Best eBay deal ever or am I missing something?

[TunerSandwich]

lol I'm in for $2k worth.....this will be funny if I get a shipping confirmation.  With ebay and pay pal buyer protections there is no issue about getting "scammed".....I have dealt with deadbeat ebay deals before and got my money back within a couple days of filing complaint

If, by some miracle the units show up at the warehouse, I will be happy to re-list them for a couple hundred bucks each and keep a few dozen for the lab.....

Just imagine having a keithly psu to power each component in a development topology....

Time to order a few bags of pomona quick clips, some bananas and some hook-up wire 

This is not the EEVBlog crowd that I used to know. This is my worst day on this forum.

where is your sense of humor sir?

Trying to get a business out of business is not my kind of humour.

I'll throw in a smiley though

it's a business, that violates ebay marketplace rules....these types of scams dilute the legitimate marketplace....I cited some potential examples further back in the thread.  this does impact us all, because it might be that some honest seller was trying to sell a similar item, and was shut out of the market, by this scam listing....

hope you can see the real chain of events and what is going on under the surface here....

*puts on tin foil hat* *"It's all a conspiracy"!!*

thanks for the smiley 

[Richard Crowley]

Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.
Hanlon's razor   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanlon's_razor

[nitro2k01]

I have had the PayPal payment refunded and not showing 'unpaid items'.
I have not had the other order refunded yet.

This is what it looks like for me. (Below.) I was refunded (PayPal). The order is still marked as unpaid, though I'm not asked to pay a higher amount if I attempt to do the payment. Again, this seems to vary between people. I wonder what I should do next...

[jancumps]

...Mine baulked at the chance some innocent person will be unemployed over this.

In my professional career I have done several mistakes that caused costs in some way to my employers and involved customers.
I hope for the person that made this mistake that his company shows the same adult reaction as what my companies, and their customers, did.

[caall99]

Ever since my purchase from street-autoparts i have been receiving "Your Account Paypal Has Been Limited" emails in my spam folder, from <[email protected]>. I have received three of them so far... coincidence?

[Towger]

That annoys me is their bulk listings are now polluting some of my other electronic related searches, with hundreds of matches.

[JoeN]

You obviously don't understand what is going on here.  Read the entire scenario before making assumptions.  This is an obvious scam.  They sent money back to us, left the items as "unpaid" on ebay, and are now trying to charge "additional fees"  when we try to repay.

It could still be a hijacked account.  We will see.

[electr_peter]

Let's face few obvious facts.

• Seller does not admit a mistake and talks about some mysterious technical issues and supply problems.
• Listing for those DC supplies showed 2 items available, now 30-70 is sold. How can anyone sell 50 items while having two in stock?
• Unpaid item is an unpaid item. You cannot leave such traces of eBay fees avoidance everywhere - it hurts many (mostly  buyers in this case).
• Now the same items are sold at 1000 fold bigger price. Is it legal? As always, somebody will say that high price is legal and it is between seller and buyer However, in reality it is almost always a strategy employed by a seller to go around eBay listing fees. For example(I don't do this), say I sell LEDs for $10 each, have inventory of 1000. When my inventory goes to zero, instead of removing a listing I increase LED price to $5000. If anyone buys it, it is easy to cancel.

All of this points out that seller most likely do not have any stock of DC PS and is employing misleading advertising and/or tries to go around eBay rules.

I am not with TunerSandwich (and his furiousness) that seller is a scam.
All I am suggesting is that this seller comes clean - cancels all questionable orders (and removes unpaid items for unfortunate buyers), admits a mistake and plays by the rules.

ahhh but that is not the case.....it's an obvious ploy to try and extort additional funds from the buyer....see below.....you can't mark as paid, or re-pay, without this additional fee....which is not explained.....

I do not see a deliberate scam in these actions. eBay system is not that transparent with unpaid/cancelled delay items. You are trying to pay again, the listing/price/conditions may be different. It is eBay, do not expect that every issue and payment status to be clear and transparent 100% (it works somewhat though).

furious is a bit far, annoyed is more accurate....I am finding some humor in this entire situation.  I also feel good about getting such ebay sellers removed from ebay.  They dilute the marketplace.

like I said, no one has to be "on my side"....it's my time/money....and I feel like I am doing something good for the community, by attempting to remove fraudulent ebay sellers

Your intent is not acceptable to me. I am not with you at this issue in a sense that I do not think this is a scam and do not think this is funny.

