mbonner

I know it's a bit OT but many Rennlisters cruise and use e-bay so I'll tell my story.
Last month I placed a Nikon D1x camera on e-bay. The auction was won by one "Chaupa" for $1,781.00. This is a top level professional digital camera.
The buyer asked me to send him an invoice, which I did, and he placed the funds in my Paypal account. I sent him the tracking number for him to trace the parcel with the camera in it and 10 minutes later he e-mails me that he is refusing the camera, before it has left the post office, and then Paypal e-mails me my account is blocked because of non-shipment of camera or camera was not as described. Anyway I got the camera back and refunded the buyer's money and now e-bay send me an e-mail charging my Amex card $32.00 fees for the sale of my camera. Luckily I managed to cancel out my Amex card in time and will get a new card in 10 days.
Anyone here had this sort of experience?. You cannot retract your bid on ebay except under certain conditions which "Chaupa", real name Nguyen, did not meet.
Mike

Porsche-O-Phile

Ebay sucks now. I use them only as a last resort. Ever try selling anything on there? The fee structure has gotten so complicated it's almost not even worth it - especially for vehicles and other bigger dollar-value items.

I remember in 1996, 97, 98 when Ebay used to be awesome. Since then they've gotten very corporate, impersonal, stodgy and stupid. Use Rennlist classifieds for the car stuff!

mbonner

I would use the Rennlist classified, but like some others, I can't get into the classifieds even though I am a loyal paid-up P car driver!
John D, let's have some help here please so I can cruise the classifieds,
Mike

TRWright

Here's my rant:

I hate paypal. I had someone send me paypal for some wheels/tires. He was unable to pick the wheels up for about a month, so everything seemed to be okay. 3 weeks later or so, he shows up to pick up the wheels/tires, sees them, everything is cool, and the next day he did a chargeback on the paypal, and put my account on hold. I couldn't prove he had the merchandise bc I didn't have a tracking number to provide, since he picked them up in person. He would not answer to my emails, and I never got the money back. Here it is, 3 months later. I have his address, and I have reported this to the police, and I WILL show up at his door. Even showing paypal the police report, they refuse to do anything. I hate them with a passion.

Techno Duck

eBay is useless when you get scammed. I sent out payment for an item i won to a guy in Arizona. 3 weeks passed, no item. Sent many emails, they always told me they were sending it out the next day because it was out of stock. I stupidly played along, two months later, many phone calls and emails the guy disapeared. I filed a complaint with eBay, they didnt do anything. They gave me a dead phone number and basically said "This is all we can do, your on your own".

I have since learned to be careful of who i make my dealings with. On eBay i try to only buy or sell to people who have a reasonable feed back rating and who have been members for a long time.

mbonner

I looked up the buyer's feedback, but obviously only after the SOB won the auction. Not too good, one previous bid retraction and some negative comments. I guess he still thinks he's in a bazaar in Hanoi.
Mike

ckkrause

I've done about 70 deals on ebay, including 2 cars, and only one deal was bad. In that case, a guy sent me an alternator that stunk of gas and was different than that shown in his ebay auction(much poorer condition). Since I had already paid, I filed a complaint with ebay and included picutures and an email exchange I had with the seller. I got my Paypal acct. credited in full the next day. I think you need to avoid a lot of overpriced stuff from commercial operations and the "if it seems to good to be true....stuff, and be selective based on feedback. If you are selective, you can save much money and get good deals!!

My $0.02

-CKKrause

Dan87951

I had someone try and do something similiar to this to me so I mailed them an empty box just for the purpose of the tracking number and paypal kept the funds in my account. I can't believe meeting the guy in person, than having him do this to you. Some people these days its just unbelieveable! You really have to be careful on ebay. So far I have only had 2 transactions go bad but 1 was resolved while the other it was obvious the buyer was trying to rip me out of my money. Just curious what have the police done for you so far??

mbonner

This is Mike, if you are talking to me, I got my camera back and the Asian got his money back, no need for police, they can't help that my reputation is screwed with Paypal and now ebay because I refuse to pay ebay commisssion on a sale that never happened. I have bought stuff for years on ebay, this is the first and last time as a seller with ebay and will never deal with Paypal ever again. They are treating me as if I screwed the buyer instead of the other way around.
Mike

Mike C.

Although it isn't a guarantee, I only deal with people who have a long and perfect (or almost) record on feedback. This is the only way you can minimize your chances of becoming a victim of fraud. This should be the first thing to look at before you bid.

nineeagles

I always check the feedback.....alot of people who sell or buy 100's of items are bound to get something go wrong and not have a 100% positive feedback....I have bought quite a bit on E-bay with good luck.....some others obviously have had some bad experiences.....right now I am waiting on an item from "Blondde".....I believe this used to be "Partwerks" who were notorious for not shipping....I hven't baought anything from them for a long time so we will see if it arrives.....I was told it shipped....we'll see

H2

I lost $640 on eBay/PayPal last year on a transaction that the seller "skipped out on." The seller sold a bunch cheap items to get a "good rating" then listed a bunch of expensive items..sold them...and skipped out somehow. PayPal ONLY used automated emails to communicate with me, eBay eventually refunded me $175 (max they do) and PayPal walked. Large purchases on eBay/PayPal are not really guaranteed unless you pay a large fee in addition to the others...and even then someone can ship you an empty box and have receipts that show they shipped. Buyer beware.

H2

mtnman82

nineeagles - let us know how your transaction goes. I bought some key blanks from Blondde back in Feb and it took over a month to get them. But I finally did get them (after a bunch of emails which weren't returned for a many weeks). Apparently (supposedly) she has medical problems and is in/out of the hospital. I've been tempted to buy from her again, but haven't because of the last transaction.

89AZ944

Good luck with Blondde...That person has done bad business under serveral names. Just do a search on Blondde in ALL forums and see what comes up.....It ain't pretty

nineeagles

I got my gauges yesterday.....she said in an e-mail she was not allowed to work (Doctor's orders)....I am lucky to get my items from her I guess.....very tricky business.....I will hesitate to buy anything from her in the future because of this.....