Have you been scammed on Ebay???

This poll is to see how many of us have been scammed on Ebay, either as a seller or a buyer. Of course, there is an option for those who have never been scammed. You can choose 1 or 2 options.

 

Twice - both times by people claiming to have sent stuff that obviously was never posted. Both times refunded without drama.

 

Way, way back when eBay first started, against my better judgement I took a personal check. Needless to say it bounced. About four years ago someone tried to pay with fake American Express traveler's cheques. The scam was very obvious, but being in the anti-counterfeiting business I was curious what they would look like so I played along. I did have some fun stringing the guy along for a few weeks while I "waited for them to clear," then "had to address some confusion with the bank", then finally expressed appropriate outrage. The guy kept answering e-mails up to the end. Ebay never did much about it.

John K.

 

I've bought things that weren't anywhere near as advertised or packed extremely poorly, but never scammed.
I did get scammed on AudioGon ten plus years ago. I paid for an amp and after a few empty shipping promises the seller disappeared. Never got my money back on that one.

 

One time only unless you count the item condition factor. Never got a CD I paid $13 for. The other buyers didn't get their items as well and the sellers account was closed down. I paid by money order too which didn't help matters any. I didn't leave negative feedback in fear of a retaliation feedback. Life goes on.

 

Was sold counterfeit CDs twice. Both times was told they were label-produced CD-Rs and sellers argued with me, but gave refunds without fuss.

 

Willingly opted in to two purchases which I knew looked 'marginal' with the ebay/paypal refund policy as my 'safety'. EAsy refund both times so "no", not successfully.

 

I once bought a guitar from a member that was actually a pawn shop, and the cost to repair the undisclosed defects in the instrument were higher than the instrument's value. The sellers were uncooperative and eBay didn't protect buyers so well at that time, so I got Visa to step in and get my money back.

 

Yep, A guy was selling box sets, only a few titles but he had multiples (I bought the Johnny Cash). According to ebay, it was quick hits, he "sold" 30-40 box sets in a few days, collected the money and killed his email address and paypal accounts in less than a week. Quick hit, probably less than $2000, and get out of dodge.

 

Once as a seller long-time ago.
Buyer wanted me to ship the item free (not in my description) overseas.
Left a Neg fb, buyer left eBay soon after.

Darryl

 

Never been scammed either way. However, I stopped selling around 2008 so probably dodged a bullet. I still buy occasionally. Mainly computer gear.

Been a member of Ebay since 2002. 314+ 100% rep score.

 

Never really scammed - but received shoddy or broken merchandise from sellers who weren't fully aware of what they were selling - eg a widow with her husband's reel-to-reel. Another time I bought some KEF tower speakers - one of the Uni-Q tweeter voice-coils was melted due to extreme volume. User refused to refund. This was, of course, back before Ebay's protection policies.

I also collect Morgan dollar coins - and have seen a few counterfeits out there with bids on them. I'm talking obvious fakes done with poor casting, leaving shoddy detail. Someone isn't doing their homework.

 

I used to sell a certain line of sports collectible figurines. One time a buyer in Beverly Hills, CA bought 75 of them overnight. Nice sale for me, it came to like $3k. First he insisted he wouldn't pay unless I sent one ebay invoice to cover all 75 items - at that time the maximum number of items you could put on an ebay invoice was 30. Finally got him to pay and I shipped the product to him and he claimed none of the figures - all 75 of them - were in acceptable condition. Despite me having 100% feedback for like 10 years up to that point. I had to accept the return and refund his money in full. Then ebay refused to credit my selling fees on the items, so I lost a couple hundred dollars there. Every time I called ebay to request that my selling fees be refunded their employee spoke broken English and acted like they couldn't understand what I wanted. I still buy and sell on ebay but I despise ebay.

 

Scammed a few times yeah

 

Back in the early days of eBay, I won an auction for a DVD-Recorder for $200. The auction showed a picture of a brand new DVD-Recorder, while the description merely said "4x DVD-R".

When the package arrived, it contained nothing more than a blank DVD! I complained to eBay, but they refused to do anything. (Again, this was long before the "Resolution Center" existed.) I thought I had protected myself by using a money order, but the money order company said that they couldn't open a fraud investigation because the seller was in Canada. (Whatever! That was probably a scam itself.)

