Some eBay scammers...

This is just a vent.. I used to sell allot on Ebay as an N scale buy/sell/trade guy. I used to buy large lots and estate collections, and was a big seller of N scale on ebay. Not so much anymore for several reasons, one being reminded of just today. One of the reasons is the direction that Ebay has taken over the past couple years. The other are people that try to get over on a seller. I have been taken to the cleaners only once in the past, but won't get into that. Most rail road hobbyist are very good honorable people to deal with, but there is a minority that makes it not worth dealing in it sometimes. Point and case..

The past couple weeks, I have been really cleaning my train room up, and posting allot of my collection that I don't run. I decided I wanted to simplify, and keep, only stuff I run currently, or plan to soon. The rest, just got to go. Proving my case that most of us are good people to deal with, I have posted, & closed over 50 transaction over the past two weeks of N scale rolling stock and misc. Suddenly today, I get a buyer inform me that he is pissed, because a "lot" of rolling stock he bid on on the 13th of December, he hasn't received yet. Well, that concerned me, because I like to be sure people get their stuff as advertised by me. So, I check the tracking, which I have learned the hard way to ALWAYS put confirmation on even the smallest of items. It shows that the post office delivered the item on the 17th of December to their PayPal confirmed address. I then checked my ebay records, and guess what I found. In my feedback, there is a feedback from this guy posted on the 17th that he received his item in good condition as advertised. Huh? What gives? If this guy is trying to get over on a seller, he sure didn't think it through.. lol..

Anyway... I still got allot of stuff to post, and will post it up soon, but this one just struck me as funny, so I thought I would share..

 

Maybe he's losing his memory.

Or maybe he's like you, buying from multiple sources, and he accidentally wrote to the wrong seller.

Or maybe someone stole the box from where the postman left it.

Or maybe his wife took it and hid it to wrap for next Christmas. LOL

 

Maybe.. But the lot he bought was specific. Couldn't have been taken off his door step, because he must have had it in his hands, because he wrote that feedback stating he got it. The latter, is very possible. My wife has tried that on several things I bought, hahhah. I am waiting to hear his reply after I wrote him with all the data I had. It may very well have been an honest mistake :tb-wacky:. Sometimes, I have multible things coming in and I can see where it might be confusing which stuff comes from where. That is a drawback from such a habit, lol.. Im curious if he will reply and explain his claim after the info I supplied to him. If it was a simple mistake, he will probably be embarassed :tb-embarrassed:, and write back with an apology. If it was an attempt of a thoughtless scam, I will probably not hear anything back from him. We'll see.. I just thought it was funny...:tb-biggrin:

 

I was doing the same and was posting out daily, I reckond that folks got better from me than I got from them, anyhow ebay and paypal really p****d me off so I send gear to freinds and they send me something back for free, gets rid of the clutter and saves me time as well, no need to watch auctions

 

I been an ebay buyer/seller since the begining of ebay and to be honest, have have good luck with only a couple exceptions. The one horror story that really got me to rethink participating was a couple years ago I had several very expensive brass, and other highly collectible n scale trains on ebay. One, very rare loco from fleischmann sold for $600 on ebay. I posted in all my listings that I HIGHLY recommend priority mail with insurance, but as a service and an option to save a few bucks to the buyer, regular parcel post would be offered. I vollied several emails to this buyer how I really would rather him opt for the better shipping with insurance on such a rare item. It isn't just the money invested, it was the fact that the locomotive was very rare, and I would hate for anything to happen to it. He insisted on the cheap shipping to save a few bucks, which should have been a flag someone wanting to save a couple bucks after spending $600 on a single locomotive. Anyway, I SHOULD have went ahead and put the ins and better shipping on it, even at my own expense, but, I didn't think. I sent it... 2 weeks later, he filed a grevience that he never recieved the locomotive. After a couple emails to him, he made a couple comments that lead me to believe that he DID in fact have it. The comments were very specific to that package, and he wouldn't have even had a reference to make that comment unless he saw the package, or had it. I really beleived then, he was scamming me and PayPal. I wrote PayPal, along with all the emails, and proof that he had it by his comments, as well as my recomendations for the better shipping and his refusals, and my comments on the listing stating that the buyer assumes ALL responsiblility if they choose the cheap shipping. It didn't matter to PayPal. They froze my money for 10 days while they investigated. They collected all my emails, and his emails, as well as my perfect ebay record and ratings, and his lack of it. EVRTYTHING was in my favor. After the 10 days, PayPal withdrew the $600 from my bank, and refunded his payment. PayPals reply was, since there was NO tracking number, they ALWAYS 100% of the time side with the buyer. I lost my $600, and worse, lost a very nice, rare locomotive. Even with all the data and proof I had to my credit... I was pissed, and scaled down using Ebay, and or PayPal since then... I am VERY cautious after that one...

