To patch or not to patch a vintage MA-1 - EBAY THEFT

[Weasel_Loader]

So let me see; his listing on a knife

"If you are not 100% satisfied with the knife as long as its in the condition I sent it in, I will refund the money within 3 days of delivery".

What if the knife mysteriously shows up as a $5 piece of Chinese junk? I guess I just say item not as described and send him back "the $5 Chinese junk". :lol:

 

[NickG]

Boy that sucks...I think we should all start bugging him on ebay using the "ask a seller a question"
e-mail function (on ALL of his running auction items) and instead of asking about a current auction confront him regarding the theft...Maybe he'll start feeling bad after we bombard him with messages (coming from multiple parties, so he knows he's seriously been blacklisted somewhere) and he'll hopefully have second thoughts about this kind of conduct...us persuading him to do the right thing and make you whole again!

As soon as I get the "green light" I'll start nagging him.
Its been done before on other forums, (like WAF), members teaming up in defence of a fellow member who's been ripped off by some scumbag. It teaches such characters a lessen that with all these internet communities (like VLJ) such thieves need to think twice before pulling something like this off! It gets broadcasted quickly and there are consequences!

Its a long shot but he might see the light and fix this matter if we put the pressure on!
The downside of course is that it will piss him off and he might be even less inclined to return the money, but I don't think you have anything to loose by having us doing a ciber attack at this charecter, if he's a jerk he'll remain a non cooperative jerk... but on the other hand it could motivate him to do the right thing (and we back off).
Thoughts on this "strategy"?

 

[Tim P]

I am up for that. nothing however that could give him ammunition for slander/ libel

 

[Lignemaginot]

The Police incident report should be completed today - at that point, I have to fax it to paypal and see if they credit my account; in the meantime, it's negative, and anything that goes in that account goes towards that negative balance... in other words, goes to afemma; that's not happening.

After I've faxed the report to paypal, I'm making copies of it, printing a history of afemma's purchases for the last 30 days, and printing a listing of his current sales (including, I see, very expensive watches) - I'll then mail these packets with a brief letter of explanation to his wife, father, and any other person with his last name (a rather uncommon name) in the West Nyack area. If possible, I'll also send it to his neighbors.

The packet will have nothing libelous in it - just a statement of facts (ie, "Box was returned with two soiled towels in it" - not, "he put two soiled towels in the box.").

The hardest thing is the inability to leave negative feedback. As someone with an expensive MBA myself, I simply cannot understand how this is beneficial to ebay.

 

[ghq1]

The hardest thing is the inability to leave negative feedback. As someone with an expensive MBA myself, I simply cannot understand how this is beneficial to ebay.

Well you sorta can . . .

Even though it's chalked up as a positive . . you can write anything you wish in the box . ..

so no reason you can't write in cap letters NEGATIVE: . . ..then use your 80 characters . . The guy sells so few things that your comments should be visible for quite some time on the most recent feedback page. . .

At least it preserves your seller dissatisfaction on the feedback record . . .

 

[deeb7]

so no reason you can't write in cap letters NEGATIVE: . . ..then use your 80 characters . . The guy sells so few things that your comments should be visible for quite some time on the most recent feedback page. . .

It's against eBay policy, the buyer can report it as feedback abuse ... Negative statements conflict with positive rating.

EBay will remove the comments, and the Positive will remain.

 

[hacker]

It's against eBay policy, the buyer can report it as feedback abuse ... Negative statements conflict with positive rating.

EBay will remove the comments, and the Positive will remain.

Sad but true........even worse is eBay's rating system has now gone from bad to nearly worthless!!!


Hacker

 

[Lignemaginot]

So here's the latest.

My paypal account was negative about $450 - the amount that they deducted to pay the thief. I was assured that after I send the police report (which they make as difficult as possible), my account would be reset to zero.

However, over the weekend, an automatic charge from skype (for $10) came into my paypal account). Paypal then charged the entire amount ($450 + $10) to my credit card, which they have on file.

Therefore, my paypal account is now at zero, thanks not to them refunding my money, but to them charging the amount to my card. Thief: 1, Honest person: 0.

 

[Lignemaginot]

Despite my worst predictions, I received my money back from paypal this morning.

Not sure if the money came from the thief, or form paypal, but I do at least have the funds. Not happy that the criminal still has the jacket, but there it is.

If you want to read all the details, they're here:

http://forums.ebay.com/db2/topic/Seller ... 12&start=0

My only recommendation is to make sure that you open the package in front of a USPS employee before it ever leaves their sight. Other than that, this is simply a huge hole in their system.

 

[watchmanjimg]

Whew! Good to hear that at least you got your money back. I guess there's some justice after all . . .

 

[Weasel_Loader]

Just read your ebay board post. I get more and more angry every time I read it. What upsets me most is that this guy basically got away with it and continues to do business on ebay. Like some mentioned, they guy is peddling $10K watches, so he's making money for ebay! :x

 

[Tim P]

Settiing aside the hassle and bad feeling, the guy has a jacket and you have your payment. Less than perfect I agree, but if you ignore him, you are not down on the deal and thats all we give a crap about on here, he can take a flying you know what at a donut.

 

[Lignemaginot]

"afemma" has now ostensibly sold one of his fine watches for over $11k (item 260552116721).

Dying to see how this pans out - although no way to know who the buyer is, thanks to ebay's "security".

 

[Weasel_Loader]

"afemma" has now ostensibly sold one of his fine watches for over $11k (item 260552116721).

Dying to see how this pans out - although no way to know who the buyer is, thanks to ebay's "security".

I've thought about sending afemma a message to be careful since the buyer of his watch sent me a box full of towels when I bought a watch from him on ebay. :twisted:

 

[Tim P]

priceless.

 

[Lignemaginot]

"afemma" has now ostensibly sold one of his fine watches for over $11k (item 260552116721).

Dying to see how this pans out - although no way to know who the buyer is, thanks to ebay's "security".

I've thought about sending afemma a message to be careful since the buyer of his watch sent me a box full of towels when I bought a watch from him on ebay. :twisted:

That would be outstanding.

 

[Tim P]

Dear sir, while your watches are very nice I have all the watches I need. I do however believe that you do a nice line in monogrammed towels and wondered if I were to send you £200 you could perhaps send me a couple.
PS, due to customs regulations where I live, can you mark the box 'totally authentic flight jacket in excellent condition'?

maybe just like those guys who slipped whilst cleaning and fell on the tv remote he went to box up an Ma1 but slipped and in order to steady himself grabbed two towels his wife was carrying in her arms which 'fell' into the box...