We were robbed of $1.4K, and Ebay appears to be aiding and abetting the scam
By Jen Furer
On September 17, we auctioned my son’s Canon camera lens on eBay. I listed it in Ebay’s Cameras & Photo category with a starting bid price of $550, and $650 Buy it Now price plus $15 shipping.
On September 30, I received a notification from PayPal that I received a confirmed payment of $665 from one ‘Dawn M’ and that I should promptly ship the merchandise. Also on the same day, Dawn communicated to me through Ebay’s email system where to ship the lens that she had purchased for her daughter. The address is different from the address Dawn has on her PayPal account. And apparently, here lies the crux of the crime.
On October 2, I mailed the lens to Dawn’s other address through USPS Priority Mail, and also provided the Insurance and Tracking Number. A few days later, the buyer, left me an A++ and positive feedback and thanked me for the lens.
A month later after the buyer was writing profuse praise for me for being a great seller, I got a notification of a chargeback from PayPal: I was told I have a negative balance of $685 and that the amount would be charged against my bank account.
My world appeared to collapse. How did that happen? How can an apparently perfect transaction end up with me being hit for almost $700? I end up having no lens and short of $1.4 in my bank? (The cost of the lens comes with multiple transaction fees from both PayPal and Ebay, cuts from both, in all amounting to $1.4K).
I made frantic calls to Ebay, PayPal and even initiated contact with Dawn M. I was given the runaround and some vague answers seeming to imply I should not have shipped to another, unauthorized address. But Ebay does not aggressively warn sellers in big, bold letters NOT to ship merchandise to an address not recorded in the buyer’s PayPal account.
I may not be a consumer advocate but neither am I the type to take these things lightly. The idea that Dawn may probably have already sold the camera she “stole” from me, and that Ebay is allowing such type of fraud to happen made me even more livid. I was robbed, plain and simple, and Ebay is providing a platform to facilitate the crime. It is not supporting their honest customers.
If you visit the Ebay Community webpage, there is a long thread in there with posts from many people who have been similarly scammed. Please share this link so that people can learn about these scams and how Ebay doesn’t do anything to help the victims.
I have filed a case with the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office and the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center. I will not stop until Ebay reversed the charges or changed its policy.
Together, we can get the word out and stand up against Internet retailers that do not protect legitimate customers.