anyone is entitled to an opinion, but be open minded and put the pieces of this scam together....it is not an honest mistake, or bot gone wild....it's a legitimate scam (oxymoron?)

the scam is an attempt to sell product off of ebay, or extort additional funds from a buyer, to avoid an unpaid item....

in any event I have made ebay well aware of the situation, and they are on my side and agree with the course of action against the seller account

the ebay representative I spoke with told me this isn't the first time this seller has done this...and ebay has a long record of this kind of activity.....which is a bit concerning in itself.....ebay knows what is going on here and hasn't removed this sellers account

Please describe a template of scam your are talking about (who is scammed, how it works) and how seller in question may be involved.
Given the facts, I do not think these is a deliberate scam (breach of eBay policy? - maybe).

[tom66]

This is getting silly. @Tuner has some kind of vendetta or perhaps they're just bored.

I don't think these bots ruin the eBay experience. I always sort by price. If some joker wants to sell $11 resistors... all the power to them and whoever buys them. Sounds like a good business model!

Even if I did think they made it harder to search, I don't think that they deserve to be treated this way.

That being said, they cannot go behind the back of eBay in this instance if it hurts the buyers. (Normally I wouldn't care. I've helped sellers cancel items after I bought them in person, to save them 10% on the fees. That doesn't hurt me, so I don't mind.)

I will cancel my orders shortly and request a refund.

[TunerSandwich]

Ebay has confirmed with me, that there is a pattern on this sellers account....in which this exact type of activity is ongoing. 

I'm not here for approval or permission.  You guys are free to see things your way, and i am free to see them mine, but this is an obvious scam.....if you read through the posts here you will see the lies sent to buyers, via private (unsolicited) emails.  Claiming the unit is no longer in production and un-available.

If you are open minded and add up the facts, you will see what is going on here.  If you choose to make a per-conception about this, and think this is "just some honest guy who made a mistake"....then you are fooling yourself.

Like I said ebay looked into the account when I called, and said there is a string of complaints and transactions which display the same behavior.  Ebay seems to think it's not ok, or at least that is what their representative told me on the phone. 

I have no "vendetta", but would like to see this seller removed form the marketplace.  Their activity is ill-conceived and fraudulent.

 

[tom66]

It's odd that eBay would say that. They're normally extremely tight-lipped about things like that. Saying things like that might constitute a breach of contract or reasonable expectation of privacy for a business seller.

It's not an obvious scam.

* Seller's bot lists one set of Keithley meters by scraping RS/Farnell/Digikey/Mouser catalogue. It does this accidentally because perhaps they're filed in the wrong category. It lists these items at a ridiculously low price due to some kind of bug.

* Over 200 orders are made. The seller is on the hook for at least 10% in fees, which includes shipping. Average shipping charge seems to be at least $50AUD. So a reasonable guess is AU$1200 in eBay fees plus listing costs. On eBay the fee is charged on shipping and the item.

* To avoid a bad rating, the seller refunds directly. This is probably against eBay rules. They should have refunded through eBay. However they obviously determined the hit against their rating was worth losing ~AU$1k in fees. Still not a scam, just breaking eBay rules.

* The seller lies to customers about the item. Still not a scam. It's not a scam because lying about the item being unavailable isn't defrauding the buyer of anything or tricking them into giving further money. It's just a lie. Both options result in a 100% refund - one option signs the buyer up to a newsletter to give them a future 10% discount on the actual item. Meh, taking best advantage of a bad situation I suppose.

Nothing the seller has done counts as a scam. They've been shady and lied, I agree. They've broken the rules. But they haven't stolen money, or committed any kind of fraud, or played some kind of confidence trick. Therefore I think your actions are completely unjustified and that instead you are becoming more of an a-hole than the seller ever was. They do not deserve this at all.

[rsjsouza]

One thing I find interesting is to go back to the initial pages of this thread and see the lighthearted atmosphere that took over everybody: we took a shot at it and, if it was a scam, we would be refunded due to the eBay/Paypal and everything will be honky dory...  O0

As several pointed out, this is clearly an error on the seller's end and in my opinion some common sense is to be expected. Who knows who sent those unfortunate e-mails? Was it some kid working on the seller's "IT department" that got scared and did not put much thought before hitting send? We all have done similar things in the past, with or without financial damage. 

I also agree that TunerSandwich's mischievousness is becoming too damaging.

[TunerSandwich]

The seller has not refunded purchases.  Again if you read through the entire thread here, you will clearly see what is going on.  I fell as if I am beating a dead horse, describing the scenario over and over....when it's clearly spelled out in this entire thread.

