Have I been scammed on Ebay?

Question

I want to ask about two different situations, so If you answer, please give me two answers in one post, relating to both situations:

1) I had an Ipod nano 3rd generation up for auction two weeks ago. It had a starting bid of £10, and a "buy it now" option for £220. The £220 covers postage, packaging and because the Ipod is pre-loaded with over 20 albums etc. as well as various accessories that equal over £250, but I decided to sell it for a little less and it had a scratch on the silver casing.

I had a few bids, and then I received an email from somebody. I have since lost the email due to problems with my email client. The email was from someone going by the name of "Frederick Roosevelt" and their address was somewhere in America. This person said that they would buy my Ipod instantly for £280, which is odd as the buy it now was only £220. But, me being new to Ebay, thought I had struck gold and accepted. Sure enough, he won the bid (he bid £280, and nobody else matched it) and within a few days, the full £280 ended up in my paypal account. So then, I sent the item off and thought that would be the end of it.

2 days later, I have an email telling me that the £280 was refunded to the recipitent as the item had failed to have been delivered! WHAT?! I sent the item off, but he has told Paypal that I took his money and never sent the item. I contacted Paypal and said that this was NOT the case, but they seem to think otherwise. I contacted the guy who had deceived me, but he has not sent me anything back. I keep contacting Paypal in the effort that something will happen. They keep telling me over and over again that they are looking into it, but they never get back to me. Since then, this guy has closed both his paypal and ebay account and for some reason, his email address no longer exists. How on Earth do I get around this? Can I file a complaint with the police/law enforcement? Will I EVER see my Ipod again, or at least the £220 I was asking for it?! :(

2) This relates to something I purchased a few weeks ago. In fact, this was the first purchase I made on Ebay, and I was new to the whole thing. I saw a laptop on sale for a cheap price. The laptop was a very good model, and the buy it now price was just £125. So, I decided I would purchase this there and then. I made payment via paypal the next day aned the seller emailed me telling me that the item had been sent off and would be with me on 8th September. The 8th September came, and no laptop. I emailed the seller. He said there may have been shipping problems, and said he would contact me with a new estimated delivery date. As I said, I am new to Ebay so I did not detect any funny business at this point. A few hours later, he emails me telling me that the new delivery date will be 12th September. 12th September comes, no laptop. I email him telling him that If I do not have it by 17th September, which Is tommorow, then I would demand a refund from Paypal. He aplogises and says it will definitley be here for 17th. However, I received a package yesterday that I was 100% certain would be the laptop. I opened it, and it was just a concrete slab. No laptop, just a concrete slab in a box. The box it was sent it has the name of the laptop on the front. So, I emailed him asking wtf he was playing it, but have since had no reply. His Ebay account has been closed, as has his paypal account. I contacted Paypal last night, they said that they would "investigate" and I will be contacted by them in "due course". My question is, how long will it take for them to refund me, and will they require any proof that all I received was a slab of concrete?


I would greatly appreciate help from you guys. I shall be VERY careful when purchasing from Ebay in future, as I have already been asked to ship to Nigeria which I immediatley knew to be a scam.

Answer 1

Yes, obviously both are scams, and well known among regular ebayers. Unfortunately I've spoken to people who have had similar situations to both of yours happen to them before (don't feel bad, at least one of these people was a computer network manager at a school and even with his IT knowledge of online scams didn't see it coming) and they never got their money back.



If paypal won't cooperate, there is little you can do. You can try reporting it to the police, but in all honesty, there is little chance of them doing anything.

Answer 2

Wow....scammed twice!? That's insane... the first situation: yes you were scammed. And to be honest, no you will not get your Ipod back or the money. You were ripped off. You should've known it was a scam when he offered more money then you were asking! Why would anyone send you more money then you wanted to begin with? He does this all the time and has a whole system down I'm sure. He sent the money (so you THOUGHT) and then you sent the item & he cancelled the payment & closed the account. There's not much Paypal can do. Do you have a shipping confirmation # for it? You can send that to paypal to prove the item was shipped and he received it and they can see in your account that you never received the money for it. You also must have his address. You need to file a police report, take your shipping confirmation and the proof that he never paid for it and see what they can do. But odds are, you're not going to get anything back for it..... sorry to tell you.



The 2nd situation.....that rarely happens on ebay. I can't believe these both happened to you! I've been on ebay for years and have never had one issue! But anyway, you need to take a picture of the box and the concrete slab, etc. and send it to Paypal. Also, call them & talk to them.....don't just email them. You need to make a big deal out of it, call them screaming, demand to speak to a supervisor. Good luck....but they probably won't be able to do anything since you could have opened the box, took out the laptop & put a concrete slab in it yourself. But you can try.



Wow, you need to read Ebays rules/suggestions for buyers & sellers, etc before you start using it. The scammers saw you coming as a new Ebayer & really ripped you off.

Answer 3

1) If you have your receipt from the post office and the tracking number (if provided) for the package with the iPod then you can prove that it had been shipped and PayPal will have to give you your money back for the shipped iPod. Otherwise you will need to take legal action because Yes, you have been scammed.



2) Again, you have been scammed. Take pictures of the slab in the box, including all of the packaging and keep every receipt for all of your transactions regarding the package. Send the photots to PayPal and demand your money back since the item that was sent does not match the item description in the auction, and buyer protection should cover your costs.