DANGER! Watch out for this seller on ebay

[ChrisW6ATV]

Bob-

I am sorry to hear about this BS transaction. Unfortunately, I am not near Ohio. If I was, I would be happy to go make a visit to this person and their store, and tell them "We are going to fix this, right now". I would bring a friend or two.

How far is Elmore from Hilliard? Maybe a mass side trip from Convention visitors would impress the scumbag and "persuade" him to refund your money.

[W3XWT]

Originally Posted by ChrisW6ATV

Bob-

I am sorry to hear about this BS transaction. Unfortunately, I am not near Ohio. If I was, I would be happy to go make a visit to this person and their store, and tell them "We are going to fix this, right now". I would bring a friend or two.

How far is Elmore from Hilliard? Maybe a mass side trip from Convention visitors would impress the scumbag and "persuade" him to refund your money.

According to Bing Maps, 118.9 miles, 2 hours 9 minutes...

[benman94]

I attempted to make a deal for the set about 2 months ago. He was probably the single most rude human being I've ever spoken with. Needless to say it didn't work out and then Bob got screwed over by him. I was planning on stopping in to give him a piece of my mind anyway. Now I'm definitely going to be making a pit stop in Elmore to talk to this jackass...

[kx250rider]

Take comfort in knowing that karma will get everyone even at some point; guaranteed. Nobody has to lift a finger. It takes patience, but it happens every time sooner or later.

Charles

[init4fun]

Originally Posted by kx250rider

Take comfort in knowing that karma will get everyone even at some point; guaranteed. Nobody has to lift a finger. It takes patience, but it happens every time sooner or later.

Charles

Waitin on Karma may be all well and good , but I'll bet if a few folks would lift a few fingers and send off an Email to the seller asking nicely for the return of Bob's $250 , It could speed up the Karma process considerably

In post one of this thread , Bob asked for folks to send off some Emails . I have done so and have seen no other mention of anyone else honoring Bob's request . If the seller sees dozens of friendly Emails urging him to do the right thing , he just may "man up" and make good on the deal , even if only for the reason of the fear of never being able to sell another antique tv to the collector community .....

[Boobtubeman]

Sometimes a flaming fudge bag does wonders too

[stromberg6]

Originally Posted by Boobtubeman

Sometimes a flaming fudge bag does wonders too

Ah, those wonderful days of yore...

[Kamakiri]

I work with PayPal all the time at my job. We do well over 7 figures with PayPal annually. There is no way that PayPal won't give you a refund if a dispute is opened.

[Dave S]

Originally Posted by Kamakiri

There is no way that PayPal won't give you a refund if a dispute is opened.

Bob makes a very important distinction, which is worth emphasizing and which I found out the hard way. If you pay via instant transfer from your bank account through PayPal, they put the payment through immediately and supposedly then no longer have any control over it; they say it is "impossible" to recall it in the event of a dispute. I suspect that what was really happening was that it was difficult to do so or they were reluctant to do so. I was unable to get PayPal to back me on what seemed to me to be an arguable case of seller error; I bought one item, they charged for two, I carelessly authorized payment for two and then after the seller refused to change the order I asked PayPal to adjust the payment before the transaction shipped. They said because my payment was an instant transfer they were unable to do so. They seem to make a very big distinction between paying with funds from your PayPal account and paying with funds from your bank account.

Bob is also correct that PayPal can unilaterally freeze funds or issue a refund from your account with you having very little input or recourse. And they do, whether you like it or not, most often seem to side with the buyer in a dispute. If you always transfer your money out of your PayPal account and into your bank immediately and maintain a zero balance with PayPal, it makes it a little more difficult for them to hold you hostage. Of course that works against your being able to pay using your PayPal balance as a source of funds as a buyer, so you need to weigh your priorities as a buyer or a seller.

All-in-all, I've been surprised how far out on a limb PayPal has gone to protect me as a buyer. But even in one case when I was clearly "in the right" I thought they were pretty heavy-handed in their treatment of the seller.

-- Dave Sica

[Stromberg48]

Originally Posted by Dave S

If you always transfer your money out of your PayPal account and into your bank immediately and maintain a zero balance with PayPal, it makes it a little more difficult for them to hold you hostage.

