[Kolyan2k]

So I haven't sold anything on eBay for a long time and now it's asking me to enter cc number and authorize eBay to charge my account up to $2000 in case of fraud.

My question is how does eBay know who committed fraud, the seller or the buyer? Say I sell a cell phone for $500 and instead of phone will mail a brick, buyer gets the package and tells eBay, eBay charges my cc for $500....all sounds good. What if I mail a phone and buyer still says he got a brick ? eBay has right to charge my account too ? How would eBay actually know if buyer or seller is right and what's inside the package?

[amanda hor$t]

hmmm, i don't really like that. i lost over $1000 from paypal a while back because the other guy was a bald faced liar. ebay usually sides with the buyer because, well, most site users are buyers (through the years it has evolved from a trading post into an online swap meet).

ebay takes statements from both sides and makes a best-guess decision. back then i completed hundreds of transactions, mostly smooth, but there was a handful of rotten ones.

for large transactions i used escrow.com, not sure if that's still a usable option.

[Kolyan2k]

Well I was in this kind of situation before too and eBay/Paypal charged me back the money they thought I own them, but back then there was no pre-authorization for cc and its them who committed fraud by charging my account. I won the case back then by filing dispute with cc. But now with "signed" authorization it can be a different story. I guess can't use eBay anymore.......

[Mr Tonka]

If you're really anal, you can take steps to protect yourself should someone try and scam you by claiming what you shipped them was not what you listed in your auction.

Take extra pics when packing the item. Place the item on a table or something free of debris. Place the shipping ticket from USPS or Fedex etc.. on the right side of the item. Place a piece of your mail with your name, address and clear post mark date that is within days of your auction end on it, on the left side of the item. Hold on to this pic for a month or so after the payment has been made or after feedback has been submitted by the buyer.

Only accept paypal and only ship to paypal confirmed addresses.

With this information, ebay will be hard pressed to believe someone who just says they didn't receive the correct item. If you're feedback is good, you have the item in hand, you show the shipping label was in your control at the same time the item was in your control, any unbiased mediator will rule in your favor.

For the most part you won't have to worry about that if you're selling to someone with good feedback and you ship them what you listed in your auction. Be sure to insure what ever you ship for the amount it sold for and charge the buyer. That way you're covered if it gets damaged in transit.

If you follow all the rules and take extra pics that substantiate your actions with regards to shipping the item, you'll never lose a dispute.

[Maestro]

I think Ebay has become a mess these days.

Back in the day, when users where flocking to ebay, the scam artists were mostly the seller, they would rip people off, they would miss represent and the list goes on. So seller began leaving. Also users on both sides then began slamming each other in the feedback section, User with unrealistic expectation about what they were buying and selling cause most of the problems. So the good users left due to scam seller since ebay put more value on seller than buys, then ebay realize without buyers they loose the fees so they began give more value to the buyer over the sellers at the point the scam seller left and became scam buyers since Ebay is taking their side. There are still scam seller and you can spot them by the same they have lots of users with zero rating bidding on their products to help drive up the price.

Today the only purchase I make on ebay are buy it now from seller with lots of history. It not worth bidding on things since most get bid up by idiots or these fact bidders. The best part ebay now hides the ID of the bidder since you use to see these fake bidders were up to and people complain to ebay about them. Again ebay is a vested interest in allowing things to bid up.

[Kolyan2k]

^ back in the days there were "fake" accounts with many positive feedbacks. Guys used to sell TV posters for real TV prices or something like that.

[Kolyan2k]

Originally Posted by Mr Tonka

If you're really anal, you can take steps to protect yourself should someone try and scam you by claiming what you shipped them was not what you listed in your auction.

Take extra pics when packing the item. Place the item on a table or something free of debris. Place the shipping ticket from USPS or Fedex etc.. on the right side of the item. Place a piece of your mail with your name, address and clear post mark date that is within days of your auction end on it, on the left side of the item. Hold on to this pic for a month or so after the payment has been made or after feedback has been submitted by the buyer.

Only accept paypal and only ship to paypal confirmed addresses.

With this information, ebay will be hard pressed to believe someone who just says they didn't receive the correct item. If you're feedback is good, you have the item in hand, you show the shipping label was in your control at the same time the item was in your control, any unbiased mediator will rule in your favor.

For the most part you won't have to worry about that if you're selling to someone with good feedback and you ship them what you listed in your auction. Be sure to insure what ever you ship for the amount it sold for and charge the buyer. That way you're covered if it gets damaged in transit.

If you follow all the rules and take extra pics that substantiate your actions with regards to shipping the item, you'll never lose a dispute.

That all sounds good, but would take me 5 minutes to make fake pictures. I just dont feel comfortable letting eBay/Paypal manage my pre-authorized cc. Like the person above said, they might favor the buyers not sellers. After all its the SELLER who has cc account on file.

[Mr Tonka]

Originally Posted by Kolyan2k

That all sounds good, but would take me 5 minutes to make fake pictures. I just dont feel comfortable letting eBay/Paypal manage my pre-authorized cc. Like the person above said, they might favor the buyers not sellers. After all its the SELLER who has cc account on file.

