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January 2003
Posts: 10
Location: Seattle, Wa | Has anybody been scammed on Ebay? I bought an Ovation from someone with great feedback and seemingly a good record of sales. I paid him with paypal on the spot. Three weeks later, I still ain't got no guitar (sorry for the grammer there, but I'm smoked.) I can't seem to get any straight answers from him (tracking numbers, etc.) Be careful. I'm out a couple of bills, which may not be much to some, but I don't have enough money to start throwing it away. It may be a good idea to start a thread just for ebay so everybody can know who to avoid and who to deal with. Just a thought. |
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December 2002
Posts: 86
Location: ma. | if his user name is 7flats i can tell you all about him! |
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December 2001
Posts: 7248
Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | As with ANY transaction, online or not, buyer beware. Feedback is a good guage, but is it over time? Is it for "real" items? READ the feedback, don't just look at the scores. By all means report them to PayPal and eBay if you have been duped, they are very aggressive if it is truly a scam.
I read the feedback of the above listed individual and it seems although folks checked "positive" in reality it wasn't that positive. Read the feedback, your story sounds like what everyone else sais, however, they all seem to say that he eventually comes through. |
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Joined:
December 2002
Posts: 86
Location: ma. | i don't know if he went on a bender or what. i checked his feedbag before i bid and it was almost perfect. then it all went to hell. in the end, he stiffed me 100%. but my credit card reimbursed me. RULE (1) get a tracking # on the agreed shipping date by email. RULE (2) you have 30 days to file a claim with EBAY and PAYPAL from end of auction. no matter what the guy comes up with for excuses, if it's not in your hands in 30 days, file the claim! oh yeh, save all your email. |
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January 2003
Posts: 10
Location: Seattle, Wa | 1/28/03 Update
Received Email telling me that the guitar was shipped Parcel Post on the 16th of January and that sometimes they take three weeks or more. You know, I bought another guitar on ebay, at the same time, from pretty much the same region. It was shipped ground on the same day that this one was shipped. It's been here for a week. Something smells bad. |
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December 2001
Posts: 10583
Location: NJ | I have done countless e bay deals.
you need to have an initial trust between the buyer and seller, if it does not exist then back off. |
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December 2002
Posts: 86
Location: ma. | 3 weeks is bullshit. i've got stuff fromm coast to coast in 1 1/2. tell him you need PROOF that it was shipped on that date. he can tell you anything he wants. no tracking #, no proof! tell him if you don't have it in a set amount of time, that your gonna file a claim and complaint. remember 30 days. |
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November 2002
Posts: 30
| I have to agree with hackr on that, I've never had alot of probs until a couple of months ago. I had a few buyers stiff me...they tend to try to drag it out past the 30 days so you won't file, then bam, you're left in the cold. And hackr is right ask for proof. I keep all my receipts on everything I ship, and that includes parcel ground receipts. It gives destination zip code and amount. If he can't produce a receipt with your zip on that date...well it's up to you. |
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November 2002
Posts: 30
| Oh, and feedback doesn't truly matter. I went to by a digital camera. Saw an awesome deal on a Canon G2 but everytime he listed one it sold with the "Buy it Now" within seconds. Guy had almost a 200 pos feedback rating with no negs or neutrals. I sent an email asking the guy if he had another to sell. No response but I waited and kept checking...one day later...a negative pops up...then three more...he had scammed over 90 people within a week to the tune of over $40k. Then Ebay makes the guy disappear as if he was never there. |
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December 2002
Posts: 86
Location: ma. | david, don't let us scare you into thinking that you got ripped. the guy just might have a shoddy way of takin' care of business. but send him an email telling him if your guitar is not recieved within the 30 days of your purchase, you WILL file a claim/complaint to cover yourself. tell him that you are entitled to documentation of the shipping info. trust but verify!! EBAY is only responsible to run the auction following their guidelines. when the auction ends, so does their responsibilty. UNLESS you file your stuff within that magic number. good luck! |
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January 2003
Posts: 10
Location: Seattle, Wa | Thanks Hacker, I emailed the stuff you mentioned in your post. Funny thing, I took the tracking/insurance numbers he gave me and ran them through the USPS website and the message I got was "nothing was purchased that corresponds to these numbers." So I went to the Post Office and was pretty much told the same thing. I like the thought about trust but verify. I relayed that. The seller isn't 7Flats, it's someone called vahillbilly, and the ebay auction number, if you want to look at it is Item # 936272331 |
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December 2001
Posts: 7248
Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | Ricker, you posted
"Oh, and feedback doesn't truly matter. I went to by a digital camera. Saw an awesome deal on a Canon G2 but everytime he listed one it sold with the "Buy it Now" within seconds. Guy had almost a 200 pos feedback rating with no negs or neutrals."
