Topic: Smelling kind of fishy, might be scammed

[Bailgang]

So about this time a couple of weeks ago I put up a set of Mikuni VM 33a smoothbores up on ebay and the winning bidder got them for $270 not including shipping. I then get a message from him saying he just found out he won the carbs but was on an emergency flight to see his daughter who was hospitalized, the unplanned flight put a strain on his credit card so he asked if I would let him wait till the next Thursday (which will be tomorrow) to pay for them. Maybe I'm a sucker for trusting my fellow human being so I figured I'd give him the benefit of the doubt and wait till tomorrow for payment. Well now I get a message from him asking if I would split the invoice so he can pay it with 2 credit cards. I again had no problem about this at first until I looked into the matter and found out ebay wouldn't let me do it and paypal said I'd loose all sellers protection if I did. I let the buyer know this and said no I wouldn't split the invoice. If the buyer is legit but 1 credit card won't let him make the 1 payment I told him that he could always purchase an ebay gift card with 1 credit card then use that gift card plus his 2nd credit card to make the full payment. I also told him that if his budget was a bit too tight at the moment then all he has to do is let me know and I'll just relist the carbs. No reply from him yet but we'll see where this goes.

[spotty]

smells fishier than the back of a toilet door on an all female crewed prawn trawler

[Bailgang]

I got a reply, he say's he'll handle it by Friday and that he really needs the carbs. All I know these carbs wont leave until all is clear with paypal and no split invoices allowed.

[spotty]

yep, the carbs don't leave until you're drinking a beer bought with the proceeds

[ken65]

Sometimes these things happen. Once I made a purchase on ebay and after no correspondence from seller after a fortnight
I started to think I was scammed. Turned out the poor fella died and he's son let me know and posted the goods.
I even tracked down the obituary cause at first I thought it was a bit fishy.

[Bailgang]

Sometimes these things happen. Once I made a purchase on ebay and after no correspondence from seller after a fortnight
I started to think I was scammed. Turned out the poor fella died and he's son let me know and posted the goods.
I even tracked down the obituary cause at first I thought it was a bit fishy.

That's precisely why I'm giving the buyer the benefit of the doubt and not pushing the issue, ebay on the other hand is getting antsy about it though. When he first asked to wait a week for payment, that was actually a good thing for me because I got nailed with unexpected OT at work and was stressing about how soon I could get the package in the mail soon if he had paid immediately. The split invoice request did however send up a red flag which is why I'm insisting on a single payment and it's up to him to figure that out.

[Duke McDukiedook]

The two cards thing sounds a bit much.

[dave500]

yep, the carbs don't leave until you're drinking a beer bought with the proceeds

if ya got four cans of beer do ya gotta synchronise them?

[Bailgang]

Well the buyer paid today however ebay has requested paypal to put a hold on the funds. That alarmed me but I looked into it and it turns out that's normal policy for ebay for new sellers or in my case it's been a while since I've actually sold something on ebay so it's kind of a buyer protection thing

[Bailgang]

Well according to ebay if you're a new seller or one that hasn't sold anything in a while then it's their policy to put the payment you received on hold for up to 21 days, this is to make sure the buyer is happy and to help resolving disputes easier for them. Obviously they never read my listing because I was accepting returns and would pay for the return shipping as well so long as the carbs were back in my possession and in my hands. They said I could have the money sooner if I supplied shipping info such as a tracking number and got a positive feedback from the buyer. Well I did supply a tracking number and the buyer got them today with a positive feedback saying the carbs were perfect. OK fine but why was is paypal still holding the funds? So I call up ebay and explained the situation (I was polite about it too) the customer service rep looked into it to confirm that the carbs had been shipped and that I got positive feedback from the buyer and went ahead and manually released the funds ...... however I still have to wait another 24 hours for that to show up on paypal. The buyer seems pleased with the carbs and I'll be happy once paypal releases the payment so it's all good.

[ken65]

That sux. I'm glad the sale went ok for you and the buyer in the end.