 

FeePay encourages scammers, because it has become a scam.

Now that they will not allow sellers to leave real feedback, there is no protection from bad buyers. I never did get burned on FeePay, because I was able to check feedback on buyers. There were a few who had certain types of negatives. When I became aware of this I rejected bids and blocked those buyers. Also, certain types of questions, especially when phrased in a hostile manner caused me to check feedback. In all cases but one, those buyers had the same certain types of negative feedback. Thus, I was able to block them.

The playing field is tilted against the seller, as it is. It is on you, as the seller, to see to it that the buyer gets his package. If USPS, UPS or whoever loses it, too bad for you, the seller. In addition, some buyers will abuse their purchase then try to claim that it came damaged. Again, too bad for the buyer, because FeePay and Pay-not-your-Pal believe the buyer. Now, FeePay does not allow sellers means of protection from bad buyers.

FeePay is itself a scam: it DESERVES all of its derogatory names. Between it and Pay-not-your-Pal, every time a seller turns around, one, the other or BOTH have their hands out. You sell an item for fifteen dollars, and by the time you are finished paying fees, you have three dollars fifty left. A REAL snake oil scam , AND, a successful one.

Needless to say, I stopped selling on FeePay quite some time past.

In the OP's case, I suspect that he sent the e-Mail to the wrong seller. I suspect that when the buyer sees the error of his ways, he will find the seller of what he is missing.

 

Yup...we all have our EckBay horror stories. I can relate to all the replies. Short and not so sweet...customer complained...EckBay froze my account..customer complained to PayupPal and they froze my account for 2 weeks. In the end..both Ebay and PayupPal sided with me...the seller. Unfortunately EckBay refused to remove the negative feedback he posted...ruined my 100% rating. Paypal was slow to allow me access to my account. I quit EckBay that day and have not returned. I emptied my PayupPal account and it now sits with 12 cents in it! End of story.

.

 

There's always that one guy Tudor that is impatient, as a small time seller on ebay myself I have experienced this also, mine was a little different I purchased not sold a receiver for one of my RC race cars that I race in the summer on asphalt and I got it at a good price so I received it and was very happy to instal it but when I turned on the car it would not respond beyond three feet so I got really pissed because the seller said that he tested it but this turned out to be a lie because if he would have tested it he would have known that it does not work or he was hoping I would not test it extensively and leave feedback before I discovered it, so I shipped it back with tracking I learned the hard way also that tracking is a must. So I wait for one week no money return two weeks no money return at this point I'm really pissed cause the guy has 100% feedback and I finally contacted ebays resolution center because I also saw from the tracking number that he already got his package back of course he claims he didn't get the package but Ebay looked into it and I got my money back from ebay it was not much just $20 but I mean its the principle not the money don't sell junk if you know it does not work or at least post it and let the buyer know it does not work Ugh. Anyway I know how you feel Tudor.

 

Yeah, I always am very clear what I am selling. It isn't worth it to try and hide stuff from a buyer. I have sold junk too, BUT, advertised it as such, and was very clear things that were wrong, or not working. In fact, I just sold an old laptop. I advertised it for PARTS ONLY, in several comments I posted in the description. All that stuff was in BOLD, that is did NOT boot, did NOT have a hard drive, I even mentioned that I felt the mother board may be bad. Showed very clear pictures of all angles that it had scuffs, cracks, and even stickers my kid put on it, lol.. It was an ugly old laptop that did not work. It sold for $11, but that was fine with me, I was going to toss it, and figured somebody might want to tinker with it, or use it for parts. The display on it was well worth more than he paid for it, including the shipping. Including that, he still paid about $18 for the thing. I seen old laptops like that not working sell for much higher. It was an 7 or 8 year old laptop, and I stated it as such.. Funny, the guy did leave good feedback, but stated it was "somewhat" accurate description. I wrote him and thanked him for the positive feedback, but was curious as to why he stated it was "somewhat" accurate description. He then complained that it had stickers on it (that you can clearly see IN the pictures, lol), and that the display hinge was loose. I told him, ok, I just wanted to be sure I didn't miss something major. It WAS advertised and an old worn out laptop, that didn't work and was nearly 8 years old of hard labor. I told him I did not specifically mention the hinges were loose, because that would be a given for any 8 year old laptop that had daily use. They were not broken, or even close to broken, they just simply were not stiff like a new laptop hinge.. jeesh.. I appologized for not specifically mentioning they were not tight and stiff, but just thought that anyone that would buy such a worn out laptop would have assumed that right away, lol.. Anyway, I thought that was funny griping about that, on a item like that and listed like I listed it, and for what he paid for it. Funny too what some people expect for nothing.. lol

 

I have been purchasing / bidding / winning n-scale related items on the bay for a couple of years and perhaps been lucky as I have not had any issues (knock on wood) some times the sellers get in a hurry for feed back from me.
However I work out of town and do not get to the Post Office to pick up my mail for several weeks and I do not leave feed back until I have inspected the items in question, once inspected I immediately leave feed back and I will have to say that I have never had any reason to leave anything but positive feed back on the sellers.

