gsm1

I'll try and make it as short as possible.
Sold a high priced electrical item over a month ago. Winning bidder had no rating and less than 30 days history - always a bit suspect! He emailed first because I ask new zero rated bidders to do this.

Next thing - he says he is working abroad on a ship and won't be back till late in the year - more alarm bells ringing. Further, he can't be contacted as he is working on a ship and I'm not to be concerned if I don't always get emails from straight away as he only has access when he gets to shore - yeah, right!

He emails me telling me is having trouble increasing his amount on Paypal without providing the security code off his credit card statement, which is always the case. Amazingly, the money turns up in my Paypal account. I'm obviously still suspicious so I'm not going to send the stuff out yet. The day after the money arrives, Paypal email me to inform me that I may have been the victim of a fraudulent transaction and have reversed the transaction. Meanwhile Mr Joker is emailing me telling me that I should have the money and to send the goods to his UK address and make it FAO his flat mate's name.

Days have passed and I've now processed a non paying bidder entry and subsequently a credit entry to make sure I get the commission back. Joker man emails me with threatening and abusive emails claiming that Paypal have paid me and my processing of non-payment may mean that he won't get his money back from Paypal.

Next, he reports me to Ebay for not having received the goods! Now, Paypal and Ebay work together, surely? They know that this guy has tried a fraudulent transaction but they still allow him to report me? Just yesterday (30 days later) Paypal place the money back into my account - but don't email me to inform me of this. Mr Joker emails me apologising for previous emails and says I should have the money back in my account now and to send the goods out. I emailed back asking for him to verify his delivery address with Paypal and also to provide a BT landline number at the postal address. Today, Paypal, the cheeky baskets, send me an email that their user (Mr Joker) has not received his goods and filed a complaint against me to get his money back. This, less than 24 hours after putting the money back into my account. Meanwhile Paypal and Ebay have not responded to emails I have sent them.
To be continued.....

type-r-stan

ebay owns paypal !! so they should be able to sort it out.. they are taking the pi*s.

Put it back on thursday.. free listing day.

PeteD

I had something similiar just today. Sold a Nokia 7200 to someone in Indonesia. They wanted it posted to a 'friends' house as it was supposed to be a birthday present. I receive PayPal payment, set up the transfer to my account and post the phone this afternoon. Come home from work and I've got the same email from PayPal saying I may be in receipt of fraudulent funds!!!! I'm hoping that I can stop the parcel seeing as it was only posted a matter of hours ago? Fingers crossed.......

Scooby96

Free listing day if you start it at between 1p and 99p!

gsm1

PeteD, the 'buying for a friend' from Indonesia is one of the oldest. Always limit your auctions to certain destinations, otherwise you'll end up having every auction ruined by a handfull of crooks in Indonesia - they are very active on Ebay.

PeteD

Still waiting to find out whats fraudulent about the payment?? Also I may have caught Royal Mail just in time....... phew!!!

gsm1

Right, here's a warning to anyone else using Ebay and Paypal. Forget what they tell you, whatever happens they will p*ss on you from a great height.
On Sunday Paypal reversed a suspected fraudulent payment made to me and put the funds back into my account (without informing me by email). On Monday they sent me a warning claiming the buyer had filed a complaint for not receiving the goods and claiming I was not responding to his emails. In this warning they gave me 10 days to resolve the matter or the funds may be taken out of my account. Now, 2 days later, they have already taken the funds back out of my account!!! If I had sent the goods meanwhile I would be up plop creek.
Totally p*ssed off.

hybwrx2002

Never send to indonesia. Stay safe and only send within the UK and to people with a UK land line. i tend to ask for a landline number, ring em up to check them out.

messiah

Despite ebay being a useful place to get rid of unwanted stuff - it's got it's fair share of fraudsters & ar5eholes.

I'd leave it a couple of weeks before sending anything - if he's abroad he can't use it anyway and he can only give you 1 lot of negative feedback... and it's shocking you can't do anything about it - a bloke gave me bad feedback once because I wouldnt send him his goods before he paid for them.

It's more and more common that see a note at the bottom of an auction saying "no bids accepted from buyers with a rating less than 10"

ProperCharlie

gsm - so did he do a credit card reverse *twice*, or did paypal take the money back because he complained that you hadn't dispatched the goods?

the system that allowed cc reverses and paypal to withdraw money that has already gone into your account is an absolute bonus for scammers.

minor_threat

If you do a lot of trade on ebay sign up for an account with 192.com, and carry out searches on the buyer's details to confirm their address is legitimate and they are registered on the electoral role. You can also get free credits on 192.com by visiting some of their sponsor's websites, if you only want to do a couple of searches.

This helps to sift out the stupid fraudsters who are too thick to cover their tracks when using false addresses/accommodation addresses. Of course, they could be on the electoral role using a false identity but it gives a little credence to verifying they are who they say they are.

In my line of work I hear so many stories of people getting ripped off from online auctions that I advise my friends never to do trade outside the UK and be weary of buyers with no history. The advice by Hybwrx2002 is good advice to follow.

Freak

agreed
Im selling a dj setup at the mo- got a mail from a newly registered user with 0 feedback/transactions asking me to end it early offline.

I requested cash only- no cheque and no paypal, as he was a new user.
Havent heard from him again- i suspect he was abroad anyway, as his english was abysmal

I sell a lot, but im increasingly wary of ever more clever scams and would be scammers

gsm1

PC, on this second reversal of the funds, Paypal have not emailed me to say that the payment was removed because of fraud. They didn't email me at all, so I could have sent the goods out between Sunday and now and never known.

For any high priced item I always ask for a BT landline. Yes, you can also use 192.com. Don't just check the feedback rating but check the items they have bought and how long they have been on Ebay, because the scammers are getting more sophisticated. They will register on Ebay under hundreds of different identities and buy many low priced items to build up a feedback, they may wait months or even a year or more and then pull a fast one.

Just last year, not on Ebay, some fraudsters tried to order just under 7k worth of computer equipment with my CC and have it delivered to my address - so everything would check out! Obviously they were going to intercept the parcels somehow, either by having some connection with the local delivery guy or sitting nearby in their car and pulling into the drive as the delivery guy turned up.

gsm1

Is there any way of calling Paypal? Does anyone have a number for them?

The silly sods have just made me pay the £65 odd quid commission on the fraudulent transaction. Their appeal system only allows you 2 options to choose from and is pointless.

CraigH

I've had similar problems - they're very quick to take their commissions but have got loads of get out clauses for paying you back.

Tell them to sod off re the bill, explain why and send them the evidence.

gsm1

Craig, I've just done that. You go through a process where you select the relevant heading and sub-heading for your query, none of which are relevant but you choose the closest. I gave them all the details in the 1000 character max box, made sure it was all correct, then went to submit...whoops.... need to sign in again...account has been idle for too long...signed in....'error - page not displayed'. Ffffffffffffffffff...........

Had to re-write and submit, this time making a copy before submission!