DRAMA !!! => But I'm needing help right now !! What do I do! Ebay con artist!

[Kyla Kym]

I'm freaking out right now. I bid on a auction the other night without checking it out first.

It was for colored contact lenses. I have brown eyes and alway wondered what my eye's would look like another color, but I don't wear glasses and it would just have to be a novelty item for me. Ok, I looked on ebay and much to my surprise I found someone selling some on there real cheap. At least the auctions sounded like they would be cheap....

Well I bid willy nilly.....then did my homework....after doing allot of searching I found that no one else on ebay sells contact lenses! And there was no closed auctions that I could find either for contact lenses.....that threw up a red flag of course.....

Then I checked on the person doing the auctions who doesn't live in the US anyway, but I was willing to take a chance because so many where hitting his/her auctions....and he had a handful of good feedback....but when I checked that out...it was all for buying not selling....and the items he bought were like 1cent to 15 cent items!!!

Another red flag.....so I emailed the joker asking them why they where the only one on ebay that was selling contacts? And I also asked him about his low feedback rating..

His reply was this:


I don't know why I am the one who is selling but I am sure they are legal in
the US. I have deal with lots of people on ebay in the past. This is my new
account due to someone hack to my old account. I just started selling on
this account 6 days ago. I sold a lot of pairs over the last 6 days.


I also emailed eBay asking if it was legal to sell this item and pointed this guy out to them....I haven't yet heard back from ebay on the matter.

OK, yesterday I was outbidded.....WHEW! I thought to myself!.....but guess what....today I get a email saying there had been a bid retraction and I'm the winner...:rolleyes: ........

I do a search on this persons auctions to find that everyone of the auctions had bid retractions that I looked at.." eBay calls this bid shilling".....
CLICK HERE TO SEE HIS AUCTION HISTORY (http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?MfcISAPICommand=ViewListedItems&userid=kissesyoureyes&include=0&since=30&sort=3&rows=25)

I get this email from the person today and here is what it said:



The seller, kissesyoureyes, has entered a total price of £13.35 for the item below.

The seller entered the following message: Please pay 17.80 GBP = $30.00 USD to me (includes shipping to US and Canada). I will strongly prefer USPS INTERNATIONAL Postal Money Order (No GREEN money order please). USPS International Postal Money Order can be picked up at your local post office. But paypal is OK. Please add $1.50 US to cover my paypal service fees. My paypal ID is kissesyoureyes@hotmail.com
Please ask me for my address before mailing any money order to me.

Insurance is optional for $3US. I am not responsible for lost/stolen packages if you decide not to buy the insurance.

Please pay 13.35 GBP = $21.75 USD to me (includes shipping to US and Canada). I will strongly prefer USPS INTERNATIONAL Postal Money Order (No GREEN money order please). USPS International Postal Money Order can be picked up at your local post office. But paypal is OK. Please add $1.50 US to cover my paypal service fees. My paypal ID is kissesyoureyes@hotmail.com
Please ask me for my address before mailing any money order to me.

Insurance is optional for $3US. I am not responsible for lost/stolen packages if you decide not to buy the insurance.

SEND PAYMENT TO:
Johnny Lai
P.O. Box 26503
Blundell Centre Postal Outlet
Richmond, B.C.
V7C 5M9 Canada


OK let's now pretend I'm stupid enough to go through with it....he has the price wrong. I won it for 10.00 his money and I think ebay said that would be $13 something my money.

Please tell me what I should do to get out of this. I don't want him to be able to leave me bad feedback. And I would bet my eye teeth he is a con artist. What do you think???????????? :confused:

[MsLynn]

I'd ask ebay about the rules, tell them when you were outbid and EBAY notified you that you were out bid.so you bought them somewhere else auction. and also that you should not be held liable for because someone retracted their bid.

also

1.00 GBP United Kingdom Pounds = 1.59260 USD

so by my figuring you should owe right at $16.00

[m.l. geyser]

Isn't the dollar worth more than the Canadian dollar? And also with contacts, aren't measurements of the eye taken so they fit? I personally wouldn't do it, tell him you found it elsewhere.

[ladybreaker]

why is his address canada and he wants british pounds?????i would pay the canadian rate of exchange.also--his mailing address looks kinda wierd--ie:it's not his house but a "postal outlet"???WTH is that????

ladybreaker

[Syrinx]

Originally posted by ladybreaker
why is his address canada and he wants british pounds?????

I was wondering this too. Sounds suspicious if you ask me. Have you contacted eBay about the bid cancellations, etc.? I know their customer service isn't great but they might help.

[schsa]

There are novelty contacts that are sold for all eyes and not prescription. There was a great deal of controversy over it a couple of years ago because of people who developed allergies to these novelty contacts.

