ebay and paypal a trap waiting to happen

nick serdula

nick serdula

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A gentleman that has gotten alot of cues from me told me this little story. He sold accepted paypal sent the item. The buyer reported a no delivery and was refunded the money straight out of my friend's paypal --bank account-- with paypal refuseing to replace the debited funds. All he got was the run around and was told sorry but the merchandise was never recieved. He had the requested documentation and it didn't matter. Also on items paid with money orders or checks wait till they clear the bank. Just because they are deposited means nothing. A fraudelant money order or check might take 7-10days to be detected by then you could lose big. This ebay thing is really getting to be a scammers paradise! Nick
 
Can you ship with a delivery confirmation required ? does UPS and fedx do that ? I think the post office does.
 
I had a situation where the buyer had used Paypal, but forgot to change his funding option to his credit card. PP defaults to your bank account and the buyer had an account on file that he wasn't using. I get an email from Paypal stating that I may have received unauthorized funds and they deducted the amount of the transaction from my account. One word of advice is, when you receive a Paypal payment, withdraw the funds ASAP. Paypal did not charge my cc or bank account, but if I would have had funds sitting in my PP account, it would have deducted from those funds. In stead, my PP account just showed a negative balance. I had spoken with the buyer on the phone and he told me he had to send Money Orders to PP to get the stituation straightened out. It was still 2 weeks after PP receive the MO's that they corrected both of our accounts. This was after I called them and demanded to speak to someone who had the authority to credit my account. I stayed on the phone with PP until I saw a "0.00" balance in my account. They would not credit my account even though I provided all the documentation including who signed for the package from FedEx. Ebay seems to favor the seller where PP seems to favor the buyer.
 
two weeks ago, I bought an item and paypal'd it I thought this set up is funny, after the buy, the page went back to the seller , it always goes back to my accouny, always. So i went to Paypal.com and changed my password immediately. I received the merchandise, but I think something funny was going on.
 
luvndog said:
Can you ship with a delivery confirmation required ? does UPS and fedx do that ? I think the post office does.
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The gentleman even had the shipping company's investigators statemente and paypya tokd him to stop bothering and stop calling them!
 
Worminator said:
Ebay seems to favor the seller where PP seems to favor the buyer.
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I thought they were one and the same company now.

More than likely, the people who get hurt are all the honest people while the thieves have figured their way around the system.

Seems like the best way to sell a cue is through the forum and deal with people who have an interest in the game.

Thanks for the interesting inputs on this thread.
 
Also beware of Cashiers Checks, as a friend who works at an Auto Dealer tell the story of how the Dealership got Stung on the weekend with a Counterfeit Cashiers Check. Apparently the Buyer did the deal on a Friday, and after the haggling was completed. Went to the Bank for a Cashiers Check. Apparently he came back to the Dealer to pick up the NEW SUV with the Counterfeit Cashiers Check.

Apparently the SUV, and buyer were never seen again, and it is believe he went to Mexico with the 30K Plus SUV. Where he is living hi on the hog.
 
nick serdula said:
A gentleman that has gotten alot of cues from me told me this little story. He sold accepted paypal sent the item. The buyer reported a no delivery and was refunded the money straight out of my friend's paypal --bank account-- with paypal refuseing to replace the debited funds. All he got was the run around and was told sorry but the merchandise was never recieved. He had the requested documentation and it didn't matter. Also on items paid with money orders or checks wait till they clear the bank. Just because they are deposited means nothing. A fraudelant money order or check might take 7-10days to be detected by then you could lose big. This ebay thing is really getting to be a scammers paradise! Nick
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TAP TAP TAP Great post Nick.too bad a posse couldn't be put together and get some of these low lifes.ohh well i love thinking about 130 years ago.everybody be careful out there.:confused::mad:
 
Something to think about for a little extra added protection...

I set up a second checking account, no line of credit. I use this for my Paypal account and nothing else. I generally keep only about $100 in it at any given time. When I want to buy something (ebay), I transfer the funds into this account and pay for the item. That way, if anyone does hack into my paypal account, they aren't getting squat.

When I sell, I always put tracking and/or delivery confirmation. That usually is proof enough to settle a dispute. Not always though. :)

Just my 2 cents worth.
 
