Eli at Pelican

I have a person who basically ripped me off over ebay....

He told me that he wanted to end his auction early to give me a pair of 996 Sport seats for $1600.00....

I paid the $250.00 in shipping via PayPal and put the seats in as COD

Needless to say they arrived and the receiving clerk handed DHL the money orders for $1600.00.

WHEN I INSPECTED THEM I THEN FOUND THEM TO BE THE REGULAR NON-SPORT SEATS.....

This guy had a picture of Sport Seats in his ad including the words "Sport Seats!!!!

The question I have is: Since the transaction was here in California (COD) can I file a small claims case locally? If so then I'd like to get a judgement against him so he'll most likely default and I'll at least knotch his "Credit Report" once I sell it to a collections company.

Thanks for your help,

-Eli

perrys7342

Eli,

The first step should be to report him for fraudulent advertising to the eBay Security Center online. They will investigate. You do have to show them that you have made an attempt with the seller to seek a refund or adjustment as a first step. You can't immediately jump to any legal resolution until you have exhausted corrective action with the seller and eBay.

Perry

DonW-Cape Cod

That's a bummer. Keep a copy of everything related to this issue. Make a copy of the ebay listing, responses, etc. Did the guy have decent feedback??

Eli at Pelican

This guy had a 100% rating that convinced me to do an "Outside of ebay" transaction....

This is where I got screwed.....

ebay won't assist (this is understandable)

-Eli

Eli at Pelican

Have you ever tried to deal with ebay? Its a real nightmare. I had a solid case on a guy who sent me a single turbo unit instead of a twin turbo set up. Even though I had a file folder with everything from e-mails to listings and documented phone calls and times ebay would not help. They refered me to square trade!!!! After going round and round with them for over 4 months I just called it a loss and moved on. I don't dislike the concept of ebay and some of the honest people out there but ebay really needs some changes to better assist their supporters.

-Eli

Eli at Pelican

By the way here's the original listing......


http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...RK%3AMEWA%3AIT

perrys7342

Eli,

As you indicated, when you agreed to an "Outside of eBay" transaction, any disagreement is basically an ordinary dispute between buyer and seller. I would again ask for refund or exchange, recognizing that you will likely have to pay return shipping.

As a business, not a legal matter, when you agreed to payment by "Collect on Delivery" (COD) you accepted a right and assumed a responsibility to inspect the goods before payment and return them without payment if they were not satisfactory. Since the clerk accepted them on your behalf with turnover of a negotiable instrument, the delivery agent had the right to believe the goods were acceptable as delivered.

The seller would appear (by eBay feedback) to be a reputable source and presumably the photos of the product were accurate representation of the seats being sold. Again, if you are unsatisifed for any reason, a reputable seller would normally accept the seats back as long as they were in a "condition as sold" and you agreed to the return shipping.

And yes, I have dealt with eBay before and in my last sale transaction refunded the buyer the full price and shipping cost of a computer printer described and sold "as is" when he said it would not print satisfactorily with a new cartridge. I let him keep the computer printer free and even refunded the cost of shipping...just to maintain my 100 percent feedback rating even though I believe he scammed me on this modest transaction since the printer was working fine in a business environment before shipment.

These are some of the risks you take with any online or non- face to face transaction.

Perry

EZRider

Eli, I second your opinion on Ebay. It's a great place to shop if nothing goes wrong. But overall Ebay is designed in the best interest for sellers. I just tried to alert Ebay about a a very obvious scam posted on their list. They are just not interested unless I lost my own money first. So I have no way of alerting a potential victim of this obvious rip-off. The number of scams going on there must be staggering.

perrys7342

Peter,

There is a way to alert eBay about possible scam listings while they are still ongoing. Most of eBay "security" actions can't be submitted until the auction is over. However, I have submitted a couple to the eBay Security Center on obvious scams involving Porsche listings.

The latest was a week or so ago where the listing was for a 2003 Turbo X50 with a description indicating "Buy it for $21K" as I recall. The photos were of a regular 996 Coupe. The listing location was Idaho and the Seller ID had a good feedback rating which when you looked at it were all "Nickel & Dime" trinkets...nothing about highline cars.

When I notified the seller that the listing was inaccurate from picture to description, the seller shortly thereafter pulled the listing. He already had bids up to $38K...far beyond his "offer" of $21K.

3 Days later, the exact same listing appeared both description and photo but using a different Seller ID and a photo with location on the East Coast. Even though the listing had not "closed", I notified the eBay Security Center even though their preformatted categories didn't fit, and the next day they pulled the listing.

But it takes persistence to weed out these guys and they apparently have no way of stopping them from fraudulently using legitimate Seller ID's that have good feedback rating to enhance their scam.

There was also a similar one a few months ago for a almost new 911..."Car in US, Seller had to return to the Far East..." so another scam using another legitimate Seller's ID. That one actually showed a car on a Dealer's Lot!

As Always, it's "Buyer Beware"...

Perry

EZRider

Yes I have done that part. Sent them email and they acknowledged with the words "will investigate". That's it nothing more and that scam is still intact on the list. The "lister" is a huge Ebay Motor seller so I am sure this will get shoved under the rug. He also sells tons of Porsches! If you are currently shopping for another Porsche and want to avoid this dealer email me for his name. It's the least I can do for Rennlist members.

EDIT: I sent a warning email to this dealer that I spotted his scam. He never responded.

Eli at Pelican

Peter,

That's a pitty.... ebay is crappy with doing anything to assist it's customers and I think with all the fees that they make they can really afford to do more. Of course they don't really care, they are out to make a huge profit off all who enter.....

-Eli

Moogle

are you going to resell those normal seats on ebay?

just giving you a hard time

that really sucks, ebay is full of dishonest people, I can't understand all the rave reviews that people i know give ebay.

if ebay won't help, it is too much of a pain in the *** to go after the guy

I would call it a loss and move on.

at least you won't make the same mistake again.

Eli at Pelican

Actually I listed my old set on ebay last night “again”, “funny you should ask”…..

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...RK%3AMESE%3AIT

I’ll see what I can recoup after spending $1600.00 on a set that was identical to mine!

-Eli