I would give him the benefit of the doubt. He might be buying these contacts from a company in England and having them shipped to you. And he makes a bit more if he prices in pounds rather than Canadian dollars. The exchange rate is really not going to give him a big profit either way.

[lucybp]

This guy is nothing but a scammer. The location on his feedback card says United Kingdom but he gave you a Canadian address.
One person left him positive feedback saying "Wonderful Contact Lenses. Local Delivery . Wow! Nice person, Good Communication."
That person's location is Guinea.
It's against eBay policy to sell Contacts.
http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/prescriptions.html
You can report him for that & for having invalid contact information.


This is my new account due to someone hack to my old account.
I bet he's been suspended before for trying to sell these.

[ladybreaker]

notice how all of his feed back is from users with no feed back of thier own???????????????/

[Kyla Kym]

Also something else that is bothering me is he has it set to keep the bidders identity private. So you have no way of contacting the other bidders to warn them. And did you see how many he has sold this week??? Everyone one of them has bid retractions on them...so he is shilling to push the price up....I have a funny feeling he is going to take allot of people to the cleaners.

You just don't see bid retractions on that huge of a scale ever. He has to be shilling.

I wish I had a phone number to ebay to report him. This is worrying me to death.....

Thanks everyone for your opinions on this. It just re-insures me that my thoughts are true about him. I have e-mailed ebay. But still haven't heard back from them....

[Kyla Kym]

P.S. I just wanted to add, not only do I and the others have to worry about getting bad feedback now if we don't pay. We also have to worry about this person getting our personal information. You have that option on ebay to request the other persons phone number and address. Which I'm sure his will be fake, but if he request mine, he will be getting all my real info. :(

I just hope some how or another I can get ebay to ban him before he gets a chance to do that to me or anyone else.

[lucybp]

P.S. I just wanted to add, not only do I and the others have to worry about getting bad feedback now if we don't pay. We also have to worry about this person getting our personal information. You have that option on ebay to request the other persons phone number and address. Which I'm sure his will be fake, but if he request mine, he will be getting all my real info.

Hopefully he will be suspended before he can get it.

As for the negative feedback. If he does leave it & his contact info isn't correct, eBay will remove it.





http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/feedback-removal.html

Good Luck!

[BigLyd1]

I wouldn't worry about the negative feedback. If worse comes to worse and he leaves negative feedback for you, then you have the option of responding to it and telling your side. And if it comes to that, I don't know if you can say he's a scammer in your reply but that would sure get the word out to others.

[ladybreaker]

i went back and noticed that alot of his auctions lasted less than 5 mins??????if you scroll to the bottom of the completed auctions pages,it shows the time/date of start and finish and they were all really short???how do you do that?????

[Barbi_Route66]

I read this person's feedback. It all looks very fishy to me. I would definitely report him to Ebay.

[suziebee20]

I agree, something seems very wrong here! I hope ebay gets back to yo0u and gives you a good response. Otherwise, I definetly wouldn't follow through, despite the threat of negative feedback.

[reneep45]

DROP IT DUMP IT , HOPE YOU HAVEN'T SENT ANY MONEY !!!!!!!!!!

[sdb_ngc]

I almost bidded on his auction also for Grey contacts but before I bidded I checked with my eye doctor who STRONGLY suggested not to go this route as you MUST get fitted for contacts as they can ruin your eyes if you don't. So what I did was have him give me my prescription and have since been looking for a cheap site to order them from. Any ideas would be appreciated. Good luck with this seller.

[Dragonfairie]

Originally posted by lucybp
This guy is nothing but a scammer. The location on his feedback card says United Kingdom but he gave you a Canadian address.
One person left him positive feedback saying "Wonderful Contact Lenses. Local Delivery . Wow! Nice person, Good Communication."
That person's location is Guinea.
It's against eBay policy to sell Contacts.
http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/prescriptions.html
You can report him for that & for having invalid contact information.


I bet he's been suspended before for trying to sell these.


I looked at this particular one and noticed that the buyer left positive fb for the seller and the seller responded but failed to leave any fb for the buyer. Then I noticed that that particular buyer had 7 or 8 BID RETRACTIONS! Leads me to believe it is him bidding on his own auctions.

Also when you request his information yours is sent to him automatically, however since he is in another country probably I would not worry about it. But it would verify if he has a good address or not listed.

[Willow]

Originally posted by schsa
There are novelty contacts that are sold for all eyes and not prescription. There was a great deal of controversy over it a couple of years ago because of people who developed allergies to these novelty contacts.

I would give him the benefit of the doubt. He might be buying these contacts from a company in England and having them shipped to you. And he makes a bit more if he prices in pounds rather than Canadian dollars. The exchange rate is really not going to give him a big profit either way.

