How are you protecting buyers from fraud and unsafe business practices

[podirsky123]

I have contacted ebay about this and have not heard back....A business put there email address and ph on the selling item and is selling these items aroud $7000 to $2000...I have contacted him outside ebay and handed over $4000 deposit and the business didnt give me a reciept and I have seen no part of my product...Is he doing the same with ebay buyer?? Is he a real business? are people getting upset? is he really selling this item? 

[collect247]

There's your biggest mistake you contacted them outside of ebay which is not permitted so the seller may in fact have been suspended for trading off ebay in ebay's eyes?

[enigmabear]

Ebay do not read here, just buyers and sellers like you

If you did a deal outside ebay, they will not help

I have no idea who this person is or why anyone would give them that amount of money without checking them out , regradless of where they put their phone number

Was this an Australian business? 

Did you use paypal?

Have you contacted Paypal (if used)  ACORN or Fair Trading?

Because there are scammers in this world, people need to take steps in order to protect (or try to protect) themselves against them

[k1ooo-slr-sales]

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@podirsky123 wrote:

I have contacted ebay about this and have not heard back....A business put there email address and ph on the selling item and is selling these items aroud $7000 to $2000...I have contacted him outside ebay and handed over $4000 deposit and the business didnt give me a reciept and I have seen no part of my product...Is he doing the same with ebay buyer?? Is he a real business? are people getting upset? is he really selling this item? 

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your mistake was to forfeit the buyer protections offered by eBay and PayPal by dealing off-eBay.  eBay put notices at the bottom of emails, messages and bidding pages warning of the pitfalls of dealing off-eBay.

How are you protecting buyers from fraud and unsafe business practices

eBay are protecting buyers (at the expense of sellers) by offering what amounts to no-questions-asked returns through the Money Back Guarantee (MBG).  Buyers have 32 days from the last estimated date of delivery to make a claim and in most cases are able to win a MBG claim and not have to pay for return postage.

PayPal has a long history of buyer protections.  It used to be 45 days but was extended to 180 days some years back.  If a buyer follows PayPal policy they are covered against Items Not Received (INR) or Significantly Not As Described (SNAD).

eBay have listing policy that prohibits sellers from providing contact information to potential buyers which would enable an off-eBay transaction to take place.  If you see a listing that breaches this policy you can report it through the Report link.

However, regardless of all the protections that are provided, there are still members who will chase a lower price and forfeit these protections.  eBay can not be held responsible for people’s greed or stupidity.

As for the seller you bought from (outside of eBay), eBay provide a feedback system that lets buyers rate their experiences with the seller.  This too affords buyers some protection as they do can view feedback before buying.

[k1ooo-slr-sales]

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@podirsky123 wrote:

I have contacted ebay about this and have not heard back....A business put there email address and ph on the selling item and is selling these items aroud $7000 to $2000...I have contacted him outside ebay and handed over $4000 deposit and the business didnt give me a reciept and I have seen no part of my product...Is he doing the same with ebay buyer?? Is he a real business? are people getting upset? is he really selling this item? 

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I have contacted ebay about this and have not heard back....

Hopefully you did not contact eBay to try to get your money refunded by eBay because you got the phone number from the listing.

The only action eBay can take is to get the seller to remove their contact details from their listings.  However, I think one of the Store packages used to allow sellers to have contact details in their store details or listings (would need someone else to confirm this though).

As for these questions:

Is he doing the same with ebay buyer??

Is he a real business?

are people getting upset?

is he really selling this item? 

Buyers have the responsibility to do this research through checking feedback, only dealing on eBay, checking business credentials, and paying by a method that provides protections.  For non-eBay transactions credit card payments may provide some protection through bank chargebacks.

I can give you plenty of two word pieces of advice that will guard you in future:

- buyer beware

- use PayPal

- be vigilant

- due diligence

- trust nobody

- ask questions

- check feedback

- Fair Trading (if dealing with a registered business)

Some three word pieces of advice include:

- inspect before paying

- pay by creditcard

- buy on eBay

- price isn’t everything

- demand a receipt

- Small Claims Tribunal

I could go on further, but you should get the message from what I, and others, have posted.

[gutterpunkz05]

Absolutely nothing to do with ebay.  You did the deal outside of ebay and therefore forfieted all protection.

[performance_parts_clearance_centre]

This isn't going to end well...

[springyzone]

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@podirsky123 wrote:

I have contacted ebay about this and have not heard back....A business put there email address and ph on the selling item and is selling these items aroud $7000 to $2000...I have contacted him outside ebay and handed over $4000 deposit and the business didnt give me a reciept and I have seen no part of my product...Is he doing the same with ebay buyer?? Is he a real business? are people getting upset? is he really selling this item? 

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From what you have said, it doesn't sound to me as if ebay has anything to do with the deal.

You came to a private arrangement with the seller.

The fact you have not received your item is not an ebay concern. You never bought it through ebay, you never paid a deposit via paypal. I'm afraid you're on your own as far as sorting it out goes.

You ask if he is doing the same with ebay buyers. Probably not, because he couldn't get away with it, or not if he was trying to make a profit. But.. if he tries-if he takes their paypal payment then never sends anything, then the buyers can contact ebay or paypal & get their money back. It will come out of the seller's paypal account.

That's why it is safer to buy through ebay. Just because a person sells on ebay it isn't any guarantee they are honest. Most are, but some would not be if they did not have the ebay checks & balances there.

How did you pay the deposit? Was it by bank credit card? Maybe you can go into the bank & see what can be done.

[go-tazz]

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@podirsky123 wrote:

I have contacted ebay about this and have not heard back....A business put there email address and ph on the selling item and is selling these items aroud $7000 to $2000...I have contacted him outside ebay and handed over $4000 deposit and the business didnt give me a reciept and I have seen no part of my product...Is he doing the same with ebay buyer?? Is he a real business? are people getting upset? is he really selling this item? 

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Item number please as it sound like a scam.

[go-tazz]

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@podirsky123 wrote:

I have contacted ebay about this and have not heard back....A business put there email address and ph on the selling item and is selling these items aroud $7000 to $2000...I have contacted him outside ebay and handed over $4000 deposit and the business didnt give me a reciept and I have seen no part of my product...Is he doing the same with ebay buyer?? Is he a real business? are people getting upset? is he really selling this item? 

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This is a scammer tactic that has been used for years and they still use it as gullible buyers like yourself get

taken in by unrealistic prices.

It's against eBay policy to have their Email address and/or phone number in a listing for that reason,(more then

likely the Email and phone number will be as a Jpeg photo so the bots don't flag it).

Why would anyone hand over/give anyone $4000 with no security and so have no way to recover the money if

things go pear shaped?

Maybe put in a report with Acorn,(the online cybercrime reporing agency: https://www.acorn.gov.au/