Ebay scam, If you are looking to sell using ebay and paypal, my advice don't do it!

adsingleton

New to ebay?? Sellers beware



30-Sep-2010 16:49

I have been completely scammed I regret ever using paypal or ebay and neither of them seem in a hurry to resolve my issue, basically I joined ebay just to list my TV as I needed cash for the rent.

Now there is no tutorial or clear expalnation given to sellers without scouring the small print. So I listed my TV a 42" flatscreen plasma with a buy it now price of £495 I listed for 24 hours and it did not sell, I noticed I had acquired fees although the reason I chose last weekend was due to the fact it said free listing that weekend. So I relisted on Sunday and lo and behold 1 bidder offered the buy it now price,

hooray I thought rent sorted for one more month, The buyer messaged me to arrange collection as it is a large item I had stated collection only, one of the provided options, he left his phone number and I contacted him on Monday evening he wanted to collect the TV that night but I had plans to meet a friend so on Tuesday he calls me and says can he send a driver to pick it up now, (bear in mind this is my first ever sale with ebay) T

The £495 which had been showing in red on my account had turned green, received it stated, it did say penidng on paypal they advised that it would not clear until I had received feedback, fine I thought the buyer had a 100% rating he is going to want to check it is in full working order, so I handed the TV to his driver I did not write an invoice or get him to sign anything as I thought that is all done through ebay.

also the buyer when I had suggested cash on collection said no he would rather pay by paypal, I thought ok fine ebay suggest you have paypal in fact I think you have to have a paypal account to be a member so ok, the guy takes my TV I'm left with no TV but thats ok I have a roof over my head for at least 1 more month (or so I thought) I left the buyer positive feedback stupidly in the hope this would tempt him to leave my feedback more promptly and I could clear my pending paypal funds.

I went to the shops bought a few beers to give my TV a good send off (we had had some great times together) and whilst drinking my second beer I thought I'd check my ebay to see if I had received feedback, no but I did have a new message the account which had bid for my item had been hacked and my item unlisted, but this is impossible!

I thought ebay had showed the payment listed in green writing, paypal had told me the funds were there but were awaiting feedback, I did not sleep all night, first thing the next day I phoned paypal after 45 minutes of begging and pleading as I will be made homeless and explaining that it is ebays fault that I could not get feedback finally paypal agreed to release the funds, Thank god for that I can pay my rent so I withdraw all available funds (minus all the hidden fees of course),

now my friends I wish I could say that was the end of it, but sadly it is not within a few minutes my payment had been reversed, strange I thought especially after having to explain the stroy in detail to the person at paypal, so I check ebay they now claim there has been suspicious activity on my account and have restricted both my ebay and paypal accounts now until they are unrestricted I cannot get my money.

It seems ebay is treating me as the guilty party here!!

So yesterday and today I spent most of my time either on the phone to them or on ebay live chat (as my phone credit has now run out).

This issue has still not been resolved and despite pleading for telephone contact from ebay that day they point blank refused, they said I will have to wait up to 48 hours for email correspondence, (not helpful when your rent is due in less than 24 hours) I phoned paypal from a friends phone as they do not offer live chat the man I spoke to advised the restriction on my account would be lifted within a couple of hours that was before midday it is now 4.37p.m and I am still waiting.

But there is a further twist to my story and I have a feeling it is well connected with the dodgy buyer (I still have his phone number but he will not answer even when I tried from a different phone)

I received a phonecall at 1.18p.m today it came up anonymous but I answered hoping it would finally be ebay getting back to me, it was.....or so I thought a man called Chris introduced himself and said that he was calling from ebay support and that he could lift my restriction great I said, he then said I would have to call back on 0906 6991010 at a premium rate, I said I have spent enough phoning ebay I have him on the phone lets do it now, he said this would not be possible, he then suggested and I quote "why don't you pop to the shop and put £50 on your phone" well I was exasperated "are you another conman?" I shouted, he hung up, so I'm back on live chat to ebay and I speak to an advisor I'm very worried about this, I want someone to contact me now because all I want is my account restored and to claim the money that is due to me and then never deal with either company again, so the advisor states I would be contacted back within 1 hour.