I would be careful too. Not only with this certain person but also with buying contacts without having them fitted properly. I have green eyes but I always wanted to see what I would look like with blue contacts or even the violet ones. You can even get them at Walmart but when I called to inquire about it they said that you need to have them fitted to your eyes even if you don't normally wear contacts or glasses. Everyones eyes are different and you need them to be fitted correctly.

[Willow]

Even ear candles are not allowed to be sold on Ebay. You can get those at different health and nature stores so I'm kind of surprised about that one.

[Willow]

There was another thread on here but I can't remember who started it. It was a vent about someone who had one an auction and then backed out on it. I think the seller does have some kind of recourse but in this situation it sounds like the seller is a scam artist so I don't think she would have too much trouble getting out of this one.

[Kyla Kym]

Originally posted by zitra
Is it legal one you win an auction, to "change your mind"? I have never purchased on ebay, but have always heard, that if you bid, it is a legal and binding contract, that you can not get out of. But if the OP has a copy of the auction, that says she won for $10 0r somehing like that, she should be able to use that against them, to get out of the bid, becuase they seller changed the terms, byt sending her a differnt price. Could someone let me know if I am right or wrong on this?

Thanks
Zitra, your correct..it's suppose to be a binding contract. But I think it only pertains to the honest members. My whole point is I think he is a con artist and no matter how much money I sent. I have a feeling I wouldn't get anything in return. That is my main concern here. I would never weasel out of a honest trade ever. I just have allot of reason to believe he is a scam artist. And I'm just biding my time until I hear back from eBay before I do anything else. But no he won't be getting any of my money because I think he is running a scam. Allot of the members here on the bbs have pointed out more things that make him look shady as well that I can show eBay support that I failed to notice before. There is just way to much weighing against him to be trusted.

[justinenycole26]

Oh honey, I hope you have not sent this man your hard earned money! It would be worth the neg to me, you can add an explanation. How much feedback do you have?
I know how you feel, you got excited because you found something you wanted and bid quickly without thinking. I have done the same thing but fortunately it turned out well for me. I hope you get this straightened out. {{{{kyla}}}}

[mom4angels]

I wouldn't send this man anything. He sounds just like you said a scam artist. I thought that Ebay had a phone number somewhere that you could call. I hope that you reported him to the Safety Harbour.
Does anybody know the number to Ebay, if there is one

[lucybp]

They don't have phone support but you can try live help.
http://altfarm.mediaplex.com/ad/ck/1065-8992-5717-26?ck=help

[charlahinkle]

Dang, every auction that has been bid on has a bid retraction.. Just definatley not one I'd send my money to. Scary.

Charla

[tiggerzme2]

if it was me I think I would goto the Trust and Safety discussion board! These people have helped me a couple of times. There is no way I would send this guy money!!!!! You can tell just by looking at his feedback that its all a scam!!!! I would just take a negative if I had to but it doesnt even look like he would post one :) Hope everything works out ok for you!

[cab244]

I just wanted to add that under Ebay's rules you are not allowed to charge your buyers surcharges for using services like Paypal, or for covering your selling fees. You're supposed to incorporate that into your starting bid.

[Kyla Kym]

I still haven't heard back from eBay yet on this. I'm going to give them a few more days and if I don't get a email back I will try the chat thing. Thanks for the link lucybp :) And thanks everyone for all the things you have pointed out about this. I'm going to copy it all so I can show eBay when I do finally get ahold of of someone.

He hasn't tried to contact me again yet. So at least he isn't pressuring me yet.

[lucybp]

You're welcome Kyla Kym. :)
That guy is such a crook. Hopefully eBay will see what we all see & take care of him.

[iowakat]

On one auction that is over it says, "The seller ended this listing early to sell to the high bidder(s) at current bid price." The "winning bid" was GBP 0.01 or approximately US $0.02. That doesn't make any sense.

[lucybp]

On one auction that is over it says, "The seller ended this listing early to sell to the high bidder(s) at current bid price." The "winning bid" was GBP 0.01 or approximately US $0.02. That doesn't make any sense.
Look at the start/end time on that one.
Start Time: Jul-19-03 20:54:34 PDT
End Time: Jul-19-03 20:56:00 PDT

He ended it less than 2 minutes after he started it. I don't think this guy is playing with a full deck.
One person left him feedback just a few hours after the auction ended & several of the people who have left him feedback have a bunch of retractions.

[SilverKittyNH]

Originally posted by cab244
I just wanted to add that under Ebay's rules you are not allowed to charge your buyers surcharges for using services like Paypal, or for covering your selling fees. You're supposed to incorporate that into your starting bid.

You can charge a Paypal surcharge if you're a seller from the UK.

Also, all bids are considered "live" until the auction ends. If someone retracts are you are left the high bidder, you are also left holding the bag.

