Author Topic: Ebay horror story still in progress (Read 716 times)

zappahead · « **Reply #15 on:** September 27, 2005, 05:41:05 PM »

I wouldnt make a purchase of that magnitude without being able to use paypal, unless I could seal the deal in person. It is really is too bad that ebay doesnt come through for people in these situations.

malthumb · « **Reply #16 on:** September 27, 2005, 09:48:10 PM »

lbpesq,

IF you make and win the bid on the guitar and IF you wind up paying by money order, I would suggest that you make copies of the money order and send them REGISTERED MAIL SIGNATURE REQUIRED. I did that for an amplifier that I was buying off eBay. The mailing address was a P.O. Box in one of these mailbox / P.O. Box storefronts near Atlanta. I know, I know.....WTF was I thinking???

Anyway, long story short....because I sent it SIGNATURE REQUIRED, the fraudulent seller never took delivery on them, since he would have had to show his face and have his ID and residence info recorded. The other benefit is that as soon as I got a sign that this was a fraud, I was able to contact the Post Office and have them place a trace on the REGISTERED MAIL. I got the money order back within about a week and a half.

If you must deal with eBay, consider using USPS Money Orders sent REGISTERED MAIL with SIGNATURE REQUIRED.

Peace,

James

bassplayer2106 · « **Reply #17 on:** September 28, 2005, 02:43:45 PM »

Everything I've bought from evilbay I've been and collected in person and paid cash for when I've seen the goods.
There's no way that I would pay someone a large amount of cash just like that.
I've sold two basses and an amp and the buyers also did the same thing - one drove all of the way from Portsmouth to collect it - that's about a 300 mile round trip.
It just seems like an odd way of doing things.
If I couldn't collect the goods due to the distance then I wouldn't bother bidding.
I really hope that you get your money back.

57basstra · « **Reply #18 on:** September 28, 2005, 03:39:46 PM »

Hey, I'm a sap.
One of the reasons I publicly posted this financial fiasco is so that others -- especially members of this forum -- can benefit from my present difficulty... I guess I thought that EBAY was safer than it apparently is for buyers. Believe me, I sure thought about NOT sharing this info with you guys. I respect the ideas and opinions of this group...........Also, I had wanted to see if anyone had an email contact for an actual HUMAN BEING at ebay.......anyone?.. And...does anyone know anything about the bass in question?

??

bassplayer2106 · « **Reply #19 on:** September 28, 2005, 04:21:36 PM »

They don't want to know when things like this happen.
The amount of fake 2nd chance offers I received when I bid on a Status bass was unbelievable and they just weren't bothered.
Doing what you've done....in my opinion is quite a brave thing to do.
A lot of people would probably keep quiet about it and hope that they got their money back.
You're not a sap - ebay is a huge international business making a fortune, and the majority of its users are honest.
Unfortunately there is a minority who perhaps should do the world a favour and jump under a bus.
By doing what you've done you may well have stopped someone else on this forum from making the same mistake, by assuming that all ebay users are trustworthy and that ebay itself is actually aware or bothered about what goes on.
Best of luck in you pursuit for justice.

David Houck · « **Reply #20 on:** September 28, 2005, 04:46:22 PM »

I've never tried it, but here are the address and telephone numbers for the corporate headquarters:
EBAY HEADQUARTERS
2145 HAMILTON AVE, SAN JOSE, CA 95125
Phone: (800) 322-9266
Phone: (408) 376-7425

pmoran · « **Reply #21 on:** September 29, 2005, 04:09:47 PM »