Over an hour passed still no contact email or otherwise so I go back to live chat and mention I was expecting contact in an hour, the new advisor says it will be 24-48 hours, well I haven't got 24-48 hours my rent is due tomorrow and I haven't even yet withdrawn my money from paypal. I state I was informed I would be contacted within 1 hour by the other advisor and ask if the person I am speaking to can confirm that their colleague has lied by looking at the transcripts, oh the transcripts I cannot wait to get those!

do you know what happened then she closed the conversation window now that is an act of admittance if I ever saw one, and I took a screenshot too (yeah ebay i've learnt my lesson),

Now I accept some responsibility in this as I was somewhat naive but with no tutorial for first time sellers and no warning that somehting of this effect could happen it is ebay who are the culprits here, well ebay and paypal. to conclude I am still waiting for contact from ebay, I have also informed them of this man named Chris who is pretending to work for them, they seem to not really care though and even though apparently my complaint has been escalated it will not be dealt with before my rent is due.

Hopefully I can convince my landlord to give me a few more days but rest assured my issue with ebay and paypal will take a lot longer I might just be one man but I am unemployed and I intend on using every ounce of my time to make sure this does not happen to anyone else and I will make sure everyone knows ebay has allowed this to happen. beware in the land of the auction the buyer is king, the seller will be lucky if ebay even respond to him.
be safe, be strict and do your background checks remember the "buyer" I sold my TV to had 100% positive feedback

If anyone else has been through something similar I would love to hear about it and whether the matter was resolved.

Kindest regards
(possibly homeless by the time you read this)
Adam Singleton

emerald_starcat

Wow, got bored about quarter way through.

Scarlett.1974

Don't mean to be rude but any chance you could edit that post and put in some paragraphs please? I'm finding it really difficult to read.

drc

Could you divide it into paragraphs to make it easier to read. Thanks.

durham_girl

emerald_starcat wrote: »

Wow, got bored about quarter way through.

Is there any need to be so nasty? Yes it would have been easier to read if it was split into paragraphs but the OP is feeling bad enough without you being arsey

piglet25

Do you have any details about the 'buyer' apart from a mobile number? Did you take a car registration or other info which could help you to trace him, and what was his number of feedbacks (not percentage)?

I agree ebay could try to resolve this alot faster given your circumstances but there are so many cases going on I suppose they have to stick to their timelines otherwise it would just end up a big mess.

hermum

Adam, this is unfortunately one of the best known scams on ebay. Paypal on collection items. You hand over your goods after a Paypal payment has been made, the scammer then reports their card or whatever stolen or that they haven't received the goods.
If you have a search through the various threads on here then you will see how common it is.
Unfortunately people tend to come here after the event.
You can't refuse to take paypal on collection items, but you can't then prove the right person has the goods. A new user just setting up an account to sell an expensive item is screaming out to the scammers to be taken for a ride.
I think that as ebay insist that you take paypal they should be held responsible when this happens, the reality is of course that they won't, or are unlikely to.
However it would be good to be proven wrong though, check out the other threads here, in case anyone has managed to get ebay to see sense.
Hopefully the other posters will have untwisted their knickers over your lack of paragraphs & may even have something constructive to offer.
I'm sure that if they had just been scammed by that amount their paragraphs may be the last things on their minds.

If your buyer only buys they can only have positive feedback as sellers can't leave anything but positive.
Have you checked the id on goofbay to see if they bought something else? The chances are they've done several, it may be worth trying to check out all recent activity & contacting the other sellers.

slummymummyof3

Sorry but as others have said, it is virtually impossible to read without being put in to paragraphs - could you do that and then you are likely to have more responses.

cyberbob

I'm sorry this reads like trolling to me from some one with a bee in their bonnet about paypal. I have read very similar posts in various different places over the years.

The clue is normally in the I needed the money to pay my rent

kazwookie

If you allow colelction then you get CASH, do not allow the buyer to pay via paypal.

Crowqueen

The clue is normally in the I needed the money to pay my rent

I agree. If you are desperately in need of cash, the amount of hoops you have to jump through on eBay to get the money and to keep the buyer satisfied means the best way to get money is to go to a short-term loans place (if you dare) or sell the TV to a mate. It may just be someone genuinely in need, but eBay doesn't give cash-in-hand; even if the sale goes through OK then it still takes time to list and sell the item, to get paid, and to transfer the money if necessary from Paypal to your bank.

I believe something similar has been posted to the official boards.

@Kaz - not always that simple as he has to accept Paypal as well. This is why this issue is so contentious. If there was the option of only accepting cash, this would not be such a big and, alas, common problem.