Suspicious Buyer on eBay

defiance_17

defiance_17

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An auction of mine just ended, and the winner has been registered since April with one feedback point, but 27 positive feedbacks since the end of July.
Yes, he has completed 27 transactions with the same seller. And after looking through all the auctions, the items ranged from several large fish tanks to basketball shoes to computers. Some of these auctions were for the exact same items, listed at different times. Obviously there is some shady business going on here, so what can I do to protect myself when it comes to receiving the money and making sure it doesn't get taken away from me?
 
hmm well if you could find out what else he's bidding on. I know it sounds funny but I've delt with people who've bought like 20 items from the same person and a couple of other from other people, normally they do this to save on shipping.

edit: and your avatar still scare the shit out of me. :shock:
 
Without actually seeing the auctions, I'd assume this guy is a friend of the seller and is bidding the items for him, some sellers use a friend to set a reserve price instead of ebay or they just don't like how much an item is going to sell for a get a friend to win so they don't have to sell.
 
I agree with that. It's supposedly illegal too, it's circumventing rules of Ebay so if you reported him Ebay will take a look at his history and possibly do something about it. However for your sell I would just wait to recieve the money, and pay the couple bucks to send certified so you have proof he recieves it. That should cover you.
 
[quote name='rockhero']Well he has to pay before you send the item, right?[/quote]

Yeah. I guess all you need to do is wait for payment.
 
[quote name='Rig'][quote name='rockhero']Well he has to pay before you send the item, right?[/quote]

Yeah. I guess all you need to do is wait for payment.[/quote]

Well if he's really a fake he'll pay with fake money orders or someone elses credit card through paypal, either way it'll be a while before you know you've been screwed.
 
I'm mainly worried about being involved in a charge-back scheme, where he'll pay me and try to get a refund either through PayPal or his credit card company after I ship the item. I've never been in a situation like this, so I haven't really looked into any type of protection PayPal may offer sellers.
It's not like he's buying all of this to save on shipping--they ended on different dates, and some were local pick-up only.
Here's a link to his feedback. I think it's fairly reasonable to assume most of this is phony (look at his first two auctions, for example).

http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISA...s=25&page=2&frompage=-1&iid=8141496830&de=off
 
paypal wont give the CC company authorization for a charge back before they do their 'investigation'

so basically get delivery confirmation and stuff for the box to prove shipping to cover your ass in case paypal hits you up to give a refund
 
[quote name='blackjaw']paypal wont give the CC company authorization for a charge back before they do their 'investigation'

so basically get delivery confirmation and stuff for the box to prove shipping to cover your ass in case paypal hits you up to give a refund[/quote]

Actually plenty of people just tell ther CC company to do a charge back and it works, someone on here was out $250 for an item because the guy had his CC company do a charge back and paypal didn't even do an investigation. I'm sure he'll pop up sometime to explain how he got screwed.
 
I don't think you should be any more concerned about this guy then you would about any other buyer. He hasn't pulled this before, otherwise I'm sure he'd have negative feedback. Like I said he was probably just bidding up the other guys auction, not trying to scam sellers. But definately be careful, that goes for all e-bay transactions though.
 
[quote name='defiance_17']I've never been in a situation like this, so I haven't really looked into any type of protection PayPal may offer sellers.
off[/quote]

You can start and stop your looking into that right now because the protection PayPal offers sellers doesn't exist.
 
[quote name='YoshiFan1'][quote name='defiance_17']I've never been in a situation like this, so I haven't really looked into any type of protection PayPal may offer sellers.
off[/quote]

You can start and stop your looking into that right now because the protection PayPal offers sellers doesn't exist.[/quote]

They have a Seller Protection Policy. What it does and/or how it may help me is another story.

https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=p/gen/protections

I'll have to read it all in-depth later.
 
Based on other's stories on here when they say chargeback in their protection policy it refers to PayPal chargebacks. If the buyer skips PayPal and does a CC chargeback they automatically pass it straight through to the seller.

I haven't dealt with this personally or asked PayPal about it, but from several posts on here that appears to be the case. Pretty crappy and very misleading of them, IMO.
 
[quote name='wubb']Based on other's stories on here when they say chargeback in their protection policy it refers to PayPal chargebacks. If the buyer skips PayPal and does a CC chargeback they automatically pass it straight through to the seller.

I haven't dealt with this personally or asked PayPal about it, but from several posts on here that appears to be the case. Pretty crappy and very misleading of them, IMO.[/quote]

Yep, basically Paypal sucks and so does ebay. But I dont' have anyother way to sell things easily so as much as I complain I'll still deal with them both.
 
Exactly. I think a lot of sellers would love to stop paying eBay and eBay-owned PayPal a good chunk of every sale. But the bottom line is you definitely get the most money for not a lot of work by using their two services.
 
