BEWARE of PAYPAL

[dieselrealtor]

Just want to quickly share with the members of this fine site a less than lovely experience I am having so maybe you can avoid it.

Purchased a water heater on EBAY , seller had pics from the manufacturer's site, unit came in a 10 gallon, not a 6 (can't use it), crushed door & shopworn box, however unit had never been installed. (don't care about box).

Paid with PAYPAL , now trying to go through buyer protection, THERE IS NONE UNLESS YOU DO NOT RECEIVE ANYTHING.

Still working on the ebay end.

anyone need an Atwood 10 gallon electric/gas with electronic ignition with a crushed exterior door for $265 + shipping?

[tanker]

Sorry to hear of your problem. Just when things look good or they make them easy to pay, it gets ugly. In my few deals with buying on E-Bay I have been lucky. Can't use the heater, but put it in the TDP classifieds, you may sell it there. Wish you well. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[DmaxMaverick]

Ditto's on Paypal!

Watch out for those hidden charges. I made a large purchase through them and used my credit card. They processed it like a cash withdrawl and I didn't find out until after I got my CC statement. Cash withdrawl fee, 2% up front, and interest on $4000. Never again!

[JeepSJ]

Sorry to hear that. I have had good experiences with them, including with a claim I filed against the guy who sold me my intake. The pic was of a nice brand new unit, and I got a dirty used peice. I filed a claim with PayPal and they helped get a settlement. The seller ended up giving me 50% of my money back and I got to keep the intake. If you follow their rules, the will work with you. If the item you receive is really not as was described in the auction, they will intervene.

[arveetek]

If you don't get satisifaction from Pay Pal, eBay, or the seller, then just sell it again on eBay. Retail price for that unit you have is $665, so you got a great deal. Too bad you can't use it, though.

It is possible to re-frame the opening and squeeze in a 10 gallon unit, if there's room under the cabinets or wherever it's located. However, it is difficult to do. I've done it several times when people wanted to upgrade. It's amazing what the extra capacity can do for long showers!

Casey

[dieselrealtor]

Wish I could put it in, the 6 gallon unit just barely fits under the bottom bunk.

I filed with paypal, it was closed within seconds because they told me they do not really do anything unless I did not receive a product at all.

The seller has turned out to be a slug, giving negative feedback to EVERYONE who gives him negative. I am exploring my options with ebay as well.

here is the link, just in case anyone is interested. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...category=50070

Thanks to everyone for the advice & support.

[arveetek]

That's a shame.

I took a look at the auction. It does contain bad information. In the description, he lists it as a 6 gallon unit. However, the part number he lists, a 94117, does show as a 10 gallon DSI and 110v electric water heater in my parts catalogue. He obviously got the info mixed up.

The item you received does not match the description on ebay. Therefore, there ought to be some action you could take through ebay.

Casey

[crew84]

To me this is another time that the deal was too good. The feed back section with all his negatives would have put up danger signs for me. I would have asked him plenty of questions before bidding. PayPal or Ebay will not do anything unless you catch him lying to you when you ask questions. Listing error will not do. I have over 325 positives on Ebay and have turned in at least twenty fraud ebayers who are not any longer on ebay. Ebay does not go out of their way to investigate. I had to hand over these guys on a platter. Basicly I had to make the case and if Ebay did nothing it would show that Ebay was allowing illegal activity. Ebay forums are just another way for members to blow off steam about how they were wronged.

[arveetek]

Yeah, I looked over this guy's feedback again, and I must say, this is one ebayer to avoid. It's a shame, because he's done thousands of satisified transactions, but when one goes bad, he doesn't do anything about it, and then accuses the buyer of being a "rookie." He also never leaves any positive feedback for his buyers, but does leave a negative if you leave a negative, and the same for neutrals. This is bad, because he has nearly 2500 transactions, so a few negatives don't sting him much. But, if he leaves a negative in return, and you only have a few transactions next to your name, that can really hurt your rating. Not a nice guy to do business with.

Casey

[Kennedy]

Pay Pal is facing class action suit over what may be a related situation...

[autocrosser]

If you paid thru paypal using a credit card you should be able to file a dispute with the credit card company. I did this once when the seller completely disapeared and didn't send the item. Visa refunded my money. I always use the alternate funding (credit card) method when buying thru paypal and have never been charged any extra fees.

Print out a copy of the listing to have for refernece and take a picture of the box and item you received.

[dieselrealtor]

unfortunately I had paid out of my "cash" in the paypal account, not through a credit card.

What is this class action suit?

[Kennedy]

Here's the header and one paragraph. If you need more I can fwd the whole thing:


IF YOU OPENED A PAYPAL ACCOUNT BETWEEN OCTOBER 1999 AND JANUARY 2004, YOU MAY BE ENTITLED TO A PAYMENT FROM A CLASS ACTION SETTLEMENT.


PLEASE READ THIS NOTICE CAREFULLY.


UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
SAN JOSE DIVISION

In re PayPal litigation
Case No. CV-02-01227-JF (PVT)


3. WHAT IS THIS LAWSUIT ABOUT?
In early 2002, Plaintiffs Roberta Toher and Jeffrey Resnick filed separate lawsuits against PayPal, Inc. These two cases were later consolidated into one lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, San Jose Division, entitled In re PayPal Litigation, Case No. CV 02 01227-JF (PVT). The lawsuit alleges that PayPal violated the federal Electronic Fund Transfer Act ("EFTA"), 15 U.S.C.

[Kennedy]

Here's a good email (names edited out) that I received trying to sell me email lists:


Hello:

We are offering 2 email databases which allow to contact PayPal and e-Gold customers (both sellers and shoppers).
These are individuals that buy and sell items using PayPal and e-Gold payment systems.
(Please notice that 90% of PayPal customers are also customers of eBay.)

These databases will be perfect for selling your products/services, because we are providing you unique prospects who purchase and sell online more than anybody else! Besides, the data provided contains personal email addresses of only those PayPal and e-Gold members who were active (purchased or sold something) in the last 2 months.

PayPal - 406,000 records
e-Gold - 372,000 records

The databases will be delivered to you in any format of your choice (Excel, ASCII, CSV, etc.).
By default they are provided in 4-6MB TXT files.
New updates will be released quarterly.

The total price we are asking for both databases is $365. To place the order please fill out the form:
http://www.xxxxxxxxxx/paypal.php

To contact me please email to service@xxxxxxx.com (THIS EMAIL ONLY! DO NOT 'REPLY').

Please notice that we also maintain a variety of other b2b and b2c lists.

Best,
Xxx Zzzzzz

[dieselrealtor]

Interesting,

so is this paypal or ebay that is selling the lists?

[Fumes]

Something else you don't do in PayPal is leave money in your account if you sell something. They may keep it if the buyer isn't happy.