I don't understand why there are thumbs down for this video?. All the guy is doing is to try and make people aware of a scam which can only be good surely! I have been waiting 2 months now for an item from overseas, have contacted the seller twice but no reply. Went to leave negative rating, only to find that it wouldn't except it. This, after a disputed bidding trail for an item, where it appears that I ended up bidding against myself has confirmed to me that eBay is not all it is cracked up to be. I will now be winding down my ebay activities thanks to the comments by the above contributor and my own recent experiences.

Its safe for buyers not sellers

I recently sold an item for $360 dollars on eBay. Buyer made up an excuse to return the item after using it, contacted Paypal to get their money back and they took money off my account, no questions asked. Where is the seller protection when every piece of evidence was against the buyer? We need more awareness about this thief with a big name, Paypal!

I'm so sorry this happened to you. Thanks for making us aware that there are these kinds of scams going on. Especially the novice eBay seller such as myself.

A similar situation has happened to me before: I sold a pair of shoes for about $115. I sent it to the address on paypal. Initially she filed a case stating she never received the package, when I had proof of the confirmation number, she claimed that when she opened the package but "nothing was inside." Even though I had the receipt with the weight of the package on there, paypal was making all these excuses and sided with the buyer in the end. Don't try to sell anything through paypal/ebay!

eBay has changed their policy to protect the buyers even if the buyer is in the wrong, the seller gets shafted regardless. Any item over $250-USD requires a signature to verify delivery. Always ship to a confirmed address!

Thank you so much, i watched this video right before i left for the post office and i saved $540. The guy said that he wanted my item to be sent to soewhere in France but then he offered $120 more so that i would send it to africa for his “nephew” but he didnt change the addressmon the ebay order.

On eBay I find it a lot easier and safer to sell cheap things, like you said in the video, stay away from big ticket items.I have never experienced what you went through(And I sure hope I wont in the future.)I actually like selling cheap things because A)I have a lot of the small and cheap items and B)It is quick money.When I mean cheap items, I am not referring to the quality of the item but the overall value of it.Anywhere around $5-$70, I never really sell anything above that.

Is it only not safe for sellers?

Another scam that stopped me from using ebay, was the buyer claiming the item was broken or didn't work and demanding a refund.

God bless you for your warning!!!

Thank yo for taking the time to record this video and share your experience . Im sure lost of people benefited from your video. Thank you!

Excellent message. Thanks. I have used Ebay for years and have never been able to lodge a dispute as the forms they have NEVER meet your actual requirements to relay your side. Thanks for reminding us!!! Cheers from British Columbia!

If you receive payment, you send item and the buyer confirms that he received the item and posted a positive feedback on the transaction. Is there any risk he come back asking for refund (scaming me)?

A piece of advise, I ve' been dealing with ebay for a long time. Always ship to the same address of the buyer and make sure you copy it correctly. Secondly, always ship with a tracking no. even if ite costs the buyer a bit higher. Always check the package through the tracking no. once it's delivered, inform Pay Pal to release the money earlier. If the buyer is asking something not logical or suspicious, inform ebay about him and they will keep an eye on him.

Same thing happen to me, i sold three items on ebay and posted them to the address given by paypal, the buyers made a claim through ebay that they never receive their items so ebay and paypal took the money out of my account and gave it to the scamers,I have advise international buyers on my listing to take insurance and tracking number but they rather pay for normal postage,and if anything get lost in the mail ebay and paypal will take the money from my account and give it to them.

As buyer you are pretty safe though. I hardly ever hear of claims that a buyer lost no matter how obvious the fraud is.

I wish I had seen your video sooner. I just got scammed BIG TIME on Ebay. HUGE! I fell for the same thing that you fell for, a person requesting for me to send an $1800 USD MacBook Pro laptop to a different address in another country. I sent it via the US Postal Service, and even though I caught on before the laptop left the country, they were not able to do ANYTHING to stop it and return it to me. The laptop has not even arrived but but I've already realized that I am going to lose my $1800 and

Thanks for the video. I'm closing my account down because I'm also tired of eBay's horrible business practices. It's not worth the headaches. Their customer service people DO NOT care about any concerns you may have. They say they "value" me as a customer, but they truly don't. They also don't take in consideration of your 100% feedback rating when making decisions in a case. All I can say to eBay is goodbye. I will only buy on Amazon now and bypass the headaches.

What’s changed? The most important update is to everyone’s favorite subject: fees. We’re increasing the ATM withdrawal fees for all debit card users (consumer, business and student) from $1.00 to $1.50 (section 7). See how ignorant the greedy rich ebay/paypal are? Don't use Paypal! Ebay owns paypal for those who may not know.

