eBay scams

[pmrid (Peter)]

a Few weeks ago, I bought an e-book reader on ebay. Paid for it straight away. I did not hear anything further from that seller. The next day I also decided to buy a second reader for my wife. I bought it and also paid for it straight away. So that's two readers, two different sellers, two consecutive days. Seller 1 was in Brisbane and Seller 2 in Sydney. All good so far.

Two days after paying for Item 2, I reveived a "Your message has been posted" email from eBay. Nothing from Seller 1 though.

When the estimated deliver for 1 came and went I gave it a couple of days and sent her a message via eBay saying where is it. If you can't provide me with proof of posting, I want a refund. Within 24 hours, I received a message (not from her but from eBay) saying "your item has been posted. But later the same day I also received a PayPal advice saying I had received a full refund from that Seller. Still never heard anything from the seller herself.

That left item 2 coming from Sydney and when it's due date had come and gone I wrote to him asking where it was and asking for proof of posting. Two days later I received another PayPal notification of a full refund. Again, nothing from the seller himself.

And now, a week after all that, neither parcel has turned up at my place. That suggests either that both parcels have been separately stolen from some point along the 2 entirely different postal systems (Brisbane and Sydney) or neither parcel was ever posted notwithstanding the 2 separate eBay messages saying they had been posted. The first one seems too much of a coincidence to be worth much credit.

The second one (which I believe the more likely) is troubling. It means that eBay's system allows people to post false reports of posting items. Why would they do that if they were willing to make refunds later? That's a mystery I can't resolve yet. And why have I encountered two seemingly different people in two seemingly different states on two consecutive days doing the same thing?

Any ideas - is this some kind of scam or what?

Peter

[Imme (Jon)]

Are they two different sellers in two different states.......or are they just saying they are? Remember anyone can start an ebay account....or two

I've been hit by a similar thing before where a single seller starts multiple short term accounts and sells things. Obviously they can make more money ripping people off from multiple accounts over a week or so than they can from a single one.

....just my thoughts

[doppler (Rick)]

I am sure a lot of traders have multiple accounts. You can see how long they have been trading for and their customer review scores. I like to stick with ones that have been trading for a few years, have a score over 99% and have a large catalogue of goods for sale. Post a link to the items and we can check it (them) out. Some traders don't actually have the stock on hand and get stuff shipped directly to you from third party O/S warehouses, so can take a bit of time to ship. I have ordered car parts from AU suppliers and these have arrived with only Chinese postal notices attached.

[raymo]

I recently bought two separate little items from separate sellers, and when
I got their feedback, they were exactly the same, word for word, so it was
obviously one seller.
raymo

[LewisM]

Nah Raymo, I have had Chinese sellers copy and paste feedback from my other feedback - happened on totally unrelated items (firearms items and astronomy items). Easier for the Chinese than to think up new feedback.

[muletopia (Chris)]

I tried to by a wireless router from an "ebay" site. All appeared OK until paypal would not talk to them. I still received an "item processed" from the ebay site.
As paypal reliably sends a message when a payment is made and none arrived I concluded that the site is a scam.

So I have just ordered from Scorptec, no free shipping and $5 dollars dearer, but at least I trust that a router will arrive at Australia Post's good time (long).

[mynameiscd (Andy)]

Only lost one item using ebay, a $2500 ring that the driver who pocketed it from messenger post was charged and we got a full refund.
Lately we've been buying from Australian business and like Rick said that these get delivered from China 3 to 4 weeks later which is a sort of scam anyway.
Hopefully thats all thats happened to you.

[Exfso (Peter)]

Yep, have had at least 3 or 4 chinese sites do this to me, they come up with all sorts of excuses to get out of resending/refunding, in the end it is left to PayPal to get the money back. The fact that they say they are in Australia is BS, in most cases they are overseas. I tend to look at sellers who have done over 5000 sales and have a high as in greater than 99% positive feedback, and in pretty well all cases I have had no issues when using this filter. Always exceptions to the rule though.

[raymo]

Thanks Lewis, you live and learn, as the old saying goes.
raymo

[StuTodd]

TBH, just buying from Ali express probably does away with the middleman.

[xelasnave]

Its these few negative stories that has me avoiding net buying.
I like to deal face to face so I can go back...although going back because the guy who sold me the usb 2 lap top instesd of a usb 3 as I specified may not be a good idea as it can only end in more misery...mainly because its months after but if I had worked it out days after the purchase there would be no problem.
The extra I pay I see like an insurance premium against rip off.

And probably its good that I dont buy on the net as I know inpulse buying could be a problem...I have to really want something to drive to Bintel or Andrews.
Alex

[tlgerdes (Trevor)]

Peter,

It seems like eBay and Paypal were on top of it long before you identified something wrong, hence why Paypal refunded your money before you asked

That is why I do like buying through eBay and using Paypal where i can.

I have never lost money on a dodgy purchase, and even when things havent being necessarily what I have expected, the retailers have always fixed things up (even the foreign based ones).

eBay runs a tight ship. I have had more arguments with bricks and mortar shops over quality of goods than I have from eBay.

