another ebay "scam"

[rafezetter]

I just went to buy something on ebay and saw that there was an unpaid "fee" of 0.38p due. I did the online chat and asked them what it was for and they said it was an unpaid fee from 9/9 ..wait for it.. 2012!!

yes, three years ago.

Thier online system that allows sellers to check fees owed against listings only goes back 18 months. They claim as it was less than £1 it didn't get billed. I asked them why it has taken them three years to request payment, to which the answer unsurprisingly was:

"here is a link to the item listed, but you won't be able to view it as the system only goes back 18 months"

in other words "we are saying you owe this fee but cannot prove it, and we cannot prove it's unpaid either, and you cannot check it independantly, but we are still going to take it from your paypal account"

I told them if they took it without verifiable proof it was due - I would contact actionfraud, and I have already contacted trading standards showing the online chat conversation.

The item they claim has an unpaid fee against it does look genuine, but that is simple enough to fake, by selecting any of the last few items I put up for sale that didn't sell.

How they possibly think they can request fees for listing items THREE YEARS after the fact is beyond me - when I asked as much from the "agent" thier reply was "this system is working as intended".

of course it is..... reminds me of the movie electronic bank heists where just 0.02p goes missing from millions of accounts worldwide... (and I told them as much).

 

[ChrisR]

Simple answer, don’t use (Ebay).

Take care.

Chris R.

 

[stuartpaul]

I think it's getting to the stage where eBay is becoming almost unusable for the 'ordinary' seller.

There are so many 'scams', fees etc. that you really don't know how you may be hit next.

I recently sold a small item for about £60 and spent far too much time worrying about how I might be 'hit' during, or after the process. Starting to feel that it isn't worth the effort.

Shame, - as in theory it's a great way to shift stuff you don't want anymore.

 

[RogerP]

I sell on eBay and don't see a problem.

The fees are simple it's 10% of what the buyer pays and that includes the postage. As 99.99% of buyers pay with PayPal that'll cost you another 5% (about).

So, just say 15% of what the buyers pays is taken and what's left is all yours A bit cheaper than my local live auction house which takes 17.5% + VAT.

What's these "hits and scams" you're worried about?

 

[stuartpaul]

You can look those up for yourself Roger although I'm sure you're aware of them.

 

[clk230]

If used properly (within Ebay rules) Ebay is a great way of selling to a world wide customer base , its also very cheap considering the coverage you get .
One of my local auction houses charge 20% + vat and that for buying & selling , plus no guarantee of items working etc.

I'd also like to know what these " hits and scams " are .

 

[marcros]

I'd also like to know what these " hits and scams " are .

+1 please

 

[artie]

I'd also like to know what these " hits and scams " are .

+1 please

I have been "done" twice on ebay, both times by sellers. One didn't send the item at all and another sent one not as described. I lost out IIRC less that £20 total. I have had a few disputes with sellers which were satisfactorily sorted.

More importantly I have had hundreds of good deals and shifted a lot of stuff I couldn't have given away anywhere else.

 

[stuartpaul]

I'm not going to provide a list of 'hits and scams' when you're all perfectly capable of finding out for yourselves! There's been plenty of threads on here as well relating to 'weirdness' on the bay.

As an occasional seller of some high value items it's something I'm very aware of. How many can afford to lose money and the goods?

I accept that as an overall percentage the scams are low but that's not a lot of consolation if you happen to be one of the unlucky ones.

As has been said above if the rules are stuck to by all it works.

If you're happy then great, - go for it.

E Bay is not my first choice for selling stuff.

 

[clk230]

I'd also like to know what these " hits and scams " are .

+1 please

I have been "done" twice on ebay, both times by sellers. One didn't send the item at all and another sent one not as described. I lost out IIRC less that £20 total. I have had a few disputes with sellers which were satisfactorily sorted.

More importantly I have had hundreds of good deals and shifted a lot of stuff I couldn't have given away anywhere else.

If you followed Ebay procedure you shouldn't have been out of pocket for either item .
As a seller I have won item not as described cases , as a buyer you need to read the listing and look at the pictures very carefully.

 

[clk230]

Would still like some examples of the hits and scams , but hey ho.

 

[RogerP]

I've been a seller and buyer on eBay since the early days (2000) and haven't had a problem that has not been resolved amicably.

Okay there's been the occasional "non-payer" but, by following the prescribed procedures, eBay have always sorted the problem out for me.