i, like the other forum members, are sorry you've been victimized. despite the fact i'm frequently ignorant or wrong about alembics because i'm a relative novice owner, my 25 years of experience as both a prosecutor and criminal defense attorney gives me a pretty good 6th sense for bullshit. i think the suggestions above about making the seller present identification and sign for the payment are excellent. i was chastised in another thread involving another alembic being sold out of canada because i questioned the legitimacy of an identical no paypal seller's condition. i love it when i'm right, but not at your expense, 57basstra. paypal provides pretty good protection but there are definite flaws in their process too. let me tell you my experience. i sold my late 60's fender bassman 100 head a few weeks ago. buyer received it and posted a very positive feedback indicating complete satisfaction. buyer's mother, who paid for it thru paypal w/her credit card, then filed a chargeback. i went thru hell for 3 weeks w/paypal pointing out that the chargeback was filed THE DAY AFTER BUYER HAD POSTED A COMPLETELY POSITIVE FEEDBACK! i am absolutely convinced paypal never read any of my lengthy emails, nor did they ever visit ebay to verify what i was telling them and they never acknowledged the legitimacy of my argument. they just screwed around for 3 weeks until i obtained the woman's phone number thru information, called her and confronted her w/all this. only when she instructed her credit card company to rescind her chargeback attempt did paypal close their so-called investigation. also, i'd like to warn all of you about an ebay/paypal scam i nearly fell for last week. i received an email which appeared to be from ebay w/a link for me to click on and follow. that link took me to a site which brought up the ebay sign-in form. the email said i had failed to pay my seller's statement balance and i was about to be suspended from ebay. i was literally about to enter all of my ebay account info into this form when something made me stop. i logged into my ebay account and saw my balance had been automatically deducted from my bank account. i wasn't in danger of suspension. it dawned on me this email w/the link was a scam to get me to enter my ebay info, including password, along w/my paypal info to pay the supposed balance due, and i would have been cleaned out. guaranteed! so, beware of other scam attempts like this one. btw, 57basstra, i researched your seller's feedback and she had a number of extremely negative feedbacks posted and her responses were really insulting. i think anytime someone has negative feedbacks, even if their percentage number is high, you still need to scroll thru the positive feedbacks to find the negative ones and read them thoroughly. i'm sure if you had read what i just read about her, you would have run for the hills and avoided the sale. i'll keep my eyes open for this bass and i hope val or someone can do some tracking w/the serial number and help you in that regard. when one of us takes a hit, we are all diminished here in the alembic owner's club/forum.

poor_nigel · « **Reply #22 on:** September 29, 2005, 06:23:51 PM »

Hey Patrick, and anyone else reading this thread, ever heard of phishing?

Word of advice. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER open an e-mail from eBay or PayPal in your home account. If either contacts you for any reason, go their sites, log in and check there for the correspondance. Phishing is not new, but I guess it is not widely known by most people.

The e-mail that took you to the phony page, might have also installed spyware, a trojan, etc. on your system, which will then transmit those sensitive pieces of info you do not want others to know later, when you go and log in. Many anti-virus protection programs can miss these, so get MS Anti-Spyware, also. Update all anti-virus and anti-spyware programs and run them on full settings right after any time you feel you must check out an e-mail from anyone suspicious.

For more on the scary topic of phishing (nope, not going to Phish concerts), do a Goggle on it and it will be worth your time, and maybe scare ya enough to not open those phony e-mails from scammers. I typed all this for members' benefit, not as a criticism of anyone, or even to put down eBay or PayPal. However, I will let myself say that one is the new black market for the world and both only care when a dime is made for themselves. They are only interested in profits, not what is fair for us. I seldom use one, and refuse to ever use the other again. OK, I will shut up now.

57basstra · « **Reply #23 on:** September 29, 2005, 07:37:08 PM »

Again....this was through EBAY........The offer was through EBAY........EBAY is now investigating the claim. I did not fall for a fake email. This is an EBAY transaction. I bring this to everyone's attention because this thread is titled, SEEN On EBAY and Elsewhere, etc....Oh, just received copies of the cashed U.S. Postal money orders. from the postal service.....One was cashed at a New York Post Office and two others at a New York Bank......I am at the next step.

bassman10096 · « **Reply #24 on:** September 29, 2005, 10:07:15 PM »

Hope you get 'em (and your money back). Best luck.

natrab · « **Reply #25 on:** October 06, 2005, 02:51:22 AM »

From what I've dealt with, Paypal covers you for up to $1000. I've collected on this when someone sold me a counterfeit item.

