eBay Ripp off

[jpmurphy]

Here's a warning to those of you shopping eBay and Craigs List for an outboard motor.

I puchased a 1965 35hp Johnson OB off of eBay. (It was actually a 33hp)
This was on March 3rd. March 4th paypal disbursed the funds to the seller.
One delay/ excuse after another and I still do not have the motor because it ain't comin'. This guy is/was operating out of Omaha. His published phone number is no longer in service. I found his address with a reverse number search but I doubt if he actually lives there. I am so angry that if it weren't for our blizzard right now I would make the run to Omaha and give him some internal ventilation. Actually the amount of money he took me for isn't worth doing jail time. And fishing season is opening in a few more weeks.

Heres a pic of the OB. If you see it advertised DON'T TOUCH IT AS YOU"LL NEVER GET IT !!!!

 

[cooter2506]

Re: eBay Ripp off

You are protectred through paypal. File a complaint and they will get your money back. They protect you up to $2000 dolars I beleive. I had same thing happen with an inflatable lawn ornament paid for it and never recieved it. Filed complaint and about two weeks later received my money back.

 

[erikgreen]

Re: eBay Ripp off

Yeah.

Paypal tends to believe the buyer. Period. I sold an item through ebay, it was sent to CA and arrived damaged and nonfunctional (according to the buyer). They requested their money back and didn't want to wait for an insurance claim or get it repaired... never mind the fact that I had never advertised a money back guarantee, and sold the item as-is.

After some round and round they filed a complaint with Paypal. As part of their resolution process Paypal reserves the right to unilaterally refund sales... so the buyer got her money back, and I got a slightly damaged item back (which turned out to be fully functional... one bent knob is all it had).

So since I've refused to pay paypal back for their decision to refund, they've closed my account, and that's the way I like it. They got partial payment because I sold another item just after the first, so they grabbed the money when it passed through my Paypal "account".

You should be able to get money back for fraud... unless Paypal is really evil, in which case they'll realize they can't get their money out of a seller who has "disappeared" so they'll refuse to refund.

Good luck, though.

 

[sickwilly]

Re: eBay Ripp off

This is why, if you ever sell anything, you must get proof of delivery and keep it. They can pop back into you life 6 months later, say they never received it and ask for proof, and if you can't provide it -- boom bam bing, PayPall refunds them.

You only learn that precious eBay lesson once!

Get your money back before he closes his paypall account!

 

[5150abf]

Re: eBay Ripp off

Ya, file a complaint with Pay Pal right away, it will take awhile but you should get your money back.

I bought something for $100 and it didn't work, tried to work things out with the seller but he told me to "suck it" so I filed a complaint, I don't know where the money came from but I got it back.

Having said that don't let it put you off Ebay, the vast majority of people will bend over backwards to make you happy and I haven't had any problems except that one and i have bought over a hundred things over the years, the biggest being a motorcycle for $3000.00.

 

[triumphrick]

Re: eBay Ripp off

Having said that don't let it put you off Ebay, the vast majority of people will bend over backwards to make you happy and I haven't had any problems except that one and i have bought over a hundred things over the years, the biggest being a motorcycle for $3000.00.

My son has gotten me to feel alittle more comfortable about buying there. We always look for 100% positive feedback, won't buy from anyone else. That's just me..

And I agree with the other posters..contact PayPal, now if not sooner!!

 

[scoutabout]

Re: eBay Ripp off

Sorry to hear that, Rick. If it makes you feel any better I'm among the walking ebay wounded as well to the tune of $1000 for a supercharger that was DOA from the troll that sold it to me. But the vast majority of my 60-70 odd other transactions have been good.

Sadly, by the time I got finished with the other motor work I was doing at the same time, the window of opportunity to register a complaint had passed. I tried to interest ebay nonetheless, but no dice.

Best of luck with yours - let us know how is turns out.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: eBay Ripp off

i have had excellant results with paypal, as a buyer, and seller. you have to keep records, and all emails.

 

[ddrieck]

Re: eBay Ripp off

Sorry to hear you are dealing with one of the few that make all the rest of us sellers look bad. File a PayPal dispute right away do not wait!!

With all the new eBay policies that have happed over the last year, PayPal disputes are one of the biggest and the do/will side with the buyer nearly 99% of the time.

Just my Cents..

