I Think I Just Got Scammed on Ebay!

[romantico]

So, over the weekend I won an item on Ebay. It was a piece of art and I was very happy because I got it at a very low/fair price.I just got an invoice early this morning. When I got home the seller sent me a note saying,item was destroyed by accident in garage. Sorry.Not available.

Well, red flags are going off. First thing that comes to mind is someone contacted this guy,offered more money,end of story. I sent him an email back within 2 minutes. I said that I may still be interested. How badly damaged is it? I'd like to see pictures.I reminded him that I was still the highest bidder and the winner and I have no plans on cancelling this transaction yet.If I don;t hear back from him I will contact ebay for advice.

SO far I've heard nothing. I've requested his contact info with phone number but thought it was late so I'll give him a friendly call tomorrow.If another bidder contacted him using ebay(I don't know how else they could) then won't ebay have a record of their correspondence? The fact that the seller has not contacted me really makes me nervous. I'm sad because I really liked the piece and realize I got a great deal. Can anyone think of anything else I could do?

[onehandle]

1. If you are not out any money, call it a win.

Sorry if you really wanted it, but nothing can make them sell it against their will.

[zonkers]

19. ding ding ding.

[romantico]

2. Then

Then why did they list it? Why send me an invoice? I was thinking about paying for it but I don't want to complicate things and pay for it when the seller has told me it is no longer available. I'm not out any $$$ SO you are right I suppose. It could be seen as a win win but I am still pissed,especially if this guy is doing something ebay strongly frowns upon. I guess I could contact ebay,tell them what I suspect and see if they want to check his messages to see if another buyer contacted him. Thanks for the advice.

[Ikonoklast]

5. Contact Ebay no matter what, this may be a pattern followed by this particular seller.

Definitely sounds fishy.

[Baitball Blogger]

3. Contact the ebay people.

They frown on this kind of thing.

[PoliticAverse]

4. 'sellers remorse' is not unknown on ebay when an item goes for too low a price. n/t

[BlueJazz]

9. Yep...I've heard lots of stories of the item being Dropped, lost, torn, "got wet" and...

...several other bullshit stories.

One of my friends won a very nice telescope at a great price...the next day the seller
emailed that her husband took it out last night and left it outside when he came in....and
a raccoon destroyed it.

I guess that was better than "A pack of wild Klingons stoled it."

[madinmaryland]

6. If you didn't lose any money, then you were not scammed. He/She found someone willing

to pay more and sold it. Move on.

[pipi_k]

17. I would agree except for one point...

If I were looking for a specific item, I might keep an eye on a couple of items with the knowledge that I may lose out on my first choice.

If I "win" an item, I either cancel a snipe, or remove an item from my watch list. If the auction times are close enough, the other choices might no longer be available by the time I "win" the first one.

So I would end up losing, not just the first item that the person no longer wants to sell, but the other items I would have liked as second/third choices.

This, IMO, is sort of like someone agreeing to buy an item then getting buyer's remorse and cancelling the transaction when the auction is done.

And, as someone already pointed out, when people buy/sell, they enter into a contract.

In any event, I do believe that if the seller is really honest about what happened to the piece of art, he should email a photo showing the "damage" to the buyer and let him decide whether or not he still wants it.

Anything else is just plain sleaze, and deserves to be reported.

IMO

[romantico]

7. If

If that is what happened,I'll move on after I report him to ebay. That is not how ebay works. I am not only a buyer and I have sold items where I have felt they were worth a lot more. However, 'if' this seller did what I suspect than it is against ebay policy. You can't have an auction, have someone bid on your item and win and then have someone else contact the seller and offer more money. If I was outbidded that would be one thing. I got cheated out of an item I won. Just curious if anyone can think of something more I could do. I have the seller's phone number. Was thinking about calling and being friendly and asking for pictures of the damaged item.If I had sold an item and damaged it, I would want to put the bidders mind at ease and would probably go out of my way to convince them the item REALLY WAS DAMAGED. By talking to him I can let him know I am still interested and am inquiring on the advice of Ebay. If he does not offer pics or anything to back his claim up I'll call ebay. Giving him the benefit of the doubt and hearing him out is an option. However,he has not returned my email so I may already have my answer.

[Honeycombe8]

8. Be glad he didn't send you a shoddy replica of the item. Count yourself fortunate.

I got REALLY scammed twice on Ebay. Maybe 3 times. I no longer buy from Ebay.

[dimbear]

10. A sale on eBay is a contract. You have a right to specific performance,

meaning the seller must deliver to the best of his ability. After you get the item he should then adjust the price if it is damaged, say for instance to zero.

