Has anyone been ripped off on ebay??

Ren,

I believe you are "supposed" to be covered on purchases of over $25 by Ebay fraud protection. You have to wait 30 days to file a complaint and keep your paper/email trail to submit to Ebay. I haven't had to invoke this yet, so I don't know how effective it is. Go to Safe Harbor or do a search on "fraud protection". If you paid through PayPal, recourse is also available there.

Alec
 
Yep, but after almost one hundred transactions I've only got ripped twice. However a good rule of thumb on ebay is only spend money that you can afford to lose.
 
Nope, I have only done four deals on ebay but all have gone very smoothly. If I had used it more things might be different though.
 
I've done over 1000 deals on ebay and the only times I've been screwed was my own fault for not reading the description correctly. I've had a few problems but was always able to work them out by email or over the phone.
Perry (Knifekid)
 
As a buyer: I have bought about 20 or 25 knives. In all those, I got two where the seller deliberately mis-represented the condition of the knife. I recommend ALWAYS verify the condition via email before you bid. That way you have a real record if you want recourse. On the other hand, transactions below $50 are not worth the bother of going through safe harbor.

As a seller, I have had only one person question me about the condition of an item after it arrived. As soon I told them to take the "damaged" goods to the postal inspector for verification (for insurance purposes), they disappeared.
 
I dunno if this is actually being ripped-off, but last night some RAT-BASTARD out-bid me for a Sunpak flash unit (during the LAST COUPLE SECONDS of the bidding!!!) that I originally bid on 4-5 days ago. Up until that RAT-BASTARDS' last-second-bid, NO-ONE had bid on the item for the past 3 days, and I thought it was MINE. He out-bid me by 3 cents!!!

That's just NOT RIGHT!.:mad:.
 
I just got four or five E-mails that notified me that I was the winning bidder on some production knives. Since I rarely bid on anything on E-bay and have not in over a year and this is NOT the first time I have been told I won the bid on something I did not bid on, I checked my profile after entering my E-bay screen name and password and someone else's info came up. Was NOT my name, address or shipping info, but the credit card info and E-mail was correct. E-bay was absolutely no help, so I deleted my credit card info. But on E-bay I am GARY MOORE of Indiana:eek: :eek: :eek:
 
Wolfmann, if someone got access to your ebay password and your credit card number, you need to contact your credit card company immediately! Just deleting that ebay account isn't going to stop him.
 
I'm a watch junky and a veteran of a few very costly watch buying whacks on eBay. I now follow specific self-imposed guidelines.

1. I always ask seller a question so that I can get his email address

2. I email back and ask if seller's snail mail address is a P.O. Box

3. The combination of "hotmail" and a P.O. Box addresses are showstoppers unless its something I can't live without. In those cases - before bidding, I will ask if the seller is amenable to using escrow. If I get a negative response - I run for my life.

4. WRT international transactions, I have determined(for myself) definite trends regarding the "packaging" of information. I simply avoid the countries where I have found this to be a problem.

5. Use Paypal whenever possible.
 
I've only had one bad experience, a few disappointments. Had one small purchase ($25-ish) were i sent the MO and no goods were received. Went to file a complaint and the seller had just disappeared, the account id was no longer active. This is out of about 50 transactions.
 
Hey, Perry.
You were my first transaction on ebay. I think it was a Randall, but not sure. I thought I recognized your handle and went to look at my feedback:)
 
I have never been ripped off as a buyer. I have had several people never pay me for items as a seller though. :mad:
 
I've done a few hundred deals on e-bay, about equally split between buying and selling. I have a few rules of thumb regarding knife buying on e-bay.

1) look at the seller's feedback and READ the comments. Ignore the auction if the person has justified negative feedbacks. Ignore any auction where the seller says "item sold as is, all sales final".

2) make sure you see pics of the entire knife. I bought a knife on e-bay where the unpictured side of the knife was badly rusted. Luckily the seller was a good man (excellent feedback rating) and he did an exchange. From that transaction forward I always ask to see both sides of the knife.

3) send the seller an e-mail to confirm the condition of the knife. This serves two purposes. First, you get to learn something about the seller and give your gut a chance to evaluate the risks involved. Many sellers will volunteer to take the item back if you aren't satisfied. Those are the ones to do business with. Also, you will find that many sellers can't or won't describe their items in detail - avoid them! Second, it seems that 88% of e-bay sellers like to think that their items are "mint". Ask specific questions until you are satisfied with the "mint" rating.

4) trust your intuition. Don't give an item your highest bid unless you are fully satisfied you know what you are getting. Avoid bidding if you have any doubts.

5) withhold leaving feedback until the deal is done. Feedback ratings are your best leverage.


Send me the details of your e-bay issue and I'll work with you.
Bill
 
I too have had a number of non-paying buyers, but not yet been ripped off. Had one run-in with a seller that was so goofed up they could not figure out which of the two auction items they had sent me (that was resolved via the Square Deal service). That seller is now gone BTW. The thing I've noticed lately is a lack of follow-thru on feedback. I'm an honest seller, focused on buyer's satisfaction and I probably over-communicate, but want to make sure it's a good deal for all concerned. Only 1 of the last 3 sales have bothered to leave feedback. I'm not a real active eBayer, so feedback is valuable to me, but I'm not suffering from "jaxur-syndrome" :D.
 
Originally posted by glockman99
I dunno if this is actually being ripped-off, but last night some RAT-BASTARD out-bid me for a Sunpak flash unit (during the LAST COUPLE SECONDS of the bidding!!!) that I originally bid on 4-5 days ago. Up until that RAT-BASTARDS' last-second-bid, NO-ONE had bid on the item for the past 3 days, and I thought it was MINE. He out-bid me by 3 cents!!!

That's just NOT RIGHT!.:mad:.
Click to expand...



glockman99

If you complaining about being outbid just start off by bidding the very maximum you are willing to pay. That will make it harder on the bid snipers. Otherwise don't cry when you are outbid.....bid higher :D
 
I considered myself somewhat intelligent, no rocket scientist, but at least able to break 1000 on the SAT. BUT why I did NOT give it any thought to inform my credit card company has sure got me questioning just how smart I really is:eek: :eek:

NOPE, never thought about calling them until you just tweaked my pea-brain. At 0425, I dialed the 800 number and did exactly that. They need to call me back at a more saner hour, but at least as of now on E-bay my credit card will not work.

I sure hope Gary Moore of Indiana did not win the bid on a LOVELESS, that could really suk. But at least now I figured out why I kept getting e-mails from places like the "Knife Connection" informing me of my winning bids....HUH?

But beyond this, and one seller who trashed me hard when I first started collecting knives, I have not had a "bad deal" on E-bay....................Ira
 
eBay insures against rip-offs up to $200 less a $25 deductible. They require evidence (email)that you've contacted the other party and have attempted to resolve the problem. I've made a few successful claims but didn't get any younger waiting for my $175.
 
I have only had one problem on Ebay. I paid for a $40 item and did not receive it.

I called my credit card company and executed a chargeback to PayPal. One thing that I figured out is that Safe Harbor, Square Deal, and Paypal will not do SQUAT to help you.

Now, I will only pay with a credit card or USPS money order unless I know the seller.The postal service will at least send their inspectors after postal fraud and more likely when you use one of their money orders. With a credit card, you have the most leverage.

Caveat Emptor- let the buyer beware!

Daniel
 
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