eBay

atru1503 · ‎06-03-2013

At the time, the seller had no negative reviews but no positive reviews either. He was a new member like I was and I decided everyone starts somewhere so why not give him a chance. He refused paypal and asked for interac e-transfer.

I looked into the safety of Interac E-Transfer and it was completely safe and reliable unlike other money wire transfers so I thought it would be okay. Interac e-transfer would work for all canadian bank institutions and I wouldn't have to pay international fees or import charges so I thought that was a plus.

After paying, SELLER HAS NOT RESPONDED TO ANY OF MY EMAILS, TEXTS/CALLS. The item has still not arrived. I just opened a case in the resolution centre. I don't know what else to do. Will I get my money back?

Any help, feedback or personal experiences would be kindly appreciated.
Thank you

tazziee789 · ‎06-04-2013

If the buyer has not accepted the funds on his end, you can cancelled it. If it has been accepted, than you are out of luck. I just hope it wasn't a very expensive lesson.

theafkgamer · ‎06-04-2013

Just a heads up for the future.. If somebody is selling on ebay they HAVE to accept Paypal.

pjcdn2005 · ‎06-04-2013

Just a heads up for the future.. If somebody is selling on ebay they HAVE to accept Paypal.

No, that's incorrect. They have to accept some form of electronic payment such as credit cards.Here's a list of accepted payments.

PayPal

ProPay

Skrill

Credit card or debit card processed through the seller's Internet merchant account

Payment upon pickup

Also, in some categories they can ask for cash, money orders, bank transfers etc.

http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/accepted-payments-policy.html#restricted

With that being said, I don't think that a seller would make that many sales if they didn't accept Paypal since most buyers are familiar with it and are comfortable using it.

atru1503 · ‎06-05-2013

thank you but he accepted it and it was a pricey item! Would you know if eBay can reimburse me somehow or track him down and have him charged ?

atru1503 · ‎06-05-2013

Thanks, ill definitely make sure of that next time

pierrelebel · ‎06-06-2013

"Would you know if eBay can reimburse me somehow or track him down and have him charged ? "

Unfortunately not.

To be protected, eBay buyers need to follow the requirements on the Buyer Protection policy.

Interac email money transfers (previously CertaPay) are not allowed to be offered by sellers on eBay as they do not provide the buyer with any protection (except for a few specific categories).

If the amount is large enough, you can retain a collection agency or a lawyer to get your money back.

femmefan1946 · ‎06-06-2013

Ouch.

I agree with Pierre, you are on your own with this.

Start by filing a police report. Not every police force will be helpful , but some of the organizations you will deal with will want proof that you have reported this as criminal activity.

And of course there may be other similar charges pending against him.

Either a collection agency or Small Claims Court are possibilities.

The agency will charge you a percentage of the amount they recover or a flat fee, whichever is greater . They may have a flat fee to open the collection.

Here in Ontario it costs $25 to make a Small Claims Court claim plus your time in the court room. However, it is still up to you to collect on the Claim, which is back to the collection agency.

tobyshitzu · ‎06-06-2013

Its a lot more then $25 to go to small claims court in ON, start with $75 to file and another $100 for a court date, cost of serving among other fees, then another fee schedule involved in enforcing the judgement if you win. The police wont be interested

Best bet is call the guy and threaten you will go to the police or sue and hope he doesn't realize its a hollow threat

dipmicro · ‎06-06-2013

Not necessarily a hollow threat because costs including pain and suffering and other 10+ types of damages lawyers can come up with, if OP has this guys bank account, he has him by the balls and original $500 scam can turn into $500k lawsuit followed by 10k out-of-court settlement.

Small claim is kind of self-help and not a threat. Get a lawyer and file a real lawsuit for 1-2M and name your bank and Ebay in it as well, because they were accessories to the scam.

pierrelebel · ‎06-06-2013

The fees (and waiver):

http://www.attorneygeneral.jus.gov.on.ca/english/courts/guides/Guide_to_Fees_EN.pdf

atru1503 · ‎06-06-2013

Thanks a lot for the information and input pierrelebel

atru1503 · ‎06-06-2013

Thanks a lot femmefan, would I file a police report in my local area or contact the police in the seller's area?

tobyshitzu · ‎06-06-2013

First off do you know for sure who the person is and their address? The problem with interac is there is no way to get the contact info. Ebay would provide the phone number the buyer used, if its unlisted, cell there is no way to even know who got the money. How much money are we talking?

I managed to intimidate a buyer who ripped me off enough to get them to repay once. I got in touch with other sellers and found out they were ripped off too. Since I was the one who sent the item I knew the address the thief was at. So I confronted the buyer with what I knew on how much "didnt arrive" and told them they could repay or I would file a police report (despite that being a dead end) and ask Canada post to investigate their mailman to find out why so many items were supposedly disappearing. They decided to repay right away

atru1503 · ‎06-12-2013

Thanks a lot tobyshitzu. I looked him up and found that he's been doing scams for a longg time and was jailed once for it. He travels across Canada making a living out of it. His selling post got deleted but it said he was residing in Manitoba. I looked up the listed numbers and they were active in Winnipeg, Manitoba. However, they've been disconnected numbers when I called.

I paid 305 for a 4th gen 32g white ipad. Other buyers that were scammed by the same guy said they paid for computers, phones and other electronics that have never been sent.

tobyshitzu · ‎06-12-2013

Yikes googling that name makes it clear. So finding him or contacting him will be a dead end.

In this case you could contact the police with the info available, Of course it will just be adding to the pile and won't get your money back

anguscoinshop · ‎06-13-2013

Simple solution, only buy from reputable sellers that have been members for a long time.

jhay4737 · ‎06-20-2013

I have done many etransfers not on Ebay but with friends and family and when I do an etransfer I have to provide the hotmail address of the person first off. When they accept on their end the bank emails me a notification saying that the person accepted and it'll say WHO accepted more importantly. The name should be attached to the email next to the bank they're with with a bit of info. If that's what happened it's something at least. Maybe at the very least you'll get a name. I would call the bank as well and explain to them that you were scammed. Maybe they could help you in some way or give you some advice. You're probably not the first this has happened to and the bank has probably dealt with a case like this before. Save the email notification as well in a file or something for later use as well as the email they sent to you saying the etransfer was sent. That may come in handy later on. Don't delete those.