This is a scam to try and sell there PSU's at 10% off MSRP , OFF EBAY. 

You all can think it's mischief on my part if you like, and that is entirely your rightful opinion (if you like), but it is NOT coincidental with FACT.

Look at facts.  Again I am not trying to gain support or approval, but if you think taking action against a seller who is willfully lying to the buyers is me "being an asshole", then I suggest you re-evaluate the term.

If it's such a big deal, and waste of "precious time"....why do you keep the thread going? 

This is typically how these long winded forum posts go.  It's a bit of a pissing contest between people, who are not directly involved, to grandstand and point fingers.  Regardless of facts presented.  If you want to spend some time offering constructive solutions, that benefit the folks involved in the transactions, feel free....

Is the suggestion that this entire course of action, by the seller, be ignored?  That seems rather silly....because the seller will just be back up to their tricks again (if no one does anything) and will continue to dilute the marketplace, and continue to try and solicit buyers through private emails....using ebay listings as their "source lists"

shame on them....you don't have to agree

 

[G0HZU]

One thing I find interesting is to go back to the initial pages of this thread and see the lighthearted atmosphere that took over everybody: we took a shot at it and, if it was a scam, we would be refunded due to the eBay/Paypal and everything will be honky dory...  O0

I didn't take a shot at it This ebay sale was obviously heading for a car crash. The seller's awful feedback wrt refunds, the stupidly low price with free delivery, the fact the seller tarted their direct bank payment details in the auction for quicker delivery (and off ebay sales?) was enough for me to steer clear.

I am amazed how many people still went for it. 

[kwass]

I didn't take a shot at it This ebay sale was obviously heading for a car crash. The seller's awful feedback wrt refunds, the stupidly low price with free delivery, the fact the seller tarted their direct bank payment details in the auction for quicker delivery (and off ebay sales?) was enough for me to steer clear.

I am amazed how many people still went for it. 

I was one of those people who "went for it" and bought two of them.  While I have no idea  what's really going on with this seller, I did get an email apology (see below) and refunds on both of them (one yesterday, one today).   I used a credit card on Paypal because I knew from past scammy ebay deals that I would have no trouble getting a full refund by just calling my credit card company.

For the record, here's the email (via ebay) I received:

Sincere apologies for what happened.
As per previous email, we are on process of refunding your payment.
Our IT department is currently looking into it and will update the listings.
Sorry for the inconvenience and it is not our intention to disappoint our buyers.
Thanks for your time.

Regards,
Riyah

So, maybe it was hacked ebay account.

[george graves]

Once in a blue moon, these things don't get noticed until after a day's worth of shipping.  Oh well.  With ebay's buyer protection it was worth the shot!

Refund received today.

(as an ebay seller, it was nice to be on the other side of the fence!)

[mtdoc]

Got my refund today. No big whoop. It was worth a shot.

[briselec]

At least they gave me good feedback

"Great communication. A pleasure to do business with."

 

[Vito_R]

That's going to be in contrast to the tons of negative feedback they will soon be getting.   

[tom66]

This is a scam to try and sell there PSU's at 10% off MSRP , OFF EBAY. 

NO. It is not.

They probably never will have these PSUs. They will probably never sell them.

They simply offer a way to sign up for a newsletter to receive a coupon in the possibly distant future to get a PSU for 10% off. This is offered probably to simply appease people. Nothing more. You are over-analysing the situation here.

Besides...  You do not get to decide to punish someone for speculated future actions.

[george graves]

That's going to be in contrast to the tons of negative feedback they will soon be getting.   

See you guys in the feedback coments! 

[TheBay]

Wow, what a thread!

Well I have just had my 2nd payment refunded, I marked my ebay item as Payment sent so I do not get a mark against my account.
That's the end of it for me, no harm done, nothing ventured nothing gained.

If I do get a strike against my name I will speak to ebay to remove it.

Imagine this happened to one of us, we would be crapping ourselves.

[rsjsouza]

This ebay sale was obviously heading for a car crash.

To me it was more like a scooter crash... 

Well I have just had my 2nd payment refunded, I marked my ebay item as Payment sent so I do not get a mark against my account.

Same just happened for me. 

[Yago]

I Emailed them telling them that I will cancel and walk away from this when I am confident all has been returned to as it was before the transaction, financially and account wise.

CBA anymore, misery and upset over the holidays are not what I want from Santa, for me or others.

[ted572]

.