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[jjleonard]

I won't go into huge detail, as it's too damn irritating to go through it at the moment, but....

I offered a laptop for sale on ebay this week. Towards the end of the auction, someone 'bought it now'. I checked the account, 66 feedback, 100% positive.
I got a message from the user that they would want to collect the item.
They sent a payment by paypal, that was instantly cleared.
They collected the item, i trasnferred the cash to my bank.

Next day - I got a message from ebay warning me that the ebay user's account had been misused, and to not 'post any items that had been sold'.

Then - I got a message from paypal that the account had been misused, and the payment was suspended pending an investigation.

In summary, I'm out one laptop, and have no cash. I was royally suckered. Someone hacked an ebay AND a paypal account, and I lost out.

LEARN FROM MY MISTAKE:

1. NEVER let anyone pay by paypal and then collect. CASH ONLY.
2. Check the details carefully. I realised (too late) that the paypal payment had come from a different email account than that associated with the ebay account. However, the person who hacked the paypal account changed the userid so it matched the ebay username. In reviewing it quickly, it looked legit.

The police won't get involved unless requested by paypal - quote: "We get thousands of these a year, unless paypal can give us concrete evidence then we don't have the resources to investigate".

However, one thing that winds me up - ebay is set up to protect the buyer (understood) more than the seller. I had a very hard time indeed getting enough detail in the selling process from ebay to check the identity of the purchaser. In future, anybody who buys something from me pays cash and / or provides photo ID before they get a damned thing.

Overall, not a perfect start to the weekend.  

[waspy]

That stinks mate. I hope you get the problem resolved & soon.

I don't suppose you managed a look at their car or more importantly, reg #?

[Lizzie_Zoom]

Sorry to hear all that.  I can understand you being right pissed off!

It just confirms to me that using E-Bay is fraught with risk, and that is why I have only once used it, and then only to purchase from a  reputable dealer.

[immx]

Sorry to here that mate!

I think anyone who has used ebay for a while has been done over in one way or another!

Personally Ive been done twice now but when buying things. What I would say is don't give up, keep chasing paypal and you may get your money back.

[jjleonard]

That stinks mate. I hope you get the problem resolved & soon.

I don't suppose you managed a look at their car or more importantly, reg #?

Nope. Dammit. Apparently it was a white escort, but no reg (the G/F spotted it pulling up). It's not the first one by this bloke either - another ebayer contacted me to let me know they got done too.

I just know i'll never see him or the laptop again. Best written off to experience.

[Lazydocker]

That's a real tough break!

TBH I've been using Ebay for years and have never had any real problems. I did have someone turn up to buy my 53 plate Vectra who then tried knocking me down... He'd driven from S Wales and wanted to knock me down by £2k... Told him to break off, re-listed it an a really nice chap came down from Birmingham, paid straight up and told me he was over the moon as all the ones he'd looked at were about £1500 more

I've bought 5 or 6 cars trough eBay now and had only good experiences. It's not all bad but.... There's always a couple of tossers to ruin it for the rest of the users

[Techno]

Sorry to hear this mate but this is an all too common problem and will more than likely get worse as the recession bites.  I've been caught once myself on a kids computer game it would appear most scams seem to be with electronic games/items or things that are hard to get hold of.

As with most things in life if it looks to good to be true it probably is!

I've also had the opposite as a seller I've been paid for an item which was a seller collect, he contacted me saying he would be in touch not heard another thing even after contacting three times that was 6 months ago....!  

[TheBoy]

I offered a laptop for sale on ebay this week.

How many times do I have to keep banging on about this  :-?

Never, ever, ever, ever deal in high value electronic goods (mobiles, laptops, pdas) on ebay.  You WILL get hit.


I'm sorry to be bearer of bad news, but you have lost your laptop with little chance of seeing it or your money.


Ebays rules are not much different from selling laws, which are all heavily biased towards buyer/consumer. As a seller on ebay, you're treated as if you were a business outside of ebay - ie, hardly any rights (actually, ebay are a little better than that).


