My eBay scam story

Strange that the seller had no sales during the past year.

 

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First I hope it works out for you. Same thing happened to me early on with EBAY - back then there was no protection. The worst part is ebay found against me. At least I got to give the seller a negative. Your seller and my seller are the reasons ebay has had to do the things they have done for seller protection.

So I learned several things (1) bad pictures - skip them no matter who the seller is period, (2) No return policy - just skip them all together it is not worth the hassle, (3) Don't both asking questions to a seller you are unfamiliar with,(4) Always use a credit card with ebay. Yeah - I might miss a few deals on ebay, but it keeps me from all the hassle.

 

...Update...

Well, after exposing the fact that I know this sellers game and what he did was a deliberate scam AND that I know where he stole the picture from to advertise his coin, he has changed tactics. I could post the whole email I got today (keep in mind, this is after he called me a crook, and said that I swapped coins on him etc. etc.) but here is the essence:

"After looking over the messages you sent me and checking with a magnified glass, I realized that I put the wrong picture in auction." He goes on to say that he's old (age 65), and that he inadvertently sent me the wrong coin. In fact, the picture that he got from the website was just intended to be an example of the kind of coin that was in the auction, not the actual coin, and that he accidentally swapped pictures. He concludes by saying that he hopes I can understand the mistake, and he will refund my money.

Now, here is my conundrum. My objective has been accomplished; I will recoup my money. However, this guy was pretty unpleasant AND I don't necessarily buy his story. I don't think that he accidentally put a random picture from the internet on his auction. I believe it was deliberate and intended to defraud. My guess is that (from his point of view) a buyer might be intimidated, or feel like it is just not worth the hassle to fight for their money back. Either that, or he figures he can gamble and hope ebay falls for his cock and bull story and award him the money. For a guy that doesn't use ebay all that much, there is not a lot of risk for him.

So, at this point, I can just send him back the coin and be done with it (not involved ebay), or I can try to push it, and see if I can get more severe penalties against him. I'm not the type of guy to "go after people," but when you get called a few choice names, told that you are "the reason why sellers hate using ebay," along with a few other attacks on my character, it makes me want to make sure this guy does not do the same thing to another buyer.

Thoughts?

 

Get your money back and be done with it. Not worth the time or trouble. At most send a transcript on the messages to ebay as an FYI and let it go. Life is too short to waste the time IMO.

 

I agree with USS656. Life is to short to get worked up. Pat yourself on the back for winning and move on.

 

Perhaps the photo was intended only to be an example; can you prove beyond all doubt it was not? Right or wrong, he wouldn't be the first to do such a thing, and if he was this evil scammer out to defraud you, he probably should have removed the number from Deck's photo, which made it quite obvious where it came from. You're welcome to think what you want, but every time someone writes of wanting to punish some seller, I cannot help but to wonder if they would still feel that way were the seller able to neg them in return. Most tend not to be so reactive and quick to judge when it could come back to bite them. Regardless of what the whole truth (as opposed to assumed truth) is, he offered to refund, so just take your money, let it go, and leave the power trip for someone else.

 

I usually don't buy coins on ebay if the pics aren't good. As for a return policy, I'm going to have to disagree with most/all of you. I'm a reputable seller on ebay and I don't have a return policy in order to protect myself. I offer good pics and a honest and thorough description of what I sell. If someone buys the coin or whatever I sell, that's it. I don't want to worry about getting a coin switched on me, paying again for shipping, losing something in mail, etc. I never consider a return policy whateither when I buy coins because I make sure I know what I'm buying and who is selling it. This all works for me

 

Without knowing everything that was done or said, I'm inclined to agree with USS656 and Gilbert. If you are getting your money back then just let it go.

 

By posting the listing on here, amongst the lions, I suspect you have done plenty to his reputation. To do more might prove to be fruitless.

 

Do you find that "not having a return policy" makes much difference, given eBay's penchant for siding with the buyer? It seems to me that a buyer can return just about anything by inventing some aspect in which it's "not as described"...

 

Power trip? Really? What in the world gives you the idea that I'm on some sort of a power trip? I'm out to reclaim my money and would like to ensure this does not happen to another buyer. You see, however broke eBay’s system is, there needs to be some sort of accountability for what you say and do. If you decide to pluck a picture from the net, add it to your listing, along with a second picture of the same photo zoomed in, and then respond to a potential buyer that the coin you own looks great and has no issues, only to send a coin that is substantially corroded, there should be some accountability. Of course, had he admitted a mistake after my first message (as most of us would) there would have been no issue. Inconvenient, but not worthy of mention. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen.

