Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Posted in
Life
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I originally posted a long article about how an eBay seller had scammed me. However, in retrospect I realize that part of the problem was that she didn't get a couple of my emails, so she may not have been trying to scam me at all (although she could have been). Nonetheless, this is a scam that you need to be aware of.
If you ever buy something on eBay, and the seller gives you some story about how he or she can't ship the item for this or that reason, it's okay to be patient and to wait a bit. But don't wait longer than about a month. The longer you wait, the more of your rights you lose.
(1) At 45 days, you lose the right to open a dispute with eBay's Dispute Resolution Department.
(2) At 45 days, you lose the right to collect money under eBay's Buyer Protection program.
(3) At 45 days, you lose the right to do a charge-back through PayPal (if PayPal was the method by which you paid).
(4) At 60 days, you lose the right to leave feedback for the seller. (eBay used to have a 90-day time-limit for feedback, but they changed that.)
(5) At 60 days, your emails to the buyer will no longer be delivered via eBay's proxy email service, so your messages won't even get through.
The item I had purchased was cuticle nippers. At first the seller complained that her knee was bothering her and she couldn't get over to the "storage unit". Later she started telling me that she was waiting for the manufacturer to send her more of the nippers. (The fact that she changed her story should have tipped me off that something was wrong.) I felt sorry for the seller and even sent her sympathy and advice. However, about 63 days after the purchase, I was looking at my eBay account and discovered that I could no longer give her feedback, and that was when I started to panic. I sent her a couple notes asking for a refund, but she didn't get them because eBay was no longer forwarding emails. I didn't know that and assumed that she was simply ignoring me. I was able to get her real email address from eBay, but they weren't willing to give me her address. (Can you believe that? If you are doing business with someone, you should be able to have their address.) However, a short online investigation turned up all of her personal information. I sent her a couple threatening notes, and she issued a refund pretty quickly.
If you find yourself in this situation (having paid for an item that was never delivered, and 60 days have passed from the close of the auction), there are still things you can do:
* First, if you paid with a credit card, find out from your credit-card company if you can do a chargeback. Your credit-card bank may also have a buyer protection program, and they may refund your money as part of that program. However, depending on the bank, your rights may have expired after 60 days.
* Contact eBay and get as much information about the seller as you can. Also, look up the seller in online phone books, and search the internet for any information you can find about the seller.
* Send the seller a threatening note revealing that you know where he or she lives.
* Threaten to contact the police in the seller's home town if a refund isn't made, and then do so if you don't get a refund. (Give the seller at least a week or ten days to issue the refund before you contact authorities.)
* Threaten to contact the Internet Crime Complaint Center (www.ic3.gov), a task force formed by the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center. The ICCC will evaluate your complaint and then route it to the most appropriate law-enforcement agency. If you don't get a refund, then go ahead and file the complaint.
* If the seller is selling new merchandise, threaten to complaint to the manufacturer of the merchandise, and then do so if you don't get a refund.
* If the seller sells on other venues (such as Amazon or Etsy), threaten to contact those other venues, and then do so if you don't get a refund.
* Threaten to publish the seller's information on the internet, identifying the seller as a thief, and then do so if you don't get a refund. (I believe that there are eBay complaint sites where you can do this, although I haven't investigated them.)
* If the seller has an employer, and you can track down that information, threaten to contact the employer, and then do so if you don't get a refund.
To my readers, I offer this general advice:
* If you can find what you are looking for on Amazon, buy from Amazon instead of eBay. eBay will cancel a seller's account only after multiple complaints. Amazon is much more focussed on keeping dishonest sellers off their site.
* Do not let an eBay seller string you along with excuses for more than 30 days. If you don't get the merchandise shortly thereafter, demand a refund. If you don't get the refund, be sure to open a dispute case with eBay within 45 days of the close of the auction.
* Either secure your refund or initiate a charge-back within 45 days of making payment.
* Don't forget that you have only 60 days to leave negative feedback. Don't leave feedback immediately. Rather, use the threat of negative feedback to get your money refunded. But be sure to leave feedback before the 60 days expire.
