I have recently been selling a lot of things on eBay to make some extra cash in these hard economic times. I have been selling expensive Dell Laptops. But I must warn you when you are selling expensive items on eBay such as laptops, please be cautious of who you sell to. Please be cautious of people who would rather pay the full price instead of intelligently bidding on your item. Especially when your item is about to end and no one has bid on it why would you use buy it now for? A scammer will be in a hurry to purchase your item. Please be aware of this tactic also be aware if the person sends you extra money that you did not request. If they send you money without first discussing with you the reason why they are sending this, be weary. Also if they refuse to make contact with you using the ebay message system. They are avoiding leaving any marks on the internet. Force the buyer to use the ebay message system for communication. Try not to communicate using your personal email address.
Most importantly do not send to other addresses listed from the buyers PayPal account you will not be protected under seller protection from PayPal and you will be out of both money and item. This is called a chargeback scam. I have had to educate myself since I have been selling a lot more online. A chargeback scam is a scam where a person will use a person PayPal account which has been compromised. Then they will use this person account to buy things on eBay. But the trick is that they will ask you to send it to another address then listed on the PayPal account. Now I know if you have done business in the earlier days of eBay you will not see a problem with this. However in these times it is a major indicator that they are trying to scam you. DON’T FALL FOR IT. These scams are rampant on eBay and are trying to defraud hard working sellers. eBay should definitely do more about protecting people and educating people. So should PayPal since they work so closely together.
Make a strong seller policy and list it on your eBay auction page this will let the scammer know that you are serious and are aware of their schemes. This will not stop a scammer though; they will still pay for you item making you believe they are legitimate customers. Stay calm it’s better to just refund them the money back and relist the item if you feel that this person is trying to scam you. Go to the eBay resolution center and get your final value fee back. It takes a while but you will get your final value fee back. I have had to do this at least a dozen times (crazy right) before a legitimate customer came along and bought the laptop. It’s better to pay the re-listing fee then to lose out on everything. I didn’t know selling on eBay would be such a nightmare; it has become a battle of the wits. Goodguys vs Scammers.
So to reiterate signs to look out for
* Too quick to buy from you with out intelligently bidding.
* Let scammer know you are on to them by making a strong seller policy clearly listed on your auction page. Make it in big red letters if you wish.
* Buyer makes extraordinary demands when your policy is clearly listed on your page.
* Buyer refuses to use ebay message system to communicate.
* Buyer wants you to send to another address than whats listed on the paypal account.
* Knowing what the Chargeback Scam is. They will report the payment as fraud and leave you with no money and no product.
* Also pay a close look at the buyers history. If they have comments from only one seller, over and over and over again then something is definitely funny.
* Go to eBay’s resolution center and go to PayPal’s resolution center to get more information and educate your self so you can be a smarter seller
Now that you have been educated the right way happy selling and happy holidays.
Yes, it is quite important that you set your rules when accepting payment via paypal. In fact, there are many fraud cases happen and the latest one is sending you email to inform your account has being limited access. I have wrote the review on this latest paypal fraud tactic and thoughts of sharing with you and your readers.
This was very informative and will work well in serving the public with knowledge needed to be safe online.
Hi,
I was selling a video camera over ebay, and someone contacted me asking about the state of the camera. They also asked for the email address for my paypal account. I replied with the state of the camera and said that this same email was the one I had used in my paypal account. They wrote me back that they had payed my paypal account and wanted me to ship it to some address in Africa. At this point I decided that they were a most likely a scammer. I have not received any of that money they allegedly sent, because paypal has a policy that the seller doesn’t get paid until they send in the receipt from the shipping of the item. So, as I have received no money, (and had never agreed to sell to them in the first place…) I wrote back and said I was worried about scamming and didn’t wish to sell to them, and that I hadn’t gotten any money and so they could keep their money and I could keep the camera. I wrote to paypal as well explaining this. I’m worried though that they will somehow be able to get me in trouble for this, as part of their scam. I deleted my paypal account as I don’t wish to sell or buy such things over the internet anymore, too many scammers. Plus I didn’t want to get paid by them. Is there any way they can force me to pay them or that I can get in legal trouble for this?
You did the right thing by not sending them the product even though they claim they sent you the money. If they did however sent you the money refund it back to them immediately with your reason. Such a reason could be that they did not follow ebay’s or your guidelines for payments and that their payment will be returned. This clears you from anything. Dont ever give out your password and dont allow them to pay you outside of ebay.
I’ve been following several email scams recently and I appreciate you psoting this. Payal, eBay and Bank scams are running rampant and the more we learn about these scams, the better off we will all be. Thanks!
I’m an accomplished Amazon, Yahoo and eBay Seller. Recently, for the first time, I had a PayPal Chargeback. The Buyer stated that I hadn’t sent an item costing about $15. The Buyer had sufficient good FB for me to trust him – My Margin of Profit was about $2, so I didn’t use Delivery Confirmation, as it’d not only cost about 30% of the profit, it’d have required a trip to the Post Office, making the transaction totally a non-productive effort.
To my surprise, the Buyer filed a claim stating that I hadn’t shipped. I wrote him outside of eBay, telling him that I had shipped and that this was the first time ever that someone filed a claim against me. I added a few polite comments and sent it. Apparently his conscious began working, as he cancelled his claim stating that he’d found the item.
