Possibly been scammed

[Septym]

I paid for a 7950 to a seller on gumtree through paypal. He said he was posting the card at 3pm yesterday and I've woke up to an email from him saying his paypal is suspended and that I should dispute the payment immediately. What worries me is he has said nothing about the postage, and if his account had been suspended overnight the card would still have been delivered. I've read up on paypal and it looks likely that I will get the money back as I have all the evidence in emails of what he said he was doing.

Anyone had anything similar?

 

[Septym]

Slightly worried that he says his account has been suspended though. Will he still be able to reply to the dispute?

 

[Septym]

The way I understood it is paypal can still issue me the refund without actually getting the money back, they just put his account into debt with the amount. I suppose if I don't get it back it teaches me a lesson never to use gumtree again.

 

[Septym]

Yeah hoping for a quick resolution as I want to order another graphics card. If he can't respond to the dispute though I think it could take a few days.

 

[Septym]

Paypal will look after you as you're the buyer & don't let it put you off Gumtree either as I have had untold mint deals buying & selling on there, to be honest Gumtree is the only place I use other than MM here.

If I get the money back then I suppose I'd use gumtree again as I know I'm covered. The deal did sound a little good to be true but he seemed genuine and even sent pictures of the card.

 

[Septym]

Well the guy has responded saying the reason he did not post it is because he checked his emails on the way to his post office at a friends house and noticed paypal had been suspended. This seems quite a coincidence that his paypal would be suspended within an hour after I send a payment and he couldn't even send me an email from his friends house stating what had happened. All I get is an email this morning saying his paypal "doesn't work any more" and that I should dispute the transaction.

 

[Septym]

The reason he gave was that it had been suspended for some other sale of DDR2 ram a buyer had disputed against him.

 

[Septym]

Yeah I didn't think they'd suspend an account over a dispute as that would make it impossible for him to respond to the dispute wouldn't it? I know the guy is lying now, everything I say he comes up with some excuse.

 

[Septym]

Well now he isn't even answering what I'm asking him and is just telling me to calm down and that I will get the money back. Not helpful at all when I'm £170 out of pocket. I've told him I'll be taking it further if paypal don't deal with it.

 

[Septym]

NEVER buy anything off gumtree with paypal for postage, you'll always be scammed. I've had it done to me in the past, use it as a collection only kind of site.

PayPal actually seems to be safe as long as you don't use the gift option which I didn't. What I find strange is he wrote on the description for the item transaction I will issue a full refund if a dispute is raised.

 

[Septym]

This exact thing happened to me before trying to buy an iPhone. I disputed it and eventually got my money back, although it did take a while to get it back as far as I remember.

Yeah it states he has till the 28th to reply to the dispute and I'm guessing he wont bother so it could be 2 weeks before I get anything back. Maybe longer.

 

[Septym]

Think I'll be sticking to MM from now on. Items on ebay aren't cheap anymore as people filter in the costs of fees and by the sounds of it gumtree is scam capital of the internet.

 

[Septym]

I'd have no problem withdrawing the dispute if the card turned up but I know it won't from what he's told me.

 

[Septym]

that statement makes no sense to me, how are you anymore protected with using MM then say gumtree?

mm is just the forum its posted on , say for instance you Bank transfer money for a item you see on mm and it dont turn up. I dont think Ocuk are going to do anything, he might get banned off the forum but thats about it.

Id say using paypal is your safest option, and thats on any site you use here gumtree ebay etc.

I always use paypal but I think there is far less scammers on the MM than gumtree. MM has a minimum sign up time and post count and I doubt many on here want to lose out on the MM through scamming people. Gumtree anyone can post an ad.

 

[Septym]

I'll just have to see what comes of it by next friday. Got a feeling he'll respond on the final day just to elongate the process so he can try and walk off with the money.

 

[Septym]

You can still escalate it 8 days once the case is open regardless of whether he replies.

Well I've told paypal I have evidence of him saying he hasn't posted the item so I can't understand why it should take 10 days. Surely all they need to see is the email from him.