Dealing with a fraudulent eBay seller

[MoonBuggy]

I've been using eBay quite regularly and it would appear that I have now run in to my first [problem] seller. There were none of the obvious signs of a dishonest seller, however I made a purchase for £270 just under two weeks ago and have had no reply to my repeated emails to the seller. I have also had a few emails from another buyer who purchased from the same seller and is in the same boat.

 

I've filed a dispute with PayPal, but I'm wary about escalating to a full PayPal claim because I know that the buyer protection policy does not cover the full amount. I assume that it would be better to just issue a chargeback with the bank to ensure that I get the total refund, but I'm open to any other suggestions about this.

 

The other thing that I would like to know is where to take it from here - I have a name and phone number which I assume to be genuine, but then again I have no proof of that. Although I am reasonably confident I can reclaim the money, it still feels as though there should be some way that I can report the fraud to the police or the courts. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Edited August 30, 2008 by MoonBuggy

[benjamin79]

I would try to get the chargeback from the band and report the seller to eBay, give him a hell of a bad rating and try to warn other eBay buyers - I think there are some forums where you can also report [problematic]!

[WebMaster]

Personally I'd escalate it in Paypal. They tend to side with the buyer, especially if the seller doesn't bother responding.

[Bookworm]

As for reporting him to the police, great big waste of time IMO. I was once the victim of someone who scammed hundreds of people to the tune of tens of thousands of pounds, with all the info given, proof and everything, the CPS decided not to proceed, so if it's only a couple of people who have been done, I wouldn't hold my breath at the police dealing with this.

[MoonBuggy]

After speaking to a very helpful forum member privately, I've called the bank and requested a chargeback, so I shouldn't be out of pocket, at least. There seemed no point in spending a month waiting for a PayPal claim when it would only have refunded half my money anyway.

 

It looks like I wouldn't have enough information to report him, even if I wanted to. I just find that very annoying - even more so, now that you say they probably wouldn't pursue it, Bookworm. When I think of all the stupid things they spend police time on, it's just unbelievable that someone who is stealing money from multiple people gets off with nothing.

[Aterlatus]

My brother's having one hell of a time with paypal at the mo too after a seller decided they'd changed their mind and weren't selling. He won an xbox 360 which he was gonna give his kids to keep them quiet over the summer hols. Paid for it with an echeck (they wouldn't accept a direct payment at the time for some reason) and the buyer decided to bail. Because the money lies unclaimed, paypal won't return it for 30 days! There goes the summer hols, and the promise to the kids.

 

Paypal really do get my goat up at times

[daco]

i use ebay for both buying and selling and it's people like these sellers that should be stopped. personally i'd escalate the paypal claim and report them through ebay. they do favour the buyer, as they should. and hopefully the seller should be rightly banned from trading.

and don't be afraid of negative feedback, they deserve it and other buyers need to be warned.

just my opinion...

[noomill060]

Sellers can no longer leave neg feedback. At all.

 

So feel free to neg away with impunity.

[Guest forgottenone]

Sorry, don't agree with what you said 'favouring the buyer, as they should'. No such thing, then as a '[problem] buyer/dishonest buyer?' Sorry, but there are! Yes, there are dishonest sellers ... but there are always TWO sides to things. And this is where Ebay/PAYPAL acts unfairly, cos they take sides. Meaning some poor, honest seller out there who has done everything possible to alleviate the problem in human means short of flying to another country, knocking on the person's door to have it out with them reasonably. There is no protection on Ebay for the honest seller. And you get one dishonest buyer it can ruin you for good. If buyers aren't arguing over the cost of postage if it exceeds cost of a stamp, it's something else. Thing is, when buyers bid they are entering a contract with the seller to abide by the terms of the auction including postage costs ... costs set by the Royal Mail, including reasonable packging costs paid for by the seller from a shop somewhere so are within legal rights to charge as is any other shop out there unless subsidized with an agreement via Royal Mail for business rate mail.

 

Then there's the 'oh my cat spilt milk on the keyboard and hit the enter key and won the auction' or 'my nephew was on my computer, and I am not computer literate being 90 odd so didn't know what he was doing ...' or 'my little brother bid on the item and I don't want it now'. Just some of the examples sellers have faced on Ebay. Sellers pay fees, buyes do not. Sellers are not protected on Ebay or with Paypal full stop!

 

So, it's never always just one sided. There are thousands of [problem] buyers on Ebay. Always have been, in all walks of life whether it's an auction, a shop ... it happens.

 

From stolen credit cards, to out and out scams from criminal gangs on Ebay. These are the threats genuinely honest sellers face. So, it's not all one sided. Be a perfect world if it were. It's not, however.

 

I just thought I'd make this point to balance things. That is it not always the fault of the seller. Some people you can give a gold star service to and it will never be enough.

 

It's very easy to hit that 'chargeback' or 'escalate claim' but ... I wonder how many buyers who do this think to themselves 'am I being honest here?' Cos for those who do hit that key purely because it gives them some power of someone ... it can bring hell into their lives whether justified or not.

 

As someone who HAS been a victim of a [problem] buyer ... it's not a very nice thing to happen to you. I was put in hospital with the stress it caused me. I was just being honest, the buyer was lying through their back teeth! Now I have a lifelong health problem because of them!

[MoonBuggy]

It's been a little while since I last posted here, but I've been trying to deal with the bank, who have been extremely unhelpful. They've finally sent me a letter explaining that because PayPal fulfilled their duty in forwarding the money, I have no recourse and cannot issue a chargeback. I am completely at a loss as to what to do now - PayPal's dispute process is still running, but I'll still be out by a significant amount of money when that finally finishes, and I can't believe that both the bank and PayPal are able to simply say "Sorry, not our problem" when somone has stolen money from me.