Beware of this seller on e-bay

stripes

Member
I hate to say this but I believe I got taken by a member of this forum.
Back in April he posted a link in the marketplace section to his ebay add;
eBay: 7 MIB Roundhouse 36' stock and wood sided Box cars (item 140108885050 end time Apr-18-07 03:53:42 PDT)

Well, that was April 26th. He has cashed my Post Office money order and I never recieved the boxcars :curse:

I have emailed him many times, opened up a dispute on e-bay (which he never responded to) so by now I guess I am out of luck!

I will not mention his member id here on the forum, but I will say be careful who you buy from! Oh, and in the mean time, he now is not a registered member anymore on ebay!!!

If you read this thread, and know who you are, :rippedoff: SHAME ON YOU! That money was a birthday gift from my wife to be able to get something for my layout! I am Thouroughly discusted and I was Breed to meet my comitments !

David
 

Ralph

Remember...it's for fun!
Hi David,

Sorry to hear you haven't received your purchase after so long, and after knowing that your money order was cashed.

I took a look at your seller's feedback and it looked good except for your transaction. This is odd. Perhaps something happened to him that is preventing him from responding (?) Its hard to know when you don't get any response, of course.

Issues like this can be awkward for the forum since we don't have all the information. I appreciate you not naming the individual in this thread.

One thing I can suggest just to gain more information is to find the member's user name on our member list and click on it to get their profile. You'll see a notation of the date of their last activity on The Gauge. If its more recent than your last contact with him I guess that will be enlightening. If his last activity is noted around the time of your transaction I guess that may be suggestive of a problem that has kept him away from communicatiing or else he's shut down to avoid confrontation.

Again, I hate to speculate since we really don't know what is going on and the forum isn't prepared to get invovled in disputes between members over business.

I wish you a quick resolution of this sale and hope you get your boxcars or you money back along with an explanation.

Regards,
Ralph
 

stripes

Member
Ralph, His last posting on this forum was June 23, almost 2 months after the transaction, and he is no longer a registered member on ebay. He did not respond to any emails and I doubt ebay would have thrown him off because of one negitive.

I realize that there is nothing that can or should be done by the forum however, I trusted this man because of his being a forum member and am now sad to say that I will think twice before buying!

Also, I just looked at his profile again and he did not post but was here on July 14th. so he is still around!

David
 

stripes

Member
It`s Ok, I have reported him to both Canada Post and the US Postal Service because a Postal Money order was used.

David
 

Bones

Member
I'm really sorry about your loss David.

Most transactions that result in an "Item not received" are deleted from Ebay. So.... it is possible to have done this to any number people before he got caught. Since deleting the auction history (by ebay employees) also deletes feedback for that item, no one would have been the wiser.

This has happened to me twice. The first time was a seller that reportedly made $6000-7000 in a week's time, by selling fictitious Tichy kits. He made over 400 sales, and not a single person recieved the items. Ebay dealt with it.... but it took 7 weeks for most of us to get our money back.
The second time was, of all things, a favor for a friend. It resulted in a refund via PayPal, and a dispute that was closed by Ebay because we could not reach a peaceful resolution; and Ebay didn't find my archived emails to be enough evidence of a bait-and-switch. I don't consider ethical business practices to be sending your customer 4 (wildly) different excuses for why you're out of stock of the item they purchased; all within a 35 minute period after it was paid for. Each email was from a different employee, and each one asked me to 'upgrade' to a more expensive phone at 'minimal' cost.
As with the Tichy kits, the auction was deleted along with its history. So, all evidence of the horrible business practices are hidden from future buyers.

I hate to say it, but I never trust anyone unless I've done business with them in the past. And discovering how Ebay handles these scammers has burned me on them too. I stay away from Ebay unless I can't find the item anywhere else. PayPal, on the other hand... I cannot commend them enough for the buyer protection they provide. Their fees suck, when you are a seller. But, as a buyer... I'm satisfied.
 

CNWman

CNW Fan
Hey stripes, if the user in question has been on recently, drop him a PM w/ one of those recept thingies that let you know if the person has read it. That way you can be SURE mr. mystery knows you want the goods! But if that fails, try consulting these guys: City of Heroes Community Site
 

stripes

Member
I may call the police in his home town and see if I can file a complaint.
The thing that burns me is that he did not have the decency to even reply!
 

TruckLover

Mack CH613 & 53' Trailer
Hey David, sorry to hear about your bad expericence. I had this happen to me and it was somthing that was to be a christmas present from my grandma and grandpa, it was $110.00 and the guy screwed me on it after I had bought and recieved several different items from him

he took about 20 other peoples money all at the same time and just "disappeared" it seemed. I was pretty mad and so was my grandma and mom. I had the guys phone number because I was going to buy some stuff wholesale from him also and I talked to him on the fone a couple of times

he changed his phone number after he screwed everyone,

I still had his addess tho from all the times I had sent him payments for items won. My mom called the police in his town and they said that they would not and could not do anything about the situation because they had no probable cause. We also went to the Post Office and reported him and tried to stop the money order but he had already cashed it.

Long story short, even the police wouldnt do anything to help, I dont mean to get youtr hopes down or anything, just thought I would share my experience.

I would still try and call the local athorities in his town and see if they could be more helpful then the time I got screwed
 

TruckLover

Mack CH613 & 53' Trailer
No I havnt yet but it should be here anyday now :mrgreen: ill let you know when it arrives :thumb: :mrgreen: :cool:
 

YmeBP

Member
I've been doing research about this issue since I've been selling on ebay, and am wondering exactly what can be done, technically the local police should at the very least investigate becuase it involves fraud, but my research shows that most people give up or are discouraged from following through :(.

Ebay should also assist w/ information on the seller, especially since they have fallen off the face of the earth.

Suggestions:
1) Petition Ebay for information about the seller, like phone number address etc. You will have to rattle cages to get the info, even threaten ebay w/ legel action. They are notorious for protecting theives.
2) Use the web to find the court in his local township and write the prosecutor a lette. Outline your situation using only factual references, STICK to facts!! Only the facts, provide printed copies of all the things you've done w/ ebay and the proof he cashed the postal money order.
3) Research interstate and international fraud. If you know where the person lives and have proof you should be able to file a claim and have it escalated to the FBI (they handle interstate fraud in the US). You may not get them to arrest him, but they may send a letter or give a phone call which should be enough to rattle his/her cage.
4) Send a note to your local newspaper and tv station AND CC ebay's marketing and advertising department outlining the issue and asking your locals to do a story on the crappy help you are getting from ebay on getting your money back. Ebay hates bad press :p.

I am terrified of fraud, I very rarely send money orders, if I HAVE to send something I send a check. That way I can sick my bank on them if they rip me off.

There are other threads about ebay fraud do a quick search on the forum.

Lastly, I'm sorry to hear about your issues i hpe you get your money or your stuff. I sell and buy on ebay and people like your seller give us all a bad name :(.
 

jbaakko

Active Member
I am terrified of fraud, I very rarely send money orders, if I HAVE to send something I send a check. That way I can sick my bank on them if they rip me off.
I follow the same idea, but I stick to bank issued money orders.
 

stripes

Member
Update; This thread might have gotten his attention because I got an email this morning saying he would send a refund.
Will wait and see!

David
 

Renovo PPR

Just a Farmer
This is why I order from that guy up in the Northern States. sign1

When are you going to add some more O stuff?
 
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