I've been doing this for a few years, and here's a shenanigan I haven't run into before: Seller ID on ebay is wabiwatch out of Arizona. I buy a watch by Best Offer on March 25. I pay by PayPal. I paid on March 25, within hours. He tells me he mailed the watch. He spins a story about how the post office lost the package (he claims he put it in a mailbox instead of turned it in at a window). Taste the drama: From the seller: "I'm trying not to think about this. Fact is in a few hours I'm going to be ~2000 poorer and minus a supremely rare watch. Been checking the tracking every 5 mins for 6 days. This is making me physically ill. It's actually been since Thurs since I have received any mail . USPS employees all hide behind the bureaucracy and don't really answer questions." He promised me a refund if the package does not appear by April 6. By an amazing coincidence, the package appears in tracking on April 6. tracking clearly shows all he did was print a label on March 27, and that he mailed it on April 6. It will come as little surprise that I received a nonfunctioning watch - movement was frozen, couldn't even wind it. I open a return case. He writes me: "You don't need the return request, just return it. What you're doing with these is freezing the amount of the item from my paypal and bank accounts, It puts a hold on funds making my life pretty much unlivable. Once you have it from me in writing that I'll do the return I can't and wouldn't want to go back on my word. These things are for when we cannot agree or are adversarial. I'm not." The return package arrives at his address April 13. No one is there to sign. It goes to the post office. He doesn't pick it up until April 16, the day before it would be sent back to me according to the way Priority Express is handled. He has not yet returned my money. Ebay of course has been notified. I figure this guy is kiting an interest-free 30 day loan through ebay - that's if I get my money back. If I don't, it's just a regular old swindle. What do you guys think?
Taste the drama indeed.. Hopefully you get your money back. This seller is a complete fraud it sounds like--and I'm assuming he didn't explain the watch was 'non-functioning' in the description either. I've never had to open a case like this with Paypal/eBay but please keep us informed on what happens and how long it takes.. I'm sure it won't be an easy process, unfortunately.
Did you complete the return through eBay? His "you don't need the return request" worries me. I'm not sure if you get full protection without that.
Correct. According to the description it "runs, winds and sets" Well, at least there is a process.... Oh yeah. It was the filing of the return case that triggered that sad, sad message about his unlivable life.
Ah, he took your money to the race track to see if he could double it and lost it all. Poor soul. Definitely smells like a scam of some sort. Hope it works out in your favour without too much hassle.
Well, with eBay behind you, the only potential obstacle I can think of is him claiming that you damaged/switched it. Did he accept that it was damaged? Even if he didn't, eBay has historically sided with buyers in cases like this.
Man, I'm so glad I don't deal with eBay anymore. There are WAY too many hucksters, scammers, and swindlers for my tastes. Got his address? We could do a road trip! I have a spare aluminum bat or two.
Given the facts, you should get your money back at the end of the claim period. Sucks to go through the hassle, but such is the 'bay.
I didn't think about a wager on the ponies specifically, but it is not reassuring to know that a seller lives paycheck to paycheck. He was not the least bit shocked when I wanted to return it. Given what a drama queen he is, I would have expected reams of protestations about the brutality of the postal service in handling mail. Not a peep though. And let me tell you, that watch was "Let It Go" Frozen - hardly the type of thing that happens in the mail. A headache, mostly.
I hate eBay. Selling is just as annoying and you have to watch your back even more. Recently I sold a nice vintage camera, even answered a few questions for the buyer while it was in transit. My printer was down so I just took it to the post office, shoved the receipt on my wallet, but forgot to post the tracking number. The buyer goes on and puts a 'where is my package' request with ebay, locking the funds, the day after the USPS has on record that he received the package. I'm certain that he got the camera and wanted to see if he could steal the money from me. Then there's the whole eBay treating you like an employee, giving you performance evaluations and setting up punitive policies to 'encourage' you into the sort of selling they would like to see, such as the retarded Christmas 90-day return policy they tried to implement.
Maybe buy the seller, not the watch. Did this guy have tons of good feedback? Clear pics of the movement, etc? BTW, I'm in Scottsdale. If I can do something (legal) to help, let me know.
Nuts, I was about to send you gift certificates to Sports Authority so you could "personally" give the seller a new aluminum bat..... right until that disclaimer of "(legal)".
I think the OP has all the documentation he needs to get a good resolution from ebay/pay pal. If push comes to shove, he might contact Glendale PD. Charge the guy with theft by deception, being a giant a$$hole, etc.
Yes, tons of good feedback, only a single negative which rings loud and true now that all of this has happened. Pics were decent. I appreciate your offer. I'm keeping my action plan out of this thread for the moment in the event that Glendale H. Sleazebag is reading along. Name will be revealed upon resolution unless he gives me one hell of a good reason. He hasn't got anything else for sale for the moment, so on one is at risk.
seller ebay id is wabiwatch. he has not returned any money, so he's not kiting loans, he's just a plain old swindler. Ebay has the case at this point.
Big red flag any time someone on eBay prints out a shipping label seconds after your payment clears: Experienced sellers know PayPal will release funds more quickly this way. I'm always wary of the storage unit auction buyers who sling crap on eBay like weed wackers and ash trays and then all of a sudden break out a nice 3 or 4 thousand dollar watch out of nowhere. I love the Phoenix Metro area and I think Scottdale is one of the nicest places on the planet but Maricopa County seems to have a lot of Anglo tweakers and gypsie - traveler types. Always has. Lots of transients who are attracted to cash contracting businesses like driveway sealing and then scrap metal and garbage picking. Their wives seem to sell a lot of that junk on eBay... Not claiming that's the case here; just a general observation.
I just had a problem with a recently purchased Gallet. First "issue" in a long time. The watch I bought ain't the watch I received. Hopefully it gets fixed (I think it will). This one time I won an auction on a solid 18k movado and the seller sent me a gold plated version of the same watch. Seller blamed it on poor eyesight. Claimed he sent my watch to China. Best part: retired chief of police, judge and a college professor ( dean of his pretty famous university ). Total hustle. I shit you not...