metaljesus Posted August 10, 2009 Report Share Posted August 10, 2009 Hi folks, I've been buying and selling on ebay for about 10 years and have bought 1 gen watch on there (a diamond monaco which I re-sold for profit). I was just wondering if anyone had experiences buying gens on ebay, which turned out to be fake, and if paypal resolved the matter properly? I often see watches at great prices being sold by some pretty suspect looking sellers and so don Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fcaap_dan Posted August 10, 2009 Report Share Posted August 10, 2009 When asking "Will Paypal Screw Me?" the answer is always yes. In this situation Paypal will pull the "we only protect buyers that the product gets delivered" card. I once ordered a few hundred dollars in material for my business. When it arrived it was blue and not white. The guy wouldn't give me a refund and I tried to go through paypal and they wouldn't help me. They only protect me to make sure it ships and I received it. Not what color it was and not for being scammed since it was clearly called white even though it was baby blue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metaljesus Posted August 10, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 10, 2009 Thanks for the reply Dan. I once bought a pair of boots on ebay which were decribed as 'good' condition. When they arrived they had a hole in the sole big enough for me to put my finger through. After the seller said 'shut up cowboy cant change mind now' I opened a dispute and got my money back... So i guess it varies. I'm wondering if people have specific experiences in regards to gen/rep watches. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drulee Posted August 10, 2009 Report Share Posted August 10, 2009 PayPal may not protect you, but your credit card company should. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trailboss Posted August 10, 2009 Report Share Posted August 10, 2009 Pay Pal will take you out the back and bend you over the hitching rail given half a chance. The only time you will get any joy from PayPal is if it is an escrow deal (do the bay even still offer that?) and even then it's a big maybe. Col. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raijor Posted August 10, 2009 Report Share Posted August 10, 2009 You can win a Paypal dispute and still not get your money back. Seller transfers money to his/her bank account and then removes it from the bank. Paypal can do nothing to get that money back. They will only close that seller's PayPal account until he makes good. So what. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gavidoc Posted August 10, 2009 Report Share Posted August 10, 2009 There are many factors that will affect whether or not you get any sort of refund from paypal. 1. If purchased through ebay, if there is "buyer's protection" tied to the auction.2 2. You follow Paypal's form for further information 3. There are funds in the seller's account to get you the money back. I have had to file disputes through Paypal a total of 3 times. All 3 were for non-functioning or fake product. The first time, paypal found in my favor and I was able to get all the funds back. The second time, paypal found in my favor but no funds were awarded as the seller had emptied his account. I contacted my credit card and they did a charge back against paypal for the funds. I was put on notice via paypal for 6 months IIRC. The third time was just concluded. I purchased a movement and a tudor dial. They arrived and the movement was not functioning and the dial was a fake. Requested a refund per the seller's auctions with no success and opened a dispute. Followed all of Paypal's requests and 3 weeks later, I had been given a full refund. Below is an excerpt from the email they sent me with my refund and the bold was added by me: We were able to recover 140.99 B P and this amount has been credited to you.......If you are due any additional funds, we will make our best effort to recover the balance from the seller. If the seller's account has insufficient funds to complete the refund owned to you, please be assured that we will take appropriate action against the seller's account, which may include limitation of the seller's account privileges. So, it's a crap shoot if you'll get all yoru money back. I was lucky as the total amount was 140.00 GBP. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest techlogik Posted August 10, 2009 Report Share Posted August 10, 2009 This is why I pay using a CC with paypal..you have another option and company to go to for help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member X Posted August 10, 2009 Report Share Posted August 10, 2009 Yet, strangely, once you add a bank account to your paypal account, it resets back to that every time you want to purchase something - it's almost like they just want your money with no hassle... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronin Posted August 10, 2009 Report Share Posted August 10, 2009 PayPal unfortunately might as well be part of the evil empire. Good luck. I had one eBay PP dispute, non-delivered good. Long story short, I only got a partial refund based on what was sitting in the guys PP account. I have never seen the balance owed to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnG Posted August 10, 2009 Report Share Posted August 10, 2009 If you use your CC you should be pretty well protected but if the seller is not reputable, why risk it? It is still a lot of hassle and there are a LOT of scammers on the Bay. The closing price usually does a good job of reflecting the risk - savy buyers and the risk averse stay away, the price is lower, but the risk it higher. So the prices are not really "good" - they are what they SHOULD be given the level of uncertainty associated with the sale. As they say, "you can't beat the market" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KB Posted August 10, 2009 Report Share Posted August 10, 2009 I can tell you that you have a far better chance of getting your funds back as a buyer than a seller has of winning, I know as I got screwed royally by a scammer through Paypal. Ken Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metaljesus Posted August 11, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 11, 2009 John, while in principle I agree with your theory I dont think is acurate in practice. A couple of months ago I bought a 39 diamond Monaco on ebay. It didnt get a single other bid (and I put my bid in with 2 seconds to go), this was because the seller was fairly new and had written a terrible listing. People didnt trust him. Within 3 months I'd sold it for more than twice what I paid, through watchfinder.co.uk. I paid with my CC through paypal, it was being shipped within the UK with full tracking, signature and insurance so felt like I had a decent ammount of protection. As I knew the watch was worth more than double what I was paying, the risk was more than worth it. The risk of getting scammed wasnt above 50% (IMO), so basically, 'the market' was completely wrong Now im not trying to boast or say I know better than others. I'm just saying I think there are times where the profit out-weighs the risk. Which is why I'd really like to hear more stories about specific experiences. 'Paypal sucks they will scam you' is good and all, but lets hear the story that gave people that attitude and maybe how it could be avoided, if at all? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Carl Posted August 12, 2009 Report Share Posted August 12, 2009 IMHO based on many years of PayPal experience and ten years on e-bay I have found that there is only ONE credit card company which take them on and protects you as a buyer: American Express I learned this while trying to dispute a payment. PayPal is set up to steer you off into the weeds on this sort of thing. AMEX has a separate menu just for dealing with PayPal, and they just deal with them. It takes only a few minutes compared to the PayPal Official Dispute Resolution BS and AMEX helped slap them down permanently and sent me an apology letter for PP behavior some days after my immediate refund and that was it. There is a higher power than PayPal and I found it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trailboss Posted August 12, 2009 Report Share Posted August 12, 2009 AMEX has a separate menu just for dealing with PayPal And what does that tell you? I'd say they get a lot of PP complaints. Good to know however. Maybe I should get an Amex after all. Only prob with Amex is that most places here charge an extra 2% for Amex and Diners. Col. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metaljesus Posted August 12, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 12, 2009 Yeah if they are that good, I'd consider getting one just for Paypal use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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