Please do to go to the Trust and Safety board for advice on this issue. Warning: you'll get some over that will jump down your throat for whatever...ignore them - they have their own agenda and aren't worth worrying about. Others will be able to give you valid advice to follow.

[jobrick]

I would not pay him and risk the bad feedback from him. Its not worth it. You can always respond to his feedback he gives you.

I would not mess around with your eyes, even if he gives them to you, you don't know where they came from or who wore them before.

[Jayd]

I found this site tonight from Courtv
http://www.ebayersthatsuck.com/main/index.php

[a12100]

First of all I would not send this guy any money. I would compleatly ignore him and wait untill he files a non paying bidder. The only action he can take is to report you and you will get a warning, you have to have three to get kicked off ebay. No one will know that you have a warning, except you and ebay. When he does leave you neg. feedback I would write a responce and say that this guy seemed like a scammer etc.. when he files the non paying bidder all his fees will be reimbursed and he will not be out any charges. I would also leave a neg feedback for him and say that it seemed fishy. I think the only recouse he could take is court, but why would he sue over $10?? Also dont do the safe harbor thing, if he decides to do it it will cost him $20, you can report him to safe harbor though I think for free. Bottom line is I wouldn't pay and its better to have one neg than to be scammed out of $20 or whatever.

Next is I would keep up with the ebay reports, however you should only submit it once because it just takes more time to get an answer if you send them 5 complaints on the same subject.

Also Ebay is supposed to inspect all bid retractions..

[Kyla Kym]

Thanks for the link Jayd, I'm going to go check it out now. I still haven't heard back from ebay yet. But he has only sent me one notice so far. I guess I keep hoping if I ignore him he will eventually go away! Or at least maybe ebay will catch on to him soon. I hope I don't regret dragging my heels on this.

[lucybp]

No word from eBay yet? They are so slow investigating stuff.
I reported a guy the other day for shilling. He's even more stupid than the Contacts guy. This idiot has 3 id's that I know of. One has no feedback & he sells with the other two. He has his payment address in listings for both of his selling ID's. The address, phone# etc is exacyly the same & the two ID's bid on each other's auctions.
What a dope.

[Sarahsmom]

Another thing I just saw, on the auctions that have 2 bids, he listed his location as Texas.

[Kyla Kym]

Just thought I would update yall on this since so many people were nice enough to post.

I started getting notices from this guy sent through eBay. So I did the chat thing and really got no where. I turned him in several times, never heard back from CS. Reported him to SafeHarbor, never heard back from them.

I started sweating bullets that I was going to get negative feedback. (yes I know I can say something back, but I hate the thoughts of ruining my perfect feedback. On another one of my handles I got a neutral once and everytime I look at my feedback now on that handle it just POPS out at me first thing "1 NEUTRAL" and makes me cringe)LOL

Well anyway, I couldn't stand it anymore and had to email him back. I thought about making up something to tell him like payment is on the way while I stalled for time so ebay could get back with me. But I hate liars so I decided to confront him. The first email I sent back I told him what you charged me was wrong. So he gladly re-billed me a much lower price......then I thought about it for a while...and emailed him back and said......you know shilling is illegal on eBay don't you?.......he replied I'm not shilling. I replied back about how I knew he was and how I knew he was pulling allot of shady things. He replied back that he was innocent.....never once lost his temper by the way......

So I told him that I was sorry but I wasn't going to send him money without getting the product first because I thought he was pulling a scam. I told him if you really are on the up and up you will send me the product first because my feedback speaks for itself. I've been a member of ebay since 1998 and you can see I have always been honest.
I thought that would be the last time I heard from him...

But guess what....I got the contacts in the mail yesterday! LOL
So I paid him as promised. I still think he is running a scam. And the contacts say RX only on them. They are brand new in a sealed container.

I'm afraid to put them in my eyes especially since I got hit the other day in the eye with a ceiling fan. :rolleyes:

Well I just wanted to let you all know what happen since so many of you went to the trouble to help me find more shady things about him. If ebay ever does contact me back. I will let yall know what was said. :)

[Blackberry]

I'm glad he came through for you. Aren't life's little surprises nice?

[Kyla Kym]

Sure are 13ducks :) I'm happy that he at least came through on the product. But it still bothers me that eBay is ignoring all the shady things he is pulling. The shilling part is the worse. I can't understand why they have ignored me. When I did the chat thing with the ebay CS and told them that the e-mail's I've sent to CS hadn't been answered. This person replied something like "that doesn't mean they aren't investigating it" she said it more in a smart Aleck tone. But I can't remember her words exactly. I have the chat saves somewhere if I find it, I will post it. :-)

[cSoReNSoN]

I would definitely be leery of putting in contacts that weren't fitted by an eyecare professional.