 

[fishrdan]

Re: eBay Ripp off

Yeah, Ebay can be a fickled beast, but with Paypal you should get your money back,,, if Paypal can get their money back. I was hosed on a $25 deal one time and the seller said sorry, thanks for the money, can't send you the item, see PayPal for a refund. PayPal said seller closed account, no money refund to you with,,, even though they are sitting on a pile of money that would make Fort Knox blush. I NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, buy anything on Ebay/PayPal without using my credit card, then I have 2 forms of recourse.

 

[Howard Sterndrive]

Re: eBay Ripp off

I would like to add a bit of advice.
As a buyer, never maintain a Paypal balance.

If your Paypal balance is $0 at time of purchase, then 100% of the funds come from your credit card.

That way , if Paypal sides with the seller, and you still think you have a case, you can do a chargeback with your credit card company.

Chargebacks **** Paypal WAY off.... but after Paypal sided with a seller* that scammed me, I did a chargeback and got back $140 of a $200 boat cover purchase. I lost the $60 because at the time I bought the item, I had a Paypal balance of $60...... so my credit card company couldn't do anything about that.
(* seller that sent me a box with an old cargo net out of someone's trunk or some crap 3 months after the sale so they had a tracking number).

 

[ezmobee]

Re: eBay Ripp off

... unless Paypal is really evil, in which case they'll realize they can't get their money out of a seller who has "disappeared" so they'll refuse to refund.

This is what happened to me. Seller immediately withdrew his money so I never got mine back.

 

[Cap'n Pugwash]

Re: eBay Ripp off

My son has gotten me to feel alittle more comfortable about buying there. We always look for 100% positive feedback, won't buy from anyone else. That's just me..

And I agree with the other posters..contact PayPal, now if not sooner!!

Also look for the feedback over a number of years, new scammers quite often get friends to "buy" or "sell" stuff and give positive feedbacks, but they only work over a few months then move onto another username.

Don't be scared of a couple of negatives if the overall feedback is high 90's, sometimes the negative giver is a creep, check back on the person who gave the negative, you may find dozens of negatives against them, thatwill tell you which one is genuine.

We have purchased stuff through e-bay for years and only got scammed once, by the time we knew what was happening, e-bay did nothing for us! we couldn't even get them to reply promptly to our e-mails.

 

[jasper60103]

Re: eBay Ripp off

Sorry to hear. I hope you can find a nice motor locally. I'm always a little skeptical with ebay even though I've never been burned. I'm happy with craigslist. I like going to see first, then decide to buy or not.

 

[jpmurphy]

Re: eBay Ripp off

Yupe. I've done all of the above. Unfortuneatly, after the fact, I checked his positive feedbacks. They were his friends. You could see each name pop up on the other's feedback. The seller is no longer a registered user on eBay. His paypal account is no longer. PayPal is showing me nothing hopeful nor positive. My credit card company is "working on it". And I'm becoming angrier with each sun rise. I am accepting suggestions on what to name the baby.

I did post a nasty on craigs list, litttle good that'll do. As the saying goes, buyer beware, live and learn and I'm still kicking myself in the but for not taking action sooner.

I'm in such a funk right now I don't even feel like working on the boat !!!

 

[kenmyfam]

Re: eBay Ripp off

Sorry for the rough time you had. We have bought and sold a fair bit on e-bay using paypal. Luckily we have had no issues so far. It's the 1% that screw things up eh !!!!

 

[ebry710]

Re: eBay Ripp off

File a dispute immediately and only communicate with the seller using the paypal Resolution Center. They are great.

 

[wajajaja02]

Re: eBay Ripp off

you can file a complaint with the Omaha ,or Nebraska state police, if your credit card company didn't already, my neighbor work a con artist who did a scam selling stuff and not delivering on eBay , hes a detective for the NJ state police, they do work those cases. your motor may be in the $$felony range.

 

[jpmurphy]

Re: eBay Ripp off

For whatever reason, paypal is doing nothing. I spoke directly with my credit card company again and they are going to credit my card for the entire purchase. May take until next billing cycle, but at least I'm getting money back. Now I'm back to working on the boat and shopping for another motor.
This time I'm leaning toward "if I can't reach out and touch it" I'm not going to buy it.

 

[jasper60103]

Re: eBay Ripp off

Hey, that's great news!