Beware of vintage*space*station, Matthew Adams, on ebay

[Ian_C]

Well, got scammed by a guy today on ebay.

He bought a Luke Farmboy off me on ebay April 26. My listing clearly says if an item sells over $40, I will upgrade to tracked shipping, but below that, I will save the buyer money by offering cheap untracked. He paid $34.99. Asks me the day after I confirm shipment if he can have tracking, to which I pointed out my terms in the listing. May 12, he opens a case, saying he hasn't received it. No kidding, Eastern Canada to California, I don't expect it to arrive in 2 weeks. He was allowed to escalate today. At 12:15 am, he does so, and a few hours later, ebay gives him his refund.

Okay, fair enough, right? Ebay rules are to provide tracking.

Look at this though.

Since yesterday, here's his feedback. (sorry for small pics)

That's three people, me included, that gave him "false positives" for scamming.

Now, look at his feedback left since yesterday.

Seven negatives in a row left since yesterday?!?

This guy has decided to scam a lot of people all at the same time. Stupid ************. I'm appealing it, but doubt ebay will budge even with this evidence.

Beware of this clown guys.

Ian

 

[itfciain]

You might get lucky there - I doubt they would do anything about the false positives but no-one gets 7 lost packages without something very sus going on

 

[ScruffyLookingNH]

That sucks arse, Iain. ******* prick deserves booting but I guarantee eBay will do sweet FA and simply reply "they're looking into it" and that "a note has been made on this user's file and advice issued" or some such crap. I would be amazed if eBay fork out money as it would be from their own pocket as they know if they reject it then PayPal would only support the prick's claim and take the money back anyway. Sorry you're out of pocket. I'd send him something brown and sticky that hadn't come from a tree.

 

[Ian_C]

I'd send him something brown and sticky that hadn't come from a tree.

Hey, now THAT is an interesting idea, lol.

Ian

 

[Richard_H]

If you tell eBay you want to close your account over this they'll take action

 

[Ian_C]

If you tell eBay you want to close your account over this they'll take action

In my appeal I told them exactly that, as well as pointing out how much in fees I have given them the last couple of years and how that would be gone moving forward. I'm sure I'm still small potatoes to them though. I'm going to actually give them a phone call later today. They seem more responsive to complaints when someone speaks to them personally.

Ian

 

[ScruffyLookingNH]

If you tell eBay you want to close your account over this they'll take action

In my appeal I told them exactly that, as well as pointing out how much in fees I have given them the last couple of years and how that would be gone moving forward. I'm sure I'm still small potatoes to them though. I'm going to actually give them a phone call later today. They seem more responsive to complaints when someone speaks to them personally.

Ian

Well, I wish you luck and hopefully their attitude has changed, but when I pointed out they had screwed me over through a misinterpretation of their OWN rules and, in 2013, single handedly turned my Lego business from a 2012 turnover of £110k to a £35k business in 2013 (resulting in a loss of revenue to them themselves of about £7k) they couldn't give a stuff. They didn't even apologise let alone remedy the situation.

Different times and different situations, I hope Rich is right and they bother to lift a finger for a customer. Would be a first for eBay.

 

[Lindo]

That's why I won't ever send anything untracked

 

[Ian_C]

That's why I won't ever send anything untracked

If you look at the 7 negatives he left, only 2 were for undelivered items. The others were all claims of "not as described". No way to avoid a scammer who wants to use that excuse.

Ian

 

[Richard_H]

I complained to ebay 13 times on my last deal. Kept getting fobbed off with 'high priority' and '48-72 hours' decision. But I kept at them, even after they closed the case against me. I won though in the end. Made it clear I wouldn't give up and would sue if they didn't sort it.

 

[Lindo]

That's why I won't ever send anything untracked

If you look at the 7 negatives he left, only 2 were for undelivered items. The others were all claims of "not as described". No way to avoid a scammer who wants to use that excuse.

Ian

surely he would have to return the item before ebay refunds otherwise that just not cricket!

 

[Ian_C]

That's why I won't ever send anything untracked

If you look at the 7 negatives he left, only 2 were for undelivered items. The others were all claims of "not as described". No way to avoid a scammer who wants to use that excuse.

Ian

surely he would have to return the item before ebay refunds otherwise that just not cricket!

Only if he wanted a full refund would he have to return it. The scam is to say it has condition issues, then demand a partial refund. Unless you can make a strong case, ebay will side with the buyer and force you to refund part of their payment AND they keep it. I've seen it happen with greater than 50% refunded. :evil:

Ian

 

[Lindo]

Bastards never realised that

 

[RifleSmile]

Honestly, things like this just make me cagier than ever when selling through eBay.

