TomBoyNI

iTrader: (3)

I don't wish to jump the gun here so if I am wrong I apologise if not then everyone else be wary!

A good few weeks ago I put up a wanted for a rear ashtray for a classic impreza - Scoobowner - came forward and offered me one at a tenner, the money was tranferred via a bank transfer to his account, which happens to be the same bank as mine, this was about three weeks ago, no ashtray ever arrived, I have sent 4 pms and an email to him requesting updates but never got a reply back but yet when I was looking to pay a reply only ever took like six or seven hours Max!

My question is this, has anyone had any dealings with him or even know him so them can give him a heads up and get my ashtray posted or have him refund me?

Or if you are reading this will you send me over what I have paid for, and if you are reading this and laughing about it then whatever it is only a tenner just.everyone else be careful as thankfully mine is only a small purchase and it is easy to make a big purchase when it comes to cars.

I have bought other things from sellers on here that all went perfectly so it is no reflection on the site or other sellers I just think everyone should be aware of the less that perfect ones or those that may be even worse!

Obviously if I am mistaken please accept my apologies and I will of course edit the post to reflect this bit it shouldn't be too difficult for a reply!

dj219957

mental note to myself: NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER buy ANYTHING off this forum.

Jamie120182

i would say most of the people on this forum are honest and above board, but you will always get the few that will abuse it. Your best bet is to do a bit of a background check to ensure they are genuine enthusiasts. if not then you take the risk and for big purchases you should really try and meet up even though its easier to post

Stig67

iTrader: (2)

i have some good buy,s off scoobynet,,,there is some good sellers on here there not all bad ones ,,,look at there sales and feedback 1st

dj219957

id say more than a few latley. but yes you really do need to buy off people with high post counts or buy from the for sale section only.

MrNoisy

iTrader: (28)

I always use Paypal mate. Gives you some comeback then...

danssti

I to always use paypal or personnal collection is the best way.




dan

Tomwrx

iTrader: (54)

only if u pay the fees, if its sent as a gift then theres no come back,

Lisawrx

iTrader: (1)

This is kind of the point, do a bit research first and help yourself. We have implemented the I-Trader feature to at least assist members, that however is only helpful if people use it, so please do so.

This is also why we have locked down the trading areas to paying members only. This was not done to make money as some would like to assume, but to try and deter scammers and to give us a better paper trail should things go wrong.

We are trying to help cut down on scamming, but nothing is fool proof and still requires our genuine members to be careful when dealing with others. Short of abandoning any for sale area, there is no way to absolutely stop scammers. As sad as it is for me to say, dishonest people will always exist. All we can do as members and mods is our best to protect ourselves.

All that said, I am not saying the member mentioned has actually scammed the op as there could be a genuine reason for the delay (obviously I don't know what) and I'm also not saying the op has himself to blame in any way. What I have posted is a general reply.

I genuinely hope this is resolved.

53

iTrader: (41)

I have an ashtray if you still need one V2 STi

Steve_PPP

iTrader: (3)

I've bought loads of stuff of this forum and never had a problem with anyone. There might be a few bad apples out there, but i've always had more problems with other places like ebay than here!

Remember its summer holiday time as well - might have gone away for a couple of weeks. Yes a message would be nice, but hey, it might turn up

dan83590

Last activity - 30 July 19:46

timmyajmy93wrx

iTrader: (27)

sorry to join in here, but think same has happened to me from Tom Chaplin aka 555tom.
I bought facelift bonnet vents & a zerosports undertray from him for £45, paid paypal (as a gift..... i know now....) & he told me its being sent via DHL & will be with me monday, then its monday/tuesday & now its wednesday. He does not reply to pm's, his inbox is now full & has not forwarded a tracking number yet i have asked for one. Its now wednesday & no delivery as of yet. So i am getting very suspicious that i too have been robbed.

Why do you get people like this on here? its so feckin frustrating. - I know its only a day late but from the way he can not be bothered to reply or forward a tracking number & now i realise why he asked for paypal as a gift so i am fubard about getting my money back..... its not adding up.

If it turns up today (i will be very surprised & will take all this back - but can't see that happening....i just hope he can prove me wrong.)

daz1968

iTrader: (13)

I have always been lucky on here, both in buying and selling, sometimes myself as a seller have had a genuine reason for a slight delay as things can happen, but if a very expensive item I would travel to collect as I would want to at least see what I am buying before parting with to much money,

midnight

iTrader: (10)

Dont jump the gun yet mate ,i used to be a special delivery(priority services) manager at royal mail and know there can be hold ups when trying to deliver parcels. I recently sent a prodrive ecu and Y pipe to a guy who lives in the czech republic .He paid £300 in to my account and i sent it through dhl (on a 5 day service),and forwarded him the tracking number. After 5 weeks he contacted me telling me he had not received it.From his point of view it must of looked dodgy,but after contacting dhl ,i found that they had tried to deliver his item ,but could not find his address,so i forwarded his phone number and it was sorted the following day.

I can understand your frustration though, as most people when they buy something,they pay immediatley. So you dont mind if your parcel is late ,as long as the seller lets you know. I have bought 2 items off scoobynet ,and luckily for me the guy lived 11 miles away,so was able to meet him,but when i bought my vf28 turbo i drove 112 miles to meet the guy(warning him that if it was not mint,as he had said - he would be paying my petrol)and when i got there it was as he described.
Woody however also bought a vf28 turbo off this site ,and got well and truely shafted, by the seller.
For every 98 genuine people out ,there will always be 2 who will try and rip you off imho.

