Just Got Ripped Off on eBay

[ko stradivarius]

Next step you may want to call the Police in his town. There is also an FBI Internet Fraud dept. Which this is a crime.

I won a bass on eBay a few years back. It was a Westone that I won for something like $110.T he seller had over 3600 sales and had a good rating - but, I dint look in detail at recent scores. I paid immediately. So a week goes by, 2 weeks. I email. 3 weeks email him. By that time I find out its too late to recover my money via PayPal. No responses to emails. Try Squared trade - nothing. 2 months nothing. Get his phone number and politely call him to remind him of the sale. Tells me to F off!!!! - nothing. So, I get a hold of the local police in some little town in Missouri where he lived. They assigned a Detective to the case. He went out to his house! His wife gave him some BS about him being in Florida. The Detective told her he would be back when he came back. So....the detective finally gets a hold of him and he agrees to ship. 1 month= nothing, 2months=nothing. So, I call the guy and tell him I dont care if he sold it, just refund my cash. He tells me to F off and that im harassing him for no reason! The whole time i have been polite and pleasant to the guy (2 calls). So, I finally have had it. The Detective sends me the paperwork to press charges. I fill out send in to go back to the district attorney. He tells the Detective he shipped it out (lie). So, I call the guy one last time to get a tracking # for proof. He goes ballistic tells me to go to hell and he wasnt going to give me the tracking # because i didnt pay the 6 cents for it?!?!?! (since when do you have to pay for tracking #s) Low an behold 3 days later it shows up!!!!! 6 MONTHS LATER!!!! As described. So, they dropped the charges. End result - he has been banned for life from eBay (a whole other story dealing with ebay). Im not sure what happened with him as he was a big power seller, but in the previous 3 months he started pulling this on others. They all just gave up and lost their cash! I got a hold of all the other people he ripped and they all contacted the detective an moved forward with their cases.

So, be persistent and cool about it and dont give up. You will be right in the end.

Just curious what town it was in Missouri. If it's near St. Louis I'd like to know in case I run across this clown.

 

[Stumbo]

IME, I ask for detailed, macro/close up pictures of each part of the instrument be sent directly to me prior to a purchase. If I don't get them, I pass.

 

[D Bopp]

Ok, last update. I finally received the $600 refund. The seller never responded to me or Paypal, so Paypal sent the $600 that I said would be sufficient for a refund. So case closed. Hope this thread at least helps a few people in future purchases!

 

[mr.mow]

I'm sorry.. I'm laughing here..

2 minutes of basic research would have told you just from the look of it its a MIJ 51 PBass..

Just a quick glance at the bass from the tiny low res thumbnail tells me its a MIJ 51 PBass..

c'mon guys, you just hand out $1200 for a bass without doing ANY research?

 

[D Bopp]

I'm sorry.. I'm laughing here..

2 minutes of basic research would have told you just from the look of it its a MIJ 51 PBass..

Just a quick glance at the bass from the tiny low res thumbnail tells me its a MIJ 51 PBass..

c'mon guys, you just hand out $1200 for a bass without doing ANY research?

I hope to be as smart as you one day.

 

[mr.mow]

I hope to be as smart as you one day.

C'mon, just saying.. its $1200 man.. surely everyone does some basic research on an item before dropping that sort of money.. ESPECIALLY when it falls into the too good to be true category..

 

[chalie]

It is nice to learn that the correct thing is working with PayPal, congradulation to you and thanks to Paypal too.

 

[sirdugh]

I'm sorry.. I'm laughing here..

2 minutes of basic research would have told you just from the look of it its a MIJ 51 PBass..

Just a quick glance at the bass from the tiny low res thumbnail tells me its a MIJ 51 PBass..

c'mon guys, you just hand out $1200 for a bass without doing ANY research?

I'll never understand what drives some people to be so mean spirited. What could anyone possibly gain from a post like that?

I subscribed to this thread as I was genuinely interested in the outcome and was very glad to see that it all worked out.

Congratulations to you for never having made an ill-advised move in your life.

 

[mr.mow]

I'll never understand what drives some people to be so mean spirited. What could anyone possibly gain from a post like that?

I subscribed to this thread as I was genuinely interested in the outcome and was very glad to see that it all worked out.

Congratulations to you for never having made an ill-advised move in your life.

The deal was too good to be true.. rather than taking a couple of minutes to verify what it really was (ie.. be a responsible, accountable adult) he got excited and jumped all over it..

