Am I being scammed $2000 ?

[le-jac1]

I bought a Macbook Pro last night around 11:30 pm. The seller told me he had sold it in the physical store 20 seconds after I paid for it. It was midnight. I asked him if he could get a picture before I paid, he said he would like to but it was already to late, that he would do it  the next morning. 

I called ebay, ebay says it's a paypal problem; I called paypal, paypal says it's a ebay problem.

Here is what happened:

Your previous message
Hi mate, I'd like to buy your macbook. When do you think you can ship?

ji_jile_gklkiwy:

Hello, As soon as I have received the payment. Thanks

Your previous message

Thanks, mate. Do you mind sending me a picture of the back of the box with all the specs on it? I'll pay once I make sure it's the model I want.  Thanks a lot.

ji_jile_gklkiwy:

I don't mind but its already late here. I will once I open my shop early in the morning, if it will still be available for sale

Then I paid for the item.

The seller immediately marked the order as "shipped" but with no tracking information. 

ji_jile_gklkiwy:

Hey mate. Sorry to tell you that the item has already been bought in our physical store. Kindly dispute the transaction because I can't refund from my side. I am so sorry but we will be restocking in one weeks time. You can check back in a weeks time.Sorry

A dispute will ensure you get all your cash back in your paypal.Thanks

login to your paypal the the transaction you made to me click it you will see details .click it you will see dispute this transaction.

say item not received

To do so:

Log in to your PayPal account. Go to the Resolution Center.Select the dispute you want to escalate, then click Escalate.Follow the instructions.Click Escalate to a claim.

Your previous message

Then why did you just ship the item?

ji_jile_gklkiwy:

did I ship it?? Sorry

Your previous message

I know you can refund, just do it. I don't want any trouble.

ji_jile_gklkiwy:

which trouble now. Just say you din't receive the item...Paypal will just escalate the case and have your money back in full. It is held on my side .

Do you want me to mark the item as not shipped or what

Jist remarked it as not shipped.Ain't here to scam you or something just that the item has already been sold

The seller didn't mark the item as not shipped.

I went to bed.

I call ebay this morning, ebay says the seller is right, I should do what the seller told me to.

Then ebay gives me the number of paypal, tells me that paypal has a better solution.

I call paypal, paypal tells me my money is protected. That they can't do anything since they can't prove the seller is a scam. 

What's the seller up to?

Clearly there is no Macbook and no physical store. There is no shipment. The seller won't get the money.

Why the hell is he doing this?

[cdbnt]

I am confused as to where the confusion is for eBay/Paypal in this case.  Don't they have your messages on file?  Isn't the story clear enough from that interaction?  I don't understand.  I think your gut instincts were right about this seller all along and buy appearing helpful in the beginning he was trying to distract an investigation from his plan.  But clearly, if you take the messages and the seller's intention at face value, it's clear the transaction was not wanted by either party.  Clase closed, no?  How do the rules interfere with this obvious fact?

[padi*0409]

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@cdbnt wrote:

I am confused as to where the confusion is for eBay/Paypal in this case.  Don't they have your messages on file? 

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If the dispute is raised with Paypal they are reluctant/unable to access eBay emails, the only way past that is to do a screen-shot of the emails and forward them to paypal.

[le-jac1]

That's why the seller guided me to open a dispute on PayPal in the first place.

I should have waited and open a dispute on eBay.

I called eBay and PayPal before I opened the dispute. They all suggested me to open a dispute on PayPal, I guess that's their standard procedure.

[le-jac1]

Here is the email from paypal:

Dear Bob,

We have concluded our investigation into your case and have decided in your
favor.

We were able to recover $xxx,xxx.xx AUD and this amount has been credited to
you.  Please allow five business days for this adjustment to be posted.

If you are due any additional funds, we will make our best effort to
recover the balance from the seller.


If the seller's account has insufficient funds to complete the refund owed
to you, please be assured that we will take appropriate action against the
seller's account, which may include limitation of the seller's account
privileges.

Thank you guys for the informative advice and kind help.

I'm still trying to put the pieces together and figure out what's the play here.

I'll let you know when/if I get the money back.  

[lyndal1838]

That is not a current ebay protection policy.   The refund amount does not rely on how much they can recover from the seller.   You are guaranteed to receive the full amount of the purchase price plus postage.

I have not seen that old policy quoted for many years.....it looks like paypal is digging back into the archives.

[le-jac1]

I've got the money back including the shipping fee. Thank you for your help.

[kopenhagen5]

Great result. 

Thanks for coming back to let us know. 

[michaelg38173]

Thats exatly what they do & most of the scammers have inside info so are most likely ebay employees or friends of paypal employees...

[springyzone]

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@michaelg38173 wrote:

Thats exatly what they do & most of the scammers have inside info so are most likely ebay employees or friends of paypal employees...

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I don't know that that is necessarily true.

You're right that there are a lot of scammers out there but probably there are as many scam buyers as there are sellers.

You don't have to be an ebay employee to read up on the terms & conditions & try to find dodgy ways around things.

Wherever there is money to be made or things to potentially steal, there you will find scammers.

I think ebay has tried to make it a safer selling place but I'd still avoid it for some items such as phones, IT products.