Scumbags.

[bartre]

This is a term we're all familiar with.
I'm sure we've all had to deal with them at some point.
But to me it seems like this hobby in particular has a lot of them.
Today I met one, and boy, is it a story.

I walked in to a local store where I know the owner, and all is well, we start chatting and I pick up a couple of dreamcast cheapos.
That's when this guy walks in.
Seems like an okay guy at first, just a little weird.
The three of us chat for a little while and he asks the owner about an NES game, and they agree on some arrangement.

Anyway, AFTER this guy leaves, the owner kind of goes on a rant about the other guy.
The first words out of his mouth were "that guy is... a character."
from there the conversation goes something like this:
Me: "I can tell. Anything in specific?"
Owner: "That guy and his wife are the kind of people that are ruining the hobby."
M: O_O
O: "yeah, he's a reseller, no big deal, that's what I do."
M: "okay, so how is he ruining the hobby?"
O: "not so much with the way he sells things, but more for the way he buys things"
M: "care to explain?"
O: "okay here's one: one day he's going on about how he wants a ps3, and I point out that I've got one for sale. his response is 'no thanks, I only buy consoles online.'"
M: "how does that ruin the hobby?"
O: "there's more, here's his explanation 'That way, if they don't do delivery confirmation, I just claim that I never got it. My wife worked for paypal, their policy in that case is to ALWAYS go in favor of the buyer, meaning, free console!'"

So yeah, the guy's kind of a scumbag. What's more is that the owner said he's not the only customer like that I have, and that some of them will do that with any package over $10. "I'd love to yell at them, but I kind of need their money, so I try to put it in nice words, but it doesn't seem to work."

Morale of this story:
USE DELIVERY CONFIRMATION, COVER YOUR ASS AS A SELLER.

anyone else got fun stories?

[ryborg]

http://i52.tinypic.com/2qnnthk.gif

[hellraiser]

I cant belive somebody would send a console with out a tracking number.
I know thats not the point but still....X_x

[bartre]

yeah, i mean, i wouldn't ship something as expensive as a ps3 without insurance, but oh well.

btw, i'm still waiting on the "super cool story bro" image that is completely necessary for this thread.

[SamuraiSmurfette]

http://randomfunnypicture.com/wp2/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/cool-starry-bra.jpg

Close enough?

[Emperor Megas]

http://randomfunnypicture.com/wp2/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/cool-starry-bra.jpg

Close enough?That's...hilarious.

[Einzelherz]

That's...hilarious.

And quite outdated.

[heybtbm]

...and boy, is it a story.

Not so much.

[HappehLemons]

Ugh, I kind of wish you hadnt posted this because I have a feeling that if people didn't know about delivery conformation pp scam that they're actually are going to try after reading this.



http://randomfunnypicture.com/wp2/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/cool-starry-bra.jpg

Close enough?
lol

[megasdkirby]

I can't believe people can be such fucking assholes.

Whenever I have to file a claim, I do believe the seller in question thinks that of me as well. But I always that was an over-generalization. I knew that some people would do such a scam, but if a person calmly divulges it as though it's nothing, then it somehow has come mainstream.

This is all Ebay's fault. By taking away the ability to give negative feedback, they have opened a can of worms. But I also understand why Ebay took away that option, because certain sellers would abuse of it as a retalliation tool. Honestly, it should be given back in limited form, like a few negatives a month for sellers, only to be used when really needed.

Now I wonder: even if the package does not have Delivery Confirmation, but it is USPS Insured, would the buyer have the balls to commit fraud by stating they never got it? I would pressume that by having insurance, it would lend a shred of fear to those who wish to scam the seller, since the Post Office is not very kind to scammers/ fraudsters.

I wonder how a scammer would feel when they claim they never got the item in question, and the seller states something like "I will be sumbitting a USPS investigation and claim since the package was insured. They will be contacting you in hopes to me filing an insurance claim". Would love to see the scammers reaction.

[ryborg]

Now I wonder: even if the package does not have Delivery Confirmation, but it is USPS Insured, would the buyer have the balls to commit fraud by stating they never got it?

Insured packages are tracked, but ONLY by the PO themselves because they presumably still want you to buy DC. If someone makes a claim, then they will divulge exactly what happened with the package.

[kedawa]

I don't know how the USPS operates, but Canada Post is very lax about getting signatures for things that require them.
I've often found fully tracked and insured packages, with hundreds of dollars worth of items inside, just sitting on my front porch when I get home from work, with a blank space where my signature should be.
If I said I never got the package, they'd be unable to prove otherwise.