The colour alone is a huge warning sign.. The pickguard is a second one.. taking 30 seconds to ask the serial number.. seriously the list goes on.. In this day and age of internet resources there are very few excuses.

He gambled with his $1200 without any suggestion of due diligence.. he was LUCKY he got a refund..

The seller may have entirely been unknowing of what he was selling.. either way I squarely put the blame on the BUYER.

Hell, yesterday I tagged a killer deal on a bass, was it too good to be true..? Possibly.. But.. I did all the research I could, when I had exhausted all possibilities I weighed up the gamble.. I'm 75% sure I'm going to get what I paid for and the seller is legit, but in the end I've done everything I can to ensure its legit..

If its not I wont be here whining about it, I took the chance, I made the gamble..

Oh, that research took all of 15 mins by the way.

 

[bassbrock]

Oh, that research took all of 15 mins by the way.

A good deal can be gone in 15 mins. Fortunately for you, the bass was still available and you were able to gamble your money ;-)

 

[Kink Rimson]

gambled[/B] with his $1200 without any suggestion of due diligence.. he was LUCKY he got a refund..

So, you're saying he deserved to be ripped off? I'm sure you're not but that is how you are coming across.

 

[NortyFiner]

I have my own eBay bass story. I bought my non-export Fender Aerodyne on eBay for $400. The prior owner had put SD Quarter Pounders in it, and stated that he had changed the controls to vol-blend-tone. What he didn't mention was that he totally bollixed the wiring, so it was noisy and the controls didn't work as advertised. When I opened it up for diagnosis, it was a total rat's nest under the pickguard. Fortunately, my local GC has a good tech; for only $65, he got the electronic mess straightened out, returned the controls to vol-vol-tone, did a shielding job and threw in a free setup. Now I have a great bass, so it worked out for me in the end, but still, yeah, gotta be careful spending big bucks on eBay...

 

[D Bopp]

The deal was too good to be true.. rather than taking a couple of minutes to verify what it really was (ie.. be a responsible, accountable adult) he got excited and jumped all over it..

The colour alone is a huge warning sign.. The pickguard is a second one.. taking 30 seconds to ask the serial number.. seriously the list goes on.. In this day and age of internet resources there are very few excuses.

He gambled with his $1200 without any suggestion of due diligence.. he was LUCKY he got a refund..

The seller may have entirely been unknowing of what he was selling.. either way I squarely put the blame on the BUYER.

Hell, yesterday I tagged a killer deal on a bass, was it too good to be true..? Possibly.. But.. I did all the research I could, when I had exhausted all possibilities I weighed up the gamble.. I'm 75% sure I'm going to get what I paid for and the seller is legit, but in the end I've done everything I can to ensure its legit..

If its not I wont be here whining about it, I took the chance, I made the gamble..

Oh, that research took all of 15 mins by the way.

I knew I was covered with the money. That wasn't my problem. I was never scared I wouldn't get the money back. I was more surprised with the seller than anything, having 100 positive feedback and selling a few different bass things.
As much as I do not like Paypal, they are helpful from time to time. Now if the guy had a BIN of $1200 with payment by bank wire transfer only, then I would have not done the deal. But it's always easy to say what you would have done after the fact.
Again, this is what TB is good for. If you screw up with something, you can share it with other people, and hopefully they will give you an unbiased opinion. So if you think I'm an idiot for what I did, then that's cool. But I have gotten many great deals by keeping up with the newly listed items on eBay. This one just didn't work out.

 

[Paniconthenet]

just out of pure curiosity, where is the CIJ sticker at? Do you have pictures of it at all? Im interested in seeing the placement of stickers, since there seems to be alot of people down south, mainly near Miami passing off fakes. thanks!

 

[Paniconthenet]

nevermind, i see it now after looking through your posts to find it in classifieds. interesting. thanks!

 

[markseb1]

The seller may have entirely been unknowing of what he was selling.. either way I squarely put the blame on the BUYER.

This is one reason why Ebay is going down hill. Too many people with the attitude that you deserve to get ripped off if you believe what the seller has stated. There are times when you don't have time to fully research an item or to get a response to questions before the auction ends. I too have been ripped off by sellers who stretch the truth or just outright lie about an items condition. A picture may be worth a 1000 words but some of those words can be lies. I have learned to pass many an item by because I don't have enough time to ask the right questions. As a seller you should be willing to stand up and take responsibility for your actions, even if you had no intention to defraud someone.

