Have I been scammed?

geeza · 5 Dec 2007 at 10:47

Im think im at the start of the process of an ebay scam.

Yesterday I bought some GHDs on ebay for £81 delivered. I paid immediately through paypal for them and when i went back to the item it has the invalid item removed message.

After winning the item I had a message saying that for winning and the sellers name and information that is here in the uk.

I then received a receipt for payment with the transaction ID and seller information.

I then received a package tracking and order status message, however the sellers name and email address was different to that of the previous email. Also the postal company is USPS. There is a tracking number and the order status is 'In process'

I have sent an email to ebay as i am concerned about the two different addresses, two different seller names and the fact the seller was listed in UK but is sending it via USPS. Also the fact the item listing was removed after i purchased it.

Is there a chance someone in US has hi-jacked a UK account with their address but is sending the money to their paypal account?

Lets hope this is not the case but something is shady here

Amleto · 5 Dec 2007 at 10:52

Don't worry. You paid via paypal so if something goes wrong, it will be really easy to get your money back.

DanMc07 · 5 Dec 2007 at 10:52

Anything is possible, just see what ebay has to say about it. Ebay have there own forum for things like this too.....

ci_newman · 5 Dec 2007 at 10:55

Amleto said:
Don't worry. You paid via paypal so if something goes wrong, it will be really easy to get your money back.

No it's not easy... I had someone do a 'fast-one' on me a couple of years ago. I paid ~ £50 for something which never turned up. The seller did this to a number of other people and Paypal recognized that we'd been a victim of fraud but 'on this occasion we are unable to retrieve your money'.

That was the last time I used Paypal for anything

geeza · 5 Dec 2007 at 10:55

DanMc07 said:
Anything is possible, just see what ebay has to say about it. Ebay have there own forum for things like this too.....

I know, i found a similar story to mine on thier forums where the seller wasnt replying and it was being set by USPS

Tom0 · 5 Dec 2007 at 10:57

I hope you havent

, that was your good deed and for your mother.

geeza · 5 Dec 2007 at 11:03

double post. oops

jamief · 5 Dec 2007 at 11:07

Amleto said:
Don't worry. You paid via paypal so if something goes wrong, it will be really easy to get your money back.

Of course, what you actually meant was "WORRY. You paid via paypal so if something does go wrong it will be nigh on impossible for you to get your money back."

Hope it's not a scam mate!

Tom0 · 5 Dec 2007 at 11:14

jamief said:
Of course, what you actually meant was "WORRY. You paid via paypal so if something does go wrong it will be nigh on impossible for you to get your money back."

Hope it's not a scam mate!

just saying the opposite for the sake of it? reasons why you believe it will be impossible? cant just disagree with what someones believe is fact without your own reasoning.

I said He Said.

LizardKing · 5 Dec 2007 at 11:15

They may have just been drop shipping and ebay cottoned on, might be worth phoning USPS to see if they know were that consignment number is heading?
What was the users feedback like?

peetee · 5 Dec 2007 at 11:47

think if i ever start using paypal on ebay etc again ill active my credit card. Atleast then they can fight with paypal for the money back

Rotty · 5 Dec 2007 at 11:49

some UK sellers act as an agent for a US supplier, I have had this happen before

The bad news is you are likely to get a bill for import taxes

geeza · 5 Dec 2007 at 11:50

LizardKing said:
They may have just been drop shipping and ebay cottoned on, might be worth phoning USPS to see if they know were that consignment number is heading?
What was the users feedback like?

Will do, 100% positive. But hadnt sold or won anything in the past 12 months

geeza · 5 Dec 2007 at 11:51

Rotty said:
some UK sellers act as an agent for a US supplier, I have had this happen before

The bad news is you are likely to get a bill for import taxes

surely i wont have to pay it as it was listed in UK and the seller has a UK address

Rotty · 5 Dec 2007 at 11:54

geeza said:
surely i wont have to pay it as it was listed in UK and the seller has a UK address

customs won't give a **** about that unfortunately, you could try and claim it back from the seller

not sure if there is a way where the seller may have paid the taxes up front

jamief · 5 Dec 2007 at 12:09

Tom0 said:
just saying the opposite for the sake of it? reasons why you believe it will be impossible? cant just disagree with what someones believe is fact without your own reasoning.

I said He Said.

Because I've had it happen to me more than once.

If you give someone money via paypal, you are only "protected" whilst that money is in their paypal account. As soon as they transfer it elsewhere any protection ends.

Pac3y · 5 Dec 2007 at 12:32

Well If you paid by credit card and Payapl could not retrieve the money do a charge back! Thats what I did!! Paypal just sent me a letter saying please do not do this again heh.

Tom0 · 5 Dec 2007 at 12:48

jamief said:
Because I've had it happen to me more than once.

If you give someone money via paypal, you are only "protected" whilst that money is in their paypal account. As soon as they transfer it elsewhere any protection ends.

Fair enough

jamief · 5 Dec 2007 at 12:54

Tom0 said:
Fair enough

Sorry, I should have put the details in my second post into my first post. I really don't like Paypal - people assume they are protected, but doing some googling will turn up countless horror stories regarding them

Kol · 5 Dec 2007 at 13:20

jamief said:
Because I've had it happen to me more than once.

If you give someone money via paypal, you are only "protected" whilst that money is in their paypal account. As soon as they transfer it elsewhere any protection ends.

Not heard of that before. In fact, I've heard of stories where the person ended up with a negative balance, whereby they had transferred the money to their bank but paypal claimed it back, thus resulting in a negative balance and debt collectors involved.