Ebay buyers making false claims

[darkhawk]

I bought the 4 movie Clint Eastwood Collection (The Eiger Sanction, The Beguiled, Coogan's Bluff & Play Misty For Me) from Walmart for $13.00. I then put my old non-anamorphic Eiger Sanction on ebay to sell. To my surprise, a bidder with zero feedbacks bought it for $13.15 + shipping. He never responded to my emails. After 8 days with no response, I filed a buyers fraud claim. Boy, that got his attention. After 12 days he finally paid. He received it in 3 days. He is now trying to claim that it won't play on his player and wants a full refund. I check all my opened dvds before listing them on ebay. It played fine on 3 dvd players I have before I listed it. He propably figured out that he paid too much for it or saw the Eastwood Collection that has it for the same price he paid.

Suddenly, he's no longer a registered user on ebay the same day he filed the claim.

Have you had someone file false claims against you? What's your story.

[Liontamer]

I haven't had anyone file a false claim on me, but I had a time trying to buy a copy of The Wire Complete Series off of eBay and Half.com. The first time I bought it because it was supposed to be the Best Buy exclusive version with the CD. The seller never sent it, so I filed a claim. After dragging out the whole process for weeks, the seller finally shipped the item. However, when I recevied it, it was not the Best Buy exclusive version. By this time the seller was no longer a member at eBay, and he had removed the listing from the site. I had to file a new claim stating that the product was not as described. I then had to eat the cost of return shipping to the seller in order to get my refund for what I originally paid. A little later on, I tried to buy another copy off of Half.com, and again, I did not receive the set. I had to file a claim again just to get my refund. Finally, on my third try, I was able to purchase a set for a decent price off of Half.com and actually received the set.
So, sometimes you've gotta look out for dishonest sellers too.

[DerangedHermit]

Originally Posted by Liontamer

So, sometimes you've gotta look out for dishonest sellers too.

I bought Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder in July...I file a claim at the end of August as I hadn't received the item. I then get a DVD within the week and it's the worst counterfeit I've ever seen (the guy sent only the disc and it must've been a DVD-R with a printable DVD disc cover on it)...got the money back recently though.

The guy's not registered now and has a -1 feedback. Good.

[Jacoby Ellsbury]

you didnt test a $13 dvd on 3 different players before you sold it.

[dablueguy]

Originally Posted by Jacoby Ellsbury

you didnt test a $13 dvd on 3 different players before you sold it.

How would you know?

[darkhawk]

Originally Posted by Jacoby Ellsbury

you didnt test a $13 dvd on 3 different players before you sold it.

Were you in my house with me? In today's market, that dvd is worth only about $3 to $7.

[dx23]

Originally Posted by darkhawk

Suddenly, he's no longer a registered user on ebay the same day he filed the claim.

I think you can use this as evidence that the guy is trying to scam you and Paypal may side with you on this one.

This is exactly one of the reasons I stopped selling on Ebay.

[MinLShaw]

eBay...eBay...eBay...Yes, I seem to recall a website called eBay. It seems I used to buy and sell things on that site until the site ownership became obsessed with maximizing their own profit by promoting the site to everyone they could reach, and then decided that their policies for settling disputes would consist exclusively of telling the buyer to refund the money to the seller.

[rant]Seriously, if anyone wants to write an economics paper about the problems that too much short-sighted regulation can have on the market place, eBay is your perfect model. Once upon a time, eBay was pretty hands-off, took their modest commission and let supply and demand do their thing. Then, eBay started buying up other companies and expanding their corporate payroll and to fund these expansions, the fees became more diverse and costly. Likewise, as their global promotion plan brought in a lot more members, they attracted more scammers and pinheads, and their approach to settling the disputes arising from these scammers and pinheads was to almost always tell the seller to refund the buyer's money. You can't have a successful marketplace when 1) a third party who is neither buyer nor seller places its profits ahead of the market or 2) there are no fair regulations governing disputes. eBay has been determined to see itself as a business, rather than as a market, and that's where it has gone wrong.[/rant]

[stingermck]

Well, since you asked

YAET: Buyer says he cant afford purchase now

[Mister Peepers]

A few years ago I was selling Trancers 2 or 3 on Amazon. Someone wanted it but sent me a money order. We basically went around Amazon which was fine with me. Once everything cleared I sent the tape. Since we went around Amazon I was just waiting for something to happen.

A little while later I get the email saying it was for her dad's birthday but she never got it. Told her I sent it and that was that.

If you're trying to scam someone, it doesn't pay to put all the power in the hands of the "victim".

