Ways to get ripped off on Ebay

JDRanger

JDRanger

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Aug 14, 2017
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Hi Everyone,

I had not bought a knife (or anything else) on EBay for years.

However, I recently made four knife purchases. Two went great. On the other two someone tried to get the seller to send the knives to another address after I had paid for them with PayPal. The Sellers both got suspicious and contacted me so everything worked out.

As a possible informative topic - what are ways you’ve been “taken” when buying from EBay?

Here’s the last Seller’s message to me:
——————————————————-
“Hello - did you recently place and win this Strider? I have another user saying they are you - asking me to ship to a different address that what is on file. did you send me this:

New message from: castroc-27 (0)
Hello, I've recently bought Strider SMF knives from you, I am glad to purchase this item , I want to tell you that I have problems, my sister is ill, she need emergency operation and i'm going to other state, please help me to change address, if you can please reply me and i'll send you new address.”
————————————————————-
Pretty flimsy. Any other EBay stories?
 
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Always risky dealing at arm's length with total strangers. I like to buy from my local bricks & mortar store whenever possible; it may cost a buck or two more but at least I can make sure what I'm getting before I buy.
 
I got cheated but eBay made it right. I was buying a Helinox folding beach chair which usually goes for $150. I bid on and won it for under $100. The seller in Vietnam sent me (I think intentionally) the cheaper camp chair instead. I contacted him immediately upon opening the box and sent pictures of both what he sent and pics of his listing which didn't match. The scumbag seller then offered to give me back $20 instead of sending the more expensive chair I won. I contacted eBay and eventually they refunded my money AND I got to keep the camp chair. That was the only problem I ever had on eBay and I've purchased dozens of knives and many other things.
 
I sold a packaging machine to a "customer" crook. It was drop shipped directly from the manufacturer. Paid via PayPal. After receipt, the buyer came back and said it didn't arrive as expected, and was going to return. They tried to get ebay to return funds before the return of product, but that was a no-go.

So a week later, I receive the outer box for the machine, filled with construction garbage. The garbage actually packed inside original custom foam packing from the machine. As soon as my office signed for the box (and before actual inspection), the buyer was back on with eBay showing proof of delivery for refund, which they were given.

Later that same day my guys got around to this package only to discover the crap inside. We immediately returned info to both eBay and PayPal, along with pictures and details of differing package weights from original delivery, and return. We were told that the customer showed shipment of a box the same size as original, and our signature for receipt. We replied that the signature was for a group of over 100 different packages, and it took a few hours before the fraud was discovered. That didn't matter. They sided with the crook.

We represented with original details, along with a statement from the manufacturer that the actual machine was sent directly from their warehouse, and contained the machine and supply in question. The buyer simply responded with "we returned exactly what we received". Both eBay and PayPal sided with the guy that had 6 transactions against our hundreds of transactions on eBay, and over 100,000 online in general. Needless to say, we no longer trust eBay. And now only use it to sell returns and distressed items.

What a crock. We were screwed by both eBay and PayPal! Just as much as the original crook. A week later, the crooks profile was gone. I'm sure they regularly switch aliases after a certain number of scores.
 
I am selling on eBay and I have always done my best to be transparent and fait about the condition of the knives and managed to ship the knives less than 48hr after being paid
 
I bought and paid for 8 of the same item. Seller only shipped 1. The seller had proof of delivery and eBay sides with them. PayPal sides with them. My credit card sides with them. I lost my money

.
 
eveled said:
I bought and paid for 8 of the same item. Seller only shipped 1. The seller had proof of delivery and eBay sides with them. PayPal sides with them. My credit card sides with them. I lost my money

.
Click to expand...
That’s too bad. I’m beginning to think there are more bad guys than good guys. I think I’ll stick to buying from Brick and Mortar or legitimate online knife stores and not mess with EBay. Will also start buying from the BF Exchange.
 
I've picked up a few used Buck and Case knives on eBay and all my experiences were reasonable. Okay, there was one seller who wasn't fully honest about the condition of the knife, but all the others played a straight game.
 
My mom and dad have been Ebay fanatics since I was a little kid. (Stoneware dishes for mom and Disney collectibles for dad)
One thing she told me is that if a seller doesn't have 100% feedback you should be immediately suspicious.
Even a rating of 98% or 99% should be tediously checked out especially if its a big seller with a lot of score to even out the "statistics".
Consider every point off of 100% a whole letter grade rather than thinking of a 98 as an A+
If it's a seller with a really high score/ sells a ton of stuff they're bound to get a few negative ratings, but if you ever see an even somewhat smaller seller
with less than 100% feed back you should be suspicious and probably shouldn't buy anything from them.

Additionally, any seller with any negative feedback should be checked out.
Go to their page and look at the negative feedback. If it's spaced out and obviously from "tough customers" you might be okay, but
if the negative feedback is back to back to back and seem like legitimate complaints, stay away.