[Gameguy]

I don't know how the USPS operates, but Canada Post is very lax about getting signatures for things that require them.
I've often found fully tracked and insured packages, with hundreds of dollars worth of items inside, just sitting on my front porch when I get home from work, with a blank space where my signature should be.
If I said I never got the package, they'd be unable to prove otherwise.
If this happens then the one who loses out is the post office. With tracking there's proof that the seller sent the package, there's just no proof that it was successfully delivered. If it's insured then the post office will have to pay the cost of the item. I've never had items just left at my home if they required a signature, I've always had to pick them up at the post office if I missed the delivery. That's just a lazy postal worker you have and I wouldn't feel bad if he or she got punished for that lazy behaviour, your stuff could just get stolen by a neighbour if left on your porch.

[kupomogli]

I've recently had two packages that were delivered to me on the same day from the post office. They had tracking and the postal service put them in the wrong box. Over a month and they still can't get it from the person they accidently gave it to so they're going to refund me for the cost of the items. Post office put the key in the wrong box number.

[j_factor]

Does delivery confirmation really prevent claims? Couldn't they just say that you sent them an empty box?

[mobiusclimber]

Does delivery confirmation really prevent claims? Couldn't they just say that you sent them an empty box?

not if you have the receipt. it shows how heavy the package was.

[j_factor]

not if you have the receipt. it shows how heavy the package was.

Okay, but couldn't they claim you sent them rocks or something?

[DogP]

Okay, but couldn't they claim you sent them rocks or something?

It seems that if someone's gonna pull the delivery confirmation scam on you, the only way to win is to play the game yourself. Tell Paypal that you actually HAVEN'T shipped it yet, then send a box of rocks with delivery confirmation. I'll bet the scammer would be furious when they opened that box and realized they just lost at their own game.

DogP

[tpugmire]

I've had issues with the post office before, so now I just use FedEx for any high dollar items and send them DSR (Direct Signature Required). I haven't had a single issue with them.

[Steve W]

That person is one of the many, many reasons I have nothing to do with eBay. Scammers like that have always soured me on the experience. I'll just buy everything locally, thanks.

[ryborg]

That person is one of the many, many reasons I have nothing to do with eBay. Scammers like that have always soured me on the experience. I'll just buy everything locally, thanks.

Are you really that terrified of a potential scam? I've been buying and selling non-stop on ebay since 1998 and I've been scammed maybe once or twice total out of tens upon tens of thousands of transactions (and NEVER on the buying end). Yeah, it COULD happen. In that case, why even leave your house? You could be hit by a drunk driver.

Scams are honestly not even something I think about. You only hear about people's bad experiences, never the millions of successful transactions. I complain loudly about ebay/Paypal's BS as much as anyone, but they are still great services overall and the good FAR outweighs the bad.

[Emperor Megas]

Are you really that terrified of a potential scam? I've been buying and selling non-stop on ebay since 1998 and I've been scammed maybe once or twice total out of tens upon tens of thousands of transactions (and NEVER on the buying end). Yeah, it COULD happen. In that case, why even leave your house? You could be hit by a drunk driver.

Scams are honestly not even something I think about. You only hear about people's bad experiences, never the millions of successful transactions. I complain loudly about ebay/Paypal's BS as much as anyone, but they are still great services overall and the good FAR outweighs the bad.^Yeah, pretty much all of this.

Really, you're doing yourself a disservice if the fear of being scammed is the main reason you avoid eBay.

[dnehthend]

I've been screwed this way before :(

no more first class packages overseas

[Bandicat]

I wonder how a scammer would feel when they claim they never got the item in question, and the seller states something like "I will be sumbitting a USPS investigation and claim since the package was insured. They will be contacting you in hopes to me filing an insurance claim". Would love to see the scammers reaction.

I had something similar to this happen to me a long time ago, back in the "Good Old Days" of Ebay. I mailed out a Playstation 1 game to someone who had won the auction for it. The buyer contacted me about a week later claiming he never got the package.

I ended up going to the post office and filled out some sort of lost package investigation forms. I don't remember if I needed to get some sort of information from the buyer or send a copy of the form to the buyer or something else, but I emailed the buyer and let him know that I had started a lost mail investigation.

After the buyer got that email, he emailed me back saying something along the lines of "Well the US Postal system is crazy and sometimes things just take a long time. Let's just wait a bit longer and see what happens."

I never heard from the buyer again. I to this day wonder if that buyer was trying to scam me and then got scared off or if the package eventually showed up, or if it really did get lost.