Negative feedbacks for traders and Tips for fair trading

[Tpad-novice]

Finally got to it. I regret to inform this community about my experience dealing with Boba.

He was advertising to sell three (3) somewhat good batteries with three no good ones. After some discussion the payment was sent. It was short $5, my fault. I politely asked if that would be ok, but was requested the remainder for payment in full. Upon receiving all the funds, seller *realized* he can't sell good batteries. That was practically inconvenient as the whole deal has taken weeks and weeks due to seller's personal reasons and unavailability. It was also rather ethically suspicious.

Then seller offered to still sell me one (1) remaining somewhat good battery with the same three no good ones. Again, having agreed on the deal, the payment was sent. After some time I get the message saying that one of the batteries did not fit in the box. True, the package came short one battery. Again, I politely inquired when the seller was going to send the rest. To which he replied he was not going to and that I should not mind as that was *free* anyway.

So seller effectively defaulted twice on the agreed deal after receiving the funds. He seemingly genuinely didn't comprehend my displeasure on not living up to the agreement.

[wujstefan]

Well I've never expected to put anything in here, but it is as it is...

The user wekim has bought a X62 from me, a nice and well-kept unit, asking for PayPal payment with invoice-for whatever reason.

The system has been sent 4 working days after receiving a payment. I was spammed with mails asking when the package will be sent, even though I informed the buyer directly when this will take place.

Exactly one (1) day after sending the system, this payment was blocked by him due to... not sending an item. I have provided him with the proper tracking number just the same day, and got no answer for two weeks. After those two weeks (PP money still locked) I got a response from him saying that... he has not get the item, and he wants a full refund. It's 2 weeks into sending the parcel oversea (Europe -> US), and with economic shipping.

Now I have no money. And no thinkpad. And I've sold it mostly because of financial issues...

[ajkula66]

Now I have no money. And no thinkpad. And I've sold it mostly because of financial issues...

I'm truly heartbroken to read this, having done business with you and knowing how much of a stand-up guy you are. A really, really nice human being whom I'd buy a drink any day of the week and happily discuss a variety of topics with.

There were several red flags that could've pointed to a possible scam, but it doesn't matter now. The damage has been done.

I almost got screwed out of $2700 six years ago courtesy of PreyPal, in a somewhat similar set of circumstances.

It's an expensive lesson to learn many a times, but PP will *always* take the buyer's side and even if they don't, the buyer can issue a chargeback with their credit card company and the seller is out of money and out of item. PreyPal will NOT take the hit for the seller, unless you make them, which is something that unfortunately doesn't seem doable in your case.

Which is exactly why I've been advising people for years to accept PP payments only on a "gift" basis. A request for a full-blown PayPal transaction from a brand new member with no standing on the forum would've been declined by me even at the very best of times.

Wishing you the very best of luck and keeping my fingers crossed for you.

[RealBlackStuff]

Did you ship with a tracking # ?
Regardless, I would never ship anything unless I had been paid up front!
Expensive lesson to be learned here...

"Buyer" shows an IP (129.63.253.121 ) from: University of Massachusetts - Lowell (UNIVER-76)
If you have his name, I would advise you to inquire at that university!

[jaspen-meyer]

Ralph, username canes305, agreed to buy my T420 and never paid.

[jaspen-meyer]

Did you ship with a tracking # ?
Regardless, I would never ship anything unless I had been paid up front!
Expensive lesson to be learned here...

"Buyer" shows an IP (129.63.253.121 ) from: University of Massachusetts - Lowell (UNIVER-76)
If you have his name, I would advise you to inquire at that university!

International mail fraud for $750. That's serious.

Here is contact information for the FBI in near-by Boston:
https://www.fbi.gov/contact-us/field-offices/boston

For what it's worth, here are common fraud schemes:
https://www.fbi.gov/scams-and-safety/co ... ud-schemes

[wujstefan]

Thank you all. All your kind words really help my stretched nerves, especially given that I've got several trades and fruitful discussions with each of you.

I'm starting legal actions in a few days. Seems PayPal does not always take the buyer's side just like that, and I'm awaiting their final statement right now.

[dr_st]

I'm starting legal actions in a few days. Seems PayPal does not always take the buyer's side just like that, and I'm awaiting their final statement right now.

Seems to me that if you ship using any registered, trackable method (which for something as big and expensive as a laptop is almost mandatory), you can use it to your advantage. Paypal will not automatically rule against you, if you provide details of shipment. The buyer should prove that the shipment was either lost (in which case, the insurance of the carrier should take over), or that you scammed him by shipping a different item.

Good luck, and do keep us posted!

[ajkula66]

Seems PayPal does not always take the buyer's side just like that, and I'm awaiting their final statement right now.

Hopefully things have changed for better over the past six years. Keeping my fingers and toes crossed for you.

[wujstefan]

This thing cost me a lots of nerves, but we have a happy end here.

You guys are all fantastic providing me with all your kindness. The case was closed by PP staff, and the money has been released.

