Probably a similar story
 

The seller is world.seller and he just joined on December 19, 2006. I have been doing research, unfortunately after winning not one but TWO of these auctions. Before I found out about the scams, I tried to pay this seller, but the paypal message I got back was "This seller cannot receive payments" and it said "Transcation cancelled". I know it was a STUPID move on my behalf to bid without really looking into the feedback (I did look at the feedback but figured because everything looked so good that basically it was okay)...but now I am really concerned that this guy is a fake.

I shot an email off to eBay about this and explained to them as well that I have not been able to pay this guy because paypal cancels the transcations.

Here is his profile on eBay: feedback.

And here are the items I won:

• NEW 4GB MP4 MP3 FM REC PMP VIDEO USB FREE Gift SB
  
• NEW 4GB MP4 MP3 FM REC PMP VIDEO USB FREE Gift SW

What do you think? Is he a fake/phony? What should my next step be??

Thanks!
jennifer

Re: Probably a similar story
 

I saw one of this feedback which mentions "scam" -> here.

He lists a lot f 4GB MP4 players. Up until about a month ago, there was no TRUE 4GB players. It's only been recently that true 4GB players are coming out.

I would say he looks dodgy and not a legit 4GB player to be honest.

I pointed that out to eBay along with the fact that he's only been registered since December 19, 2006. Something is VERY fishy here.

I don't want to marr my reputation on eBay, I've been working on it for 6+ years and never received a negative. Of course I can't pay the dude right now as it is (considering paypal won't allow me! That has to be a bad sign right there, no?), but I want out of this auction now.

It makes it more difficult that eBay OWNS PayPal as well!

A lot of other members have mentioned the point, "why would eBay want to shut down these scammers selling hacked players when every sale is making money for eBay?". Also, it makes money for PayPal as well.

It seems there is very little buyers protection. I mean, if you complain (and a lot of other members have) about the seller possibly selling hacked players, a lot of the time, it goes un-noticed or ignored by eBay and PayPal.

But as you haven't paid the seller yet, you're in a better situation in that you haven't lost any money yet.

Try asking PayPal and eBay and see what happens. Keep us updated and GOOD LUCK :).

Contact ePray/Payscumpal, but I think I know already what they're going to say. Probably encourage you to pay the seller, since they generally default to either their side or the seller's in any transaction.

I'd advise to just pretend you never bid, leave it at that. The seller does have the option to neg you, but so do you against him. I think most sellers wont do that on their own without "feedback provocation". He might stand to lose more than you with another red mark on his record. Even if he does, you neg him worse, and then you offer to "mutually withdraw feedback". Then, unless he's a pure nutcase, he may agree to a mutual cleansing of the record. That means you get some bad remarks (feedback stains) but no red marks and maintain the 100% percent rating.

I'm currently in a similar situation with a Chinese seller on a pair of Sennheiser PX100 headphones. He decides to tell me only after the auction he's charging an obligatory 3GBP insurance charge (he probably won't even insure the damn thing). I can either ignore him and buy the cans from someone else, or curse his name and pay for it. If I bail on him, I risk spotting my 100% feedback record, which I took years to build. But he's got a 100% pos record too, and I can mess his up, and I'm not a seller so I dont need to rely on good feedback.

As a "trickman" I keep my feedback record clean in a very simple way. I have two Ebay accounts. The first one is for buying, the second one is for selling. In the "buying" account I have set my feedback private. So even if I would have a negative feedback, I don't mind.

This trick gives me the opportunity to buy and sell on Ebay, but my "customers" will never know where I bought everything.

missjennifer1978 , as michiganjfrog mentioned, leave it as it is. Don't pay a cent to him. 2 negative feedbacks is better than losing $67 (including postage) on god knows what memory chip is installed.

Thank you all for the advice! I am definitely NOT paying this dude, my husband is ticked off about it and said not to pay him. We bought a small 1 GB mp3 player (like one of those flash memory sticks?) last year sometime for him and haven't had any trouble at all, but I believe the guy we bought it from was here in the states and we bought a protection policy on it. It was bought on eBay.

I cannot believe what some of you guys have gone through- my condolences.

Hotboxx, I like your idea! (two different accounts.)

I can't believe eBay and Paypal are related and they haven't done anything about this problem. Lovely.

I'll keep you posted on what I hear from eBay and if I hear from that seller as well. If I hear from him what should I do?? Email him and tell him to bite me? LOL. Or just tell him I am not paying for a scam? Ignore it?

Thanks again!

Editing to add: Michiganfrog, your guide is what lead me to this board!!! Awesome guide, by the way!

<ahem> Thank you. You may note that in my guide, I mention having bought my 2GB player from ELLIESHANG, and he is the only seller on eBay currently known and verified to be selling true 4GB nano clones. So now, you do have a choice about getting ripped off, and can avoid doing so.

....I'm curious to know, what do you mean you bought a "protection policy" on your player? Whom did you buy it from and how does it protect you? BTW, if eBay threatens to put an uppaid item strike on your record, I would email them and tell them that the reason you're not buying, is because them and their Paypal co. will only pay lip service to the idea of buyer protection, they WONT protect you.

I just saw a really eye openining video on youtube on what scammers Paypal are. It was about a guy who sold a high end Macintosh amp. He sent it registered, signed for. Buyer paid by Paypal, signed, then painted the amp. Then when he hooked it up, he simply didn't care for the sound of it, so demanded a refund. This was after he painted the amplifier. Seller refused of course, buyer complained to Paypal. Seller had the receipt for shipping and went thru all the proper channels, seller won the dispute. Buyer then does a chargeback thru his credit card co. Paypal charges the seller $20 to dispute the chargeback on his behalf (whether the seller wants them to or not). Credit card company reverses the charges, now the seller is out his amplifier and $1200 dollars. Seller complains about it to ic3.gov and the buyer's local police. (Buyer is not legally supposed to do chargebacks while he has the item in his posession!). Buyer ships the amp to Paypal. Now Paypal goes after the seller demanding $1200. Buyer keeps both the amp and gets his money back from the cc co. Seller is not only out $1200, and his amplifer, but Paypal goes after him for $1200 (plus $20 chargeback fee of course), and doesn't even give him the option as to whether he wants to buy his amp back. Seller has collection agency calling him everyday.

Folks, Paypal is NOT your Pal!

Okay I am digging through my emails and found this...

I bought the protection plan on SquareTrade.

Here is what it was:

Item: eBay item # 9725986269 - Mp3 Player 1GB FM Voice Rec 1 GB USB New In Box WMA !

It was purchased on 5/16/2006 and has a three year warranty protection. So far no problems.

That's all I could find on it. No name of the seller or anything. EDITED TO ADD: Nevermind, I found it here: Juice_kiss was the seller and has a 99.9% rating. Third edit: This is very much like what I bought for my husband that works well.

Also, I am concerned about this unpaid strike and the fact that I haven't tried to email the buyer will look bad on my behalf. Can I really say I want out of a contract because I felt it was fraudulent?? Would they allow me to do that?? I'm really unfamiliar with this, so any advice would be greatly appreciated!