[darkhawk]

He wrote me an email today threatening a lawsuit for fraud. Here's what he wrote:

"I want my refund, I gave you reasonable time for reply but you are not being reasonable. give me correct dvd or refund includes shipping. or since I know where you live i will file a lawsuit for fruad and have you served by sheriff and bring you to chicago and infront of judge to answer question about ad on ebay. if you do not think I will do it , i have done it to other sellers go head test me."

To let other ebay sellers beware of his fraud attempts, his name is Lewis Cato from Chicago.

I went to paypal to check on the status of his fraudulant claim and report what he wrote. On the paypal website, it shows that this case has been closed. I checked an email from paypal that said:

"As you may already be aware, PayPal's Buyer Complaint Policy applies only
to the shipment of goods and not to complaints about the attributes or
quality of goods received through an off eBay transaction. Therefore, we
will not conduct an investigation into this matter at this time.

We do, however, reserve the right to begin an investigation within 180 days
if we determine it is necessary."

[Mister Peepers]

That's funny. He thinks the sheriff will serve you and then deliver you to court for a small claims case that would cost him more than the cost of the DVD to file and have you served.

Yes, he's truely done this to other sellers before.

If he sent me the email, I'd reply with just a single word "Nope".

edit: Actually, I'd be great if you told him to sue you. Even let him win. Now what's he going to do? He asks you for the money even if he wins and you say no. He could pay money to get your wages garnished or he could hire a collection agency to chace you.

[GizmoDVD]

Starting to hate eBay.

Bought a Hannibal Lecter Trilogy (Blu-ray) off a seller for $21 about 10 days ago. Buyer had 50 feedbacks. Yesterday I checked and he is no longer a registered. I filed a Paypal claim against him but can't leave eBay feedback. Wonderful. Let's see if I ever get that $21 back.

[dkedvd]

I always insure my packages (you can add the cost to the price or in my case i get it for free because I work in a mail room). This way if there is ever a problem it is theirs to deal with, because they have to take it to the Post Office and file the claim. Not me. I once had a guy claim a printer I sold him was broken when he got it. It was working just fine. I am a photographer and use it almost ever day. I only got a new one to upgrade. Anywho... If and I strongly say IF it was truly broken then it happened during shipping (although I bubble wrapped to hell outta that thing) and it was his problem since I insured it.
But what I do now a days is... NEVER USE EBAY! Cannot stand it anymore. They are a horrible company and the 75% of the buys and sellers are dishonest. I have a hard time seeing the benefits of using a company whos owners, employees, and customers are horrible.

[calhoun07]

Originally Posted by darkhawk

He wrote me an email today threatening a lawsuit for fraud. Here's what he wrote:

"I want my refund, I gave you reasonable time for reply but you are not being reasonable. give me correct dvd or refund includes shipping. or since I know where you live i will file a lawsuit for fruad and have you served by sheriff and bring you to chicago and infront of judge to answer question about ad on ebay. if you do not think I will do it , i have done it to other sellers go head test me."

To let other ebay sellers beware of his fraud attempts, his name is Lewis Cato from Chicago.

I went to paypal to check on the status of his fraudulant claim and report what he wrote. On the paypal website, it shows that this case has been closed. I checked an email from paypal that said:

"As you may already be aware, PayPal's Buyer Complaint Policy applies only
to the shipment of goods and not to complaints about the attributes or
quality of goods received through an off eBay transaction. Therefore, we
will not conduct an investigation into this matter at this time.

We do, however, reserve the right to begin an investigation within 180 days
if we determine it is necessary."

Reply and ask him if both of you can go on Judge Judy.

[calhoun07]

Originally Posted by GizmoDVD

Starting to hate eBay.

Any more I am just buying from folks I've established commerce with before or super sellers who have an online store other than Ebay with a decent reputation both on and off Ebay. (Such as some Dr. Who DVDs I got recently from buy.com's Ebay store.)

Ebay is a sad, sad site compared to what it was. The only benefit for me is if the super seller/online store flubs up my order, it's easier to make a Pay Pal claim than to go through the hassle of calling them and making my claim. At least for me.

[bunkaroo]

Originally Posted by GizmoDVD

Starting to hate eBay.

Bought a Hannibal Lecter Trilogy (Blu-ray) off a seller for $21 about 10 days ago. Buyer had 50 feedbacks. Yesterday I checked and he is no longer a registered. I filed a Paypal claim against him but can't leave eBay feedback. Wonderful. Let's see if I ever get that $21 back.

