Here is what is wrong with ebay. This seller had 188 complaints for non-delivery before he was shut down. http://www.union-bulletin.com/articles/2008/02/09/local_news/local04.txt the good news is he is going to jail
His going to Jail now that is the good news, the Bad is that it took ebay 188 complaints of non delivery BEFORE they shut him dowm!!
I would like to think this would have showed up in his feedback and I would have been smart enough not to buy from him. How much bad feedback does a seller need before buyers wise up? Unless he ran all his auctions within a short period you woul think some red flags would wave.
Yeah, not to blame the victims as he is the problem...but COME ON!! Use a little common sense when buying!!
Sometimes it takes time for something like this to be obvious. Theoretically, he could placed a number of auctions over a 1 month period before the negatives started to trickle in. Leaving a negative is pretty much the last resort when trying to get satisfaction from a seller. Shipping mistakes do happen and the last thing you want to do is kill any chance you have of getting your item or your money back. eBay wants you to wait 30 days and PayPal gives you 45 days to make a claim... PLENTY of time to run a large number of auctions without any negative feedback. I think the guy got extra-greedy and waited too long to make a run for it. Either that, or he was just plain stupid!
I don't think it was as much the complaints as that the article states PayPal and eBay lost $267,615. If they take a hit for lost revenues you KNOW they're going to do something.
Very true but if they had put a stop to him sooner then they woudnt have lost so much so no real sympathy for them. I do however have a great deal of sympathy for the many ebayers who go through the process of lodging official complaints with both ebay & paypal about such issues, only to recieve no response from the company and to continue seeing offending traders opperate.
I agree wholeheartedly! I was just posting a "footnote" as it were. People lost money and i'm sure some did through their own, shall we say, stupidity and greed? Others just plain got taken. Sympathy for ebay in this one (or any other really). Not in the least. If they let things like this go on long enough it not only hurts the buyers but comes back to haunt ebay as well.
What is your point? Is it that crooks are on eBay? Of course they are. We all know that. Educate yourself, and nobody can rip you off. Ya Know? I really, really get tired of people complaining about how they got ripped off on eBay. If you got burned on eBay, you deserve it. You didn`t do your homework You can steal things on eBay if you know your stuff. Really, really good things. You can steal things....... if you know.........
BZ you actually did just make the point. This is why I so rarely bid on ebay but on the flipside there are newbies there as there are here. Not EVERYONE has learned the ropes yet. That is why we need to KEEP on educating. 188 complaints? Me thinks ebay could have stepped in a BIT sooner. Course he might not be in jail if they did. How's that for a twist?
bzcollektor There were a couple things I was attempting to point out. They were: 1. It took ebay 188 complaints before acting 2. This scum bag got caught and is going to jail I was in no way whining about getting ripped off as I was not one of his/her victims. But I also do not believe that naive people deserve to get ripped off. Even educated people can get ripped off. eBay is a great concept but is fraught with fraud because eBay has chosen profit over integrity. There are Several Grading Swindlers on eBay that prove that. I believe that part of the mission of forums like this and others is to educate new folks that are just entering the hobby as crooks like the one above give ALL dealers and the hobby in general a bad name. If you are a dealer, Swindling Grading Scum dealer products will someday reach your store and when you are done laughing at that person and offer face value for his/her MS 70 2005 nickel set, that person will associate you and all dealers as crooks. Also, I do occasionally buy things on eBay and do a fair amount of research on the seller before bidding which includes many different factors.