Personally, I hate having to be that careful about something that is supposed to be straight up and legitimate as it is.
These days, I don't mess around with Ebay at all. I'd rather stick to legitimate, known stores for knives be it online or brick & mortar.

If you're going to use Ebay or Amazon, you have to be really careful, most sellers worth a damn on either site usually have an actual store or another website/ contact info
and they are simply using Ebay to generate more business, but it isn't the only place they do business. If using Ebay you have to check the seller out real good before
you hit that buy button. Like I said, I feel it's overly risky either way, so I stay away and use places with a proven good record.

Known Blade Forums members are probably fine because you have the chance to check them out here first and at the very least, we'll expose them if they try anything "funny"
 
I scammed a seller on fleabay and didn't even mean to. Ordered some headlights for my truck from overseas. Waited the till the time they were supposed to be here and filed a claim. The seller never responded and I got my refund.
6 months later the lights show up. I've done bought and got replacements. Tried to contact the seller and they have dropped their account. I couldn't even offer to pay or return them. Still have 100% feedback on fleabay as a buyer, I don't trust them to sell.

Once way way back had a bidder contact me about shipping the item we were both bidding on. This was before bidders were hidden, before paypal only even. Tried to tell the guy I wasn't the seller and he called me a fraud and he wasn't sending me any money. I just sent a message back telling him he was an idiot and I didn't want his beeping money.
 
I sold an R/C car on ebay once. The seller filed with Paypal saying that I sent him a brick rather than the car. The problem is that he sent me a new emails praising the condition of the car, so I won that one. My rule is follow the rules. If something sounds fishy, pass it by. Always rely on feedback. When someone has a negative, read the nature of the feedback (I know as a seller that some folks are unreasonable). I use my judgement on buying. As a result, I have had very few bad experiences on ebay.
 
saw a seller sell a fake Fallkniven F1 less than 2 weeks ago and even notified the seller that it was a fake, only for the seller to say the got it from some distributor in VA.

but looking at the knife and knowing fallknivens all i could see is fake.

my email.
fallkniven knives have a continue convex edge and no secondary edge as well as a lamination blade, this knife has none of these points so ******** Knives in VA sent you a fake. the rivet in the handle is incorrect and the sheath is not the same as fallkinven make. just look at another F1 on this site to see the difference.

there responce
There is NO need to check the website since it came directly from their distributor, *********Knives in VA

you tell me

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i contacted seller as they were one that i followed but now i will check everything that i buy etc.
 
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Have almost 1000 transactions as both a buyer and seller. Only issue so far was a buyer who claimed to not receive the knife. Tried to file a claim with USPS but they denied it cuz they had delivery confirmation. I refunded the buyer, and then later he said he found out that someone was stealing stuff of his porch. Oh well, it was only $40.
 
eBay is great but it’s all about feedback. Did you really buy a Strider for hundreds of dollars from a guy with zero feedback? If you do enough eBay this is a huge red flag. 99% of eBay sellers are honest hardworking folks but new sellers ALWAYS be leery of. Just my 2 cents
 
I also love eBay for a multitude of things. I have 100% feedback with over 600 transactions and almost half as a seller. It works if you can recognize the perils. There are many.

I had a buyer purchase a fairly expensive cell phone from me and paid me via PayPal. THEN he asked me to ship to another address because *insert scam excuse* he would not be there.

I said absolutely NOT. It goes to the PP listed confirmed address or nothing. We went back and forth and I ended up refunding and not shipping AFTER I contacted eBay and arguing with this dick.

I think they determined he'd jacked someone's account, OR he would say at the 45 day mark he'd not rec'd the item. (Yeah, and then I'd have to tell PP I shipped somewhere else. That would go over well.)

Beware. Play by the rules, and there are TONS of good buyers and sellers.
 
95% feedback is terrible unless seller has few sales or the negative if from an obvious nut case (eBay does not make it easy to judge if feedback is fair to the seller).
Folding knives are machines. The seller must clearly describe the blade action or, "grail" or not, I don't bid. Pictures do not disclose weak spring/snap. A seller of a folding knife who says "The pictures are my description" is a walk-away.
Some sellers are liars; many more guess when they do not know = scammers.
Most are honest, but some of the biggest crooks have excellent feedback.
Back-lit pictures are a red flag
Too good to be true is very seldom true.
Know your item and what it typically costs.
Fakes are getting better and better. Learn the "tells."
Pay at once if you bought an item.
Act at once if you did not receive what you paid for. Refund at once or open a case.
Give fair feedback - good or bad - promptly.
Learn the meaningless words: "minty"; "vintage"; "____ for it's age": "I think _____"; "Looks like ___________"; "could be _______"; "might be____"; "____ style"; "440 stainless"; "bowie"; "surgical stainless"; "steel knife"; "believed to be _____"; "collector grade"; "hand made"; "custom"; "rare"; "pretty rare"; "heavy duty"; "I am told _____"; "one of the best": "Relic"; "scarce"; "seldom seen"; "solid"; "tactical"; "battle-ready"; "top maker"; "trusted"; "unique"; "virtually ____."
 
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