I got ripped off on US Audio Mart - Becareful!

I was uneasy with USAM from the start because the site offers no protection or assistance at all; your only protection comes from your credit card and/or Paypal.

 

@ PB Point,

I use a Master Card for all PayPal purchases. By chance did you? If so notify them immediately explaining your situation. They will open a case and it will then be on file.

Next notify PayPal and let them know you notified your credit card company. That's all you need to say. PayPal is aware the credit card company will do a charge back on PayPal recovering your money if PayPal doesn't.

Over the years I have had to file two PayPal resolution depute cases. In both cases PayPal credited the money back to my account. Just going from memory it does take about 45 days. (Read PayPal policy on dispute resolutions.)

**Important: Save all emails between you and the seller. Send them all to PayPal. IF a Credit card was used for your payment though PayPal, SAVE ALL emails not only the ones between you and the buyer but also all of them between you and PayPal.

It could be worse. You could have paid the guy with a money order or check. You would be screwed for sure then.

 

A reminder. Most persons are not honest compared to say 30 years ago. When ebay undercharges postage as they frequently do, 95% of buyers will not pay the difference. Most people in the USA are dishonest to some degree. Be careful!

 

I know hitting the "Buy It Now" button feels good. Instant gratification. But it's always best to start a conversation with a seller first. Much can be revealed in how they respond. In this case, it's even possible he would have said it's sold. Good luck with the claim, justice is on your side!

 

Care to try and support this nonsense?

 

Yeah, I’ve gotten ripped off twice on this site (I got my money back one one of those transactions but not the other) but I certainly don’t blame this forum.

 

Not an invalid point you make but when you think about it, what would the website do that PayPal couldn't? "Send the item to the OP, pretty please!"? The feedback system is there for users to decide whether to trust a user or not.

PayPal is all the protection you need. Though I do feel bad for whomever has a transaction go bad as it's a hassle to go through this process but at least, PayPal offers protection.

Back in the pre-PayPal days, money orders were sent and there was next to no protection whatsoever! To me, those were dark days.

 

That might make you feel better, but it's no guarantee. I once had some very pleasant phone conversations with a guy who ultimately screwed me royally.

 

It is a fact ebayers will not pay the true postage costs about 95% of the time. You consider that honest even if only a few dollars? Not 100% honest and it is a fact. I will pay any additional shipping charges, of course. You lose this case. In fact I think you might be in that 95%, but not sure. But, you are apparently defending that 95%.

 

Your opinions stated as "facts" don't make them anymore accurate. You seem to have an issue with this in many of your comments, fact.

Like I said previously, show some support for your statements, saying it twice don't make it real.

 

Goodbye.

 

That's a standard thing they do. But it shouldn't take that long. If you are worried, call Paypal and speak to someone. Most of the time, when I do that, things move a lot quicker because a real human is looking at the issue in real time and can decide if there's any need to wait for a reply, etc.

 

Many sellers ask buyers to gift them PayPal funds -- I wonder if that voids the typical PayPal guarantee?

 

Gifting PayPal does remove any recourse. Not a good idea.

 

Either that or add a 3% charge on top of the total. Either should prohibited. The 3% should be added into the item's price and asking for F&F should lead to the ad being removed.

IMHO, if you can't conduct business in an honest fashion, you shouldn't have the ability to sell at all.

 

This statement makes no sense at all...most people everywhere are honest and trustworthy. The minority are the dishonest ones.

 

No guarantee of course; it's the internet after all.

 

No. It's humans. Good and bad ones are everywhere, Internet or not.

 

Feedback. Feedback. Feedback. It's not a guarantee by any means but it is a way to mitigate risk. I agree with those that say it's not the platform's fault but a specific seller. Do your due diligence first but realize that there is always a risk with buying privately from an individual.

 

Tru dat, but it's easier to spot a bad deal when you're picking it up and holding it in your hands.

 

To a degree but not always. To moot, I just performed a transaction via the Canadian version of the website where I traded my Arcam AVR350 for some LPs. I made sure to explain to him how it shuts off and sometimes power-cycles itself once every 4-8 weeks. With some back & forth, I explained exactly what happened and why I didn't try to have it repaired. He was OK with it all and went for the trade anyway.

Had I gone to his place and plugged it in, it would have operated normally as it does 99% of the time and would not have been able to see the issue if I had not divulged it immediately.

 

I've never had an issue with the "3% extra for Paypal" line in an ad. I think it's the seller's prerogative and it is transparent (more so than burying this cost in the price). As a buyer I can pass if I want to.

I can certainly understand sellers not wanting to lose out on funds because the other party chooses to use a platform that protects only them. Great if you are a buyer (as am I 99% of the time). However, a lot of honest sellers have been screwed because of Paypal's policy of automatically siding with the buyer. I think it's pretty disgusting that they operate this way instead of simply doing an honest investigation and siding with the party that makes the most convincing case.

 

Charging a buyer the sellers Paypal fees is a violation of the Paypal terms of service plain and simple. A seller that does this can get their Paypal account closed.

 

Of course the thing that sucks is that he has all my info (shipping address, email, phone #) and he is protected behind a veil.

I highly doubt that his real name is listed and he has called from different numbers.

I’m going to be on alert for quite sometime now.

 

Wow!

I have had most of my problems with foreign transactions. Think about it, long distances and foreign governments that don't care.