 

well, like I said, in the RR hobby sellers and buyers, the boneheads are in the minority. But, they are out there.. lol

 

ebay has changed! Remember the buyer does NOT have your email address anymore (in the old ebay days, you once knew the seller and the buyer actual email address-- not no more).

Buyers must send you emails blindly through the ebay system. So if you get an email, you should go to your MyEbay page and see if you have a matching email there.

If NOT, (in other words, you got and email to your email but NOT to MyEbay) then it is a Scam from a DIFFERENT person and not your buyer.

I get emails like this from time to time even when I am not selling. But it sure makes your blood pressure go up when you are in the midst of the confusion of lots of auctions.

I hate scammers.

 

lol.. yeah, there are some real winners out there in the bay...

Once years ago, I had posted several items, only to find a few days later while doing a search, there was a seller selling MY items, using MY pictures descriptions and everything, but under their account. They didn't even wait until my auctions were closed. I alerted Ebay about it, and they were all closed and locked out, but I am sure that person came back in under a different account doing the same thing to other sellers..

 

ebay is overpriced store items.
almost everything i look at i can buy brand new in the store for, just a rough number but im going with what seems to be 10 - 15% less,
and at spending 90$ whats 10$ more.
don't get me wrong i do buy from their but only if i think its a good deal.

 

Unfortunately, this is the case with most credit purchases... Not just eBay or PP. They will often side with the buyer the majority of the time when they do chargebacks. That loophole is known to many scammers and used worldwide. In many cases they simply have to say "never got it"... Boom, chargeback... Get their money back. And often that's even with proof of delivery. Sounds insane, but that's the way it is. Just another reason to hate card companies.

 

I had a similar thing happen on another forum I belong to. I GAVE somebody some parts and mailed them Priority Mail. The "tracking" number said they were delivered, but he claims to have never got them. To make a long story short.... I now send everything with signature confirmation and depending on what's being shipped, I may insure it....
As far as Fleabay goes.... I have a couple HO loco's up for sale there now. They will be sent insured with signature confirmation.... Not because I don't trust the buyer.... I'm just covering my rear end....

 

Yeah, it's become that. It's because they raised their fees up so high. I used to sell things I didn't want anymore--I got prices I was happy with and the buyer got prices he was happy with. High quality, low prices. I even ended up just breaking even a couple of times.

But I had to leave when the fees went up. It was no longer worth it. At the same time, all the other "little guys" like me left as well. So now you only have people who are trying to make a business of it.

It's like what happens to flea markets. At first your town sets up a flea market at the old drive-in, and everybody comes. Lots of people selling what they don't want, lots of buyers scarfing it up. Then the prices for selling start going up--and eventually, it's just a bunch of covered booths with people selling trash they found somewhere in a foreign warehouse: a booth of sunglasses, a booth of plastic toys, and so on. You either pay store prices for what you buy there or you pay a good price and buy absolute junk.

It's not a hard and fast rule. I've bought some cars that I really wanted for a decent price from Ebay--usually because nobody else wanted them or--my favorite--the seller listed them wrong. And every once in a long while an ordinary person who is just getting rid of stuff will sell something, like in the old days.

 

Thats just it. I stopped trying to make any money with ebay. This last fling was basically just unloading a bunch of stuff I didnt want, or care to make anything on. It was either toss it all, or let someone else enjoy them. I was selling TONS of really nice rolling stock in large lots for pennies on the dollar. For example, much of it was like new in original jewel cases that retaled for anywhere from $6-$15 per car. I was selling the in larger lots and getting anywhere between $1-$3 per car. No way to make any money, basically enough to cover all the fees, but at least someone got a good deal and can enjoy the cars and further the hobby with stuff I had locked up in a closet.. Thats about all it now.. Again, that, or the cheap china import crap people sell today..

 

De-Accumulation Phase" / Trainboard Store

Thanks for all of the postings. I'll be starting my "de accumulation" phase in a couple of weeks. I think I'll stick to Trainboard, and insist on signatures. I'm not in a hurry to sell, but I just have toooo much stuff.

I realized this when I was going to post to "show us your roster" and I was staring at locos I never ran. Depending on a few variables I'll try to give 5 - 10 percent to trainboard.

 

Actual email addresses are revealed via paypal, so this is not 100% true.