HOORAY!

[ajkula66]

@wujstefan:

Excellent news indeed. Congratulations on turning the tide and getting the issue resolved to your satisfaction.

[Thinkpad4by3]

A lesson learned AND money in hand. Now thats a happy ending .

[RealBlackStuff]

Negative feedback for eBay seller badabumm, who could also be a long-gone and never even active forum-member with the same name, has been left:
Negative feedback for eBay sellers in a new "Sticky" in the Off-Topic Stuff Forum.

Please ONLY leave comments here about Forum transactions, NOT about eBay, Amazon, Newegg, whatever!
Thank you.

[madicetea]

I finally write this. I regret to inform this community about my experience dealing with forum user Kultur on
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=128097.

STATUS:
After a lengthy private discussion in-forum and via email, Kultur has (apparently) abandoned interest in this listing, but not before he had me create an account on TransferWise.

I will no longer be accepting TransferWise, closed my account on said platform, and with no money exchanged, I am thankfully not out much more than time and life experience.

He has been placed at the bottom of the waitlist (as others have expressed interest, a few of them seriously) and future exchanges with him will be through escrow-only.

PROBLEM:
Interest was expressed in the machine, as listed. He asked to continue the conversation over email.

At first, he was willing to use PayPal and then something did not work out with either his bank, PayPal, International exchange, or all of the above.

He asked me to create a TransferWise. I then waited a few days for his payment and asked for his update when one did not arrive.

I served him a second and a third notice via email, about 24 and 60 hours after the first notice.

He seems to have abandoned all interest in the item, but not before making me open an extra account that I do not wish to use.

"
[Start of citation]
I found a site called transferwise while I was looking for a way to use my banking app to pay you, because it has a money transfer service. I have never used this site before, but it was linked within my (?) and appears to be legitimate. Would you consider this service? I attached some exchange screenshots. I think this would be pretty easy, and although it doesn't provide me with much protection it's a better exchange rate. They use PayPal as a comparison of how much better their rate is.
[End of citation]
"

2 Issues here:
- Don't suggest an extra service if you won't follow through
- Don't leave the seller high-and-dry and do so little as to not even apologise for my trouble. Quite rude.

[RealBlackStuff]

Apart from kultur's lack of contact, this Transferwise also seems to be quite unreliable: https://www.consumeraffairs.com/finance ... rwise.html

[madicetea]

Apart from kultur's lack of contact, this Transferwise also seems to be quite unreliable: https://www.consumeraffairs.com/finance ... rwise.html

Oh, glad it didn't go through then. Thanks for this advice; last time I stray from the road most trusted.

Note of future warning for others: It's not that easy to get a TransferWise account closed. I might have to call them, my email message is going ignored even though they list privacy@transferwise.com as their official data deletion contact in their privacy policy.

[wujstefan]

Hate to say, but this is my latest bad experience here:

The user Poklomo (another username is gaelga as it turned out) sold me a FHD-modded X230 in a nice shape. He placed it in an insured package stating that any damage to the parcel would be covered by French office.

The package came slightly damaged, and the system does not work. I have no response from him until then, and it's over a month from the last message from him now.

[PsychBiller]

I hope this is the proper way to use this negative feedback mechanism. Please advise if I should do it differently.

Beware of eBay user totaltechindustries. I sold him my beloved T40 2373-72U. He claimed that it didn't work, and eBay forced me to accept the return. I received the return today, and was shocked to discover that he returned a 2373-7CU instead. He swapped out my hard drive and cracked palm rest to hide the deception, but I can clearly see the different model number, serial number, and Windows XP sticker.

A complaint has been lodged with eBay, but I am almost certainly out the free shipping to the buyer, the return shipping, and the sale itself.

[WarhawkCZ]

I hope this is the proper way to use this negative feedback mechanism. Please advise if I should do it differently.

Beware of eBay user totaltechindustries. I sold him my beloved T40 2373-72U. He claimed that it didn't work, and eBay forced me to accept the return. I received the return today, and was shocked to discover that he returned a 2373-7CU instead. He swapped out my hard drive and cracked palm rest to hide the deception, but I can clearly see the different model number, serial number, and Windows XP sticker.

A complaint has been lodged with eBay, but I am almost certainly out the free shipping to the buyer, the return shipping, and the sale itself.

Jesus Christ who the hell invests such effort into a laptop which has practically zero market value? First time opened this thread and I am shocked.

[TuuS]

Ebay system has no recourse if a buyer returns different parts. Many of us have experienced this, I've even had a guy who advertises fixing laptops buy an lcd from me, shipped in 3 boxes, returned in an envelope claiming dead. It was his gpu that was dead, and the lcd worked when returned, but was naturally cracked from improper packaging. Ebay advised not refunding, but it wasn't worth bad feedback over $20 so I gave the idiot his refund.

This and other idiots is why ebay has become a market of last resort.