If I'm going much further above that on an ebay transaction, it's all about escrow.com

It's a legit company, and it is safe. Don't follow any link from the seller for some other escrow service. Use one that you know. It's the only safe way.

I'm sorry for your loss 57basstra. It's a tough lesson learned.

P.S. If you're interested in a 4 string spoiler, I may be willing to give you a super good deal on the one I'm selling (I try to do good deeds once in a while).

57basstra · « **Reply #26 on:** October 06, 2005, 08:27:47 PM »

The lesson I learned is not to deal with EBAY (I will amend this and sing their praises if they come through. Also, if you can just cash U.S. Postal Money Orders and say somebody stole them with no repurcussions, then I'd say that needs to be addressed also. Jury is still out on this matter.) If an EBAY seller can just steal your money and tough crap for the buyer, I'd say anyone doing business with EBAY could be in the situation I've found myself in. Again, this was an EBAY transaction. I did not fall for a fraud, other than to say I fell for a legitimate EBAY transaction. On the Spoiler,
How much? email me. I have a 5-string MK Standard, a 6-string Epic and a Guild Burnside The Lance with Alembic pickups. I bought this ax at a pawn shop and that's what actually brought me back to my desire to own an Alembic. (I also have several American Fenders, American Gibsons, a 1977 Ric 4001, Dean Pace, Dean 8-string, Aria SB, Linus 6 string, Engelhardt upright and others. As you can see, I have been well blessed by the Good Lord to have the hard-earned means to purchase instruments. By way of all this, I've not really wanted to even play my basses recently and am making remarkable progress on the old Martin 6-string. I'm rambling, but I've also been reluctant to visit this forum since I feel like the resident sucker. I know everyone feels my pain, and I indeed am looking at this as you said, a bought lesson.

lbpesq · « **Reply #27 on:** October 07, 2005, 06:17:31 AM »

David:

Resident sucker? I think not. Honestly, you didn't do anything different than I, or many members of this forum have done. You just were unlucky enough to get the fraudulent seller. It's something they did, not you. Now back to music stuff. What kind of old Martin? Last Sunday I discovered an amazing guitar store in San Rafael called E*Guitars. Incredible collection of used/vintage. I played two old Martins, a '49 and a '61. Both were 00s - small bodies, but both had unbelieveable tone! It's amazing how much sound comes out of those old small bodied Martins! I may just have to get one.

Bill, tgo

son_of_magni · « **Reply #28 on:** October 08, 2005, 04:20:09 PM »

It's important to remember that you are not doing business with ebay. You are doing business with someone else not associated with ebay except that they posted an ad there. Like everywhere else you need to be sure that the seller is legit. I don't understand why people think ebay can police all the sellers, just a wild guess but there's probably 10 million sellers?

I got burned on ebay once but after arbitration luckily is was only out $50 shipping. But after that experience I usually stick to high volume sellers with 98% or above ratings. And paypal or CC only.

(Message edited by son_of_magni on October 08, 2005)

57basstra · « **Reply #29 on:** October 15, 2005, 07:12:45 PM »

If EBAY has enough firepower to do all they do they can police themselves better. If not, then some of us who have been badly burned will alert others and so on and the buyers will BEWARE. (More on this later). ...Actually, my Old Martin isn't as old as I may have suggested. It's a 1996 model DR. Yes, this is a lower end Martin, but believe me..well worth the price. I've played it with D-18s, D-28s and it sounds, in its own way, just as good and plays like butter! I had an under saddle pickup installed. 1996 I believe is the first year for this model, so in a way it is an old one. Also, DR are (is?) my initials, so I feel as if it's my custom Martin guitar. ......I also recently found an Alvarez Yari , with electronics, at a local pawn shop and have placed a down payment on it and will bring it out at Christmas.........Good comes from Bad...I have had a good number of Alembic Club members email me and personally speak with me about my 'EBAY situation and this has really been cool....and comforting. Hey, it's only money. And like Son above says, Ebay can't be responsible for letting its process rip you off once in a while, hey, EBAY's way too big to be concerned about little old bass playing me.... Alas, I ramble on....God Bless us every one. (Play in church. You will love it!)