nraponi

Hiya
Starting to think I've been scammed on ebay as I've heard nothing for a week after paying for some goods. Worse I've been contacted by another buyer from the same person saying they've heard nothing after paying for an item too - a week earlier. He also says he's spoken to another purchaser with a similar story and the sellers account is no longer valid on ebay.

Paid via a bank transfer, what can I do? Sent a note to ebay and got an absolutely useless response that basically said they're doing sweet FA.

Any help appreciated.

Nick

Alas

Been a lot of it recently. All you'll get back is up to £120 - £15 admin fee. if they find the complaint in your favour. Was it a lot of cash like a watch/phone etc?

nraponi

Arghh. £280 quid. Given I've got the bank details it was paid into isn't there anyway of tracing the individual?

kammy

Is there no way you can cancel the payment? with paypal its five days.
Best of luck
Kam

Alas

Never heard of one yet. I paid by Paypal and still got caught out but only got the amount back of £105.
Seems like ebay/paypal can't or won't do anything.
Now I'll only buy where Paypal protection is listed and minimum of 50 + positive feedback.
Really annoying is'nt it.

nraponi

Is there no way of gettign the police to deal with what is obviously fraud? From looking at listings hes could well have fleeced 10-15 people for something like 4.5k in total. Am I missing something in thinking that he should be tracable through the account details?

Nick

Alas

I would think his bank account will be closed as soon as the money is out. Identity etc will be false and the thieving gits will probably get away with it. Don't think police would have the time or inclination to go after them.
The frauds are so easy to spot in some cases as tonight for instance there are 3 phones for sale from the same guy ending within 10 mins of each other. All popular models and over £500 bid already although the guy has zero feedback.
Bad luck m8 but think you'll just have to chalk it up to experience.

boxst

Hello

Is it that easy? I tried to open a bank account the other day and I need all sorts of identification. I thought they were going to ask for a blood sample at some stage...

Steve.

CrisPDuk

IMO the biggest scammers operating on there ARE paypal

BuRR

Paypal will only usually refund you if the other party has the funds in their paypal account - I don't think they can charge the bank card linked to the account without the account holder's permission. All to do with the merchant's code of practice or something.

Luminous

iTrader: (3)

What's this about being able to cancel a Paypal payment up to 5 days after payment. As a new Seller, I thought I was safe as soon as I had received payment through Paypal?

nraponi

I can't believe its that easy to get away with this. Yet another case that makes you wonder why we should be bothering to be law abiding etc when it's made so easy to get away with this sort of thing.

I (obviously wrongly) assumed that I would be reasonably safe given I'd got bank account details.

Seriously p****d off.

Suresh

E-bay is cheaper than an established retailer for a very good reason! (not that this helps you, Nick).

Should the police be able to tear themselves away from their traffic enforcement work , they should be able to find the scammer from the bank account and launch an investigation. Should ask all those who have been scammed to report the crime and then ask the police to cross-reference the cases. Reckon there is more chance of something being done if 3 crimes are reported rather than one.

Good luck

Suresh

BuRR

What's difficult is the fact that banks don't (and won't) tend to release the account holder's information without a court order.

CrisPDuk

If a buyer complains to ebay that they have paid, but not received their goods (even when they have), Paypal automatically refund the buyers payment from the sellers a/c. It is then up to the seller to prove that they shipped the goods in question Scammers charter IMO

Luminous

iTrader: (3)

Holy carp!! This eBay lark seems to be just one large scam. How is a seller going to prove that the goods arrived ??!! All a seller can do is to prove that a recorded delivery was actually made. They cannot prove what was inside!!

chiark

Nick, get onto the police. Post the sortcode of the account you paid and I'll tell you the branch - you might be best off contacting their local police too, just incase their known to them. You won't get any joy with the branch because of the DPA, but you might get some form of joy from them.

For sellers, Paypal is awful - there's no protection unless seller's protection is in place, which is not guaranteed. Basically, if a buyer charges back a paypal payment you're stuffed and need to revert to a civil case against the buyer.

nraponi

Thanks Nick,
The sort code was 11-00-94.

Nick