Ripped off on eBay, any recourse?

I have to agree with Dave here. I once had to do with a very dishonest and abusive seller. He had learned so well how to game the system that in the end, I only lost time trying to deal with eBay. If the time of the person with the question has some value, they would be better off avoiding eBay in the future and writing it off to bitter experience.

I just won't use eBay anymore having had the occasion to deal with their support and investigations department. eBay is really a vile company. There's a whole lot of fraud going on there.

The only occasion where I see it worth dealing on eBay is for difficult to find items low to medium-priced items which are hard to find locally or prohibitively expensive new.

TAKE CHARGE!! When all else FAILS (ebay et al) you have TWO LAST DITCH remaining actions you can take. Call your charge card company and request a CHARGE BACK against paypal in the same amount you lost. They will ask you to fax a signed statement and provide evidence of the transaction. 30 days later you will get ALL your money back but maybe at the expense of a lost paypal account(?) Or get a simple demand letter from a lawyer forcing ebay to take further action against the fraudulent seller. good luck...

Actually.... a little bit of assertive persuasion can pay off in these situations.

First, let me suggest that you only buy in the future from sellers who have STRONG positive feedback histories over a significant time period (not the new sellers if it's a bigger ticket item).

Should you have a problem -

email the seller and nicely tell them that you want to return the item for a refund. If they say no then tell them that by xxx time on xxx day (I give about 3 business days usually), if you don't have a full refund you will be:

1. heading to the post office to file federal internet fraud charges. (the word FEDERAL usually gets people's attention)
2. you will next be contacting the person's local police department
3. if you paid by check tell them you will contact your back to reverse the charges due to online fraud.
4. if paypal - you can file a complaint with paypal but tell them first before you do it and give the seller time to respond
5. The FBI has an internet fraud division where you can file a report
6. for jewelry there is a national fraud center where you can file a fraud report.

Tell the seller that you would prefer NOT to go to this trouble but would prefer to just send the package back and get your money returned and you are sure that he doesn't want any headaches either so you're sure he'll be happy to work with you.

If you DO mail the package back make CERTAIN you send it insured and requiring a signature on receipt. Delivery confirmation is a useless feature that will not protect you if the seller says they never received the refund. That feature is simply a scan of the package and does not offer the same protection as a signature.

I've helped my customers deal with rotten sellers for years now and this almost always works. If the seller disconnect their email, try sending from a different email address or having a friend forward your email since they often are blocking you deliberately. Also, you can look up phone numbers on a number of online sites or get contact information by searching the person's name on google (put it in quotes for a more exact search).

Good luck! Online auction items should always be guaranteed by the seller since you can't look at them before buying. Like anywhere else though, there are bad apples in every bunch which is unfortunate since buying online can be rewarding and fun!

file a Mail Fraud complaint, u should be able to get one at the Post Office

Rip offs like this are very common on eBay. It's happened to me several times. However eBay is always reluctant to help a buyer over it's sellers because eBay only makes money from seller in all sorts of fees! The don't get one cent from buyers! Until a more legitimate auction site comes along, don't buy from any seller with more than 1 or 2 negative feedback!

Lions, tigers, and bears old my. With all the latest supernatural shows on the tube buyers are flocking to Ebay for haunted items and paying hundreds to thousands of dollars. Give me a break!

Wake up everyone and see the haunted sellers for who they are. While you are out working to make a living they are sleeping till noon and waiting for you to arrive home so they can get some of your hard earned cash.

There are hundreds of genies being shipped from Egypt which must keep the post offices busy. Witches are flying straight through the airwaves to bring you some of their haunted loot. There are writers, movie stars, investigators, just to name a few. People are buying into it and Ebay is to blame.

There will always be thieves wanting easy money as well as gullible, lonely, desperate people who buy into the crap. Ebay should be forced to close the category but they do nothing. Think about it the next time you are tired but need to get up for work anyway. The haunted sellers will be snug in bed while their fairys, sugar plums and your hard earned money dance in their heads.

By the way my niece spent $1000 for a Egptian genie ring and received a $10 ring.

I too have been scammed on eBay, eBay’s repose has shocked me and I certainly will tell everyone who will listen why you should NOT by via this site.

I purchased a laptop with a legal copy of Windows XP Pro. I paid and about 3 weeks later the laptop arrived (so much for the 2-7 days postage). The laptop had no COA from Microsoft but was a working copy of XP, after the fist updates from Microsoft the machine would no longer allow me to login so I call Microsoft to be told you are using an illegal copy and face fines…. I lodged a dispute with eBay and after 2 months of broken promises I sent my dispute to the Trust and Security Team. Ha what a laugh, the seller is still trading selling the same to other unsuspecting buyers and eBay lets them trade. They look after the sellers as thats where they get their fees, as long as they are getting fees they don’t give a toss.

They referred me to the police and this was the polices response. I you bought a laptop from xmart and you have a problem do you come to the police? No you take it back to xmart no mater where they got it it is their problem. eBay seems to think it can get away with allowing these scams to go on and then instead of taking care of the buyer they protect the seller (try get a sellers address from eBay) and try to get the tax payer to fit the bill by sending anyone with complaints to the police. If xmart and all the other store had to do that the police (already understaffed and resourced) would not be able to even respond to crimes.

So I lost my money but left the seller negative feedback explaining the problem (in the small space you are provided). The seller responded by leaving me negative feedback saying I sell stolen and faulty goods and my 100% positive feedback is ruined. I contacted eBay who said they would not remove feedback even if they are lies but I could apply to have my feedback to the seller removed which would also clear his feedback to me. WHAT???? I must remove my feedback warning other buyers that this seller sells illegal software to remove his feedback which is all lies??? I don’t think so, no wonder he has only good feedback, eBay ensures that by making you remove your negative feedback to the seller in order to clear your name.

3 months on and this crook is still scamming away on eBay and nothing gets done, a few others have dared to give him negative feedback but some have given in to clear their names, eBay only looks after the person paying them fees and that my friends is the seller.

P.S. The police case was closed as the police were unable to track the seller via the mobile number and wrong address supplied to them by eBay.

Yes another sucker! This scammer had all pos feedback so I didnt hesitate.I paid via bank deposit which I have always done straight away. Two days later the seller emails me to say the payment hasnt turned up yet and I can post it to a mail address.Later that day ebay informs me that they have suspended the sellers account for reasons only known to them and that I should not pay for item or ask for a refund.First problem, once account is suspended you cant contact seller through ebay.Next ebay wont do a thing to help you due to privacy laws,so communication is impossible.Emails get bounced from seller and letters dont get answered.Then the police give me the runaround because they dont want to be bothered with ebay problems saying "serves you right".Solution...never deal with ebay again and warn everyone about what can happen.Sorry to all the genuine sellers but until ebay can get their act together and offer genuine protection to buyers stear clear.