Is this a scam?

mikeyrivered

Bought an xbox from a seller with 0 feedback.

told me he posted the item on thursday and i should recieve it saturday or monday, today he just emailed me saying:

hello,

Sorry i havent gotten you the tracking number, my wife put it in her handbag and like any womans handbag once somthing goes in there it never comes out, she is going back to the post office today to try and get another copy of it,
i dont want to seem like i'm messing you arround, so if it will reassure you, make a claim on paypal and remove it once the item has gotten to you, then the only person who can lose is me :-)

I wanted 2 listings, and offered him 250 buy it now, he accepted and ended one listing selling it to me for 80, then added insurance (170) to make the 250 total, and i paid via paypal.

He is listed as "Non U.S - Verified" on paypal

Just wondered if A) i'm covered by paypal does it look like a scam? can he fleece me?

Thanks

Rivered

leicsmarkyr

mikeyrivered wrote: »

Bought an xbox from a seller with 0 feedback.

told me he posted the item on thursday and i should recieve it saturday or monday, today he just emailed me saying:

hello,

Sorry i havent gotten you the tracking number, my wife put it in her handbag and like any womans handbag once somthing goes in there it never comes out, she is going back to the post office today to try and get another copy of it,
i dont want to seem like i'm messing you arround, so if it will reassure you, make a claim on paypal and remove it once the item has gotten to you, then the only person who can lose is me :-)

I wanted 2 listings, and offered him 250 buy it now, he accepted and ended one listing selling it to me for 80, then added insurance (170) to make the 250 total, and i paid via paypal.

He is listed as "Non U.S - Verified" on paypal

Just wondered if A) i'm covered by paypal does it look like a scam? can he fleece me?

Thanks

Rivered

If you are eligble there is usually a banner on the listing to say what you are covered upto. e.g. Purchase protection upto £150.

Further information can be seen at
https://www.paypal.com/uk/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=xpt/cps/securitycenter/buy/PurchaseProtection-outside

OlliesDad

mikeyrivered wrote: »

Bought an xbox from a seller with 0 feedback.

told me he posted the item on thursday and i should recieve it saturday or monday, today he just emailed me saying:

hello,

Sorry i havent gotten you the tracking number, my wife put it in her handbag and like any womans handbag once somthing goes in there it never comes out, she is going back to the post office today to try and get another copy of it,
i dont want to seem like i'm messing you arround, so if it will reassure you, make a claim on paypal and remove it once the item has gotten to you, then the only person who can lose is me :-)

I wanted 2 listings, and offered him 250 buy it now, he accepted and ended one listing selling it to me for 80, then added insurance (170) to make the 250 total, and i paid via paypal.

He is listed as "Non U.S - Verified" on paypal

Just wondered if A) i'm covered by paypal does it look like a scam? can he fleece me?

Thanks

Rivered

It doesnt sound like a scam to me.

After all he is telling the truth in lodging a dispute, if he is lying, you will get your money back.

He may be bluffing on if he has posted yet, i shamefully admit that in the past i may have said i posted it on a certain day, but in reality posted two days later.

Obviously the other option is that the post office are just late delivering.

soolin

You might want to move this to the ebay forum (follow the link in my sig).

I do think you have a problem and would like more info, firstly tell us more about the seller, previous feedback as a seller, any high end goods previously sold etc? If you prefer pm me the item number so I can take a look, personally I would not suggets it be posted openly on an internet forum as it will identify you as well as the seller.

I am concerned at the invoice you paid, one item and loaded post and packing is not the way the seller should have done this as paypal will now only entertain a claim for what they see you paid for, ie one unit. Depending on the level of protection you are also likely to have problems especially as the seller themselves is not covering his own back by kepeing details of the tracking and can no longer claim the loss via Royal Mail. This will obviously have been sent special which is guaranteed next day delivery so should have arrived Friday. There is an outside possibility that it was sent parcel with additional insurance, but then there is no guarantee of when item should arrive and he seem squite sure he has a time frame for delivery.

This smells bad and I don't like it. How did you fund the paypal payment (please say credit card!!)

soolin

Sorry, I should have read the OP more thoroughly..having a real read I am now convinced it is a scam. No feedback means only the very basic paypal protection so basically they will only repay you part of the money you paid and only then if seller hasn't already cleared out their account.

The reason you got these apparently so cheaply is no one else would have touched this seller with a bargepole.

Actually, I think I have found the listing and yes I'm convinced it is a scam. They have a stock photo for both this item and the laptop they also were selling.

I would suggest now that you start getting a smuch info as you can abotu the seller in case I am right and this is a scam. call up their contact details , call them see if the registered phone number works, if they are genuine and do answer you can always ask them a basic question like 'what service did you send the item using' just as an excuse for the call. get their address, save screen prints of the auctions and what you believe you paid for as you might need this if you end up involving the police.

Also, please please do a tutorial on safe buying, no feedback at all, no history on ebay and no photos of the goods..these are basic errors.

omen666

You have broken my 2 personal fundemental rules with purchasing from ebay.

1. Don not buy from someone with no feedback, I know everyone deserves a chance but deffo not on high end cost items

2. Not paypal verified? Not doing business with you.

Suggest you put these into your buying practices. There are more than enough good guides out there

Blacksheep1979

If you get anything back at all it'll probably only be the £80 for the item not the £170 for 'insurance'

Rain_is_Insane

This might be a stupid question, but, why is the "insurance" double the cost of the item????

soolin

Blacksheep1979 wrote: »

If you get anything back at all it'll probably only be the £80 for the item not the £170 for 'insurance'

Actually on a valid paypal claim where the full amount of paypal protection is offered the buyer gets the full amount back, including post and packing charges and insurance. However on the lower level of paypal protection a buyer is lucky to get anything back as it requires funds to be easily obtainable from the seller..not always possible if seller has cleared out their account and done a disappearing act..and the seller in this case has stated on the auction that they are in the process of moving.

soolin

Rain_is_Insane wrote: »

This might be a stupid question, but, why is the "insurance" double the cost of the item????

The seller was working a fiddle to cheat ebay of fees..and by default making himself look extremely dodgy in the process.

Seller had two auctions running, the OP wanted to buy both so seller merely withdraw one auction from ebay and loaded the costs of that item onto the invoice for the second auction calling it 'insurance'

Therefore as far as ebay and paypal are concerned the OP is only expecting to receive one item..and he can't make any claim at all for the secoond item as it doesn't exist anywhere on paper anymore.

I am hoping the OP will log in again very soon as time here is important if they are to get anything back out of this at all. The longer it is left the harder it will be to recover any funds if items fail to arrive.

Bamber19

£250 for a 360? have you overpaid?