Fleabay Seller: Items getting lost in post?

Kaiju · 2 Apr 2007 at 13:21

Okay, i've been monitoring this guy who has been selling high-end graphics cards in the last few months, but it seems if a product doesn't reach a certain price, he simply says the item is lost in the post and refunds the person. All his high-end £300+ auctions somehow always get lost and the <£100 auctions always arrive and get positive remarks.

So I was wondering if this is normal behaviour and a loop Fleabay can't do anything about as I think it totally undermines what an auction is about. Sure, he could be telling the truth, but I hardly doubt it.

Ukadder · 2 Apr 2007 at 13:26

Could be totally possible, Personally if I was the seller just having a reserve price would make more sense and be less agro.

Nowt strange as folk.

Kol · 2 Apr 2007 at 13:26

He'll still be paying listing fees, final value fees and presumably paypal fees. Weird seller!

WIBSBOT · 2 Apr 2007 at 13:38

Mikol said:
He'll still be paying listing fees, final value fees and presumably paypal fees. Weird seller!

But he still keeps the goods he's selling and can claim for the 'lost' item on insurance.

Nice to see fraud in action.

Richard_16v · 2 Apr 2007 at 13:48

Surely you can get a refund though if items are lost in the post?

I would have thought that would be what he is doing, getting a refund so instead of having a high listing price due to a high reserve he is getting refunded costs if things get "lost in post" when selling for a low amount.

zain · 2 Apr 2007 at 13:52

Ukadder said:
Could be totally possible, Personally if I was the seller just having a reserve price would make more sense and be less agro.

Nowt strange as folk.

If you notice he is doing the opposite, low priced goods arrive, high priced goods get lost. Unless the OP got them mixed up?

Perhaps he has an insider in the Royal Mail or whichever delivery company he is using.

Kaiju · 2 Apr 2007 at 13:53

zain said:
If you notice he is doing the opposite, low priced goods arrive, high priced goods get lost. Unless the OP got them mixed up?

Nope, it's only the high priced goods that get lost.

Sinizterguy · 2 Apr 2007 at 14:04

WIBSBOT said:
But he still keeps the goods he's selling and can claim for the 'lost' item on insurance.

Nice to see fraud in action.

He cant claim from courier or RM without a receipt proving that he sent something with them.

Without any proof he cant claim from them. He can still keep the item and try to sell it for a higher price if that is what he wishes to do and have less problems from a buyer by claiming it got lost in the post rather than saying that the winning auction bid was too low. I doubt that a buyer who got a refund is going chase him and demand that he show his proof of posting. Even if the seller does it regularly, a buyer might have it happen to him once. The buyer then gets his refunds and gets on with his life.

zain · 2 Apr 2007 at 14:09

Sinizterguy said:
He cant claim from courier or RM without a receipt proving that he sent something with them.

Without any proof he cant claim from them. He can still keep the item and try to sell it for a higher price if that is what he wishes to do and have less problems from a buyer by claiming it got lost in the post rather than saying that the winning auction bid was too low. I doubt that a buyer who got a refund is going chase him and demand that he show his proof of posting. Even if the seller does it regularly, a buyer might have it happen to him once. The buyer then gets his refunds and gets on with his life.

But it is the higher price goods that get lost and not the lower priced ones? :confused:

Unless the higher priced goods are too low in terms of their actual retail value?

If not, he must have an insider surely.

Richard_16v · 2 Apr 2007 at 14:16

The way I read it the OP was referring to that fact that he is conning ebay not postal fraud.

I.e he sells a CD for £5 and it gets delivered, he trys to sell a Graphics card worth RRP £300 and it only reaches £100 then it "goes missing" in the post, this way he isn't having to put high reserves on (which cost a lot of money) but he also isn't having to sell valuable items for a small amount of money.

zain · 2 Apr 2007 at 14:31

Kaiju said:
All his high-end £300+ auctions somehow always get lost and the <£100 auctions always arrive and get positive remarks.

Nathan · 2 Apr 2007 at 14:37

Tell him, you want to pick it up

FirebarUK · 2 Apr 2007 at 14:39

I've had someone on fleabay do the same to me. Was quite a while ago for a 2nd 6800GT PCI-E.

Danger Phoenix · 2 Apr 2007 at 17:00

To be honest, I've done a similar thing once or twice, where an expensive item has sold for a lot less, and I made some false reason up for not sending it ("i have found it to be defective" etc)...

Saves on reserve listing prices, plus I get my listing fees back via the mutual withdrawl agreement...

Mind you, only done this roughly twice... not on such a scale as you are describing

ste_bla · 2 Apr 2007 at 17:19

Maybe;

Person buys broken gfx for £10, lists as new and sells for £300, it gets lost and he claims £300 off royal mail as thats its value he nets £290 for a duff gfx card!

Bit fair fetched but only way it makes sense to me

Kaiju · 4 Apr 2007 at 21:55

Turns out the guy selling was eventually removed. Nicely done. Here's the email I got from the 'Bay. The guy was very quick with comms and sounded completely genuine. Just goes to show.

---------------------------------
For privacy reasons we can't tell you exactly why we ended the seller's listings.

As eBay removed the item, you are no longer obliged to send payment for it. Please don't send money or respond to any emails from the seller.

If someone asks you to continue with the purchase outside of the eBay platform, we strongly recommend you ignore the request. Purchases made outside of eBay aren't covered by eBay services such as feedback and the eBay Standard Purchase Protection Programme.

If you have already paid for the item, we suggest you take steps to stop your payment if possible. If you sent a cheque or your credit/debit card information, contact your bank. Please note that if you paid for this item using cash, Moneygram or Western Union transfer, your purchase won't be covered by the eBay Standard Purchase Programme. In this case, we recommend that you contact your local police as soon as possible. Retain any emails you exchanged with the seller as the police may need them in order to investigate further. eBay will gladly help the police with their investigations if needed.

singist · 4 Apr 2007 at 22:03

ASK ON THEIR FORUM......... NOT HERE......

What is wrong with you morons? ask the forum where it happened ... NOT HERE!

How simple can it be?

As you may have guessed, I really do get ****** off with these sort of posts!

Kaiju · 4 Apr 2007 at 23:00

singist said:
As you may have guessed, I really do get ****** off with these sort of posts!

This thread isn't harming anyone and no one has complained apart from you. There is a reason.

This is a general discussion. There is not rule that people have to post 'Bay issues on 'Bay forums.

Don't like the thread, get over your pain and move on.

Kaiju · 4 Apr 2007 at 23:00

Double post. Delete

Danger Phoenix · 4 Apr 2007 at 23:17

singist said:
ASK ON THEIR FORUM......... NOT HERE......

What is wrong with you morons? ask the forum where it happened ... NOT HERE!

How simple can it be?

As you may have guessed, I really do get ****** off with these sort of posts!

Sorry to be blunt mate, but if you don't like the thread than ignore it! As you can see by this thread, people have replied and obviously don't share your view. Also, if there was a problem with a thread like this, then the mods/admins would have done something about it.

Fair enough you want to voice your opinion, but please don't be rude about it