scammed on ebay

ross_fenion

AHHHH I can not belive Ive been this stupid I need help.

I won an auction for a mobile phone on the 9th of june the total came to £177 the seller only 8 feedbacks the but they where all good, he said he didnt have a paypal account so could I do a cheque or BACs. Thinking noone would give out there bank details unless they where on the level I opted for BACS, at first he was in constant email touch but the phone never arrived.

I told the seller I would report him to ebay he mailed back saing it must be lost in the post offering a full refund as he had the package insured I asked him to send me a cheque for the refund, since then I have heard nothing.

I have reported him to ebay but is the anything else I can do!! Ive been to my bank they said as i used BACs there is nothing they can do

any suggestions would be greatly apprciated given I have his bank details there must be something I can do!

soolin

I'm sorry but you've been well and truly had.

Bank transfers are great as a seller purely because there are no fees and no comeback if it goes wrong, but as a buyer they re probably the most unsafe method of payment going. You will struggle to do anything in the small claims court as oyu cannot show an address at all for the seller, the one on ebay is almost certainly false. The bank can't help as you voluntarily made the payment, and you can't even ask them to confirm the name on the payees bank account.

Ebay no longer offer support for any payment method apart from paypal, and even under the old rules an ebay claim would not have been available as ebay warn that bank transfers are not recommended and are used at buyers own risk.

I'm sorry to have such doom and gloom news, but I can't honestly think of anything you can do to get your money back. Obviously report the seller to ebay anyway, it won't help you but it might save future potential buyers.

FloFlo

Did they give you an address to post a cheque to, I know you didn't pay by cheque but you might have been given an address. That would be my first port of call.

suckmaster.burstingfoam

This is a police matter, take it to them with all of the documentation.

greenstreetprince

most definitely report this to the police, print out the ebay listing page, and a copy of your bank statement which shows who you paid and if you still have the scammers messages/emails print those too as they will be invaluable

Cute_'n'_Quirky

Open a Claim with the Small Claim's Court - you have all the evidence you need.

frivolous_fay

Cute_n_Quirky wrote: »

Open a Claim with the Small Claim's Court - you have all the evidence you need.

Evidence of a fraud... but likely no address to which the summons could be served.

Cute_'n'_Quirky

The Buyer will be able to get this via the Police.

ajaxgeezer

With what evidence? A non-transparent payment history, no help from the receiver of funds and no help from Ebay/Paypal who quite rightly have no need to become involved as they offer no insurance with this type of payment.

Long shot at best.

Dave_Brooker

Cute_n_Quirky wrote: »

The Buyer will be able to get this via the Police.

The police won't give out names and addresses.

In fact the police may well just say that this is a civil matter and take no further action...

JCD_Capulet

ross_fenion wrote: »

AHHHH I can not belive Ive been this stupid I need help.

I won an auction for a mobile phone on the 9th of june the total came to £177 the seller only 8 feedbacks the but they where all good, he said he didnt have a paypal account so could I do a cheque or BACs. Thinking noone would give out there bank details unless they where on the level I opted for BACS, at first he was in constant email touch but the phone never arrived.

I told the seller I would report him to ebay he mailed back saing it must be lost in the post offering a full refund as he had the package insured I asked him to send me a cheque for the refund, since then I have heard nothing.

I have reported him to ebay but is the anything else I can do!! Ive been to my bank they said as i used BACs there is nothing they can do

any suggestions would be greatly apprciated given I have his bank details there must be something I can do!

Go to ebay and request the sellers details.
From your own records (if you kept any) find the bank details for the seller.
If you can't find the bank details, go to your bank and request the details for the ammount of money sent.
With the sellers details as registered on ebay, and proof that you made payment for an item by bank transfer contact your local citizens advice buerau who should be able to tell you were you stand if not point you in the direction of your local plice station straight away.

Scammers get away with things like this on ebay because we consumers sometimes give up without a fight. Do not oll over and play head, hunt the person down and give what's comming to them...and by that I mean the long arm or the law!

good luck,
Joanne x