I know I look at things differently but based on "200 feedbacks within seconds", I would not have purchased from this person. I think that just proves how valuable reading the feedback is and enforces how it really does matter. The big question is why would ANYONE post feedback before receiving the item? That's the first clue. Also, there is not possible way that all the feedbacks came through at the same time unless it was done by machine and not people which would be clue #2 that this is a serious scammer.
I am always leary of buying and selling on eBay, but I find if you use all of the tools at hand, and only bid if you are comfortable, problems can be avoided. |
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December 2001
Posts: 7248
Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | That is interesting... He has 6 positive feedbacks, but the last one is almost a year old. Not sure what it really means, but I know sometimes people just get tied up. Doesn't look like it's a buisness so I'm rooting for a happy ending. |
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Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 255
| I only sell on ebay. I have a guitar on there now if any one wants to check it out. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2503979830&ssPag... Although I did buy a reference manual for my Typhoon on there .,, no problems |
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December 2002
Posts: 86
Location: ma. | o.k. now you tell him that you checked the #'s and you come up empty. get his contact phone #. tell him to email the correct #'s and which shipper he used. tell him if it's wrong again you want to speak to him by phone immediatly. it looks by the "auction ended" date that you have about one more week to file your stuff with EBAY.if those #'s don't come up right he's definitely up to no good. allow him 3 weeks, then do your thing. |
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November 2002
Posts: 30
| Mr. O, actually he had almost 200 feedback spread out over a period of a year and a half. His feedback was solid, I went through every auction that Ebay showed current, doubling back and checking the feedback and locations of others he had dealt with and their feedback. When I said, "seconds", I meant people were literally gobbling those cameras up that quick. I've dealt with a few hundred different people on Ebay, many with years of Ebaying and pos feedback, but every deal made, no matter how the scale tips is a leap of faith. |
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March 2002
Posts: 873
Location: puerto vallarta, mexico | i try to insist on anything but usps for shipping and prefer ups or fed ex. i had a guitar take close to a month to get to me sent by usps. i also feel the handling by the postal service is the worst option. the well wrapped sturdy box one guitar was sent to me in was really beat. if the guitar hadn't been in a case i would have been trying to deal with a damage claim which is a government style slow process. with ups or fedex checking up on the status using the tracking number is simple online and can help smell out a rat quickly. i push for a tracking number as soon as i send payment in both the e bay message to seller and the paypal message to the seller. i dont really like the "checks or moneyorders only" sales and unless i can't resist i pass up those items. good luck, but don't give up hope. it's probably still being abused by a postal employee somewhere. |
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Joined:
November 2002
Posts: 30
| I've worked in the freight business off and on for quite a few years. Did you guys know that some postal service freight is shipped LTL over the road in non-usps trucks and the only protection they give it is to dump it all on a pallet and put garbage bags over the top? |
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December 2002
Posts: 86
Location: ma. | nothing surprises me these days. service has gone down the shitter.you can't even count on McDonalds for a smile... ): |
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January 2003
Posts: 10
Location: Seattle, Wa | February 1. Still no guitar. I sent an email on Jan 30, demanding accurate tracking numbers and a trace but up to this point it seems to have been ignored. At what point does negative feedback come into play?
Thanks |
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Joined:
December 2002
Posts: 86
Location: ma. | SOON! give him the better part of this week to give you the correct #s. if he doesn't get back to you, start the process of filing your claim. leave him some lightly negative feedback about his communication problems and inacurate shipping info. he'll probably leave a response to explain his discrepancies. if the 30 days have gone by,you still have no guitar and you filed your claim, leave a follow up ripping into him like broke ass pimp.(: |
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Joined:
January 2003
Posts: 10
Location: Seattle, Wa | Feb 2. I decided that 19 days of being blown off was enough. I did the negative feedback thing about no response to last email, dud tracking numbers and no guitar. Believe it or not, that got him moving and I got a scan of the tracking slip and the receipt from the post office. Also he promised he'd go to post office Monday to begin tracking process that I asked him to begin last week. I posted a follow up saying he had contacted me and we were working toward a resolution. (All this for a CC13 Classical model that rates lowest of pretty much any Ovation ever built. If I ever decide to suck up my name and reputation, it's going to be over something big like a car or a Martin Mark Knopfler, not over a Korean Classical Guitar.) If it ever shows up at my house, look for it on Ebay the next day. This guitar has some bad karma and I'm getting it gone asap. |
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December 2002
Posts: 86
Location: ma. | good job dave,EBAY can be a very aggravating way to make your purchases until you take the proper safeguards.and even then you still may get snookered. i may have a 1988 Elite up for sale soon. let me know if you dump the CC13. it's like night and day. |
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Ebay Scamming?
