So, it's finally happened to me - Scammed on eBay/PayPal

[The Moose]

Something I thought would never happen to me - I take care about what I purchase, don't often pay for anything outside of eBay, don't have an item for collection after taking payment through PayPal etc etc etc.

What happened to me was I purchased a new battery for my laptop. Sold as new with a 6 month warranty.

The seller was helpful pre-sale and promptly answered a question about compatibility for me. Purchase made.

The battery promptly arrived, was fitted in the laptop and worked fine.

For 3 months. After 3 months, I noticed the battery life started to fall dramatically - down to lasting no more than 45 minutes (in a laptop that with the previous battery would do nearly 3 hours).

I've not mistreated it. The laptop isn't constantly plugged into the power. It's allowed to discharge fully every once in a while. It doesn't get left anywhere where it'll get unduly hot etc etc etc.

Never mind all that - I bought a new battery with a warranty, so I'll make contact with the seller through eBay. Waited a week and tried again. Still no reply.

Never mind - I have their e-mail address. E-mail sent. No reply.

Oh well - at least I have a phone number. No answer - straight to voicemail.

Never mind - I bought through eBay and paid via PayPal so should have full buyer protection (which I do have). So, I open a dispute with them.

They've just found not in my favour. The reason being they don't help where warranties are concerned. Credit card company won't chargeback as over 3 months ago.

If I was to really pursue this, I could issue a MoneyClaimOnline, however the address they have registered with eBay is not a real address it turns out - PayPal acknowledge it's different, but won't give me the correct address tied to the seller.

So, I end up having spent £41 for what is about as useful as a chocolate fireguard.

For all this buyer protection/seller protection, it seems to me that the only people who win with eBay and PayPal are scamming s.

[anonymous-user]

It's the same if you're selling though.
A buyer (to whom I offered recorded delivery but was declined) claimed an item I sent never arrived.
Automatically found by eBay to be in his favour. He was refunded and the costs charged to my PayPal account.
Sent eBay a copy of his declination of recorded delivery, plus proof of paying for postage (although not strictly "Proof of Posting", asked for their reasoning as to why his word was better than mine..
Being spineless tts they never replied.

[The Moose]

I know! Which is why we don't accept PayPal and one of the reasons we don't sell through eBay.

As I said, they just seem to help the scammers... both ways!

[spats]

OP, order another battery when it arrives send the old one back as faulty and claim your money back.

I've only been scammed once and just as it was about to go their way I happened to look into their selling history and found the bloke had sold my item on and it was in fact the person who bought from him that was stating it was duff.

I contacted the new buyer and he told me the item arrived bust, I presented this info to the paypal chap and he pretty much kicked it out at that moment.

Bloody chancers.

[MysteryLemon]

I'm not sure I would call the OP a scam.

Yes, they offered a warranty and aren't following up but I wouldn't say it's a scam. You got the item you ordered and have used it for 3 months before it started to fail. I can't see that in any way as them scamming you out of the money you paid.

Was the battery a 3rd party replacement or is it supposed to be genuine?

[marshalla]

The Moose said:

I've not mistreated it. The laptop isn't constantly plugged into the power. It's allowed to discharge fully every once in a while. It doesn't get left anywhere where it'll get unduly hot etc etc etc.

If it's a Lithium battery, that is mistreatment - they prefer to be kept topped up. Full discharges shorten the life of the battery.

http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_...

Odds on you have a cheap battery with poor quality cells which degrade quickly.

[The Moose]

MysteryLemon said:

Was the battery a 3rd party replacement or is it supposed to be genuine?

Sold as

"New Genuine Original Apple MacBook 13" A1280 MB466 MB771 Laptop Battery 10.8V"

When it arrived, it looked identical to the one I purchased from Apple previously.

[The Moose]

marshalla said:

The Moose said:

I've not mistreated it. The laptop isn't constantly plugged into the power. It's allowed to discharge fully every once in a while. It doesn't get left anywhere where it'll get unduly hot etc etc etc.

If it's a Lithium battery, that is mistreatment - they prefer to be kept topped up. Full discharges shorten the life of the battery.

http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_...

