Ebay buy and switch scam

[Wahsleety]

This super 8 camera dealer out in cali bought a nikon super 8 camera from me last week. I packed it great with foam peanuts and it would have needed to be beat up pretty bad for any damage to have happened. Well he emailed me tonight with a picture of a damaged lens hood, that doesnt even look the same as the one I sent him. And would be nearly impossible for just the lens hood to be damaged inside of a hard camera case covered in foam, wrapped up in a box! Seems to me i'm most likely dealing with a buy and switch scammer. The guy is a camera dealer, he probably had a broken lens hood and found a way to get one for free.
Anyone ever had any problems like this?

[MissJacksonCA]

Sorta had something similar...

I ship out a lot of sunglasses and recently I sent out a shipment of Burberry and Coach and the girl who received them said that when they arrived the shipping box was in perfect condition but the glasses I sent her were effed up and gave me a shot of what looks like them but all destroyed which is odd because I packed them inside their respective cases, and with air packs so nothing shook. I'm not sure if it was the buyer or if its my DHL guy. The guy who picks up my packages is kinda shady and they usually quit their jobs after a month or two so meh... My record of sending out mdse and arriving in mint condition is perfect so it has to be something someone else is doing...

[DeadJonas190]

It sounds like a swapper to me.

The only problems I have had with Ebay selling is with Pay Pal itself. They transfered money from my pay pal account to the wrong bank account then claimed it was my banks fault and basically told me too bad on the $400 mistake they made. I went back and forth with them until I had to get a laywer involved, which upon getting the transaction record found they transfered it into the wrong account. Now, a year and a half later, it is still in litigation for me to get my money from Pay Pal because they are not claiming fault even though it has been proven to be their mistake.

I just want my money.

[Danny]

never ahd it on ebay, bought some shirts of the mega 64 site and never got them, snet 8 or 9 emails over six months and got no reply, joined there forums to ask and was banned in 5 minutes, and they do this quite often, even on there podcast theyve said "this emails from someone saying they bought the dvd but didnt get it, welll its sold out now so too bad, probably should have bought it earlier".

[Wahsleety]

I offered him his money back if he sent the entire package back to me. Under the listing conditions return shipping is paid for by the buyer. I don't think he is going to want to pay the 20$ it costs to ship the box back to me! Guess i just have to deal with negative feedback even though i'm doin the right thing, offfering the money back. I sent an email to ebay, reporting the possible scam, so if he has pulled this before and someone reported it, it will be pretty obvious. We'll see what happens.

[Yojimbo]

Once had an issue with an eBay sale that I will share:

My wife purchased a computer from some dude that apparently is in the business of building desktops. Since that sale went well and the computer was workable, a year later she decided to buy two more desktops from the same guy. Long story short, we paid and never received product. After sending a bunch of e-mails, each exponentially more threatening than the previous, and having received no response we contacted our credit card company which has a system in place where you can get a refund for monies spent as a victim of fraud to which we found out that they will apply this program to nearly all situations with the exception of those situations that occur through eBay. Eventually had to file a fraud complaint online and actually corresponded with a police fraud & bunco detective in the seller's home town who shared with me that his office investigates cases of fraud resulting from eBay on a daily basis. This detective shared that rarely does the buyer get their money back from the criminal, even in those cases where the villian is found guilty, and recommended that the best way to avoid this kind of situation is to NEVER BUY ANYTHING ONLINE. Great advice, right?

Years later, no refund, though the fool was prosecuted. Whether or not he will ever pay restitution is a matter left to be seen.

My wife has used eBay sucessfully to purchase all kinds of stuff before and since this incident, but we have learned our lesson to buy only those items with a very low cost so that if we get screwed in the future we will only lose a small amount.

[MissJacksonCA]

I guess you could say there's a price you pay for trying to conserve money and buy ebay. While i'm not fearful of selling on ebay I would never buy from it ...and thats despite knowing people who buy from that site all the time with no issues. I just take the Murphys Law approach... if I try to buy from it i'll be one of those bad stories where I paid for something that wasn't authentic or didn't get the mdse. I'd rather not chance it...

[Yojimbo]

I guess you could say there's a price you pay for trying to conserve money and buy ebay. While i'm not fearful of selling on ebay I would never buy from it ...and thats despite knowing people who buy from that site all the time with no issues. I just take the Murphys Law approach... if I try to buy from it i'll be one of those bad stories where I paid for something that wasn't authentic or didn't get the mdse. I'd rather not chance it...

Very pragmatic words on a system wrought with potential peril, MJ!

Caveat Emptor!!!!

I am sure I am spelling it wrong, but it is the only Latin I remember from Jr High. Sorry folks!

[Mike70]

Very pragmatic words on a system wrought with potential peril, MJ!

Caveat Emptor!!!!

I am sure I am spelling it wrong, but it is the only Latin I remember from Jr High. Sorry folks!

no you spelled it right. a classic example of the jussive subjunctive, anyhoo - i have never really had a problem with ebay. then again i tend to buy stuff that isn't too pricey on there - like copies of tv shows or movies that aren't out on DVD. stuff like that.