Wednesday, September 21, 2005 - 05:01 pm, by: Sam Lofts(Sam25tt)
hey guys got a bit of a problem just wondering if it had happened to anyone else i paid for a item through wetern money transfer and scince the seller recived payment i havent heard from him wat should i do ebay just gives me all these help pages no one to talk to help!!
Wednesday, September 21, 2005 - 05:10 pm, by: David Vaughan(Davidv)
Need more information. How long since you paid? What means have you used for contact? Do you have a home or mobile phone number? Address? Did you have contact prior to payment? How did you pay -- if bank transfer, did the bank details match the name given and was the suburb near where they claimed to be?
Wednesday, September 21, 2005 - 05:22 pm, by: Rob Andreacchio(Reepa)
Was it for a mobile phone or something similar?
Does the seller live in Romania or similar?
Did you buy it outside of Ebay or through an auction?
If you answered yes to q2 and 3, you can kiss your money goodbye.
David, it was paid with Western Union... a lot of fake ebayers use this to scam money out of people... very easy to get the money to them, and takes a VERY long time for the authorities to catch up with them...
Wednesday, September 21, 2005 - 05:34 pm, by: Ollie Ernst(Oli_g)
What Reepa said.
If you're happy to tell us, what kind of item did you buy? Western Union payment is regularly used in scams for Laptops, expensive cameras, mobile phones etc.
If you're happy to provide a link to the auction I think the Ebay-Aholics amongst us (as Pen so nicely put it ) would be happy to look into his track record and see if we can advise at all.
It doesn't help you in this situation Sam but I HIGHLY recommend only ever using Paypal for international transactions and for big ticket items even only use that where the Paypal Buyer Protection is listed for that buyer. To see what that looks like see my following ended auction.
Check the logo and details under "Seller Information" on the top right corner of the page. If the seller has completed several incident free transactions involving Paypal, they'll guarantee up to a certain amount of refund if there are problems. In my case they'll cover buyers for up to $1500.
Wednesday, September 21, 2005 - 09:52 pm, by: Mustafa Akgul(Muzzy)
Sorry mate but kiss that money good buy.. happened to me luckily only $120 sent the money via western union..no product but he was still in contact saying he sent it etc.4 months down the track no more contact no product.
Wednesday, September 21, 2005 - 09:52 pm, by: Sam Lofts(Sam25tt)
well i purchased some 20 inch chromies for 1500 and havent recieved them and have lost contact with the seller no phone number just a email address and was about to purchase that soarer which i posted last week for 5 thousand i thought it was to good to be true he wanted the money through western money transfer to but they both got to me through a second chance offer and they had all the legit emails from ebay to send to me. i was only buying this car cos mine was crashed into and iv saved all my money (5grand) and it was nearly all gone. cant belive some people, so now im back to square one got a crashed car and 1500 out of pocket thanks for your help guys
Thursday, September 22, 2005 - 04:20 pm, by: Sam Lofts(Sam25tt)
no they are not actually part of ebay they must of hacked into the system and they send you emails saying they are the seller and email you all the details from ebay. i contacted the actual seller and he knew nothing of wat i said the bloke who tried to sell me the car still claims he is legit his email is Wils4australia@cs.com thanks guys
Thursday, September 22, 2005 - 04:51 pm, by: Ollie Ernst(Oli_g)
Damn sorry to hear it Sam. I wish there was something we could do but this one you'll have to chalk up to experience. It seems this 2nd chance offer scam is becoming quite frequent. It's one of the main reason GENUINE 2nd chance offers are treated with such suspicion. It's gotten to the point where I'm considering quiting the practice because nobody trusts it.
As I said, it doesn't help in this case but bear in mind my comments about using Paypal for similar transactions in the future. It's a nice safety net. I bid on some auctions in Germany a while ago where the guy had a few negative feedbacks for non-supply of product. The only reason I gambled on it was that Paypal guaranteed the deal. Sure enough I won both auctions for VERY good prices, and sure enough also 6 weeks later no items had arrived and the seller wouldn't respond. Reported it to Paypal and about 3 or 4 weeks later I had my money back.