Suspicious ebay transaction

Hi all,

I made an ebay purchase yesterday afternoon for a sum of around $400. Like a good ebay buyer, I paid through paypal right away. The name of the seller is willsmith0408.

At 10:12 pm last night, I received message from ebay saying that the seller is cancelling the transaction. The reason given for this by the seller was "The item is out of stock".

When the auction is for one specific coin, how can it be "out of stock"? I suspect that after the auction ended, the seller either found someone else willing to pay more for the item or he never had the item to begin with and it trying to pull something over on me.

I then got another message from ebay at 4:45 am saying "Enjoy your new item....the next step is to pay for it". This makes no sense to me since I've already paid, and this whole thing is getting very suspicious.

I went to the page on ebay for the case that the seller opened to cancel the transaction. The page said to not cancel a transaction until all money has been refunded. I clicked the 'I do not accept the cancellation' button and included a note to the seller telling him that I would not cancel the transaction until my money had been refunded.

What would my next step be here? Do I need to wait for the seller to respond or refund my money? Something tells me I'm not going to hear from this guy again. Should I contact ebay now?

Thanks!

-StephenS

 

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If you don't hear from the seller and get your funds back today, open a case. That will force the seller to act.

 

I think you have to wait several days before you can open a case. Either way, you'll get your money back. Calling ebay is your best bet today.

 

If you already denied the request to cancel transaction, then no other case can be opened by the seller. Check your PayPal to see if you've been refunded. If not, you'll have to wait about 5 days to open an "item not received" case (to give the seller time to ship it - that's why they make you wait to open your case). After that the seller has like 10 days to either refund you fully or respond with a valid tracking number. If he doesn't then you can ask eBay for a decision and they will refund you in 24-48 hours.

It's a long, drawn out process. Of course eBay just wants their cut of the fees, etc. so they intentionally make it such.

 

Thank you all for your quick replies!

 

The seller contacted me this afternoon offering to complete the transaction outside of ebay.

I called ebay and they've instructed me to wait until after the estimated delivery date to open a case with them. They assured me they would refund my money if the seller doesn't do so ahead of time.

 

seems fishy

 

Yeah...I can see in the seller's feedback that another person who made a purchase from him yesterday had the same stuff pulled on him. This is what it says:

Purchase canceled, item no longer avail? From "Personal coll?" Interesting...

 

You should report him for trying to complete the sale outside of eBay. That's against policy and it will sure up your case against him even more.

 

Guess what is happening at my local coin shop?!? Guys are going in, writing down coins in stock, and then listing them on eBay. It was even getting as far as taking pictures of the coins AND having the owner HOLD the coin(s) for a few days. I got 'wind' of this when I asked my dealer to hold a few coins for a day as I'd forgotten my wallet. He told me all about it, and that other dealer friends had been experiencing the same thing. I read somewhere that around 20% of ebay listings are now "floats" (sellers selling off little or zero capital or inventory) Welcome to 21st century banking I guess...

 

Did you even read this seller's feedback, which is below 90% I might add:

He has 4 negs on sales of 1 oz gold Eagles, for doing the exact same thing. Cancelling transaction after buyer pays.

That is the biggest red flag for me to NOT bid on anything in his store.

http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISA...=25&iid=-1&de=off&which=negative&interval=365

 

Did you take a look at when those negative feedbacks were received? He had 100% feedback when I placed my bid on the item.

 

attention to detail is an undervalued trait. i know it is an inconvenience, and i would be LIVID, but you will get your fiat back

 

Yep...old will smith won't be selling on eBay much longer. He'll be joining the ranks of the those well deserved NARU'd individuals very soon.

 

I did.

I also noticed the 1 neutral posted yesterday morning which would have been visible in his feedback by yesterday afternoon before you made your purchase.

 

Nope, he had a clean 100% feedback when I placed my bid. The auctions ended on Monday afternoon.