I've always been getting spoof e-mails from scammers trying to get my Paypal info....I think I'll be dumping them for safeties sake....
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Not too long ago, I sold something on Ebay and was paid with Paypal. I sent the item and about 1 week later, paypal took the money out of my account saying the customer said I never sent the item. I ended up getting srewed because the guy lied about the item not being received. Because I had no delivery con. with USPS, it was his word against mine. Guess who lost out there? Cheap lesson learned. I will NEVER ship an item again until I get the money in my hand. The minute I get paid I tranfer it to my bank and then withdraw it. Unfortunately this adds about 5-7 days before I ship an item anymore. But that's just part of using Paypal I guess.:(
 
nick serdula said:
A gentleman that has gotten alot of cues from me told me this little story. He sold accepted paypal sent the item. The buyer reported a no delivery and was refunded the money straight out of my friend's paypal --bank account-- with paypal refuseing to replace the debited funds. All he got was the run around and was told sorry but the merchandise was never recieved. He had the requested documentation and it didn't matter. Also on items paid with money orders or checks wait till they clear the bank. Just because they are deposited means nothing. A fraudelant money order or check might take 7-10days to be detected by then you could lose big. This ebay thing is really getting to be a scammers paradise! Nick
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Same thing happend to me. Where i made my big mistake was selling the item to someone in italy. After it leaves customs the us mail can no longer track it.
It took awhile to get there but the guy got his cue. But while waiting for the cue he reported to paypal that he had never received the items and was refunded the money. I contacted the guy and he said he got the cue. I asked him to contact paypal about it he said he would. I also contacted paypal and asked to follow up with the guy about the cue that I got a email from the guy saying he got his cue. They said they considered the matter closed and could do nothing for me.
After this I will no longer use paypal.
 
A few months ago I set up a second bank account specifically for this kind of stuff. It pays to be a little paranoid given the way the world is today. I got burned on a $500 Jensen sale a few years back, it won't happen again if I can help it.

When I sell a cue now I specifically tell the buyer that I will not ship anything until the funds have fully cleared and are in my bank account, not just upon receiving a payment by PayPal or any other means. I have had mixed reaction with this - from complete understanding to mildly offended - but I look at it as what has to be done these days to protect myself.

With PayPal, as soon as I receive a payment I transfer it to the second bank account that I set up. When it pops a few days later from PayPal in this account I immediately transfer it to an account not tied to PayPal. Only then will I ship the cue.

I also now take pictures of everything - cue packing, the shipping tube, the label, even at Fed-Ex after paying and with the final label on the package. This protects me as I have picture documentation of the transaction and serves a secondary purpose as I email these to the buyer to give them a status on things.

By the way, there is a new scam technique I recently saw on Ebay. I went to click on an item and instead of the item showing up, the Ebay log-in screen popped up. I started to log-in automatically out of reflex before I realized that this just wasn't right. I backed out and did it again. It turned out that this was a scam to get a username and password. I was both pissed off and amazed at the ingenuity of this scam at the same time.

Edit - Forgot to mention that after the package is delivered I go to Fed-Ex online and print screen the status showing as delivered and then save these print screens in a PowerPoint file on my computer. Between the pictures and these print screens you have the entire transaction on record from start to finish.
 
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Screw it, I'm just gonna quit using ebay. Will be closing my Paypal account as well...just not safe anymore.

Lisa
 
Nick,

this post came one day late.

As some may know i got caught with an illness and in april time i thought i may not survive that trip to hospital i asked my fren to sell my cues..

Anyway he abused my account and my paypal account and becos of countless chargebacks i got my Paypal account suspended...

Fast forward in Sep i felt better, so started a new paypal acc. but think that thru my credit card they managed to link my old acc to this new one...

So last week i sold a SW and a TS... and with 3100 in the paypal acc, paypal suspended my account.. and demanded i pay them what the old acc owed..

Now i in deep shit.. i get no money... and i cant access the paypal.

if i listen earlier and draw the money asap then this wouldnt have happen...

What to do now..
 
I think you probably should have worked with paypal and cleared up all of the errors/problems with your old account versus starting a new one (and you come across as if you did so kind of sneakily). If you owe them money, you owe them money (or your friend does) so you can't really blame them from wanting it back. Right?

Of course, I don't know the entire story and may not completely understand everything so take what I have said with a grain of salt.

I've yet to have a problem with paypal (but NO, I would not allow anyone else to access my account. That is just asking for trouble as you found out).

Matt

titlistsucker said:
Nick,

this post came one day late.

As some may know i got caught with an illness and in april time i thought i may not survive that trip to hospital i asked my fren to sell my cues..

Anyway he abused my account and my paypal account and becos of countless chargebacks i got my Paypal account suspended...

Fast forward in Sep i felt better, so started a new paypal acc. but think that thru my credit card they managed to link my old acc to this new one...

So last week i sold a SW and a TS... and with 3100 in the paypal acc, paypal suspended my account.. and demanded i pay them what the old acc owed..

Now i in deep shit.. i get no money... and i cant access the paypal.

if i listen earlier and draw the money asap then this wouldnt have happen...

What to do now..
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i called them and they asked for 1400++ that was the left over bill from the old paypal acc... i paid pretty much all that my fren swindled... but this 1400+ is something new to me.. and i couldnt access the old account either as the password is changed.

Anyway i asked the two buyer of my cues to do a chargeback. i cannot be paying bills of my predecessor no more i committed more than 3k+ now paying his con jobs..

i didnt want to be sneaky and i dont think paypal is being unfair or what... the lesson herre is keep ur account to yourself... and trust no one.
 
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