Dishonest Sellers - Expired Products

I read that some sellers on eBay are selling expired products. For example take sunscreen it has a shelf life of one year before it expires. I recommend that you only buy these products from a seller that has feedback from someone that has bought this product and has left good feedback. Also check the auction description carefully to see if they list the expiration date. You also may want to email the seller to make sure you are getting a product that isn’t expired.

Here are some products that have an expiration date:

Film
Cosmetics
Over the Counter Drugs
Vitamins
Batteries
Food
Contraceptives
Feminine Hygiene
Gift Cards & Certificates
Beauty Supplies
Household Cleaners

Dishonest Buyers

I have friend that was selling a new black Ipod 80 GB on eBay. It was bought in an auction to the highest bidder. The buyer contacted my friend about a week after he received the item to say that it was defective. My friend asked questions as to what was wrong with the unit. Instead of telling my friend what the problem was the buyer opened a Paypal dispute. Through Paypal the buyer and seller try to resolve the claim. The buyer claimed that my friend wouldn't respond and the item was defective and he wanted a full refund. Well Paypal decided to rule in favor of the buyer. The buyer had 10 days to get the item back to my friend. My friend got the Ipod back and it was white not the black Ipod my friend sold. He opened a dispute with Paypal that he didn't receive the correct item back. Paypal still ruled in favor of the buyer. So, my friend is just out the money. I guess the moral to the story is you are never protected from fraud.

James & Megan MacKinnon Clarendon Hills, IL

We have just been cheated by a buyer James MacKinnon & Megan MacKinnon. It started out with them buying a Potter flow switch $50.00. We made a mistake and shipped them out a Potter vault alarm $240.00. He contacted us on Friday night to say he got the wrong item. James said that he needed the correct item by Monday for an install. We told him we would overnight the part even though this meant we would loose big on this transaction. He said he would ship the incorrect part back to us. We told him that we would reimburse him for the shipping charges. This was clearly our mistake but we wanted to make sure his part made it to him on time and it did. Now we cannot get him to return our calls nor can we get him to ship the item back. I believe he is either installing fire alarm systems or fire sprinklers in Illinois. Watch out for this guy he is dishonest and will cheat you. Below is his contact information.

eBay User ID: abbylizmack
James MacKinnon & Megan MacKinnon
6 Algonquin Rd
Clarendon Hills, IL 60514
Phone: (630) 654-3045
Cell: (708) 878-4128

James also goes by Jim Mack

Kasos László - eBay Scam

I had someone from Hungary buy an expensive item from me the other day. He promptly sent me an email after he purchased the item asking for an invoice. We sent him an invoice through eBay but he came back and said that isn't an invoice. So, I sent him an invoice through Paypal. He came back with a template of an invoice that he would like me to send back to him. He also wanted my bank account info so that he could wire the money to my account. I emailed him back and told him that we only accept payment through Paypal or money order. I also told him that if he could not pay through one of these methods I would relist the item. He came back with relist the item.


Here is there contact info:

Kasos László
Logistics Manager

VT METAL KFT
8000 Székesfehérvár
Berényi út 72-100
HUNGARY
VAT: HU11110282

Bot Scam

Here is basically how it works. The scammer gets a new user ID and uses bots to find 1 cent auctions, like ebooks. These are downloaded and usually the seller’s entire system is automated. So the scammer can achieve feedback rather quickly. They will get about fifteen to twenty feedbacks, costing 20 cents. They start selling expensive items and of coarse they don’t ship the items after the sale. I guess the moral of the story is to check out the sellers feedback to see if it was accumulated buying very cheap items.

Ebay Spoof Email

A couple of days ago I received a spoof email that looked totally real. Usually they don't look that good and you can tell that it was a fake. However, this one looked very real and they obviously spent sometime on this email. It was on an item that I sold asking for the tracking number. They always give you a link to login into eBay (or so you think) so that you can respond to the member. In reality this takes you to their site and if you enter your user name and password they will hijack your eBay account. If you are new to eBay you never want to login from any email to respond to a member. Just type in www.ebay.com in your browser, it doesn’t take that much longer. Below are a couple of resources.

Ebay Support - Contact eBay if your account has been hijacked.
Spoof Email

The Beginning

We definitely enjoy buying and selling items on Ebay. We first started to buy Items on Ebay back in 2002. It has been a thrill to find an item starting at $1.00 and hope that you can get it for $10.00. That never happens but the fun is in the whole auction process. Who doesn’t like the bidding war? I have to admit a few times I have won the item for more than what I could have used the “buy it now” feature. Since I have been both buying and selling on Ebay since 2002 I have ran into a few dishonest Ebay sellers and buyers. Fortunately for buyers there are many safety nets built into Ebay to help protect you. For sellers there is a lot more risk involved and less protection. We have been taken advantage of a few times lately. We have decided to set up this blog to talk about some of the scams, ways to protect you, dishonest sellers and buyers. We hope that this will be informative for us all.