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Thread: Ebay and PayPal BITE me. A cautionary tale! Anyone near East Fulton Tennessee?

  1. #1

    Join Date
    Dec 2000
    Location
    Tonopah, Nevada, USA
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    Ebay and PayPal BITE me. A cautionary tale! Anyone near East Fulton Tennessee?

    I'll be the first to admit that I've probably had more than my share of good experiences on Ebay. Living in a place like Tonopah Nevada, Ebay has opened windows and doors this country boy would have never dreamed of 15 years ago.

    On October 6 I bid and paid $1002.76 for a sale that combined a Gold Rim 8 1/4 Dagor and a 14" Commercial Ektar. Both were on Deardorff boards. Seller states they are in good shape. Belonged to her hot shot NY city photog / dad.

    They show up about 10 days later and both are full of fungus that is bad enough to have attacked the glass, the Commercial Ektar is all scratched to hell from improper cleaning, and even worse (if possible) the Dagor is seperating at the cement which appears to be the newer non balsam type.

    I contact her and tell her the sale is untenable, the lenses have a minimal value equal to the parts values of the shutters. She responds they looked OK to her and that meets her sales criteria for good condition.

    I contact PayPal and escalate to a claim as I say there will be no possible solution between the parties. PayPal gets in the middle and the seller agrees to a refund if I will send the items back. I do. Insured and delivery confirmation. She moves to Tennessee closes her accounts etc etc but the lenses finally get forwarded to East Fulton Tennessee and the insurance is signed for.

    She tells paypal she never got them and then never says another word. Time goes by and PayPal demands to hear from her in 10 days or they decide the case. 10 days go by and I check in.......

    PayPal gives me $200 bucks. Sorry pal, that's all PayPal insures this sale for. I'm out $800 and apparently there's nothing I can do about it. Hell I could have realized more than that selling them as junk! Somdbody could pound the bad cells out of the dagor and put better ones in and voila!

    Is there anything I can do besides this rant! This is pretty frustrating. I had no idea that if the $$ is spent and the account is closed PayPal screws you.

  2. #2
    Andrew Moxom
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    Minnesota
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    308

    Re: Ebay and PayPal BITE me. A cautionary tale! Anyone near East Fulton Tennessee?

    Jim, if you paid with paypal, they have $2000 buyer protection for just this type of instance. Check with paypal about it again. Log a case to them for an unauthorized transaction and get a case open. I had to do that when my paypal account was hacked. Someone took 2k out of my paypal somehow, and it left my bank account. I called my bank, told them about it and they alerted their fraud group. It can be done, but you have to be a dink about it. Paypal called me and said this would have been rectified, but I do no trust them one iota.

  3. #3

    Join Date
    Sep 2003
    Location
    South Carolina
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    Re: Ebay and PayPal BITE me. A cautionary tale! Anyone near East Fulton Tennessee?

    'I weep for you,' the Walrus said:
    'I deeply sympathize.'

    Said to the oysters as he was about to devour them,

    “The Walrus and the Carpenter”
    a poem by Lewis Carroll




    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Galli View Post
    Is there anything I can do besides this rant! This is pretty frustrating. I had no idea that if the $$ is spent and the account is closed PayPal screws you.

  4. #4
    4x5 - no beard Patrik Roseen's Avatar
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    Sep 2005
    Location
    Stockholm, SWEDEN
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    532

    Re: Ebay and PayPal BITE me. A cautionary tale! Anyone near East Fulton Tennessee?

    Jim, I know the feeling ...

    What are the possibilities in the US to report this as fraud through the normal legal system, i.e. go to the police?

    I live in Sweden and have had some bad experience lately on ebay. Most of what I buy is from abroad so it is hard to go outside the claiming procedure through ebay or paypal.

  5. #5

    Join Date
    Dec 2000
    Location
    Tonopah, Nevada, USA
    Posts
    6,334

    Re: Ebay and PayPal BITE me. A cautionary tale! Anyone near East Fulton Tennessee?

    Quote Originally Posted by GSX4 View Post
    Jim, if you paid with paypal, they have $2000 buyer protection for just this type of instance. Check with paypal about it again. Log a case to them for an unauthorized transaction and get a case open. I had to do that when my paypal account was hacked. Someone took 2k out of my paypal somehow, and it left my bank account. I called my bank, told them about it and they alerted their fraud group. It can be done, but you have to be a dink about it. Paypal called me and said this would have been rectified, but I do no trust them one iota.