All-in-all, I've been surprised how far out on a limb PayPal has gone to protect me as a buyer. But even in one case when I was clearly "in the right" I thought they were pretty heavy-handed in their treatment of the seller.

-- Dave Sica

I just want to note...
This is not the case for sellers, sellers can keep a zero PP balance all they want. It offers zero protection...PP will just back charge the attached bank account. Or at least that is the way it was 5 years ago.

[ohohyodafarted]

Guess I better keep a near zero balance in that account too!

[kvflyer]

Originally Posted by ohohyodafarted

Guess I better keep a near zero balance in that account too!

Or close the account and open a new one. PP can really put it on you as a seller. Unfortunately, shrewd eBay buyers can reek havoc on you...

[W3XWT]

One thing to keep in mind is that various federal and state statutes apply to the content of e-mail to a commercial establishment. One must be careful to avoid any statement that might be even remotely construed as commercial disparagement, which can be very expensive in court. Also, one must be similarly careful should one be tempted to bring up this incident while in the vendor's normal and usual place of business. Here very interesting state and local laws apply. You could end up in jail with the guy's brother being the judge for your case...

Having said that, Bob... have you tried the Better Business Bureau for his city/county? Or, their local consumer protection office?

[CoogarXR]

Let me tell you how the paypal balance thing works. I keep a zero paypal balance. I had a frivolous claim opened against me. When a claim gets opened, ebay (I'm sorry "paypal", same difference) puts a hold on that amount. If your balance is zero, it just goes negative, and they send you threatening emails; "your account has a negative balance, please add funds". I think there was some verbage about sending to a collections agency after a while. This was about 5 years ago. They do not automatically take from the attached account. I just let it sit negative until the case was ultimately resolved in my favor.

A little background on the case, for those who might care: I sold a power supply for a phone system for $400. It was a working pull, fully tested by me, and pictured as tested with a meter showing outputs. The guy gets it, installs it in a shorted system and it won't power up (it has a self-test, and won't power up if its outputs are shorted). He wouldn't believe me, said it was DOA, and demanded his system was fine. I told him some basic things to try, but he refused. After a week, what do you know, the case was closed and I got left a positive feedback with no explanation. I guess he figured out I was right, lol.

[Stromberg48]

Originally Posted by CoogarXR

Let me tell you how the paypal balance thing works. I keep a zero paypal balance. I had a frivolous claim opened against me. When a claim gets opened, ebay (I'm sorry "paypal", same difference) puts a hold on that amount. If your balance is zero, it just goes negative, and they send you threatening emails; "your account has a negative balance, please add funds". I think there was some verbage about sending to a collections agency after a while. This was about 5 years ago. They do not automatically take from the attached account. I just let it sit negative until the case was ultimately resolved in my favor.

A little background on the case, for those who might care: I sold a power supply for a phone system for $400. It was a working pull, fully tested by me, and pictured as tested with a meter showing outputs. The guy gets it, installs it in a shorted system and it won't power up (it has a self-test, and won't power up if its outputs are shorted). He wouldn't believe me, said it was DOA, and demanded his system was fine. I told him some basic things to try, but he refused. After a week, what do you know, the case was closed and I got left a positive feedback with no explanation. I guess he figured out I was right, lol.

That is not my experience. Maybe it was before Ebay fully bought up PP. It was so long ago I can't remember the exact details...I list motorcycle engine as NON working parts/needs disassembly, buyer buys it cheap ($180), buyer decides I didn't describe it as parts. Buyer files claim and uses his credit union to reverse charges(Paypal won't even fight this scenario, they automatically side with buyer and don't do "As-IS"). funds taken direct from bank account via debit card attached to PP, bounce charges...Ebay and paypal steal my engine, my shipping cost, and the bank sticks me with compounding bounces charges if I don't pay up.

So maybe that's not directly attaching an account because CC company was involved backed by weight of credit union...but in action it's similar. Having zero PP balance doesn't help.

Your situation the buyer probably paid from PP balance, thus no immediate action against your CC or debit card you attached. Just negative PP balance.

I don't know because i haven't sold on fleabay for a long time, but
nowadays , they may have better safeguards like making sure the buyer actually returns the item, but that didn't used to be the case.