Sellers beware

TheShield · Posted: Fri Nov 13, 2009 4:55 pm Post subject: Sellers beware

Ok, this is the kind of post I hate reading (so you can imagine how I feel when I'm writing it), but I suppose a warning should be sent to sellers anyway.

A bit of background, first : US has The Eastern Treasure Chest, UK has Cougie, here in France we have guydrin_avalon. I crossed his way about a year and half ago, when I won an Holmes basic set from him, for a very low price. Probably too low, because he never sent the box, giving me the usual lame excuses we've all heard in this situation. I finally claimed my money back from paypal, and left neg feedback, in July 2008. I think it was still possible to leave a neg feedback to a buyer, but he did not retaliate. End of the story, I thought. Wrong...

Fourteen months later, a few weeks ago, I started to sell pieces of my collection on ebay. You may have heard of it... The two coloring books were won by an ebayer unknown to me, kanwulf_le_viking. He paid instantly by paypal, I posted the books (yes, without tracking) and left positive feedback the next day. I regret I didn't even look at the bidding history. I would have seen that the second highest bidder was guydrin, and maybe I would have remembered that guydrin lives in the same place than my winner. Considering this place is as crowded as a swamp in Florida, I may, finally, have suspected that something weird was cooking.
I did nothing of that, and the rest of the story is obvious. Claim for unreceived item, neg feedback, and paypal dispute that he will easily win, as I have no tracking.

The short version now : cautious sellers should consider adding guydrin_avalon and kanwulf_le_viking to their blacklist.

tfm · Posted: Fri Nov 13, 2009 7:23 pm Post subject:

Yeah, I know, but you got off light. The Ciro/Danilo equation cost me an ST1. What really pissed me off about it was that Paypal knew what the screw formula was in Italy at the time--leave the item in customs, claim it wasn't received, get the refund and get the item. The US Marshal I spoke to had me enter their names and info into the FBI's efraud database, but that's all I could do. He'll get the fat lip if I ever see him.
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Rifter · Posted: Mon Nov 16, 2009 5:14 am Post subject:

TFM, can't you drain your Paypal acct and leave nothing for them to steal from you? If I ever sell anything "large" I will do this: Sell the item, immediately move all $$$ from my Paypal until feedback is left (assuming there's a happy ending), then reload my Paypal. I worry too much about getting screwed... I also insure everything! You'd be surprised (or probably not) how many asshats will claim "damages" hoping for some kind of kickback and then when it's revealed to them that you insured the item you never hear from them again or all of a sudden the item miraculously recovered... Youd be amazed who tries to pull this stuff Wink

tfm · Posted: Mon Nov 16, 2009 6:12 am Post subject:

That happened during a time when Paypal payers could reverse their payments, and he did. Paypal put a negative balance in it.

We have all learned a lot since then.

I collect motorcycles now and I'm a lot happier. Very Happy

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"This is cool."

Rifter · Posted: Mon Nov 16, 2009 8:13 am Post subject:

Those are cool Cool

Just don't ship any to Italy!

Be careful as well...

argyrebasin · Posted: Thu Nov 19, 2009 8:22 am Post subject:

Nice bikes!! I sold a Harley on eBay and was fortunate enough to close the deal with a legit buyer that showed up in person. Paid cash too. One good experience anyway!
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