Recourse on Ebay....Success?

[blankpagez]

Really good advice. I too nearly lost my money. I was getting a pre-order for 4 Chalice of the Void from a seller that claim he was new to Ebay but has been selling stuff on www.cardshark.com for many years. I bought it and paid for it, a couple days later the guy I bought the cards from became unregistered after a day receiving my money.

It was such a hassle. I file a complain and a refund to PayPal and got back 13 cents. Can you imagine getting 13 cents back on a $16 dollar purchase. I got the sellers phone number and called numerous times but only got the answering machine. I  finally went to the seller in CardShark and talked to him. The excuse for the guy was that he thought he settle out all the purchases made on ebay and he gave me a really stupid reason for being unregistered on EBay.

That really scared me. From that purchase on, I hardly buy on EBay. I only use EBay for price referrences. By the way guys, Is there a way to check out on a website selling magic cards ?? Is there a way to check whether or not the site is legit and not just a fraud ??

[xaos]

While I don't have any personal experience with Ebay and PayPal, I have a few things to say about them nonetheless.  I was an avid longtime player of Ultima Online, and theres ALWAYS a million people buying and selling such-and-such in-game item.  People have been ripping folks off, or being ripped off themselves for at least the four years i spent playing the game.  Everyone in the UO community at one point or another had to deal with a scam, and every time someone would contact paypal over a sale gone sour, they'd pretty much get the same response, more or less:  "We've contacted the seller and they've said you just didn't want the item in the first place.  refunds are not possible."  Paypal has some SERIOUS customer service issues.

While this may be different in that theyre bidding on/receiving digital "items", and theres no real-world proof that anything occured, other than someones bank account is $50 lighter, it has shown at least me that PayPal just doesn't care enough about really protecting their customers.  Sure, theres instances where everything went smoothly, but for paypal to flat out say "sorry bub, you paid for it, buyer beware!" to even a few people with legitimate claims is retarded.

There may not be many options to securely transfer funds without paypal(at least through Ebay), I did always remember hearing about better customer service with BidPay.  Again, theres no personal experience in this one, but I thought the reply may contribute to the thread.

-xaos

[jazzykat]

SUCESS!
I got my money back. I wind up losing like 25 on the deal, but that is a lot better than 220. Thanks everyone for the help. I think that this thread has somehow turned into a useful resource for people that got screwed. There are tons of great tips as well. So I hope the mods leave it open for other's to enquire if they need to (Hopefully not.)

[DavidHernandez]

that's really good news.

what was the bottom line?  i mean, what happened?  did the seller refund you; did you go through PayPal or eBay insurance?

it might be helpful to everyone if you gave us a good account of what transpired.

thanks,
dave.

[jazzykat]

Well I do have to send the card back. Basically I filed a complaint vs. the seller via paypal. That kind of got things cracking on their end. They asked to talk to my dealer and to also get scans of their card to make sure that I received it and I wasn't being a scammer. Then they agreed to send me a money order. Once the money order arrived I canceled the complaint against them and am waiting to receive an address to ship it to.

My emails were always professional and courteous which I think helped demonstrate that I was a responsible individual that had a legitimate grievance, instead of a jerk that was trying to rip him off.

[DavidHernandez]

Awesome.  Sorry you lost $25, but like you said, better $25 than over $200.  And it does look like that seller had some integrity.

Dave.

[Sirena]

Larger established stores (Troll and Toad, StarCityGames, Wizard's Cupboard) are perfect for ordering online. They are not in the business of ripping you off.

[Tank]

true, but they cost around 40-50% more than things on ebay as well- I'd rather take the small risk and get my stuff several hundreds of dollars cheaper

[Attmore]

true, but they cost around 40-50% more than things on ebay as well- I'd rather take the small risk and get my stuff several hundreds of dollars cheaper

Not to mention avoiding the gaping asshole after Star City rapes you for cards.  Isn't that a felony?  I'm with you guys who avoid online card stores (mainly SCG) like the plague.  Support your local card dealers and don't be stupid on Ebay!!  *4L*

Happily disgruntled,

Brett Attmore