Sellers really do get shafted in terms of rights

 

[weasel]

Sellers have rights on Ebay? :shock:

Sorry, of course they do, they have the right to be shafted, and the right to watch Ebay side with the person who is blatantly shafting them

 

[Ian_C]

Well, so much for a 48 hour response to my appeal. :roll:

After several days, they finally get back to me, saying that without tracking, I have no grounds for an appeal, and just dismissed it outright.

Worst part? A friend on another board sent me pics of the guy selling the SAME Luke in his ebay store now.

Mine are against the white background.

******* thief.

Ian

 

[peekaygee73]

:shock: :twisted:

And ebay STILL won't do anything?

 

[Ian_C]

Nope. No tracking, no case, despite obvious evidence.

The system is obviously very flawed. :evil:

Ian

 

[weasel]

Not sure what the system is like in the States but I'd be inclined to go to the Police, or over here we have a small claims court. You represent yourself so no large legal bills and it's normally fairly quick.

 

[Ian_C]

That's a tough one. He's in California, and I'm in Canada. Not so easy to go to court over this.

Ian

 

[weasel]

Contact the police down in California and see if you can get anyone who is responsible and interested. You may need to off to send him/her a box or three of doughnuts :wink:

 

[Ian_C]

Ebay are ******* idiots. Just spent 20 minutes with an appeals person on the phone, and presented my case. Told them to give me an email address, and I can go ahead and send pictures. Said I would be forced to file a police report, and no longer sell on their site.

She just kept repeating that without tracking, there was nothing she could do. She'd check into the feedback pattern, and he might be suspended, to which I said that's great for future sellers that get scammed, but what about the stolen item he got from me? Same old thing, back to tracking.

I finished up by saying, "so you're saying that even with absolute definitive proof, he is still going to be able to steal my item and money, and I can't get refunded or my negative removed, and you guys will let him do this?", and she answered "yes". I told her ebay is ******, and hung up.

I am so livid right now.

Ian

 

[weasel]

Take Ebay to whatever the Canadian equivalent of the small claims court is. Odds are they will either concede right away or offer you a % of your claim to piss off (over here you can reject the offer, and the closer you get to the court date the higher the % they offer) or if they do get in to court you got a decent case.

I had to take Parcelforce to court over a busted Yoda POTF, they ignored me until a week before the case, then offered me 50%, i refused and 2 days before hand they settled in full. They don't want the hassle especially not over what is to them pocket change. They just hope you'll b fobbed off with their BS and go away. If not they lose nothing more than the amount they should have forked out in the first place. An atrocious way to treat a customer but sadly very common.

 

[edd_jedi]

Worst part? A friend on another board sent me pics of the guy selling the SAME Luke in his ebay store now.

Can't you (or one of your friends with a fake account) buy it and not pay, or buy it and then do exactly the same back to him?

 

[Ian_C]

Oh, I intend to Edd. I'm sure he'll just cancel the sale, as he does say he won't ship to Canada in the new auction, but it means he'll have to re-list it.

What I'm thinking is if a US friend can bid, I'll gladly pay for it, then nail the ****** with the "not as described" claim that he likes to use on others, and get 50% or more back, since we all know ebay will side with the buyer. . I don't get a full refund that way, but it sticks it to him, and I'll get something back.

Or, possibly another idea, would be to say I'm not happy and go for the return and refund, then send him a picture of the Luke, a scam that some people like to pull but in this case would be justified. That would screw him over even more.

Ian

 

[yoda]

When I read about things like this happening to people it really puts me off wanting to sell anything on e-bay.
I have never sold on e-bay and this doesn't inspire confidence in me
Sorry to hear that happened to you lan I hope you get something sorted for that dick!

 

[indianawars]

That's a hideous thing to pull on someone. All for the sake of a few $$. He's a liar, thief and a lowlife...

 

[Ian_C]

I want to bump this, as the guy is up to it again - and this time for a MUCH larger amount, and from a different ebay username (I know because the feedback isn't the same). $1500 US. :shock:

I received the following message on my Facebook last night.

"Ian, I noticed your post to a Star Wars group about being ripped off last May 2016. It happened to me by the same guy, Matthew Adams from Yorba Linda, CA just this past December. Only thing was that he got refunded $1530.00 and he never returned the Star Wars case with action figures (item # 152300031307). I was wondering if you recall what his eBay seller id is so I can check if he is selling or sold my product. You're right about eBay being on the side of the buyer. Can't believe they issued him a refund without me getting the product back. That is the most asinine policy I've heard of...and without my consent. If you want to email me back my email is ***@***.***."


This time Mr. Scammer made out with a VC Jawa, pop up R2, and a case loaded with other mint, complete figures.

Ian