Since you asked, BooksB4Coins, I can assure you that if I were the seller in this situation, and a buyer says they would like to return a coin because it does not match the description, I would not resort to slander and question their character in my first message. You see, that is why something like this would not happen to me. I’m not saying that I don’t make mistakes, I do. But you better believe that I’m going to look at the listing to make sure I’m not in the wrong. And in case you didn’t know, BooksB4Coins, every time you log in to the resolution area, the auction’s main picture is right there, staring the seller in the face. Is it reasonable for me to think, in the 7-8 messages afterward, that he would have at least put eyes on the picture in question? He was only selling one coin, after all. Is it also reasonable to think that he would know what the coin looks like when he responded to my email about the condition of the coin? I think so. Perhaps he uses Tom’s setup, you might say. To that, I would respond that even if he did, he would have recognized the error after checking his inventory, offered to swapped the coins with me, or somehow make it right. But that didn’t happen. You see, I only stopped becoming a con artist after I gave him the link to Tom’s personal collection website. That’s when his memory became sharper, and he miraculously recognized the coin he sent.

So, BooksB4Coins, you may think I’m fabricating this whole issue. There are two sides to every story, you’ll say, and I’m the only one writing. Of course, you’re right. But the fact is, I’m a collector with a limited amount of income, as I suppose most people on this forum are. There is a certain amount of camaraderie amongst those who collect, as well as people that visit this website. While this auction will not make or break me financially, it has taken up my time and (probably) some of my money (shipping), and I would prefer that people do not go through the same issues I have. And if they must, it’s nice that they know that there are procedures in place that will help them find restitution. So, no, I have no desire to squander my time with what you call a “power trip,” but I am interested in seeing sellers that perpetuate this sort of behavior taken to task, and as a result, hopefully make buying items on ebay is not such a dicey proposition.

 

I see what you're saying. I've only had one problem buyer though. I sold a new book and she said it was old and used. I think ebay refunded her but I didn't have to. Other than that, I think carefully listing has saved me from problem buyers raising issues. I once had a problem with sellers and both times ebay took the seller's side! One time I left a negative review and they erased it because I mentioned feedback in my emails with the buyer. I wasn't even slightly blackmailing him or anything, but mentioning feedback is a big no-no I guess in emails

 

So, Aubade.... this rambling justification is your response to the first post in this thread not holding your hand? Please... get off your high horse. All this " stopping seller from doing this to someone else" bs is just an excuse as you know as well as I that you will change nothing; hence trying to punish this guy, even after he has agreed to refund your money, would be a power trip, and in the long run a waste of your time. He wronged you and hurt your sweet feelings... that's all this is. Perhaps if you, or anyone else, instead of running off to the forum to tell people who can do nothing to help you, would simply try to talk to the other person, you would see he is probably not this boogyman out to get the poor little coin buyer. This wasn't the work of a brilliant scam artist, aubade, and in all likelihood is just a guy, no better or worse than any of us dealing in an unfamiliar area, who made a stupid move.

Oh, and I never questioned anything you've claimed (other than dropping the ball on the "poor" photo excuse), nor had any reason to, so why the display of over sesitivity?

 

There's no other penalties you'd be able to get imposed on him through Ebay. In fact even if you leave valid negative feedback I'm willing to bet that Ebay will remove it within a week or two after that. They like to do this sneakily though and will wait a little while before doing so and the only way you'll ever know it has occurred is to check your left feedbacks in a few weeks time.

 

I understand the desire to teach him a lesson, but it all worked out for you, so you're golden.

 

Get your money back and walk away. Anything else would just add stress to your life that nobody needs.

 

You won , I'd leave it be at that . Glad you got your money back .

 

BooksB4Coins- I really don’t want to go back and forth on this. You’re one of those guys that enjoys arguing, and you cannot see his own hypocrisy. Sorry, I just don’t care enough about your critique of me to keep going. You’re more than welcome to send me PMs, however, and continue to pass along your judgment. I’ll be sure to give you a thumbs up, so that you know I received them.

To the rest of the group, I appreciate your thoughts, and I think you’re right. Assuming I get my money back, I’ll let the matter drop. No need to worry about this any longer than I have to.

 

First, I will apologize for the tone of my response, not hecause of anything you have said, but because it was written quickly at a late hour, and in retrospect, reads differently than intended. Now, just to clarify things, I never said nor thought you were on a power trip, and had you not been so quick to take it personally, perhaps you would have realized this. Once made whole, with all things considered, the only reason I could see for dragging this out would be a power trip. If you don't like it, that's fine, or if you don't agree, that's fine too, but it is your life and your time to do with as you please.

 

I've never been opposed to people that disagree with me. Since this situation happened to me, I'm naturally going to have strong feelings. But I generally do enjoy the discussion. I just don't want to get into the bickering that can devolve into name calling, etc.

Anyway, ideally, this will be fully resolved at the end of the week, and I can now move on to more positive coin transactions.