I've been scammed by a rogue seller and Ebay!!

[tamarav2]

Just wanted to warn everybody about what happened to me! I purchased £2100 of Thomas Cook Vouchers off a business seller  he had good feedback and actually seemed a lovely guy! He disappeared once I questioned if I could have the tracking number to my item so I knew something wasn't right. Then negative feedback appeared on his page calling him a crook, I felt sick! I eventually managed to open a case against him and due to being away on holiday I got eBay to bring it forward by a day. This was a lot of money and I just knew I had been scammed. To my horror I logged on to the internet while abroad and saw eBay had closed the case in his favour due to ' the seller providing tracking information which shows the item has been delivered to your address'  Well I knew this was a lie and couldn't understand what had gone on, and obviously being abroad it wasn't easy to deal with. I appeal stated it must be a false receipt and eBay said they would re-investigate and call me back within three working days they didn't. All holiday I was worried sick and only when I landed in the UK found out my appeal was unsuccessful. Nobody would help me I had NOT had this delivery. Now with access to my laptop I type in this 'tracking number' on Yodel and find it has no association with me, my address and did not say it has even been delivered!! Upon hours of calls to eBay, Yodel and through lots of tears I found out this tracking number was nothing to do with me or my address so who on earth closed my case stating....

'the seller providing tracking information which shows the item has been delivered to your address'

This is a serious case of neglience on eBays part and if only they had just entered the tracking number into the system or called Yodel it would have saved me over a weeks worth of anxiety and stress and proved I had not had this item.

Luckily eBay agreed to manually refund me once I had showed him MY investigation evidence but could have been so so different.

To rub salt into the wounds the sellers negative feedback was removed by eBay and has since had more negative feedback on stating he has dissapeared and items not received  so I am watching to see if eBay again remove this for him as they are actually helping him commit fraud and con innocent members!!

Moral of this story is  please please investigate your own cases you cannot  rely on eBay to do this for you as my case proves nobody investigated this case TWICE ..it was a simple case of popping a tracking number into an online system or a call to Yodel and this was NOT done, instead they took the word of a crook who gave them 'a' tracking number on deadline day of my case closing stating 'it showed delivery so please close this case!' so they did without even checking it themselves! £2100 nearly lost but a harsh lesson learnt that I will never ever repeat!! 

[femmefan1946]

Was this a digital item?

If so you were very lucky that eBay would do  anything at all for you, since protection on such sales is slight.

Luckily eBay agreed to manually refund me once I had showed him MY investigation evidence but could have been so so different.

I read this as 'I appealed and my appeal was successful'.

The number of (disappeared) negatives makes me think that the seller will not be on eBay long.

When a transaction is part of a Dispute, all feedback is removed. The Dispute decision is the end of the dispute and no further comment is allowed.

You may notice his feedback for others was also redacted.

he had good feedback 

Good feedback is 99% or better. Anything less is mediocre and 97% is bloody awful.

Even more important are Detailed Seller Ratings. If a seller's DSRs drop below 4.3, his ability to list and sell is severely restricted, including closure of account.

and actually seemed a lovely guy!

Well, that's confusing. Did he post a photo of himself resembling the young Brad Pitt and cuddling two babies and a puppy?

It's unusual to have any sort of personal relationship between a seller and a buyer beyond a few questions on fact. This is business. Friendly, but business.

[femmefan1946]

By the way, if the seller left FB for you, and it still remains (it probably doesn't) you can leave a Response indefinitely.

The most effective response, like the most effective feedback, is calm and factual.

No name-calling, vulgarity or CAPS and multiple exc!amat!on marks!!!!

[tamarav2]

Hello,
In answer to your questions-
No they were not digital vouchers they were paper vouchers which are allowed on eBay and covered by the money back guarantee.
No I did appeal and was unsuccessful it was only from persistence from myself and through my own investigations that I managed to get a manual refund a month later.
No he didn't post pictures of himself but we actually did have days of email dialogue in which a lot was discussed and through those obviously deceiving emails he came across as a lovely guy which he was meant to so I would put my trust in him and his business if he seemingly came across as a nice guy. If he was arrogant and had attitude I would have thought twice about buying the vouchers and I wouldn't have had the scare I had. I myself am very friendly and have built up great relationships with some of my buyers who come back and purchase off me time and time again as they have had good experiences with myself, I am too trusting believing everybody operates the same, as you say it's business not friendship but when you are up against a fraudster it's never business or friendship it's deceit.
His feedback was 99% so was confident to purchase and was a business seller.
No he didn't leave feedback for me but his last negative feedback that somebody has left for him is still on there so I hope eBay are taking note now of this rogue trader.
I apprecaite your time in replying femmefan