So, I told a little white lie and told the money order company that the money order had been "stolen". They promptly issued a new money order to me, which I immediately cashed. I have no idea if the seller as able to get the money, but I hope he was arrested for cashing a "stolen" money order.

 

Over 2000 purchases since 1997 and that answer would be....no.

 

You win, you got scammed better than anyone else so far.

We'll send you your prize once you submit your personal information, address and $9.95 for S&H to us.

Thank you for playing.

 

No option to say if you were the one who was the scammer.


...just kidding.

 

been using ebay since 1998 and all of my problems have occurred when I've sold things, usually people who place bids and don't bother to pay. I've also dealt with numerous people who've won auctions only to later claim they thought they were buying something else. they then very politely say they will not be buying the item they bid on and please don't leave negative feedback. finally, though not strictly speaking a scam, I've dealt with a number of buyers from Eastern Europe and Asia who seem to be under the misapprehension that shipping costs from the United States to their part of the world are extremely cheap and they threaten to bail on the auction they've won if you won't charge them dirt cheap shipping. this stuff goes on a lot and given the hefty cut taken by eBay (and PayPal), the site has become a bit more of a headache than it's worth.

 

The very first time I ever made a return, I got scammed because of my stupidity:

I bought a "new" out of print CD that cost around $60-70 from a seller, but he neglected to say it was a cut-out. When I received it, the punch-out hole was through the entire liner notes booklet from cover to back. If it had just been a punch-out of just the UPC code in the tray, I probably wouldn't have cared and said anything and I would've kept it. Well, when I contacted the seller and told him he never stated anything about it being a cut-out and I wanted a refund, he told me just to mail it back to him and he would refund my account. Stupid me, I just got a bubble envelope, sealed it, put his address on the label and sent it on its way (after getting proper postage cost from the post office.) Since it was the first time I ever returned anything, I was naïve and didn't know really how to do it. I didn't go through the proper channels and didn't get a tracking number. I waited and waited and never got a refund. So, I contacted the seller again and he claimed he never received it. My guess is, when he got it, he noticed I just sent it without any way for me to prove I sent it. Therefore, he knew he could get away without having to refund me my money. He probably ended up resealing the CD and posting it for sale again (and without saying it was a cut-out.) After that experience, I made sure all subsequent returns went through the proper channels and to have proof of delivery with a way to track it.

 

Yup. I bid on a pre-recorded concert video and got a blank VHS dub of the tape instead of the commercial release that I'd bid on. I reported the seller and got them suspended.

 

I've received a couple counterfeits via eBay. They were pressed aluminum discs, but obvious counterfeits. I wrote the sellers to inform them without accusing them of anything duplicitous. They issued a refund without issue and told me to keep the discs.

In another instance, a seller sent me the correct authentic disc, but in much worse condition than specified in the eBay listing. He fought me tooth and nail and would not take the disc back for a refund. I had to file a claim through PayPal to get my money back.

 

only as a seller, non paying bidders, people complaining about postage prices even though i only charge what it costs me, and the best was a guy that bought a rare CD off me for about $50. First said thanks that it arrived a week later he complains it's damaged, i say no problem send it back and i'll refund. He doesn't want to do that, he will accept a partial refund of $40. i tell hm to send it back, he then send a crummy photo through ebay with what looks like a badly photoshopped crack through the disc, even though originally it was only the case and booklet damaged. i refunded him $20 ad blocked him after that.

 

It was stolen, through fraud!

 

I was scammed once, but the situation was so comical I let it slide. This was also back in the early days of eBay and the early days of burn-your-own DVDs. I really, really wanted the old "The Ant and the Aardvark" cartoons, and saw a seller on eBay that was offering them on DVD. They were trying to pass these off as "imports" since there was no legit version available. Knowing they weren't legit, but hoping the quality was decent, I splurged and spent $10 on it. When I received the disc, it was a DVD-R with a homemade label, and everything was obviously copied from awful quality VHS tapes. I complained to the seller, who replied with a long rant insisting that I did not know how overseas markets work, and how the DVD was a completely legitimate import. By this time, the seller had a building chorus of negative feedback, so I just added mine and dropped the matter.