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Scammed


kennett
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Sorry bear with me, I just want to vent.

I was asked by my employer to source and buy a timber forwarder trailer. Found one on eBay, convinced my MD and financial controller that eBay wasn't all bad, messaged the seller through eBay and set the ball rolling.

Received several "eBay" emails and spoke to them on live chat, also speaking to the seller on my work email account. Eventually managed to set up payment by bank transfer, to supposedly an eBay account which would only release funds to the vendor after I had received the trailer and verified I was happy with it. First delivery on Wednesday was aborted due to a  breakdown with the haulier.  Delivery rearranged for today, never arrived. Contacted eBay who have no record of the transaction, and confirmed I've been scammed. Seller no longwr replying to emails.

I would rather have lost my own money than works, makes me feel sick that people think this is a way to earn a living. Potentially costing me my job, and the tied house that goes with it when I have a second baby due

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5 hours ago, Rst1990 said:

How did you pay? You may be eligible for fraud protection.

If I understand correctly he paid by bank transfer into an escrow account that he thought belonged to eBay.

Once he had the trailer and was happy eBay would release the money to the seller.

Only trouble is eNay don’t offer such a service. The bank won’t help either since the funds were willingly transferred to the fraudster.

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I'm sorry you have had this.  Ebay is a good way to get things, but not risk free. 

I have had two "near misses" where I have paid and wrong goods turned up or not turned up at all.  The first was a long time ago when cheque payment was still common and I managed to stop the cheque when the (completely wrong) goods turned up.  The second was low value and I got a refund - suspect the seller had sold the item 'off eBay' and forgotten to cancel the listing as they claimed lost in the post, but couldn't give a tracking number. 

What often happens is that the 'fake seller' uses photos and data from an old completed listing.  I once bought a quite high value item (early electric clock) from a seller in the UK and paid cash on collection, which was all fine - still have the clock.  However an identical listing - exactly the same photos appeared with a 'buy it now' and I know that at least one person was scammed.  That scammer was traced to China, so nothing could be done.

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55 minutes ago, Walker570 said:

caveat emptor...did I spell that correctly ?

Never buy anyhting of e bay if I can avoid it and if I do then no more than £20.   Had a friend who wanted a baler and one was advertised up in northern Scotland, photo and all.

He was sucked in and paid but the baler didn't exist. Two grand down the drain.

Exactly the same as this, Dunblane. He had loads more photos on request, sounded like he knew what he was talking about.

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2 hours ago, Walker570 said:

caveat emptor...did I spell that correctly ?

Never buy anyhting of e bay if I can avoid it and if I do then no more than £20.   Had a friend who wanted a baler and one was advertised up in northern Scotland, photo and all.

He was sucked in and paid but the baler didn't exist. Two grand down the drain.

Ebay is perfectly safe, I've had thousands of transactions without issue.

You just need to use the payment method that protects you most, PayPal or credit card.

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2 hours ago, Muddy Funker said:

Ebay is perfectly safe, I've had thousands of transactions without issue.

You just need to use the payment method that protects you most, PayPal or credit card.

+1 I use eBay a fair bit and never had an issue. Maybe I’ve been lucky but you are protected if you pay by PayPal. There is a money back guarantee - (below taken from their terms & conditions):

Most purchases go through with no problems at all. However, if your item doesn’t arrive or wasn’t what was described in the listing:

  • We’ll make sure that you get the item you ordered; or
  • You’ll be refunded the purchase price and original postage costs if you paid using PayPal.
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I buy from ebay I pay for low value items through PayPal. High value I will never pay until I am standing next to whatever I am buying and have satisfied myself they are genuine and not stolen. Scammers are usually quite wealthy as thay are very good at their trade. Never believe anyone or anything on ebay. 

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I have been looking for a series Land Rover on eBay, I must have reported the same person with different names for trying to scam people over 50 times. He still keeps coming back. I contacted eBay about it and they said they take fraud seriously and do what they can. I wonder how many people he has had money out of. 

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