Being scammed on Ebay

Tykey

Tykey

Tykey

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13 Jun 2013
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2,044
Well it had to happen eventually, looks like i've been scammed on Ebay. I sold a quite expensive joystick on there last week, hardly used in as new condition, original box, tested it as fully working before sending it out. Just had a return request saying it doesn't work. The buyer joined Ebay last week and has 3 feedback. Am I right in thinking there is nothing I can do? I don't think there is. I'm kicking myself a bit as I usually won't sell to any such new / low feedback accounts but i didn't check this time. Pretty gutted :(. I expect i'll receive a useless/worthless joystick back, might not even be my joystick.
 
I think selling expensive electronics on ebay is a recipe for disaster.

If you are a victim of return fraud (ie you get something different back, or not your joystick but a broken one they are trying to replace it with) i believe it is best to accept the return, get whatever it is they send you back and open a case with ebay and hope they side with you.

The scammer will likely get his money back either way, but ebay may reimburse you if they think you have been scammed and provide a police crime report number etc.
 
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tyke_ said:
Well it had to happen eventually, looks like i've been scammed on Ebay. I sold a quite expensive joystick on there last week, hardly used in as new condition, original box, tested it as fully working before sending it out. Just had a return request saying it doesn't work. The buyer joined Ebay last week and has 3 feedback. Am I right in thinking there is nothing I can do? I don't think there is. I'm kicking myself a bit as I usually won't sell to any such new / low feedback accounts but i didn't check this time. Pretty gutted :(. I expect i'll receive a useless/worthless joystick back, might not even be my joystick.
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Did they reach out with any questions first or just a straight refund request? If no contact first it feels like it's probably a scam unfortunately.
 
Sounds like a scam. Try and fight it. Threaten with police crime investigation of it is a scam.

Sometimes these people are stupid and buckle. Other times they completely know what what they are doing
 
SixTwoSix said:
Did they reach out with any questions first or just a straight refund request? If no contact first it feels like it's probably a scam unfortunately.
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They joined ebay on the day of buying my joystick. this is what they sent me with the refund request :

"I am an IT Technician. This item is faulty and will not be recognized by my system and another system i have tested it on. I have tried a firmware update but it fails, suggesting there is a technical fault with the joystick. I have spent 3 hours trying to make it work."

I know full well it worked fine when I sent it out.

413x said:
Sounds like a scam. Try and fight it. Threaten with police crime investigation of it is a scam.

Sometimes these people are stupid and buckle. Other times they completely know what what they are doing
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I don't think there's anything i can do but i will state this, worth a try.
 
tyke_ said:
They joined ebay on the day of buying my joystick. this is what they sent me with the refund request :

"I am an IT Technician. This item is faulty and will not be recognized by my system and another system i have tested it on. I have tried a firmware update but it fails, suggesting there is a technical fault with the joystick. I have spent 3 hours trying to make it work."

I know full well it worked fine when I sent it out.



I don't think there's anything i can do but i will state this, worth a try.
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My betting is that he almost certainly is not an IT technician.
 
tyke_ said:
Well it had to happen eventually, looks like i've been scammed on Ebay. I sold a quite expensive joystick on there last week, hardly used in as new condition, original box, tested it as fully working before sending it out. Just had a return request saying it doesn't work. The buyer joined Ebay last week and has 3 feedback. Am I right in thinking there is nothing I can do? I don't think there is. I'm kicking myself a bit as I usually won't sell to any such new / low feedback accounts but i didn't check this time. Pretty gutted :(. I expect i'll receive a useless/worthless joystick back, might not even be my joystick.
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lol why would you use ebay and post it.
payment on collect only.
 
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tyke_ said:
They joined ebay on the day of buying my joystick. this is what they sent me with the refund request :

"I am an IT Technician. This item is faulty and will not be recognized by my system and another system i have tested it on. I have tried a firmware update but it fails, suggesting there is a technical fault with the joystick. I have spent 3 hours trying to make it work."

I know full well it worked fine when I sent it out.



I don't think there's anything i can do but i will state this, worth a try.
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Can you firmware update the joystick? If so, there's a degree of knowledge at least implied a bit there.

Might well be that the buyer is doing something wrong but doesn't sound too scammy - if they are genuinely new to eBay then they may not be familiar with the comms processes.

Failures can and do happen, I buy a lot of old server kit and have had a few DOA items, some of which sound like they've been bashed about quite a lot during transit.
 
Never send things to brand-new accounts, always cancel the sale.

I had the same issue years ago with a speaker amp I sold. Guy couldn't get it working, despite me testing before sending it out. He was actually just a dunce, as I received the same one back, and it worked immediately, so I just resold it on.
 
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Tephnos said:
Never send things to brand-new accounts, always cancel the sale.

I had the same issue years ago with a speaker amp I sold. Guy couldn't get it working, despite me testing before sending it out. He was actually just a dunce, as I received the same one back, and it worked immediately, so I just resold it on.
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Also had this.

Gpu.. A hot item to be scammed.
I was super polite and patient. I don't think he was plugging in 6 pin power cable.
I walked him through and he was thankful.


If I had been hostile at start he may have stuffed me.
 
tyke_ said:
They joined ebay on the day of buying my joystick. this is what they sent me with the refund request :

"I am an IT Technician. This item is faulty and will not be recognized by my system and another system i have tested it on. I have tried a firmware update but it fails, suggesting there is a technical fault with the joystick. I have spent 3 hours trying to make it work."

I know full well it worked fine when I sent it out.
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Call their bluff maybe, say that the firmware update could have borked it and argue with ebay they've modified the item - also reply that you're a senior IT technician.
 
OldKitMan said:
Can you firmware update the joystick? If so, there's a degree of knowledge at least implied a bit there.

Might well be that the buyer is doing something wrong but doesn't sound too scammy - if they are genuinely new to eBay then they may not be familiar with the comms processes.

Failures can and do happen, I buy a lot of old server kit and have had a few DOA items, some of which sound like they've been bashed about quite a lot during transit.
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The brand new ebay account, the fact the joystick was barely used and tested before sending out, it was packaged in all the original boxing so well protected during transit, i doubt it developed a fault on the way there.
 
Tephnos said:
Never send things to brand-new accounts, always cancel the sale.

I had the same issue years ago with a speaker amp I sold. Guy couldn't get it working, despite me testing before sending it out. He was actually just a dunce, as I received the same one back, and it worked immediately, so I just resold it on.
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Also accounts that have not been used in years with a username nothing like the buyer's name. That immediately raises a red flag for me.
 
ebay is full of scammers, cancel orders of accounts like that and select the reason in the menu as item is lost / damaged.

also never send to collection points, its just a way of hiding a real address of scammers
 
dave28 said:
ebay is full of scammers, cancel orders of accounts like that and select the reason in the menu as item is lost / damaged.
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Doesnt that get you a black mark on your account a seller? I thought the best one was to choose "something wrong with address" or "buyer asked to cancel". These don't get you a strike on your account (but you might well get negative feedback still).
 
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