feedback I left for him would have been automatically removed.

Sorry, Charlie

Looks like he's screwed a few other people as well
Incomtel's feedback

very quick to take payment - very slow to respond. Not very happy.

22 days -no phones- no call from them- looks like a closing store scam- beware!

[Glocksman]

Heh...

The day before Paypal would have given me my money back and the Square Trade moderator would have automatically decided in my favor, I get an email from Incomtel with a FedEx tracking number.

The phone came an hour ago and is exactly as advertised.

He probably lost money on the deal as he shipped it to me standard FedEx next day service in order to avoid losing the complaints filed.


All of this could have been avoided by simply starting the auction off at the minimum acceptable bid.
Anyway, I carried out my end of the bargain and consented to the withdrawal of the negative feedback, like I said I would do in my initial response to the moderator.

[Alyeska]

Way to go sticking to your guns Glocksman (thats sounds so silly ). Good going.

[Soontir C'boath]

Ahahaha, in the end he only screwed himself more. I love it.