Trev

[Wavytone]

Alex over 10 years I have to concede everything I’ve purchased online has arrived - mostly fairly swiftly but there are exceptions that took aeveral weeks and in one case 8 months.

I have purchased a few small things from AliExpress - mainly lightbulbs and telescope parts - however they do take their time as it sees they use the cheapest shipping possible which means by slow boat from China (literally).

The stuff from eBay... generally from Japan or hong kong sellers and always new items clearly from an established store - never secondhand stuff from an individual - that much I would never trust.

The stuff I’ve bought and sold via Astromart... here you’re dealing with individuals mostly, however the incentive that keeps them honest is that most are long-term members - any fraud and they’re banned from the site.

There’s something else I’ve noticed too concerning Paypal - on expensive items (thousands of dollars) Paypal appears to implement some for of escrow. When you make a payment it, the payment is visible to the seller but they cannot access the funds immediately - the payment is withheld by Paypal until the seller provides positive evidence the item has been shipped and you’re able to verify the shipment independently via the carriers tracking number. This was how my purchase of the Santel mak was handled, though obviously they won’t do this for small items.

[xelasnave]

Originally Posted by Wavytone

Alex over 10 years I have to concede everything I’ve purchased online has arrived - mostly fairly swiftly but there are exceptions that took aeveral weeks and in one case 8 months.

I have purchased a few small things from AliExpress - mainly lightbulbs and telescope parts - however they do take their time as it sees they use the cheapest shipping possible which means by slow boat from China (literally).

The stuff from eBay... generally from Japan or hong kong sellers and always new items clearly from an established store - never secondhand stuff from an individual - that much I would never trust.

The stuff I’ve bought and sold via Astromart... here you’re dealing with individuals mostly, however the incentive that keeps them honest is that most are long-term members - any fraud and they’re banned from the site.

There’s something else I’ve noticed too concerning Paypal - on expensive items (thousands of dollars) Paypal appears to implement some for of escrow. When you make a payment it, the payment is visible to the seller but they cannot access the funds immediately - the payment is withheld by Paypal until the seller provides positive evidence the item has been shipped and you’re able to verify the shipment independently via the carriers tracking number. This was how my purchase of the Santel mak was handled, though obviously they won’t do this for small items.

Thank you Wavy for taking your time to share your experience and I must say that I greatly appreciate hearing what you have to say.

My daughter has explained paypal and I will probably start to come out of the dark ages. and get with the program.

I will have to control my impulsiveness as I tend to get very excited about something very fast ...like 3d printing for example and drones not to mention astronomy stuff in general...I got excited about some nikon camera that was dedicated for astronomy if I had the facility to buy it on line I probably would have and in reflection at the price..I recall $4500 approx and all it seemed was a large sensor and basically a slightly modded camera...and I could easily buy a zwo kit and I am not really ready for narrow band.

Still I would like to get some hub motors from China for my wheel chair as it seems I could have a light weight unit going that way...all the wheelchairs I have seen assume the client has a minder to lift it into the car, well there is just me and I would like something that I can manage...not that I need one but getting around the shopping center could become a pleasure again with one...and then again having left my walker in Sydney this time as I was so excited about loading all the astronomy gear tells me I probably should not be thinking about slacking but grit my teeth and bear it and hopefully they will get better..my legs.

It is amazing the benefit I find walking on the cold wet grass at night...particularly out and back looking at the clouds...uncovering the mount and covering it again.

Still a few more swords would be nice, and some armour, and a new triplet 100mm and a shovel three string guitar, maybe another three string guitar with a metal sounder box and a drone would be cool and a pointy hat.

.I nearly bought one two days ago it seemed to suit me like nothing else I have worn...but it needed paper to make it stand up.. I guess they dont make wizard hats like they once did... I went to buy some feltex, you know that stuff you put down when you just could not afford carpet..it would be great for a wizzard hat..but the guy laughted and said they had not made it for over 30 years.....

.I really owe myself some treats ..but I have so much junk now.

Anyways thanks again for there are few folk I take notice of in fact they have to be members here and you are certainly someone I highly respect.

alex

[el_draco (Rom)]

Its a simple case of "Buyer beware". ebay is as shonky as at the best of times. I tried it as a seller and some cretin decided to fry me. Turned our it was a serial prick and ebay would not kill the feedback. Have not sold on that system since. You have ZERO recourse.

Tried it as a buyer and have been scammed several times. Had to fight PayPal to pony up on each occasion. They did but I had to work them over for months!

[tlgerdes (Trevor)]

Originally Posted by el_draco

Had to fight PayPal to pony up on each occasion. They did but I had to work them over for months!

How long ago was that? Must have been many years, or wise they see you are from Tassie and just don't like you.

My 4 "complaints" in the last 2 years have been done and dusted within 4 weeks. Never had any fight with PayPal, they just ponied up the money.

[raymo]

Wavytone,
Paypal hold back all payments for 21 days, regardless of price, if the
seller is new to selling, or periodically inactive, or has not had a minimum
number of satisfactory transactions within a certain period of time; I forget
what the period is.
raymo