My feedback is approaching 3000 positive.

I've not had any problems with "hits or scams" in 15 years - maybe I'm just lucky (or careful)

 

[MIGNAL]

I was caught out once, many years ago. I bought a used CD that had been discontinued. I paid more than the price of a new CD because that was the going price and used on Ebay was the only place you could find it (at the time).
It arrived in a Jiffy bag but without a jewel case, broken in 4 pieces. The listing stated nothing about the lack of a case and the picture showed both the CD and the case. The seller blamed the postal service and told me to contact them.
I complained. A few weeks later he was struck off. I never received my money back. This was very early days of ebay, so perhaps that can't happen now.

 

[RogerP]

..........The seller blamed the postal service and told me to contact them.
I complained. A few weeks later he was struck off. I never received my money back. This was very early days of ebay, so perhaps that can't happen now.

In the UK the seller is responsible for getting the goods, as advertised, to the buyer. If the carriers (whoever they are) fail in any way only the seller can deal with them as the are his agents.

As you say thing have moved on with eBay and a buyer's complaint of "goods not received" will get immediate action.

If there's a problem with a seller or their goods it's best to try to resolve the problem with an email to them first before using eBay's "resolution centre"

 

[artie]

If you followed Ebay procedure you shouldn't have been out of pocket for either item .

It's quite a long time ago, IIRC on one of them ebay said that because it was under a certain value they couldn't help. Can't remember the details of the other one.

 

[RogerP]

If you followed Ebay procedure you shouldn't have been out of pocket for either item .

It's quite a long time ago, IIRC on one of them ebay said that because it was under a certain value they couldn't help. Can't remember the details of the other one.

It must have been in the very early days. Things are very different now.

 

[rafezetter]

I'm guessing most of you who are saying "where's the scam" didn't read the bit where I said that ebay are trying to extract money from me for an "unpaid fee" from THREE YEARS AGO. A fee I cannot corroborate because their sellers activity page only goes back 18 months. A fee they have verified and acknowledged I cannot verify, but are asking for notheless.

So I have two choices, I either trust them and beleive in their honesty, or dispute it. So I'm disputing it.

And to repeat why has it taken THREE YEARS for them to ask for the money? Ok I get it that any fee under £1 is sat upon until enough other fees are generated to bring it to the £1 threshold to generate a bill but THREE YEARS to generate an "unpaid" bill?

There isn't a company in the land that can throw out an invoice THREE YEARS after the fact - WITH NOTHING PREVIOUSLY SENT OUT BEFORE THAT, WITH NO POSSIBLE WAY OF VERIFICATION AVAILABLE EXCEPT THEIR WORD - and expect to make it stick except for the sheeple who see a bill and pay it unquestioningly.

And just to clarify even further, they did not send me an email all apologetic and say "look we're REALLY sorry but.... we didn't collect a fee from you for listing X three years ago and we'd like the money"; The "fee owed" just appeared on my checkout page as I was about to pay for something.

No warning, no mention of it - nothing; just a "oh by the way the next thing you buy we're going to add this extra fee because it's unpaid, because we say it's unpaid".

If you are happy with that you go right ahead, but it looks downright crooked to me.

Edit: trading standards have replied with " [snip] As the trader’s actions could be considered a criminal offence..... [snip]

 

[clk230]

Had you used that Ebay a/c to sell on in the previous 3 years ?

 

[graduate_owner]

I have posted this before but it seems appropriate to repeat it here, briefly this time.

I paid for items but they didn't arrive. Opened a case with eBay and was immediately refunded via PayPal. Closed the case, then had an email from PayPal saying the refund (which was shown on my PayPal statement for about a week) was cancelled as the seller did not have enough funds in his account.
EBay could not do anything about it because I had closed the case. PayPal were unhelpful - my issue did not fit one of their drop down box selections.
That was a couple of years ago. Interestingly I had an email from PayPal recently asking me to fill in a questionnaire about them. I was not complimentary. They have not got back to me about my comments.

K

 

[clk230]

I must say this does all seem very odd , to sell on ebay you need to have a method of paying your fees linked to ebay (normally paypal) so if your paypal a/c was/is linked why have they not taken the fees before ?
Never heard of ebay fees showing at a checkout stage when making a purchase.
Lets hope its not some sort of fake ebay page your getting logged into.