eBay Scammer valvamp1955

[argyle]

Please do not buy from or sell to the eBay member valvamp1955. He bought a 100% serviceable amp from me, proceeded to do the following:-
1. Receive then OPEN the amp for no apparent reason.
2. Report that an internal fuse had blown then tell me that it seems to have not affected the serviceability of the amp.
3. Wait four days then tell me that the headphone jack was only working in one channel, and wanted a refund. He even said he'd bought it primarily for headphone use(!).

Then begins a nightmare that I'm still trying to unravel. eBay told me to accept the return, not to refund but to report the amp as not received as sent. As it was obvious he had been in the amp without good reason they would rule in my favour.

I accepted the amp back (at my expense) and sent a declaration to the effect that the amp had arrived back to me not 100% serviceable as it had left. Bang; eBay rule in his favour. The funds had been put on hold rightly while the case was open to protect both of us, but as he had 'won' the case he had them refunded to him.

Here's the twist; I received an email to tell me that I had to reimburse eBay the full amount or lose my privileges AND have a collection agency deal with the case. Bear in mind my PayPal transaction says 'refunded'. I speak to eBay and they say as PayPal took charges, there wasn't enough (I guess shy by £7.95, the charge on the payment) to refund the buyer. Holy ships, I'm starting to get extremely stressed with this. It appears from eBay's advice, I need to pay another 'full amount' in the hundreds to take the amount off hold in PayPal.

So, without talking to PayPal yet, it appears that I need to deposit another £227.95 to release the first £227.95 to reimburse eBay. Explain that.

One of the morals of the story though, is do not get into any business dealings with valvamp1955 because if he doesn't fancy what he has bought, he will screw you over royally.

[Primalsea]

Did ebay advise you to accept the return in writing?

If so can you post exactly what they put in writing to you as we may be able to help a little.

I dont like ebay anyomre for high value selling or purchases unless cash is going to be paid.

[argyle]

No, they advised on a phone call. I did get a transcript number.
I'm just gutted that I have an amp that needs looking at (thanks to Colin in advance!) and what could be a big bill...if eBay/PayPal can't get their acts together.

I'll ring PayPal tomorrow but it doesn't change the fact that this guy is a chancer who beat the system! And me!!!

[Minstrel SE]

Im afraid argyle that is a harsh lesson in distance selling which everyone should take heed of. However I am a bit shocked if it has been ruled against you when you have stated your case.

Going in to the casing is a no no as it either works when the buyer gets it or it doesnt. If the buyer has a complaint they certainly shouldnt be tampering with things themselves. It removes the lines of reference as to what the buyer might have done. I dont know all the details of the amp or transaction but it is the risk of distance selling on ebay

I hope it arrived back in reasonable condition and would have thought you had a case based on tampering.

The problem with distance selling is that it removes a lot of the natural vetting process. Ive had some people I didnt like arrive at my home to collect things of low value but it allowed me to cover all bases and demo anything I though they might give me later hassle with. The stuff I generally sell is not the end of the world if the transaction goes wrong .The problems come sooner or later...not too many to be fair but there are some real nutters and fraudsters out there.

I wouldnt deposit any more money...ebay will refund the buyer then they will have to claim the money from you. I would fight your corner though and tell them you are far from happy

[argyle]

Hello Martin - I won't be selling on eBay again. This is all too stressful. I'll speak to PayPal today which should give me some answers.

[mikeyb]

This is the reason I haven't sold on eBay for about 10 years, too many assholes and scammers abusing the system.

[prestonchipfryer]

This is the reason I haven't sold on eBay for about 10 years, too many assholes and scammers abusing the system.

+1

[argyle]

Yep, never again!

[The Black Adder]

Please do not buy from or sell to the eBay member valvamp1955. He bought a 100% serviceable amp from me, proceeded to do the following:-
1. Receive then OPEN the amp for no apparent reason.
2. Report that an internal fuse had blown then tell me that it seems to have not affected the serviceability of the amp.
3. Wait four days then tell me that the headphone jack was only working in one channel, and wanted a refund. He even said he'd bought it primarily for headphone use(!).

Then begins a nightmare that I'm still trying to unravel. eBay told me to accept the return, not to refund but to report the amp as not received as sent. As it was obvious he had been in the amp without good reason they would rule in my favour.

I accepted the amp back (at my expense) and sent a declaration to the effect that the amp had arrived back to me not 100% serviceable as it had left. Bang; eBay rule in his favour. The funds had been put on hold rightly while the case was open to protect both of us, but as he had 'won' the case he had them refunded to him.

Here's the twist; I received an email to tell me that I had to reimburse eBay the full amount or lose my privileges AND have a collection agency deal with the case. Bear in mind my PayPal transaction says 'refunded'. I speak to eBay and they say as PayPal took charges, there wasn't enough (I guess shy by £7.95, the charge on the payment) to refund the buyer. Holy ships, I'm starting to get extremely stressed with this. It appears from eBay's advice, I need to pay another 'full amount' in the hundreds to take the amount off hold in PayPal.

So, without talking to PayPal yet, it appears that I need to deposit another £227.95 to release the first £227.95 to reimburse eBay. Explain that.

One of the morals of the story though, is do not get into any business dealings with valvamp1955 because if he doesn't fancy what he has bought, he will screw you over royally.

Okay... I've been through something very similar.

But in this is the case. Ebay can and will overrule Paypal even though the transaction was through paypal. Ebay's representatives are completely useless and Paypal's reps are simply getting told by ebay, it seems they have no authority.

In my case, the buyer opened a case without even trying to communicate first. He verbally abused me and threatened me with other courses of actions which really upset me.

I called Ebay them 14 TIMES... (no exaggeration) and Paypal a similar amount of times... Both said that in my case they would rule in my favor because I had put in my sale page, "untested, and no returns accepted", even on my sellers options I selected 'no returns accepted'.

2 weeks later I had an email saying that ebay had ruled in the other parties favor. I was bloody furious... I called ebay but they were like a stuck robot... nothing they can do, the decision is made. Reason being because THEY advised me to accept the return to which I accepted and did. They then told me that because I had accepted the return I had to refund because of the buyers protection... ??? Completely bonkers because that opens ebay up to fraudsters. What about seller protection you may ask?... In my case, there wasn't any.

I went ballistic... The buyer then placed negative feedback on my account which was the last straw.

I then wrote a 4 page epic of what happened to Ebay in Ireland... After a week they got back to me with a full apology, a waived refund request and the negative feedback removed.

They said something had gone very wrong and they would be training their reps about this case.

So I suggest you get typing stating the situation with dates and any correspondence.

Hope it all works out for you.

[argyle]

Josie, that's exactly what eBay did to me. Told me to accept the refund then just refund the other guy because I've got my amp back.

Thanks for the advice - I'll probably write to them tonight.