Dont get ripped off on Ebay!

Needs2Know · Post by **Needs2Know** » Fri Oct 06, 2006 12:27 pm

I recently got ripped off on Ebay. I bid on an item then lost to someone else. The seller comes back and says the winner of the bid cant buy due to security reasons, so he asks me if I want to buy it on the last bid I made but that he would only go through Ebay. I said sure. He comes back and says that his paypal account is down. So he wants to use Western Union. Now at this point a Red Flag goes up in my head but I'm thinking if someone wants to rip someone off on Ebay it doesnt matter if they use Paypal or not. Well I really want a 303 so I aggreed to send him the money Western Union. I send the money he emails me back saying he got the payment and to confirm the address. I confirmed the address and that was 9-20-06...its now 10-6-06 and he wont return my email. He's in the UK and I have his address. I want to bang on his door so bad.

Well maybe some of you can learn from my mistake and not make the same mistake. I read under the Ebay Purchase Protection Plan that if you use a wire transfer such as Western Union you are NOT COVERED. Wish I'd known that before. Damit.

Here are my rules from now on...

1.) only buy off ebay if i cant buy it at a normal store
2.) only buy from a Power Seller
3.) only accept to buy if you are the winner of the bid
4.) only buy if its through Pay Pal!

addict · Post by **addict** » Fri Oct 06, 2006 12:35 pm

just buy and pay it when it comes to your house. cash on delevery.
if the seller doesn´t accept this transaction, don´t buy.
thats how i work. its quite difficult to get ripped off this way.

greets
addict

Gluon · Post by **Gluon** » Fri Oct 06, 2006 12:44 pm

Hello,
I use eBay a lot so pretty much buy most stuff there as its a lot cheaper than buying anything in Ireland.

So I bought Ableton 5 from a "powerseller" with "paypal" (simple ebay rules to live by) ...

So I got Ableton 5 cheaper than anywhere else but not by much... anyways when I got it home I noticed it was an "Educational Copy" .. now I know from licencing and registration point of view there is no difference but in terms of cost etc there is a massive difference...

1st : Is should not have been charged this much for an educational copy and
2nd : More imporantly sellers are not allowed to sell EDU copyies to just random punters... so this seller was buying up lost of EDU copys cheaply and selling them on as full versions...

grrr...

-A

dtkbigdawg · Post by **dtkbigdawg** » Fri Oct 06, 2006 2:18 pm

This is a very common scam, especially for larger ticket items. The emailer to you simply watched the auction and contacted you. Not using payPal and going to Western Union is exactly how the scam works.

I'm sad to say you probably have lost your money for good. I don't know of who can help you try to get it back.

For those of you reading this, so as to prevent this from happening to you, NEVER EVER use Western Union to pay anyone unless you already received what you are waiting for. There is no fall back for an item that does not get received.
The second point of the scam is that the seller is outside of this country. This is again to perpetuate the use of Western Union.

I really hope you can find a way to get your cash back. Good luck to you.

brightonalex · Post by **brightonalex** » Fri Oct 06, 2006 2:28 pm

That's really bad news, sorry.
You're covered with Paypal. Ebay are worse than useless at helping you, I'm sure they don't investigate any fraud. and the police aren't interested either.

I bought a 303 off Ebay, and it DID arrive. But it was impossible to use and I couldn't be arsed with it, so I sold it again.

romflom · Post by **romflom** » Fri Oct 06, 2006 3:10 pm

A friend bought a 909 payed 900 $
Never arrived

psilopsyche · Post by **psilopsyche** » Fri Oct 06, 2006 3:10 pm

I'm sorry to hear that you got ripped off. Western Union is the payment method of choice for these types of scams. Hope you're not out too much money.

If it's worth it enough for you to do so you should sue Western Union for not making it abundantly apparent that their services are utilized by scum to steal money. It should be watermarked on their website and every document they produce. They are well aware, and if that was not conveyed to you then I feel that they are partially responsible.

punkdISCO · Post by **punkdISCO** » Fri Oct 06, 2006 3:45 pm

Yeah, also sorry to hear your troubles dude..

brightonalex wrote:I bought a 303 off Ebay, and it DID arrive. But it was impossible to use and I couldn't be arsed with it, so I sold it again.

Huh!? You can have a ton of very simple fun with 303s. Actually, here is a little fun Leah (punkbITCH) had with ours:

Wonderful synths..

brightonalex · Post by **brightonalex** » Fri Oct 06, 2006 3:50 pm

I didn't think of giving it a pair of knickers.

frankie123 · Post by **frankie123** » Fri Oct 06, 2006 3:57 pm

addict wrote:just buy and pay it when it comes to your house. cash on delevery.
if the seller doesn´t accept this transaction, don´t buy.
thats how i work. its quite difficult to get ripped off this way.

greets
addict

AHAHAHAHA. Its also quite difficult to buy anything this way. I've sold stuff on ebay for a long time, and I have never sent a unit before getting paid. Thats just retarded.

tankista · Post by **tankista** » Mon Oct 09, 2006 8:27 am

Needs2Know: And what is his name and adress? I'd like to know cause I'm starting to be afraid of my recent ebay purchase which seems quite similar to me

Dont get ripped off on Ebay!

Dont get ripped off on Ebay!

Another scam to beware of (Ableton.corp may be interested..)

his name