If you sourced the payment with a credit card just cut out the middleman and get a chargeback issued. Don't even let Paypal screw with you.

This is why I only use my Amex on Paypal. They are very good about siding with their customers in my experience.

[dx23]

Originally Posted by MinLShaw

eBay...eBay...eBay...Yes, I seem to recall a website called eBay. It seems I used to buy and sell things on that site until the site ownership became obsessed with maximizing their own profit by promoting the site to everyone they could reach, and then decided that their policies for settling disputes would consist exclusively of telling the buyer to refund the money to the seller.

[rant]Seriously, if anyone wants to write an economics paper about the problems that too much short-sighted regulation can have on the market place, eBay is your perfect model. Once upon a time, eBay was pretty hands-off, took their modest commission and let supply and demand do their thing. Then, eBay started buying up other companies and expanding their corporate payroll and to fund these expansions, the fees became more diverse and costly. Likewise, as their global promotion plan brought in a lot more members, they attracted more scammers and pinheads, and their approach to settling the disputes arising from these scammers and pinheads was to almost always tell the seller to refund the buyer's money. You can't have a successful marketplace when 1) a third party who is neither buyer nor seller places its profits ahead of the market or 2) there are no fair regulations governing disputes. eBay has been determined to see itself as a business, rather than as a market, and that's where it has gone wrong.[/rant]

I'm going to suggest this topic for my economics class. Still, you don't need to be a business major to see that Ebay is being run by idiots. Just look at the Skype debacle and it clearly shows that there is a lot of people on the top of the ladder that don't know shit about what they are doing and even less on what made Ebay successful in the first place. They went public, got greedy and now have a company that is going downhill fast.

I'm really surprised on the other hand that no one has stepped up and created a site to serve as competitor to Ebay. I mean, MySpace has Facebook as rival and no one has yet put a creative and successful site that could bump Ebay out of the picture.

[sleepyhead55]

There are a couple of smaller sites but nothing that has broken out as a clear alternative to ebay.

Any more I am just buying from folks I've established commerce with before or super sellers who have an online store other than Ebay with a decent reputation both on and off Ebay. (Such as some Dr. Who DVDs I got recently from buy.com's Ebay store.)

Agreed. At this point it seems like too big of a hassle to chance (I'm just a buyer). It seems like a daily occurance that sellers have a few negatives and those negatives all sound the same--seller didn't deliver, seller took forever etc. The pendulum favors the buyer far too much here. At this point I'd rather buy a dvd from a B+M store than deal with ebay(or half) and pay the extra amount. A few dollars isn't worth the potential headaches here.

[Rob V]

I had a woman buy a video game from me about a month back - mind you I have over 500 positive feedback with no negatives.

I shipped it via Paypal so it would be tracked and she declined insurance (which is no longer an option on Ebay -- not sure why). Anyways, she claimed she never got the game and wanted her money back. I told her "no problem, you give me the game and I'll give you your money back". I had the tracking info that showed it was delivered to the exact time and day.

After she filed a Paypal claim against me - and lost, she resorted to personal attacks on me for about a week

The story above is why I mostly hate people and have slowed down my selling on Ebay.

[GizmoDVD]

Originally Posted by bunkaroo

If you sourced the payment with a credit card just cut out the middleman and get a chargeback issued. Don't even let Paypal screw with you.

This is why I only use my Amex on Paypal. They are very good about siding with their customers in my experience.

I used my current Paypal balance. So far he has yet to respond to my claim (no shock there). So when it ends, I will likely get whatever is left in the sellers account which is probably nothing.

[darkhawk]

On 10-06-09, he sent me an email, still threatening to call the cops. He wrote down the sheriff's department with address that's 20 miles from where I live and said that he's not scared to call them. That's not even the main office. That's the address for a small office that's in ghetto area. I never paid attention to his emails. I've never responded to his emails. He hasn't sent an email since.

[Rob V]

^^ Isn't the entire transaction done thru Paypal? If so, can't he just file a claim to get his money back? More times than not they'll just rule in his favor (right or wrong) and dictate that he send the package back to you and you refund his money. Not sure why this a-hole is going the "sheriff" route... as if they don't have better things to do than decode his emails and then bother you.

[darkhawk]

Read the begining. He made a claim through Paypal, but because he ended his membership with ebay, Paypal went in my favor. He never made a claim with ebay. He just ended his membership. Paypal could see the guy was trying to pull a scam.

[burnside986]

http://198.173.15.31/forms/pdf_files/CCG0603.pdf

Yeah, dont think its ever going to happen.