Myles

iTrader: (40)

I cant see how this could be construed as a money maker, you either want to be a paid member or you dont.

harvey

iTrader: (48)

Most people on here are straight forward but it is spoiled by a minority that are scammers or use the forum to dump stuff that is knowingly defective, whether it be an engine or a gearbox or just a coil pack.
If Tomboy looses out on a tenner he will be that much wiser in future but there is no effective sanction to prevent scammers. Asking for money to be paid to a third party, by postal order payments or requests for Paypal as a gift should set alarm bells ringing.
I am currently assisting a fellow Scooby owner, member on here from Sweden, done over on a set of STi heads. It appears that the vendor, also a member on here has a VERY poor reputation but nobody has done anything about it yet.

Scoobynet would be a far better place for Subaru enthusiasts if more effort was put into preventing scammers and other dishonest elements. I know it is a difficult area but members interests should be elevated from where they are now. Scoobynets position is that they commercially provide a forum and after that it is up to you.

Tom. On what date did you actually pay?

Does anyone know who scoobowner is or any other feedback?


P.S. Yes Lisa. I smiled when I saw that S/Net followed the lead set by Tyne Tees Scoobies.

The Zohan

Spot on!

Mus

iTrader: (2)

i have also bought loads of stuff here and to be honest no problems so far, you just got to check the sellers back ground.

daddyscooby

iTrader: (1)

ive bought a few bits on here also with no problems its just a shame that there are a few people out there that will spoil it for everyone else.

TomBoyNI

iTrader: (3)

Hi thanks for the feedback guys and to be honest even with paypal there are pitfalls such as the gift thing, and the chances of actually getting your money back on a normal paypal transaction are limited by the fact if the money is withdrawn paypal can not actually get it back out.

In relation to mine I think it was about the thirtheen I paid him, but I'm not at a compute to comfort that but as the twelfth is a holiday here I believe it was the thirteenth, still keeping my fingers crossed though!

dan83590

If paying by PayPal and someone asks for it to be sent as a gift tell them you won't do that, say you will send it as normal plus the PayPal fees. Also add a note as to what the payment is for and when you expect the delivery. That way you have a better chance of getting your money back if you are being scammed.

This is what I did with dodgy SNet member 'GPD'. This guy scammed me as he is obviously a Wan#er but PayPal refunded me very quickly when nothing arrived in the post.

stef_2010

iTrader: (3)

scammed for a tenner ?

If the boy needed it that bad I would have gave him it myself

MrNoisy

iTrader: (28)

Yep - but then if you're prepared to pay the person as a gift, you might as well just send them cash in an envelope!

Paulo P

iTrader: (42)

You have a pm The ashtray has been sent.

TomBoyNI

iTrader: (3)

Well that seems like good news thus far and seems that the guy may be decent enough and it is Royal Mail who may be the scammers, I will contact the seller and see what the craic is, good to see though that in these times of less than legit people they do not yet outweigh the decent!

nick172sport

iTrader: (6)

i had to wait three months before i got my mudflaps sent royal mail they said they where lost so the seller reimbursed me and 3 months later they turn up i then had to reinburse the sellar right **** up

neil1980

iTrader: (2)

Paypal do reverse transaction even if the person has withdrawn money all thet happens the persons paypal account goes overdrawn i got bummed and had to ring paypal n they told me all ins n outs wot can n can't be done.

Paulo P

iTrader: (42)

I've had something I sold go missing for a month with Royal Mail I thought it was long gone and was in the process of refunding the buyer when it arrived. You can't trust Royal Mail and it's why I prefer to have stuff collected now.

Lisawrx

iTrader: (1)

TTS is a wise place.

I hear what you say, but other than our measures so far, what would you suggest? I am certainly not closed to suggestions by members.

The whole point of closing the For Sale area was to help protect members, and this now has been extended to the Wanted section too (as that was becoming a playground for scammers). The I-Trader system was also another measure (e-bay like) to try to give information to potential sellers/buyers about the type of person they were dealing with (this alone was not enough as it needs to be used and also everyone has to start somewhere).

Going by post counts/time served alone is also not enough on it's own as we have had at least on scenario whereby a person fitting the above took a good few people for a ride. I guess at times it depends on where making money by ripping people off ranks above a persons membership and desire to keep using the site.

I'm not going to claim I have all the answers, but we can only try to put measures in place to minimise risk, and if we can, help people should they need to take things further which comes down to them asking and us being able to (the idea of making people pay so we have more details-more than just a username and e-mail address).

The whole scamming issue can be complicated (plenty threads turn out to be a misunderstanding/bad communication, then there are some that turn out to have two very different sides). It is not easy to eradicate the problem and as said before, short of stopping any form of trading, all we can do is keep making changes to attempt to help, and taking on board suggestions from our genuine members. One thing I will say is (and some people can like it or not), what has been cut down aside from scams is the sheer amount of people who just simply sign up here just to sell, adding absolutely nothing to the community. This is a forum for enthusiasts first, not some dressed up free classifieds.

As an add on, and absolutely no dsrespect to anyone from times gone by, but at one time, any thread about scamming used to get vaped, we at least allow discussion of problems people have encountered.

To pick up on an important point you made, the vast majority of people on here aren't in the game of scamming. When considering the amount of trading that happens on here, the problem is quite small, but in my opinion small or not we should do our best to help as much as possible. Buyer beware always applies, as we can't hold people's hands and make every decision for them, but if we can put measures in place to deter dishonest people, we will.

As said earlier (in this massively long post ) if anyone can offer any other suggestions, feel free and if workable, I'm sure they will be taken on board. I'm sure what some people don't realise is that measures so far have largely been a combination of our wish to combat scamming and the suggestions of members. They have not been IB money making tools.