Disgustingly enough, I realized that PayPal had already taken my funds to compensate the Buyer for his lie. My 100% perfect 500+ eBay FB, had had no influence whatsoever. I cancelled all of my remaining 57 auctions. I won’t sell on eBay until I am protected.
BB
It appears as though the buyer has more protection than the sellers in the eyes of paypal. Paypal must do more to protect the sellers whether it be better education. Such as the emails they send you letting you know that fake emails are not officially from them. They can take the same or added effort to let sellers know of all the scams they might face when selling on ebay or other auction sites.
there are so many scams running on the internete so watch out*,;
Johari Dudley
joharidudley@yahoo.com
He scammed me to with paypal and chargeback. I sold him virtual goods, many times (over 15). Support told me that they don’t defend people who sell virtual goods. He scammed me for 1400 bucks. I hope if somebody have problem with this guy this page can help. I mean that somebody can find this post with google.
my yahoo: hakelberyfin@yahoo.com
I can testify vs this guy if somebody have problem with him.
there are literally tons of scam on the internet today so watch out`-;
internet scams are very rampant and there are also lots of newbie internet users who are getting scammed,-~
there are always scam everywhere so we should always be very careful when dealing with others:::
i hate scams wheter it is offline scam or online scams, there are lots of it these days ;-.
I’ve just had my first chargeback scammer after several hundred honest buyers. Trouble is, if this is unresolved by eBay/Paypal (which seems to be the case) then everyone will have to use verifiable carriers so they can prove delivery (Royal Mail Recorded Delivery is not enough it seems). This will just not be economic with low value items, so not surprisingly, eBay are bothering to do anything about it.
hello all i am new to ebay and have sold a few items
i have just learnt the hard way looseing my sold item and $270
my buyer had 400+ feed back and i trusted he had good rep
he brought 2 items off me and i gave him discount
there were 2 other buyers from same contry buying my goods
2 of them recived my goods same day as the scammer reported
item not sent which was 12 days after posting
i did not use tracking because i was selling to help reprap
comunity get products cheep as i could sell
now buyer wants a refund . all i have is postage recipt of items
going to which contry ebay has not asked for this proof and i have
contacted them about this information
buyer did not contact me other than to request refund 12 days after i
sent item as i did not send with tracking number to save on cost of item
my item is about half that of other sellers prices
and i have helped all my customers with there needs to set up there repraps
my customers have sent me awesome emails thanking me for my help
all i wished to do is help reprap builders with there machines
buyer is alkarny
i think karma will do its thing now
any ideas
please let me know
scion_imports@msn.com
Got my first Paypal chargeback on a gently used, excellent condition laptop that sold for about $193 USD… About $50 more than I should have gotten, but hey, eBay is an “auction site”, right? This guy wanted this netbook pretty badly I guess to pay extra and outbid 11 other eBay-ers.
Shipped in original shipping-safe box with foam, wrapped in original plastic bags, etc. in excellent working order as described in the auction.
Buyer charged back saying item was not as described after he had the laptop for at least 4 days. Buyer states the laptop keyboard was broken and scratches on the screen. He just happens to be in computer repair… hmmmm….. We both had 100 percent feedback…. most of his listed/purchased items were low dollar amount transactions.
Paypal is siding with the buyer and attempting to refund his money through me. I am not accepting the returned item if it is claimed to be broken. I didn’t send a broken item, why would I want it back? Especially when my auction stated there were no refunds or returns. Sorry if you were too cheap to pay the extra $1.80 for shipping insurance which was offered at the time of check out (if USPS damaged it). You broke it, you bought it. I can’t imagine the USPS destroying a computer internally the way the seller described, especially since I shipped priority. He also changed his story from a “cracked” screen to one that had scratches all over it. It was obviously a case of buyers remorse (what I think is the truth) or he needed my computer for the parts he said were broken. Either way, it’s an “auction site” and I am not a business. I refuse to take a loss on this. I quote “auction site” since a bid is a legally binding agreement.
I don’t leave money on Paypal for any reason and it was credited into my bank account in 3 days no problem after I received from the buyer. Now Paypal wants it back. L O fucking L. Good luck.
I am now having to close a bank account and debit card associated with Paypal so I don’t get hosed.
Beware of buyer:
derickmarcus@yahoo.com (name: Kar Chun Chan)
Google this guy. He was offering a Russian chatgirl on webcamgirl.ru $50 USD for her dirty, smelly thong underwear. Sad (and disgusting).
PAYPAL BUYER PROTECTION IS BULLSHIT. I WASN’T CONTACTED BY PAYPAL OTHER THAN BY EMAIL, ONLY TO TELL ME THEY SIDED WITH THE FUCKING BUYER!!!!
Done with eBay and PayPal.
This article should be posted on the front pages of both eBay and PayPal. I still can’t believe that either of those sites can’t come up with something that would be helpful to us seller who are getting scammed, especially since it’s been happening for a long time.
I don’t think I’ll be selling anything on the internet either.
Hi all,
I’ve just been scammed on Gumtree the same way paid me more than I asked for & asked me to send them paypal request for the money.
I then got tons of emails demanding proofs of postage & legal threats from what looked like papal”B******ds.
I’ve now got their stamp, & now what I do is when they scam me I accept & let them pay me with papal, I then enjoy this bit, I email them telling the scum bags that I’m onto them & as they are only allowed so many charge backs a month with their credit cards I’m now helping to protect helping others. if we all do it they’ll give up as it’s too much bother for them…