Odds on you have a cheap battery with poor quality cells which degrade quickly.

Interestingly, he then listed the same item again with the following under "Tips to extend your laptop battery life"

"For battery meter calibration, periodically do a full battery discharge, every 30 charges, to increase meter accuracy"

I don't regularly run it to empty, maybe twice in 3 months. Same as I always did previously.

[The Moose]

MysteryLemon said:

I'm not sure I would call the OP a scam.

Yes, they offered a warranty and aren't following up but I wouldn't say it's a scam. You got the item you ordered and have used it for 3 months before it started to fail. I can't see that in any way as them scamming you out of the money you paid.

Was the battery a 3rd party replacement or is it supposed to be genuine?

Sorry, but how was it not a scam?

I purchased a product (a laptop battery + 6 month warranty) that ended up not being what I received (I only received the battery, not the warranty).

PayPal and eBay allow this fraud to take place, perpetuating things.

[Swanny87]

Crossflow Kid said:

It's the same if you're selling though.
A buyer (to whom I offered recorded delivery but was declined) claimed an item I sent never arrived.
Automatically found by eBay to be in his favour. He was refunded and the costs charged to my PayPal account.
Sent eBay a copy of his declination of recorded delivery, plus proof of paying for postage (although not strictly "Proof of Posting", asked for their reasoning as to why his word was better than mine..
Being spineless tts they never replied.

You should always price postage a bit higher from the outset and not give the buyer an option for postage type (recorded delivery only). Recorded delivery is mostly for the sellers benefit. Why would the buyer care that their item is in the Birmingham depot at 01:38 on a Tuesday morning? They've ordered it, they know it's coming, if it doesn't come after a fair amount of time then it fair to assume its been lost. If a potential scammer can see no way to take advantage then they'll move on.

If you give people an inch they take a mile...

Edit: Sorry to go a bit 'ranty' on you there, I didn't mean it in that way. It's always wise to pro-actively protect yourself pre-transaction than rely on the post transaction protection offered by eBay/PayPal etc...

Edited by Swanny87 on Thursday 21st May 16:41

[IvanSTi]

I tend not to buy anything through Ebay these days for anything more than £10 for these exact reasons. Unless they have ridiculously high seller feedback, 10's of thousands. I try to arrange collection outside of ebay and pay them via paypal on the spot. And use Amazon a lot more.
Not been scammed yet, fingers crossed.

[anonymous-user]

IvanSTi said:

I tend not to buy anything through Ebay these days for anything more than £10 for these exact reasons. Unless they have ridiculously high seller feedback, 10's of thousands. I try to arrange collection outside of ebay and pay them via paypal on the spot. And use Amazon a lot more.
Not been scammed yet, fingers crossed.

There's still something I like about sitting there in the last few moments, as an auction ends wondering if I should put in a higher bid.

[Spangles]

The Moose said:

MysteryLemon said:

Was the battery a 3rd party replacement or is it supposed to be genuine?

Sold as

"New Genuine Original Apple MacBook 13" A1280 MB466 MB771 Laptop Battery 10.8V"

When it arrived, it looked identical to the one I purchased from Apple previously.

What was the difference in price?

[The Moose]

Spangles said:

The Moose said:

MysteryLemon said:

Was the battery a 3rd party replacement or is it supposed to be genuine?

Sold as

"New Genuine Original Apple MacBook 13" A1280 MB466 MB771 Laptop Battery 10.8V"

When it arrived, it looked identical to the one I purchased from Apple previously.

What was the difference in price?

My original battery died when I was in the U.S. 3 years ago (laptop was late 2008 so first one lasted 3-4 years) so I purchased one from my local Apple Store out there. I can't remember the cost if I'm honest. Apparently they recently stopped stocking this particular battery for some reason (probably to force the customer to upgrade laptop!).

[northwest monkey]

IvanSTi said:

I try to arrange collection outside of ebay and pay them via paypal on the spot.

As a seller on Ebay, if you suggested that to me I'd tell you to bugger off. Cash I'd take, but I'd rather take magic beans than Paypal for a collected item.

[colinjy]

why not just order another one and when it comes swap it for the older one and claim for it that way.