Otherwise, you have been cheated.

[CBGLuthier]

12. adjust the price to zero??

That is reason number one I no longer sell on eBay. It is a buyer's paradise where the seller has no rights.

[michreject]

14. Adjustment is not an option

You can't send an invoice that doesn't match the auction figures.

[dimbear]

22. I guess that wasn't clear enough. If the seller really broke the item, he should send it and refund

the entire purchase price. Once an eBay sale goes through, the item no longer belongs to the seller.

True, sellers are at a disadvantage. I no longer sell on eBay for political reasons, I can understand why others do not.

[RZM]

11. I got screwed over on Amazon once

I ordered a DVD and it never came. Tracking said it was delivered, but it never appeared in my mailbox. When I contacted the seller, he took 10 days to respond. When he did, it was one line saying: 'The package has been delivered.' I informed him that it hadn't been and that I would appreciate a refund. That was the last I heard from them. I sent another message taking them to task for not giving a shit about my situation.

Contrast that with the last item I ordered from another seller a couple months ago. It also never arrived, but when I contacted the seller, they immediately apologized and refunded my money. I gave the first seller a bad review and the second a very good one.

You take your chances with these people. Most are fair, but some are pretty shady.

[michreject]

13. Something similar happened to me

The seller told me it was stolen out of his car.

What are you gonna do?

[bigwillq]

15. Any updates? (nt)

[Arkansas Granny]

16. Contact ebay. They will investigate and get to the bottom of it.

[romantico]

18. Thanks

This seller has ignored my emails. I sent him an email this morning again asking to see pics of the item informing him that I still might want it.I even said,what are you going to do with the damaged item? Throw it away? Lets talk. Communicate with me. So far, nothing. So, about an hour later I called their phone number. I got voicemail. I had to start over a few times because I went into way too much detail and the voicemail cut me off, so I had to keep editing. I was on the phone for 10 minutes. During this time,I got an email from this person. Again, they apologized,said they are moving,item was broken along with some other lamps and no longer available.Its the 'no longer available' that bothers me. Not damaged, just not available. Maybe I'm reading too much into it. 've asked three times for pics and each time the seller ignores my request.

So, I will notify ebay. They can check all incoming messages and if a outside buyer was interested after the auction ended he would have no other way to contact the seller but by using the link on ebay,so ebay will have a record of a new offer coming in. Now, will ebay share that info with me? I doubt it. All I can do is continue to call/email this person asking for pictures,report them to ebay and let ebay know how PISSED OFF I AM, and finally,leave negative feedback. As long as I have been on ebay I've never had this happen to me.

Oh, and I agree. Seller's have no rights on ebay. I have literally been blackmailed on ebay. I had a guy win an item and then after the auction he decided I was asking too much for shipping and TOLD ME I was paying for shipping or getting negative feedback. I was asked to take my pick. Ebay frowns on extortion and that is what this was. Another time I put an item worth about $300 up on ebay. Always had tons of people watching the item and a few lame offers but no bids. So, I kept coming down. Over the course of a few months I came down to my lowest offer which was about $125. I was not happy but just wanted to get rid of the item. That is when the offers started pouring in. None of the offers were over $50. Buyers on ebay don;t want bargains or good deals. They want you to GIVE THEM THINGS THEY WANT.

If this item is damaged,I would make them an offer if it isn;t too bad. I would never expect nothing for it.

[pipi_k]

26. So, the guy who

tried to blackmail you with negative feedback if you didn't pay for shipping...

what ultimately happened?

I would have forwarded all his emails or whatever straight to eBay so they could deal with him as they saw fit.

[romantico]

30. It

it was years ago right when I started to sell on ebay. I wish I knew then what I knew now because I sort of let him off the hook. I did remind him that ebay monitors all communication with it's members and that comment might come back to bite him in the ass. He paid and did not email me again(and I blocked him)

[Ter]

20. I think you're taking this way too far

I'd end it if I were you. What can eBay do to him? All he has to say is he dropped it and threw it out. Even if they could somehow punish him, how does that help you?

[romantico]

21. I

Spoke with ebay. I did not take it to far. Scammers on con artists like this need to know that they can't get a way with this. AFter I spoke with a rep at Ebay they said they can't make the seller sell an item but they frown on these sort of tactics. I was on hold for a while and I think the ebay rep checked the seller's incoming messages. He sounded more aggressive to me when he got back but it could have been my imagination. I continued and sent the seller two more emails requesting photos. I then called several times but did not leave any more messages. The seller did finally send me an email. It was request to cancel the transaction. If I did this A) I would not be able to leave feedback and B) he would be reimbursed for his listing fee. I IMMEDIATELY denied his request and left him some really nasty feedback. He emailed me afterwards apologizing and asked if I could remove my comments and feedback.