 

[lonote]

Hell, yesterday I tagged a killer deal on a bass, was it too good to be true..? Possibly.. But.. I did all the research I could, when I had exhausted all possibilities I weighed up the gamble.. I'm 75% sure I'm going to get what I paid for and the seller is legit, but in the end I've done everything I can to ensure its legit..

If its not I wont be here whining about it, I took the chance, I made the gamble..

Oh, that research took all of 15 mins by the way.

Well, if you get screwed on the deal don't bother posting about it on TB.

 

[El Tookay]

Gambling on gear on Ebay is part of the whole deal. Screw-jobs, either intentional or not, are what the resolution process are for. This guy didn't bother mentioning the MIJ decal on the back, but sure got a sweet shot of the Custom Shop decal- which is too small, BTW- in an attempt to 'bait' potential buyers. As for knowing/ researching/ doing one's homework on an item, the majority of information most of us gather is from the internet, and the first stop is- yep, you guessed it- Ebay!

Now, looking at the pic's, sure, I can immediately tell by the color thats a MIJ bass, but that is from experience and about 30 years of focusing strictly on basses. I couldn't tell a Chinese knock-off Les Paul from the real deal because I don't have a vast expertise in Les Pauls. You can know a lot of thing about a lot of things, but you can't know everything. So, if I get my info from Ebay, and from an incorrect source, that only means the information I am getting is 'corrupted'. The point is don't rely on Ebay to provide accurate information, go to other sources, such as on-line forums or books.

As for the gamble part of Ebay, that goes with the territory, sometimes you win, sometimes not so much. I've bought and sold lots of gear on Ebay- in fact, my #1 gigging/ recording bass, a G&L L-2000 was sold to me by Daniel in 2007. I took the gamble, and man oh man did that pay off! Other basses that have come in, some have stayed, others, gone. That's the gamble, and as long as you have reliable information and don't over-commit money (if I buy it for $600, can I sell it out for the same?), you can buy, sell and trade until you find "The One/ s".

 

[D Bopp]

Gambling on gear on Ebay is part of the whole deal. Screw-jobs, either intentional or not, are what the resolution process are for. This guy didn't bother mentioning the MIJ decal on the back, but sure got a sweet shot of the Custom Shop decal- which is too small, BTW- in an attempt to 'bait' potential buyers. As for knowing/ researching/ doing one's homework on an item, the majority of information most of us gather is from the internet, and the first stop is- yep, you guessed it- Ebay!

Now, looking at the pic's, sure, I can immediately tell by the color thats a MIJ bass, but that is from experience and about 30 years of focusing strictly on basses. I couldn't tell a Chinese knock-off Les Paul from the real deal because I don't have a vast expertise in Les Pauls. You can know a lot of thing about a lot of things, but you can't know everything. So, if I get my info from Ebay, and from an incorrect source, that only means the information I am getting is 'corrupted'. The point is don't rely on Ebay to provide accurate information, go to other sources, such as on-line forums or books.

As for the gamble part of Ebay, that goes with the territory, sometimes you win, sometimes not so much. I've bought and sold lots of gear on Ebay- in fact, my #1 gigging/ recording bass, a G&L L-2000 was sold to me by Daniel in 2007. I took the gamble, and man oh man did that pay off! Other basses that have come in, some have stayed, others, gone. That's the gamble, and as long as you have reliable information and don't over-commit money (if I buy it for $600, can I sell it out for the same?), you can buy, sell and trade until you find "The One/ s".

Ha, that's funny that you remember me selling the GL to ya. Glad you like it.
Actually, the custom shop logo is the same size on the 51 and 55 Fenders. It's smaller than the one on my 64 Jazz relic. So that didn't throw me off.

 

[lucas vigor]

Man, this thread is ridiculous! How anyone can find fault with D-bopp on ANY of this is just INSANE!

EBAY is something I will always avoid. My wife got an ebay bug awhile back and started bidding on and recieving stuff. The fact that out of 10 items she purchased, three were total fakes made me convince her never to do it again. Let's see, we got a bottle of men's cologne that turned out to be mostly water for 65 dollars, and two Juicy couture purses that had fake labels attached.

It's something that happens far to often on ebay for my liking. Guess that's why they call it "Evil bay".

Forget it. I'll pass on it. If I am buying used gear, I will either go through someone on this site or use the more established retailers like bass central.