Been a long time - Since I've been SCAMMED on Ebay

[red-beard]

I have hundreds and hundreds of transactions on Ebay. I think I was scammed over a phone back in 2001 or 2002.

Anyway, I bought a Pool Robot on Ebay for about $1000. Guaranteed delivery by July 29th. I contacted the seller on the 27th asking for the shipping tracking information. They said it hadn't shipped yet but they would send tracking soon.

On the 28th, I send a note, asking if it has shipped yet. They respond it is on back-order. Do I want to cancel. I agree to cancel the order.

On the 30th, I ask when they will refund my credit card. Well, it looks like the warehouse is going to ship the item. And low and behold, here is a tracking number.

I responded, I cancelled the order. They said, well, we tried to cancel it and filled out the form...Just return it and we'll refund your money.

Today, an item arrived. A cheap Pool Float. At first, I thought it was a late birthday present from my sister. She said it wasn't

I checked the shipping information: It was the Ebay item tracking number. Instead of a more than $1K Pool Robot, I have a cheap pool float.

The only fortunate thing is I paid with a good credit card. I have to wait until Saturday to open the dispute (15 days). Not worried. But crap!!! And the seller has a 100,000+ reputation.

[Baz]

Sounds like it could be an honest mistake.

Wrong item sent?

In any event - since you paid with a CC you have options.

I haven't been abused by any eBayer in a long time, knock on wood.

[red-beard]

I don't think so. They asked me if I wanted to cancel the order, on something that was out of stock. I cancel it. And then it suddenly ships? And the wrong item? Too many coincidences.

I think the SCAM is I return it and they claim I sent them the wrong item back, and tell EBAY I'm scamming them!

[Pazuzu]

I recently bought a telescope part. As soon as I bought it (buy it now), he contacted me and said "I sold that item 2 weeks ago". Um. no dude, i just bought it and my Paypal just went through.

I hounded him , 3 or 4 times a day, all while waiting for Paypal's fraud group to wander along and fix it. They did, after 45 days or so. Dude never stopped claiming that *I* was scamming him, that I had hacked his account and put an item up for sale just so I could buy it, and then get him in trouble. Dude...at that point, just admit it and move on.

[ckelly78z]

One of the best purchases I made for my pool was an EBAY item that was far less than $100.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Intex-Automatic-Above-Ground-Swimming-Pool-Vacuum-Cleaner/39148556

[wdfifteen]

There must be a large difference in the shipping cost between those two items. Ebay probably has a record of what he paid to ship the item, and you have a record of what it cost to ship it back. They should be the same.

[red-beard]

Even easier: The weight. The pool float is not heavy. The Pool Cleaner is heavy!

The weight was nearly the same, but the box dimension in the FEDEX system prove it could not be the pool robot.

As soon as they said that it was back ordered and we cancelled the order, I ordered from a different supplier a similar Robot. It is actually the SAME machine, just a different model with a different color.

Box Dimension of a Box from Maytronics 22x18x13, weight 29 lbs.

Box Delivered 40x23x9, 28 lbs. A Robot will not fit in that Box.

[red-beard]

I am having trouble with the stupid EBAY system. It asks me if I want to get EBAY involved. I click on that selection. It asks me to fill out a small form. Then submit. It then comes bat that there is a "Technical Glitch". It has been doing this for the past 18 hours.

[sammyg2]

eff ebay.
Just work with your credit card company to kill all charges, then it's on them to straighten it out.

[GH85Carrera]

We had a similar thing happen when we saw a great deal on some 2-TB - USB3.0 USB thumb drives. So my business partner ordered them. What arrived was a bunch of cheap Chinese junk. We got 5 mono crappy fake Apple ear buds and some 256 MB USB drives from a brand I have never heard of. No way in hell would I stick one of those drives in my computer as I bet it is preloaded with a virus. No way would I stick some toxic plastic ear bud in my ear made from recycled catfish whiskers from a Chernobyl retention pond.

I contacted my credit company and provided detail photos of the garbage, and the original email from when we tried to contact the seller. They were going to give us a partial refund, but they said they did not want the junk returned as it was not worth the postage.

Finally the seller stopped responding. The credit card company took a while, but we got all our money back.

[mepstein]

Originally Posted by sammyg2

eff ebay.
Just work with your credit card company to kill all charges, then it's on them to straighten it out.

Yep. Credit card companies provide a lot of protection for the buyer. You might as well use it. They are on your side and usually return your money pretty quickly.

[RWebb]

Originally Posted by red-beard

Even easier: The weight. The pool float is not heavy. The Pool Cleaner is heavy!

The weight was nearly the same, but the box dimension in the FEDEX system prove it could not be the pool robot.

As soon as they said that it was back ordered and we cancelled the order, I ordered from a different supplier a similar Robot. It is actually the SAME machine, just a different model with a different color.

Box Dimension of a Box from Maytronics 22x18x13, weight 29 lbs.

Box Delivered 40x23x9, 28 lbs. A Robot will not fit in that Box.

If the scammer had been smarter, he'd have put some bricks in the box to make the wt. equal.

I do very, very limited buying on eBay and NO selling - it is just a scammer's paradise now. And I think the trick is to ship something or just air in a box to evade their rules.

[MBAtarga]

I went through eBay hassles when I decided to sell the two lenses that came with the camera kit I bought at Costco last Dec. I didn't need either lens. I sold 1 once - then the buyer complained it was broken. Come to find out - he had a 20 year old body that he was trying to use it with - so autofocus didn't work. I gave up complaining with ebay support and ate the shipping "to" and "return" costs and listed it again. Sold it again, as well as the other lens. Buyer on the other lens claims it's not a VR (vibration reduction) model. He includes a photo of the box and lens - neither show VR. Well -I've got 3 pictures on my listing showing the box and lens both plainly showing VR logo. I reply back and tell him that's not what I shipped him. I figured this is a scam and - he's going to get his money back and keep the lens. He replies back - "Oh - sorry - I bought more than 1 lens and thought you sent this."

Next time, there won't be a next time!

[widebody911]

I've read too many horror stories: I have tons of parts I could liquidate, but I don't want to enter that minefield barefooted. There was a car I was interested it; after a couple of back-and-forth emails, he put it on ebay and told me to buy it there. Nope; I'm not going to bid against you and your sock-puppet accounts.