I can sell you a pen that'll never run out of ink so confident am I will give you a 10 year warranty on it as well (btw the warranty isn't worth the post it's types on)

[IvanSTi]

northwest monkey said:

IvanSTi said:

I try to arrange collection outside of ebay and pay them via paypal on the spot.

As a seller on Ebay, if you suggested that to me I'd tell you to bugger off. Cash I'd take, but I'd rather take magic beans than Paypal for a collected item.

Paypal as gift is as good as cash, it can't be retracted.

[Grumpy old git]

Swanny87 said:

Crossflow Kid said:

It's the same if you're selling though.
A buyer (to whom I offered recorded delivery but was declined) claimed an item I sent never arrived.
Automatically found by eBay to be in his favour. He was refunded and the costs charged to my PayPal account.
Sent eBay a copy of his declination of recorded delivery, plus proof of paying for postage (although not strictly "Proof of Posting", asked for their reasoning as to why his word was better than mine..
Being spineless tts they never replied.

You should always price postage a bit higher from the outset and not give the buyer an option for postage type (recorded delivery only). Recorded delivery is mostly for the sellers benefit. Why would the buyer care that their item is in the Birmingham depot at 01:38 on a Tuesday morning? They've ordered it, they know it's coming, if it doesn't come after a fair amount of time then it fair to assume its been lost. If a potential scammer can see no way to take advantage then they'll move on.

If you give people an inch they take a mile...

Edit: Sorry to go a bit 'ranty' on you there, I didn't mean it in that way. It's always wise to pro-actively protect yourself pre-transaction than rely on the post transaction protection offered by eBay/PayPal etc...

Edited by Swanny87 on Thursday 21st May 16:41

It never ceases to surprise me how many people aren't aware of eBays terms and conditions, it's the sellers responsibility to use a trackable form of delivery. I'd never pay extra for recorded delivery or pay any optional insurance for an item, why would I pay to cover the seller in the event a parcel goes missing?

Having said that I'd never take advantage of someone who didn't post something by a trackable method, as long as it arrives that's all I care about.

[Grumpy old git]

Swanny87 said:

Crossflow Kid said:

It's the same if you're selling though.
A buyer (to whom I offered recorded delivery but was declined) claimed an item I sent never arrived.
Automatically found by eBay to be in his favour. He was refunded and the costs charged to my PayPal account.
Sent eBay a copy of his declination of recorded delivery, plus proof of paying for postage (although not strictly "Proof of Posting", asked for their reasoning as to why his word was better than mine..
Being spineless tts they never replied.

You should always price postage a bit higher from the outset and not give the buyer an option for postage type (recorded delivery only). Recorded delivery is mostly for the sellers benefit. Why would the buyer care that their item is in the Birmingham depot at 01:38 on a Tuesday morning? They've ordered it, they know it's coming, if it doesn't come after a fair amount of time then it fair to assume its been lost. If a potential scammer can see no way to take advantage then they'll move on.

If you give people an inch they take a mile...

Edit: Sorry to go a bit 'ranty' on you there, I didn't mean it in that way. It's always wise to pro-actively protect yourself pre-transaction than rely on the post transaction protection offered by eBay/PayPal etc...

Edited by Swanny87 on Thursday 21st May 16:41

It never ceases to surprise me how many people aren't aware of eBays terms and conditions, it's the sellers responsibility to use a trackable form of delivery. I'd never pay extra for recorded delivery or pay any optional insurance for an item, why would I pay to cover the seller in the event a parcel goes missing?

Having said that I'd never take advantage of someone who didn't post something by a trackable method, as long as it arrives that's all I care about.

Edited by Grumpy old git on Friday 22 May 10:24

[Mosman]

The Moose said:

Sold as

"New Genuine Original Apple MacBook 13" A1280 MB466 MB771 Laptop Battery 10.8V"

When it arrived, it looked identical to the one I purchased from Apple previously.

Well, if it's genuine take it to your local Apple Store and they will replace it under the warranty.

But of course it isn't genuine is it? Were you scammed? well who can say - did you really think it was a genuine Apple battery?