I had to file for a chargeback in January of this year, and I remember when I filed through PayPal, part of the agreement was that I wouldn't file with my credit card until they had completed their investigation.
What would happen with a credit card chargeback if I took all the funds out of my PayPal account?
 
Your Paypal balance would go into a negative amount.

[quote name='wubb']Based on other's stories on here when they say chargeback in their protection policy it refers to PayPal chargebacks. If the buyer skips PayPal and does a CC chargeback they automatically pass it straight through to the seller.
[/quote]

Yeah, exactly, that's why I was saying their seller protection policy doesn't exist. Technically, yeah they have a policy listed but Paypal does everything but protect the seller.
 
[quote name='"YoshiFan1"']Your Paypal balance would go into a negative amount.

Could anyone actually do anything about that?
 
[quote name='"GameDude"'][quote name='YoshiFan1']Your Paypal balance would go into a negative amount.

Could anyone actually do anything about that?[/quote]
yeah if you weren't a seller and didn't have your bank account attached to it or you didn't plan on using the account anymore you could prevent it but most sellers want to contiinue selling.
 
[quote name='basketkase543']Are fake money orders a serious problem? I mean, are they heavily circulated. I'd be pissed if I received one of them.[/quote]

Basically most of the fake ones come from western Union I think because they accept credit as a form of payment while many others don't. Anyhow I just tell them to sign thier name and of course I have thier address so they've basically signed a legal document to give me that much money, I'm sure I could take them to court on that if I wanted to.
 
Are people just sending out items after they get these "money orders?" I only send anything after the check/money has been cashed or cleared.
 
I don't even accept money orders as payment, much less personal checks. It's just easier that way, in every aspect of the transaction.
 
[quote name='Jarrett']Are people just sending out items after they get these "money orders?" I only send anything after the check/money has been cashed or cleared.[/quote]

no in the case of certain money orders from western Union they were being declared void like a month later. I found it very odd but it was on a very reputable news site talking about the problems of ebay. Anyhow the main thing to realize is that ebay is waaayyyyy to buyer friendly and some aholes take advantage of that and ebay and paypal have done nothing to stop them since it hasn't yet hurt thier bottom line.
 
WU money orders are a total joke. There are no security features on them whatsoever. No watermark, special thread, heat activated ink. Nothing. And they are more expensive than postal money orders (and probably most other MOs you can buy as they have the brand name recognition).

Although I guess security features wouldn't help with the problem zion is talking about as it seems that problem is legit money orders that bounce. Have a link to one of the articles? I would love to read about this.

If a company issues a MO on credit that company should honor the MO whether or not the credit used to purchase it bounced. If they don't their MOs are in no way 'as good as cash'. (The whole point behind a money order.)

On top of no security features, WU does not require their agents to cash WU MOs. What kind of service is this? And to verify a serial number is legit the vendor has to call a number and pay a charge to do the verification. Sheesh.
 
I heard about another MO scam where the buyer would send you a fraudulent money order (on larger items) for more then the items and then ask you to send them back the accidental extra and then the bank would call you in a couple days asking for all of the money back
 
Just look at all the auctions he won and then look at who all bid on the item. You'll see alot of the same people bid on all the items dinoz bid on and they also have like 2 or less feedback. This is very very Shady.
 
If he uses a stolen credit card, you are going to get your money taken away no matter what.

1) Make sure he pays with a confirmed address
2) Get tracking that confirms it was delivered to his address (and possibly signature confirmation)
3) If they send you a money order, ask your bank when you deposit it how long it will take to clear and don't send until then.
4) If he can't do any of these, don't accept payment.

That's what you have to do if you want to stay 100% safe. However, it is my experience that someone who is pulling a legitimate con woulnd't suck so bad at it. This guy probably thinks he's smooth helping out a buddy on Ebay but decided he actually wanted to buy something legit from you. Out of all the people I've been suspicious about on Ebay, the only people who have really screwed me have been the ones I was not suspicious about at all.

My 2 cents
 
Out of all the people I've been suspicious about on Ebay, the only people who have really screwed me have been the ones I was not suspicious about at all.
Click to expand...

That's good stuff. And kind of scary.. :shock:

As far as checking with your bank how long a money order will clear. I did this at my bank with a WU money order and the answer was,

Clerk: 'Uh, MOs post immediately.'
Me: 'Yeah, but say this is a forgery somehow, how long until it comes back as void?'
Clerk: 'Uhm, let me ask somebody else..'
Clerk2: 'MOs will post immediately.'
Clerk: 'Yeah, but he wants to know what would happen if it's fake or something'
Clerk2: 'Oh yeah if it's fake that would be a problem.'

I just deposited it and hoped for the best.
 
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