[muguemjee]

Hi,

Why was my post deleted? It was just to warn anybody in case that user Excal32 came back in the future, possibly. The emails can be used to identify them.

[UMPC2024]

Hi,

Why was my post deleted? It was just to warn anybody in case that user Excal32 came back in the future, possibly. The emails can be used to identify them.

Dude you literally had one post, no location, and didn't read forum rules.
Cardinal Rules
6. Respect the privacy of others. Do not post other's phone numbers, addresses, pictures, private messages, etc., without their express permission.

[muguemjee]

Ok sorry. I will not post the information again.
But I just wanted to assure anyone who might be on the fence about said user, in case they return with another username or whatnot. They were banned on a few other forums for the exact same transaction pattern.

[RMSMajestic]

Off topic, but I think we should have some blacklist thread for bad ebay sellers/ buyers for everyone to add to his/her blacklist as precaution

Got so pee'd off by feebay and I will never sell on that piece of **** ever again.

99leviathan, fisch83, hd-access, palme-dor, purplepenguins16, siemprebeast, zaber2999, anars-33 is what I have on my list so far

[TheForgottenKing]

Off topic, but I think we should have some blacklist thread for bad ebay sellers/ buyers for everyone to add to his/her blacklist as precaution

Got so pee'd off by feebay and I will never sell on that piece of **** ever again.

99leviathan, fisch83, hd-access, palme-dor, purplepenguins16, siemprebeast, zaber2999, anars-33 is what I have on my list so far

Maybe a forumer updatable excel file or similar in plaintext that can be easily parsed? Put it with the links at the top.

[kfzhu1229]

Unfortunately, I get to report another case when eBay purchases go wrong...
This one is most definitely not the malicious case where seller tried to scam, but this can leave devastating results...
Here's a DIN 5 pin to PS/2 keyboard adapter cable that I bought for use to test my trash-picked Pentium 60 machine: https://www.ebay.ca/itm/392881804981
With this kind of adapter, you mostly expect them to work, or just sit there and do nothing if it doesn't. But not in this case.
I am quite unfamiliar to anything older than Pentium II era, and also quite unfamiliar with the DIN connector, but I learnt the hard way the wiring on this adapter is completely wrong (check yourself with the seller's provided wiring diagram and see if you can spot the problem right away)! Worst of all, it interchanged the 5V pin with the ground pin!
I think I have a narrow escape here as I was testing it with a generic BenQ PS/2 keyboard and then I realise the adapter is getting mad hot! All I lost was a fuse on the motherboard and that keyboard, but I couldn't imagine what would happen if I didn't get so lazy and actually hooked it up to the Model M on my desk!!
I originally planned to buy an adapter, not a PS2/DIN version of the USB killer!

[RealBlackStuff]

But what adds to the confusion is, if you don't know whether you see front-view or rear-view!

[kfzhu1229]

But what adds to the confusion is, if you don't know whether you see front-view or rear-view!

I used precisely those two pictures yesterday and was able to rewire the adapter by cutting it apart in the middle so it's working again.
Things like the keyboard clock pin is mapped to the wrong end of the DIN connector, and there's no wire coming out of the other end of the din connector, so I had to bend the rarely used reset pin so it touches the clock pin.
This is quite involved amount of work to fix an adapter that's supposed to work in the first place!
If others on this forum for example buy the same adapter from him and used a Model M on the adapter, then he/she's looking at potentially hundreds of dollars of loss for this ghetto few dollar cable!
I will however, negotiate with the seller to remove this thing on eBay immediately and give me a refund. If I were to lose a Model M instead of the cheap BenQ keyboard, I would've opened a case straight away!
So all in all, on other thought I think you have a point and it seems like what precisely the seller did was he looked at the pinout of the female DIN connector instead of the Male DIN connector (which is flipped of course)!

[cadillacmike68]

Next time don't buy the $3 one.

But yes, I'm with you; get it right or don't sell it.

I have a bunch of older IBM / AT style 101 key keyboards and I don't use them precisely because I'm wary of the adapters.

Remember the original IBM PC? It had a keyboard port and cassette drive port right next to each other and they were identical DIN ports (yes they were labelled, but the label can wear off). If you plugged the wrong item in - poof!

[kfzhu1229]

Next time don't buy the $3 one.

I mean this is just a passive wiring adapter, nothing with a chip or anything complicated like that! If I actually have a DIN cable lying around I would've just made my own adapter! Now what this $3 gave me besides damaging the keyboard and that fuse is exactly that! I literally just cut them in half and do the wiring myself!

Remember the original IBM PC? It had a keyboard port and cassette drive port right next to each other and they were identical DIN ports (yes they were labelled, but the label can wear off). If you plugged the wrong item in - poof!

Well yeah things have gotten far more foolproof since then! There are many examples of those sorts of things, such as the earlier floppy and IDE ports not having their notches for the orientation, and the early AT power connectors that if you put the red inside, poof! Even more extreme example would be how it's easy for you to plug the 486 CPUs the wrong way on certain motherboards!