eBay Auction Fraud Spawns Vigilantism Trend. Bidders join to report fraud to law enforcement

auction bytes ^ | December 26, 2002 | Ina Steiner

[strela]

I promise shipment within 72 hours of payment.

If that is understood by both parties before money changes hands, then good for you and for them, and they've got nothing to whine about.

[btcusn]

I have no problems with your method of shipping as long as it's made clear to the purchaser at the time of sale. Did you ever consider UPS and have them pick up the package at your home and add the cost of shipping to the product? Advising the purchaser in the ad. of course.
Jack

[Skwidd]

I buy and sell on Ebay all the time. It's a great way to get stuff on the cheap. Still, you shouldn't buy or sell expensive items (or whatever you consider 'expensive')--the odds of getting ripped off seem to grow with the cost of the item, and Ebay will not help you regardless of how many complaints the other person has against them.

Paypal isn't much better. Bank transfers are free, and I never let them hold more than $50 of my money at any time. They have an annoying habit of freezing people's accounts without any explanation or method of recourse.

With over 200 transactions, I've only had problems with one pirate software scammer. $20 down the drain. But it's like the saying goes--you pays your money, you takes your chances.

[Positive]

When I sell on eBay I promise same business day shipment when paid by PayPal - because I know the funds are good.

But if someone pays by personal check, which is often the case, I only ship immediately if they have 100 positive feedbacks or more, otherwise I wait till the check clears.

Do you pay by PayPal or personal check? As you can see that makes a difference to me.

[babylonian]

About half of my buyers use Paypal, and half send checks. I don't wait for checks to clear before I ship. It's amazing, I haven't taken a bad check in over 12 years! Fortunately, most ebay customers aren't hard nosed about it all. Unless there is a significant delay, they wait without badgering me with emails.

Also, my auctions mention SHIPPING & HANDLING. And, I ship by media mail. When postage doesn't add up to all the shipping money they sent, some complain. Here is the email I send those customers:

You have enquired why we did not ship your merchandise by priority mail. Shipping fees on your merchandise is $4 for your first item and $1 for each additional item. In our catalogs, fliers, and in our ebay auctions, this is always referred to as "shipping AND HANDLING".

Please let us explain the "AND HANDLING" part.

IF YOU BOUGHT YOUR MERCHANDISE ON EBAY, we paid eBay 55 cents to list that item for sale. When you bought it, we also paid ebay 5% of your total purchase price.

IF YOU PAID BY PAYPAL, we paid Paypal 2.2% of your TOTAL amount, + 30 cents.

IF YOU SENT US A CREDIT CARD NUMBER, our carrier took 4.2% of your TOTAL amount.

IF YOU USED OUR TOLL FREE NUMBER, we paid the long distance charges. We also paid 60 cents a minute to the answering service for each minute you were on the line.

THE CARDBOARD BOX OR BUBBLE BAG we shipped your item in costs somewhere between 36-78 cents.

ANY FUNDS LEFT OVER go to pay our employees who pack your item, carry it to the post office, and stand in line to ship your item.

In short, your item was shipped by MEDIA MAIL so that there would at least be partial funding of the "AND HANDLING" part of "shipping AND HANDLING". If we had to ship your item by priority mail, there would be no funds left to cover the "AND HANDLING", and we would not be in business.

Thanks for your inquiry!

[babylonian]

If you are scammed on ebay, and you have the sellers actual name and address, file a mail fraud complaint. The post office investigates every one of them and they get action!

[yarddog]

I have never sold on Ebay and have just over a hundred purchases.

I have never had anyone fail to deliver and only a couple of slow ones. The worst problem is about half the items I have purchased have undisclosed damage. Maybe 10% so bad as to be worthless.

The only times I have returned items I have gotten a refund but as I usually buy items costing less than $50, the cost of shipping makes returns not very attractive.

[Skwidd]

If you are scammed on ebay, and you have the sellers actual name and address, file a mail fraud complaint.

True enough, but I prefer to avoid complications. For me, it's faster and easier to take the hit rather than waste more of my precious time on earth trying to track down $20.

I try to make sure that a) the people I deal with are somewhat reputable, based on their feedback, and b) that the transaction doesn't involve anything of great value (the most I've ever bought was a $100, and sold was $300).

[vetvetdoug]

I have bought a lot of items on Ebay but I do see a lot of fraud. If the Confederacy had owned that much equipment they would have won the Civil War.

[ChadsDad]

I sell high buck cars on ebay all the time. If your honest, and expect the same of your buyers, it seems to work out. I have yet to have a complaint from a buyer. But I take lots of pictures, and am over cautious in descriptions.

If theres a scratch or ding, I photograph it and describe it in detail. Buyers appreciate the disclosure.

I had one guy back out on a really expensive cycle, because there was a scratch on the front brake lever. He sent some really threatning email (gonna report you for fraud, post neg feedback if you do, etc.) I just let him go. I re-listed it, with a blowup picture of the scratch and actually got more out of it... character counts!

[Hodar]

I either pay by PayPal, or by Cashier's Check. I realize that my check is going to be questioned, so I never ask for that. I only write checks for my mortgage, utilities and when a debit card isn't available.

The same day shipping is a real boon, as a buyer I do appreciate that.

[templar]

I've never had a seller tell me "that's okay, let me ship you the goods and just send the payment whenever you have a chance to do so"

I have. I did send the payment right away though.

[Paul C. Jesup]

If you don't take the to review a seller's feedback page then you deserve to be ripped off.

I have been buying items on ebay for almost three years (using money orders to pay for the items) and I have not had one problem yet because I ALWAYS check the seller's feedback page for the number of each negitive, neutral and positive feedbacks that seller has.

[Paul C. Jesup]

Well in some places sales tax is either equal or more than buying items off of ebay.

By the way, most people I deal with ship UPS, Priority Mail or Fedex.

You can get both good deals and ripoffs on ebay, you just need to know what you are looking for, how much it is really worth and what the seller's feedback from previous bids are.

[fatima]

I am a seller and we do ship without payment to our regulars,once we sent an item that we sold out to the buyer and he could not get over the fact that we shipped first and waited for payment.He gave us a bonus donation of 50.00 because of it.I have made many friends on ebay and heard many stories as most of our auctions are donated religious items.I have even met some of the buyers,who will stop by at our ministry if they are in town.One received our newsletter and donated a beautiful chandelier to go over a statue of Our Lady.She never did see it in person but we sent her a picture.
Paypal has also worked well for us,so easy to use and transfer funds to bank .My suggestion to anyone buying on ebay is to check the feedback first.If you see more than a few negatives beware,no feedback,no order.