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have I been scammed


brian28
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Posted ad for caravan on that well know site. Site not working on day bids ended. A lot of people couldn't bid and sent emails after closure saying they would have paid more. Bloke bought it for £360 (not very expensive caravan) who lives over 200 miles away. Obviously foreign - sent email in broken English and has paid by paypal. I sent email with contact phone number 2 minutes after bids closed. He then sent me an email over 2 hours after bids closed asking for my phone number and address. Resent details and he rang me that night. Then started asking questions about condition of caravan and what would he need to tow it. Said he had problem with his eye and he would ring me in 3 days. Not heard anytrhing from him so sent another email 1 week after end of bids. Still not heard from him.

 

Have never sold on this famous site before and wonder what to do next. Have a nasty feeling it is a scam.

Any ideas?

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Check your paypal account and see if the money has been recalled. if not transfer to your bank asap and let him worry about it...its now his.

A word of warning... If you transfer the funds out to your bank (for argument's sake leaving the balance at £0) and a chargeback is made then your Paypal account will go into the negative and they will pursue you through debt collectors.

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A word of warning... If you transfer the funds out to your bank (for argument's sake leaving the balance at £0) and a chargeback is made then your Paypal account will go into the negative and they will pursue you through debt collectors.

Seeing as debt collectors can do nothing it may be worth it.

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Paid by Paypal, without seeing the item. Now he is asking about condition. He might turn up, but I would be astonished.

 

E-mail him and tell him you are returning the Paypal payment and suggest he pays cash on collection, as the Paypal could be reversed. Advise him that if he makes no contact- give him 24 hours - you will relist the item and report him as non-paying bidder.

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You haven't really been scammed, as you still have the goods.

 

 

Precisely, so far the only real crime appears to be that an obviously foreign person has successfully bid then promptly paid via Paypal, then e-mailed, then called and OMG asked about the condition of the goods and what he may need to tow it then said he had problems with his eyes so hasn't had time to get in touch. I sold a FAC air gun through a forum a while back, the bloke paid then went AWOL for weeks ! Eventually had to track him down and found he'd simply not had time to arrange collection.

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If he has paid by paypal and you have the money and goods how do you think you have been scammed??? Surely he is the only one who has lost out if he fails to collect his goods? So long as the goods are as described and you have abided by the rules of flea bay they aren't going to refund him for being daft. He can't access your paypal account without a password.

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Yep, heard of this.

 

If Mr Nigeria is using someone else's account to buy it and then picks it up in person eventually the real owner of the eBay/Paypal account will claim their money back and you'll be left with nothing.

 

That said, I would've thought someone trying to pull off a scam like that would be knocking on your door hours after the auction to ensure they collect the goods before the legitimate owner of the account realises and reports it.

 

You've just got an odd customer I reckon.

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If I was selling something that had to be collected, I would insist on cash-in-hand.

Exactly what I do now after two nasty scams.

 

Firstly, six months after selling some expensive watches and shipping them off to the USA I received a chargeback. Got sorted in the end but took a threat of legal action against eBay. They argued that the proof of postage from UPS on the last leg of the delivery didn't quite match the verified address I originally posted to in the UK.

 

In the same week I sold a working iPhone via eBay, had it couriered to the buyer's verified address and then two days after delivery I am told that it's broken. Ebay adjudicated and ruled in the buyer's favour and the phone was returned to me. I sent it off to be fixed to be told that the internal board had been hastily swapped for a corroded one. I assume the buyer had dropped his own phone down the toilet, bought mine, swapped the internals and sent mine back broken.

 

My theory is, if someone wants to try to rip me off now they have to come to my front door, look me in the eye and ask for their money back.

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