A week ago I came across a listing on evilBay for a bicycle item that I
had been looking for. It was located in Nashville, TN, and it was a Buy It Now
at a price was affordable and it would be sent by USPS, so I bought it. Then
things got a bit strange.
Yesterday the purchased items listing said that the transaction was
pending, and it still was. But, there was a tracking number, and now it was
being sent by FexEx. But it was a Chinese tracking number. Being a bit
suspicious, I copied the item title and did a search on evilBay for that exact
title, and I found an identical item from a French seller that I'm familiar
with. The two listings were identical in every way except for the seller name
and the item location.
I realised that I had been had for the third time in six months, and this
one was very clever, masquerading as an American seller. So, I went to cancel
the order, only to find that evilBay had yanked the listing and the seller was
no longer a member. That negated any and all opportunity to get a refund
through evilBay.
So I tried resolving it through Paypal, only to find that their resolution
centre was offline. Great. Got their toll-free number and an ID number. More
than an hour later, they returned my call. After a half hour and four
transfers, I finally got a dispute under way.
So I have to change my Paypal password for the second time this year, and
wait patiently for yet a third refund due to a bogus evilBay seller.
These Chinese criminals are getting increasingly clever, now pretending to
be American sellers so that you cannot protect yourself by limiting your
searches to US sellers only. You simply cannot be careful enough.
Chris
When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro
- Hunter S. Thompson
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