I'm really pissed. The Ebay rep did tell me that if I noticed the same item show up on his auctions to let them know ASAP. So no. I did not over react in the least. I did all I could. This asshole will think twice before pulling a stunt like this again, that much I am certain of.

[Ter]

25. Leaving negative feedback when you weren't hurt is over-reacting

If he did drop/break/rip it, he may be pissed and doesn't need to give you an explanation. Negative feedback is for when you get wrong/damaged items and the seller refuses to change them. Last resort only.

[romantico]

29. Over reacting?

I am not. Oh, and HE DOES OWE me an explanation. If it was damaged,which I highly doubt,he should answer me. Don;t act guilty. Talk to me. Show me pics. I offered to buy it even if damaged. SO no, this guy is CLEARLY avoiding me. Sellers don't act like this when they make a mistake. They try and make the situation better. I can't believe I have to explain to this. Are you just playing devil's advocate or do you really feel that if this happened to you that you would not be thinking what I am?

Even the Ebay Rep said I SHOULD leave negative feedback, which I did. Not sure if you get what happened here.Seller sells item on ebay. I am the highest bidder on ebay and win. Seller sends me invoice. Before I can pay seller gives a 2 sentence excuse saying item damaged,not available,sorry. I challenge that by asking for pics,shows an interest in still buying item even if damaged etc.Seller ignores my messages. this is NOT how a seller should act.The ebay rep,even though he did not say it, I believe saw another come in to the seller because he was rather neutral while we were talking and then put me on hold for a while. When he came back he had a totally different attitude.More aggressive,encouraging me to leave negative feedback and when I told him what I suspected he told me that I was probably right.

When you win an item on ebay that means it is yours. You stop accepting offers once the auction is over. If you do field offers after the auction is over THAT IS IN CLEAR VIOLATION OF EBAY'S POLICIES.No over reacting on my part. The jerk violated the rules. Hurt? WHo gets hurt on ebay? (LOL) I got screwed and I'm gonna make sure this idiot doesn't do this again to another buyer. I'm watching his auctions closely.We had a contract. That is how ebay works. SO no, me leaving nasty feedback is the VERY LEAST I could do. The fact that he requested I cancel the transaction so I couldn't leave feedback and he will be reimbursed for his listing fee's shows what kind of sneaky bastard he really is.

[BrendaBrick]

23. What was the seller's rating?

That should be a tip. If it was 100%, then maybe they are telling the truth. Personally, I never bid on anything where the seller's rating is lower than 99% and/or a seller with a low number of transactions and I've never had any problems.

Your best bet might be to see if this same item comes up for bid again - then I think you would have something concrete to take to ebay for dispute. At least you're not out any money!

[romantico]

24. It

It was 28. They have,or I should say,HAD good feedback. Yes,I am watching his auctions closely.He may not have liked the fact that he sold something for less then what he thinks it is worth. Then again, I suspect someone contacted him after the auction and made him an offer he couldn't refuse.To get an invoice from him and then his note that it is no longer available just doesn't make sense.I also blocked him from bidding on my stuff,just in case.

[pipi_k]

27. If it's not really broken

then it just might be that someone else contacted him and offered more, and if that's the case you probably will never see another listing for that item on eBay.

I had something sort of similar happen to me once except I was the seller waiting for payment on a set of ceramic beanpots and matching items.

I waited and waited. Contacted the guy for payment. Waited some more. Finally he answers me and wants to pay me from an account that's not even his own. By this time I had contacted eBay's conflict resolution and that's when the guy changed his tune and offered to pay me from his own account. I said no, that I had no more desire to sell to him. That's when he accused me of having gotten a better offer from someone else.

WTF???

I ended up giving the stuff to my daughter. For free.

I've been on eBay since 2000 and that's the only bad experience I've ever had.

There have been times when a seller has been very very slow in shipping something, and that's when I call upon his good name, telling him that I notice he has very good feedback and that I'm sure something must have screwed up in the shipping dept or at the post office or something. Always be friendly...it works wonders...

[pipi_k]

28. That's my policy, as well...

except I will occasionally buy a very inexpensive item from someone with a low feedback number...number of transactions, I mean, not percentage rating.

I figure, well, they have to get experience somehow, and if the item is small enough it's not that big a deal.

The low number people have never screwed me over, and I feel good for having helped someone get a start.

[BrendaBrick]

31. awww....

that's a nice thing for you to do! (I'll keep that in mind next time.)