I ended up losing about a dollar on this transaction (for a long-distance phone call to the seller), but the anger and irritation was something that I could have done without.
If you ever buy something on eBay, and the seller gives you some story about how he or she can't ship the item for this or that reason, it's okay to be patient and to wait a bit. But don't wait longer than about a month. The longer you wait, the more of your rights you lose.
(1) At 45 days, you lose the right to open a dispute with eBay's Dispute Resolution Department.
(2) At 45 days, you lose the right to collect money under eBay's Buyer Protection program.
(3) At 45 days, you lose the right to do a charge-back through PayPal (if PayPal was the method by which you paid).
(4) At 60 days, you lose the right to leave feedback for the seller. (eBay used to have a 90-day time-limit for feedback, but they changed that.)
(5) At 60 days, your emails to the buyer will no longer be delivered via eBay's proxy email service, so your messages won't even get through.
The item I had purchased was cuticle nippers. At first the seller complained that her knee was bothering her and she couldn't get over to the "storage unit". Later she started telling me that she was waiting for the manufacturer to send her more of the nippers. (The fact that she changed her story should have tipped me off that something was wrong.) I felt sorry for the seller and even sent her sympathy and advice. However, about 63 days after the purchase, I was looking at my eBay account and discovered that I could no longer give her feedback, and that was when I started to panic. I sent her a couple notes asking for a refund, but she didn't get them because eBay was no longer forwarding emails. I didn't know that and assumed that she was simply ignoring me. I was able to get her real email address from eBay, but they weren't willing to give me her address. (Can you believe that? If you are doing business with someone, you should be able to have their address.) However, a short online investigation turned up all of her personal information. I sent her a couple threatening notes, and she issued a refund pretty quickly.
If you find yourself in this situation (having paid for an item that was never delivered, and 60 days have passed from the close of the auction), there are still things you can do:
* First, if you paid with a credit card, find out from your credit-card company if you can do a chargeback. Your credit-card bank may also have a buyer protection program, and they may refund your money as part of that program. However, depending on the bank, your rights may have expired after 60 days.
* Contact eBay and get as much information about the seller as you can. Also, look up the seller in online phone books, and search the internet for any information you can find about the seller.
* Send the seller a threatening note revealing that you know where he or she lives.
* Threaten to contact the police in the seller's home town if a refund isn't made, and then do so if you don't get a refund. (Give the seller at least a week or ten days to issue the refund before you contact authorities.)
* Threaten to contact the Internet Crime Complaint Center (www.ic3.gov), a task force formed by the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center. The ICCC will evaluate your complaint and then route it to the most appropriate law-enforcement agency. If you don't get a refund, then go ahead and file the complaint.
* If the seller is selling new merchandise, threaten to complaint to the manufacturer of the merchandise, and then do so if you don't get a refund.
* If the seller sells on other venues (such as Amazon or Etsy), threaten to contact those other venues, and then do so if you don't get a refund.
* Threaten to publish the seller's information on the internet, identifying the seller as a thief, and then do so if you don't get a refund. (I believe that there are eBay complaint sites where you can do this, although I haven't investigated them.)
* If the seller has an employer, and you can track down that information, threaten to contact the employer, and then do so if you don't get a refund.
To my readers, I offer this general advice:
* If you can find what you are looking for on Amazon, buy from Amazon instead of eBay. eBay will cancel a seller's account only after multiple complaints. Amazon is much more focussed on keeping dishonest sellers off their site.
* Do not let an eBay seller string you along with excuses for more than 30 days. If you don't get the merchandise shortly thereafter, demand a refund. If you don't get the refund, be sure to open a dispute case with eBay within 45 days of the close of the auction.
* Either secure your refund or initiate a charge-back within 45 days of making payment.
* Don't forget that you have only 60 days to leave negative feedback. Don't leave feedback immediately. Rather, use the threat of negative feedback to get your money refunded. But be sure to leave feedback before the 60 days expire.
I ended up losing about a dollar on this transaction (for a long-distance phone call to the seller), but the anger and irritation was something that I could have done without.
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