Internet buying gone wrong can take the right turn.

[Valv]

My situation:

Long story:

I sold a HTC cell phone on bayE 1.5 months ago. Buyer pays with Paypal and I ship to his country (Cyprus) with USPS Priority printed directly from Paypal site.

After 8 days I get a negative feedback for non receiving and my $ 300 gets reversed from Paypal account, buyer claims I didn't ship it since USPS tracking number ends when item leaves the USA.

After contacting USPS I find out that Priority Mail to some countries does not have tracking and even better NO INSURANCE. They do not advertise this at all on their site.

So I deem myself SOL, and take the loss mad as heck, even after Paypal tried to resolve.

Well yesterday out of the blue I decided to call TMobile (my phone provider) and ask a tech if they can find me the IMEI number of my phone before the time I sold it. THEY HAD IT !! No problem at all.

I contacted Paypal and bayE but was unsuccesful, until I posted on the largest forum for Android development about this and mentioned the buyer bayE ID. Also my buyer resold the phone to somebody else, I found out through looking at his past sales.

I was also going to file a police report tomorrow (monday) and have the IMEI added to the stolen phones blacklist, and file a claim with IC3.

Well, guess what ? The buyer contacted me today and tried to excuse himself with stupid excuses, then he said I was going to refund me if I retracted the accusations on the forum site.

I stated I will do it after I receive refund and my negative feedback on bayE removed.

He refunded the money so far, and is working on the feedback.

The guy is lucky, within few hours he would have found himself with international charges for theft and fraud since he resold what he toke from me. His buyer would have got a phone impossible to register and reported as stolen.

People, don't lose hope, the Internet can be grounds for few problems, but also apparently can be a powerful solutions to the same.

[CAMAN]

WOW! I just hope you DO NOT retract your accusations, and instead contact paypal and e bay with this information. This guy is a complete fraud and should be given everything he has coming to him. Glad it is working out for you so far.

[CJH]

Rule number one on Internet sales/transactions - Do not do business with people outside of the country. You have no legal standing. Most of these people will just start a new account if any of theirs gets shut down.

Glad you got you got your refund back!!!

[Northlander]

I wouldnt have done that Val. I would have made him pay the price. He knew what he was doing. Thats one reason a lot of people will not send out of the good old USA.

[Deep_Sinker]

WOW! I just hope you DO NOT retract your accusations, and instead contact paypal and e bay with this information. This guy is a complete fraud and should be given everything he has coming to him.

Agreed! I would even tell this jerk off he owes you $400 for being a pain. Once your money is back in your account let Paypal and bayE both know, send them all documented emails/conversations so they shut his account down. It probably will only slow him down, but the feedback column is important and he exploited the system on you. Give it to him.

[bobbymalone]

yep cash his check and tell him to suck it about the internet posts.

[Bigbartguy]

I wonder how many others he's scammed with the same scenario? Leave the feedback. He was going to steal $300 from you.

I agree, whenever I sell anything on that auction site, I put 'shipping to US only'. Not worth the custom forms/hassles to send overseas, let alone getting scammed..

ps- Great job on getting your money back. Was a 1 in 1000 chance at best. Most folks wouldve probably just eaten it

[Powerstroke]

I agree with bobby. Get your money back securely and then leave all the negative feedback out there for him you can. He is a scam artist of the highest level and will continue to do it.

[suncruiser234]

The only way I sell on c list is Cash In Hand! I hate to use my pay pal account anyway. Good job getting you money back!

[Basseyes]

Good for you!

A lot of people don't take the time to report stuff.

[Whoaru99]

Once a scammer always a scammer. Leaving the feedback may not stop him/her, but not leaving it just enables continued scamming, IMHO.