I sincerely hope that people learn from your mistake, though seeing as I keep repeating myself, I guess they won't  

[Mr Skrunts]

I agree wih TB.  I have only ever made 1 sale on Ebay and irt was for a laptop.  Sold it to a guy who said he had just moxed the the UK to start a new job etc and expectedted me to send the laptop and wanted to pay later.  NO WAY.

Then got some really negative post and spoilt my 100% record.  He got 6 more negatives and lef.

For that reason I have never attempted to sell on Ebay again.

[jjleonard]

I offered a laptop for sale on ebay this week.

How many times do I have to keep banging on about this  :-?

Never, ever, ever, ever deal in high value electronic goods (mobiles, laptops, pdas) on ebay.  You WILL get hit.


I'm sorry to be bearer of bad news, but you have lost your laptop with little chance of seeing it or your money.


Ebays rules are not much different from selling laws, which are all heavily biased towards buyer/consumer. As a seller on ebay, you're treated as if you were a business outside of ebay - ie, hardly any rights (actually, ebay are a little better than that).


I sincerely hope that people learn from your mistake, though seeing as I keep repeating myself, I guess they won't  

TB - this is the second laptop I've sold. First guy was delighted with it, was a proper legit buyer, and it was a pleasant experience.

I absolutely agree that there are scammers around; my problem was not asking for cash on collection, and I've certainly learnt my lesson!

Granted, the paypal / ebay rules are more likely to protect the buyer, rather than the seller. It's certainly not something I'm keen to repeat, in any case.

I posted my experience on here purely to act as a warning to those who have been lucky so far - the more sales you manage successfully, the more trusting you become, and eventually you get caught.

My mistake - thankfully the laptop I sold was given to me by my last company when I left, so I've only lost the money I would have made on the sale.

[TheBoy]

I offered a laptop for sale on ebay this week.

How many times do I have to keep banging on about this  :-?

Never, ever, ever, ever deal in high value electronic goods (mobiles, laptops, pdas) on ebay.  You WILL get hit.


I'm sorry to be bearer of bad news, but you have lost your laptop with little chance of seeing it or your money.


Ebays rules are not much different from selling laws, which are all heavily biased towards buyer/consumer. As a seller on ebay, you're treated as if you were a business outside of ebay - ie, hardly any rights (actually, ebay are a little better than that).


I sincerely hope that people learn from your mistake, though seeing as I keep repeating myself, I guess they won't  

TB - this is the second laptop I've sold. First guy was delighted with it, was a proper legit buyer, and it was a pleasant experience.

I absolutely agree that there are scammers around; my problem was not asking for cash on collection, and I've certainly learnt my lesson!

Granted, the paypal / ebay rules are more likely to protect the buyer, rather than the seller. It's certainly not something I'm keen to repeat, in any case.

I posted my experience on here purely to act as a warning to those who have been lucky so far - the more sales you manage successfully, the more trusting you become, and eventually you get caught.

My mistake - thankfully the laptop I sold was given to me by my last company when I left, so I've only lost the money I would have made on the sale.

Consider yourself lucky that 1 of the 2 sales was successful

[mkaminski100]

TB - what's the best place to sell electronic items other than E-Bay?
Last week the "Watchdog" bought knives on USA E-Bay and just because contacted police (knives were seized by them), E-bay UK said that their UK search engines are crap but I can't believe that they were not aware of the problem.
Now this - who made this payment? Was it from hacked bank account?

[TheBoy]

TB - what's the best place to sell electronic items other than E-Bay?

Local rag etc.

[philhoward]

I feel for you..not been scammed like that though.  Paypal is a sod like that though - even an instant payment isn't that if you want the cash in your bank first.

Bit late after the event, but for anything of value (over say £100) then i'd ask for a Paypal deposit and the rest COC.  I did make one guy wait until the money had entered my bank account (even given the extortionate fees) before i sent it.

I've also got a bank account with sod all in it which i've got money transferred into (then promptly withdrawn in) - no fees involved!

[Vamps]

I know TB has said this many times before.
Over the years, I have bought and sold all sorts on ebay, without ever having a problem buying or selling. But, these have all be low value lowish cost items.  Only bought and sold 1 car, and would probabaly not buy another car, without viewing it first.