Life is full of risk.

Also, many buyers are also sellers and also have their CC on file. As Maestro said, do your homework before selling to or buying from someone. Make sure to put in your bid that you will not sell to people with 0 feedback.

And no offense, but it would take me less than 5 min to see that your pics were fake. I'm thinking Ebay would know as well. It's easier to just take the pics while packing the goods.

I've been on Ebay for years without a single incident, not everyone gets screwed.

[Billup]

Originally Posted by Mr Tonka

Life is full of risk.

Also, many buyers are also sellers and also have their CC on file. As Maestro said, do your homework before selling to or buying from someone. Make sure to put in your bid that you will not sell to people with 0 feedback.

And no offense, but it would take me less than 5 min to see that your pics were fake. I'm thinking Ebay would know as well. It's easier to just take the pics while packing the goods.

I've been on Ebay for years without a single incident, not everyone gets screwed.

Agreed. I've been getting things off Ebay for years. Yeah, I've hit bumps in the road where a product was messed up and such, missing transactions, etc., but I always made sure to take enough pictures and document anything possible to cover my steps. Any time I had an issue arise, Ebay always worked with me, PayPal as well, because I had enough information to put the issue in my favor, buyer and seller.

[Kolyan2k]

lol. i can take DSLR pictures and 1080p vid of brand new laptop with shipping label and still send you a box of rocks thats what i mean by "fake" pictures, and the buyer can do exactly the same, take out laptop, stuff your shipping box with rocks and start filming and take pictures of rocks saying he never got any laptop....

not to even mention international sales where for example USPS has no authority and buyer can claim that he never got anything. i also wonder how USPS insurance works if they have no clue where international package is ? Anything that I mail internationally I can say it got lost and ask USPS for refund.

[amanda hor$t]

Originally Posted by Kolyan2k

lol. i can take DSLR pictures and 1080p vid of brand new laptop with shipping label and still send you a box of rocks thats what i mean by "fake" pictures, and the buyer can do exactly the same and take pictures of rocks and say he never got any laptop....

i suppose you could record a video of yourself packing the box, though that's hackable too.

cash and carry...

[Kolyan2k]

Originally Posted by bosster hymen

i suppose you could record a video of yourself packing the box, though that's hackable too.

cash and carry...

its the same thing you can film anything and take pictures of anything, and video tape your way to USPS store, and at the end send a different package

you guys too naive its Scamming 101

Paypal is not exactly virgin either, back it the days it was a huge money laundering machine and Paypal didn't care as long as they got their % money

[Mr Tonka]

Originally Posted by Kolyan2k

lol. i can take DSLR pictures and 1080p vid of brand new laptop with shipping label and still send you a box of rocks thats what i mean by "fake" pictures, and the buyer can do exactly the same, take out laptop, stuff your shipping box with rocks and start filming and take pictures of rocks saying he never got any laptop....

not to even mention international sales where for example USPS has no authority and buyer can claim that he never got anything. i also wonder how USPS insurance works if they have no clue where international package is ? Anything that I mail internationally I can say it got lost and ask USPS for refund.

yes, you could do that. So are we to add you to the ban list for trolling?


You're the seller. You're NOT going to send a box of rocks. If someone claimed that you did, those pictures you took, along with your stellar feedback rating would sway Ebay and Paypal to rule in your favor.

Do you actually have a problem with Ebay or are you just arguing for the sake of arguing?

Bottom line is that anyone can do anything they want. Getting away with it is a different story.

What's your ebay handle? I want to be sure not to buy anything from you. Or sell you anything for that matter.

[Kolyan2k]

Originally Posted by Mr Tonka

yes, you could do that. So are we to add you to the ban list for trolling?


You're the seller. You're NOT going to send a box of rocks. If someone claimed that you did, those pictures you took, along with your stellar feedback rating would sway Ebay and Paypal to rule in your favor.

Do you actually have a problem with Ebay or are you just arguing for the sake of arguing?

Bottom line is that anyone can do anything they want. Getting away with it is a different story.

What's your ebay handle? I want to be sure not to buy anything from you. Or sell you anything for that matter.

Yes, I have a problem with eBay/Paypal. I sold a phone a long time ago and provided shipping receipt along with confirmation/tracking number and buyer claimed he didn't receive anything and case was awarded in his favor (I have 100% positive eBay feedbacks). No only that but later (few month later) PayPal placed a fraudulent transaction on my account by charging my credit card account for the amount I received from buyer without my authorization. The fact that I have NOT authorized anything PROTECTED ME from this scam, and now with current pre-authorization that protection is over.

I am not the only one since sites like http://www.paypalsucks.com/ exist for a long time

Oh almost forgot....Paypal accounts have "clean" money and "dirty" money and if someone pays you with "dirty" money you will be fucked, and that happened to me as well. What was funny is that about 2 years ago PayPal somehow found my phone number and call me about $1000 bucks that they think I own them from 2000-2002 because a guy paid me with "dirty" money back then. I am obviously not gonna pay them anything, especially on a 10 year old account. They were simply looking for suckers to collect some money.