    Oh, believe me, I've been on the phone with Paypal. They tell me things changed on October 25th and since my case was opened before that, too bad. 200 bucks.

  6. #6

    Join Date
    May 2007
    Location
    Minnesota
    Posts
    381

    Re: Ebay and PayPal BITE me. A cautionary tale! Anyone near East Fulton Tennessee?

    What a rip off!!! What is the point of using ebay and paypal if there is no protection from scam artists. $200 is like a slap in the face. "We changed the rules, so sorry you're screwed. Have a nice day."
    Sorry this happened to you Jim.

  7. #7
    Cooke, Heliar, Petzval...yeah
    Join Date
    May 2006
    Posts
    700

    Re: Ebay and PayPal BITE me. A cautionary tale! Anyone near East Fulton Tennessee?

    I use credit card method always when I pay Paypal. Then I file a fraud case against seller with the credit card company. I keep seller address, tracking number, all paperwork. There's my buyer protection.

    Paypal?, hate them, they take freaking big fees for their lousy service and they laugh at you when you get into trouble. We should sue them to get rid off those bastards.
    Peter Hruby
    www.peterhruby.ca

  8. #8
    Lachlan 717
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Posts
    2,591

    Re: Ebay and PayPal BITE me. A cautionary tale! Anyone near East Fulton Tennessee?

    Jim,

    I would do these things:

    First, research as much as you can as to the Organisational structure of the Fraud department and the overall Paypal division. It might help to research eBay's managerial structure as well.

    Second, once you have a list of names from the above research, try to work out the email addressing paradigm for the Org (i.e. is it bsmith@ebay.com, bill.smith@ebay.com and so on). If you can do this, I would send a group email to all of the people, making sure that they know you are CCing everyone.

    Third, in this email, outline that you are an influential member of many Forums, and that you will continue to publish updates on this issue if it is not resolved satisfactorally.

    Forth, and I hate this one (but it is effective here in Australia), clearly outline which current affairs programmes you are going to take this issue to. I am sure that you can get a name of some kind of buyers' advocate programme on US TV quite easily.

    Fifth, close the email by stating how easily this issue can be resolved. Let them know, the trivial (relative to their gross revenue) amount at issue is surely worth less than the hassle you are going to cause them. Make sure that you do state that this email is being sent to a lot of people within the Organisation (this is critical, as it forces the Lickspittles on your list to do something as their bosses know of the issue).

    Finally, make sure that you put your expectations clearly in the email - amount in question and timeframe for resolution.

    Having managed large departments that handle complaints, I know that this works!

    (Just make sure that you are willing to fulfil what amounts to a threat; don't bring a knife to a gun fight!!)

    Lachlan.

  9. #9
    lenser's Avatar
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    Jul 2007
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    Tim from Missouri
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    1,698

    Re: Ebay and PayPal BITE me. A cautionary tale! Anyone near East Fulton Tennessee?

    While I'm definitely no lawyer, there have been enough stories on the news over the years to have this remind me of the stories about fraud laws involving interstate commerce, federal banking laws regarding wire transactions, and possibly fraud within the postal system. It might be beneficial to contact your local congressman's office for information and the ferderal prosecutor in your area to discuss possibilities on how to procede to nail this cretin.

    Good luck.
    "One of the greatest necessities in America is to discover creative solitude." Carl Sandburg

  10. #10

    Re: Ebay and PayPal BITE me. A cautionary tale! Anyone near East Fulton Tennessee?

    I live in Tennessee and I don't have a clue where East Fulton is. There is a Fulton over on the Mississippi River, north of Memphis and a South Fulton on the Kentucky border near Union City.

    If the Post Office was used for any part of this transaction you might be able to get them involved. The Postal Inspectors have a long reach. You could sue if mad enough but it'll cost way more than you've lost.

    Last idea is to drag her name through every forum you frequent. Over and over again until you got some feeling of relief. Maybe include the info in your next eBay sales as well. That way if she ever looks for a job someone may google her and find out she's a crook. Of course you might get sued over that. But she'd have to find a real shyster lawyer if you only told the truth, so maybe its OK.

    EBay has about lived out its usefulness. The changes to feedback make it ripe for non paying bidders and place unreasonable demands on sellers. The fees are out the roof and they won't let you accept paper forms of payment.

    The only way to use eBay any longer is as stated above to always, always use your credit card so you have control over this very kind of thing.

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