There should be an option on your transaction to 'report seller' & you should! Don't let them get away with it & carry on doing it to others! You should only ever post to the address on Paypal to be 'covered'. If buyer asks you to post somewhere else - REFUSE! Tell them politely that you can only send to address linked to their Paypal account, cancel & refund. Join the Ebay Community on Ebay - & read the Seller forums to gain essential knowledge & help for selling on Ebay!

i have a different problem... so a guy bought my item and ebay says "awaiting payment" even tho the guy claims he has paid for it (and its a buy it now listing)

I’ve had a sale dispute on eBay, where the buyer damaged the screen of the iPad and tried to return it for a refund. EBAY ruled in my favour and said I won the case, so I never had to refund him. He then opened up a case on PAYPAL. PAYPAL then fully refunded him. Even though I told them eBay ruled in my favour and I never had to refund him. I WAS TOLD WE NO LONGER THE SAME COMPANY and eBay no longer have any say in PAYPAL disputes. SO NOW AS A SELLER YOU HAVE TO WIN TWO DISPUTES WITH TWO DIFFERENT COMPANIES ABOUT ONE TRANSACTION. As a seller you can argue from now till the end of time. IT WILL ALWAYS END IN THE BUYERS FAVOUR WHETHER THEY ARE RIGHT OR WRONG. THATS WHY FRAUD IS SO EASY WITH COMPANIES LIKE EBAY AND PAYPAL.

So sell your stuff locally if its just a couple of items...but if its a business, all business's have loss's Plain and simple.....Tired of hearing complaints from Sellers...Old saying, the customer is always RIGHT!!!

Thanks for this,....I have been using Ebay and Paypal for over 8 years and appreciate info like this. I feel sorry for honest people like you,...Im glad you were on the ball and recovered your laptop.I have never been burned on Ebay,...but real close several times! Cheers from Vancouver BC

Interesting information. Thank you for sharing - I'm a new seller, and have had a similar situation with a Russian buyer. Fortunately, I caught it early.

True, Ebay & PayPal may not have the best customer service, but you have to understand that if a tracking number for an item shipped does not show that it was delivered to the address in the payment details, then it is your word against the buyer. And as the old saying goes, "The customer (the buyer in this case) is always right." So with that said, eBay/ PayPal will only have the shipping tracking number to go by in this case and if it doesn't confirm delivery, they will side with the customer.

I have a buyer right now who has a billing address in Paris and a mailing address in Massachusetts with a P.O. Box. Should I be skeptical? Is this setting off any alarms for you? This will be my first time using PayPal for selling and I can't afford to get scammed. Thank you!.

Sadly this happens more frequently than you would think, and paypal/eBay will usually side with the buyer even if you have evidence of the fraud. If you were scammed out of a lot if money, I wonder if you are able to take legal actions.

Thank you. I too will never use paypal again after my own experience of their unscrupulous tactics. Seller protection, non existent. Glad you retained your laptop at least.

Another scam I got involved is with my Sister's laptop. Some guy wanted to buy it. He came round picked up the item. Thinking that the buyer was genuine. No, he wasn't. In fact, the buyer hacked into someone else's account and took the person's money from that account and used it to buy the laptop for free.. I had no option than to pay the money back in the end, losing over £700. This guy not only scammed me but up to 20 other people.. This time, I advise people if you got people coming round to pick up the stuff.. get a picture of the person who collects the item. Hopefully the police will catch them in the act..

What I hate is, when a seller sends you something less than described, like new or excellent condition, but arrives very beat up and scratch and very used looking. When you ask for a refund, they tell you to send it back at your expense.

I am in a fire evacuation situation here in Sonoma County, CA and ebay forced paypal to hold $4400 worth of payments from me. I have been an ebay member since 1999 and have never neglected to ship an item, yet ebay and paypal both claim they are holding my funds for security reasons in case I don't ship the items. They say they won't release the funds for 21 days. I may not have a place to live in 2 days. They know this. I told them it is an emergency. Regardless, after 1 hour and 14 minutes on the phone, they refused to release my own funds to me.

The scam is not from the real paypal or eBay account. You must check the email address and double confirm with the actual eBay or paypal contacts before you do any sending or paying. I got this recently when some thief try to send an email to get some bank account details from me. I call paypal and they helped me.

PayPal only care for buyers. The agreement sucks and it's not following laws in different countries. Exemples: 1. The buyer use the thing for 179 days and do a dispute. The buyer will get the money back for no reason. 2. The buyer need a part. Buying a item, complaining and doing a dispute. Switching parts and sending the item back with a faulty part. The buyer will get full refund. 3. The buyer taking home the item and accidently drop it to the floor. The buyer do a dispute that it was damaged in the shipping. Buyer will get full refund.

I got scammed on PayPal for $230 and he sent it and it was on spam from my email I was so confused

Totally agree. Paypal and eBay really don't care about the sellers, they allow the buyers to basically screw you over. You really have to keep your head together when dealing with customers.

If they want it sent to another address, then you have to insist they amend the address in PayPal. If they are genuine, they will do it no probs. .. always send "tracked".

KoolBreeze420 It's true that viewing a person's ratings can help AFTER they've bid/bought from you, but there's no way to block a bidder according to their ratings (buyers can't get negative ratings anyway). Any buyer with any rating or any intention can bid. If they pay, even with the intent of withdrawing their money after you ship, there is nothing the seller can do about that. The very best one can do is set their buyer preferences to the strictest setting. Even then, it can only screen some people and it is in no way based on ratings given or received. Your apparent misunderstanding of this system suggests to me you do not have much experience selling (sorry if I am wrong about that, it just looks that way to me). I've shipped about 2000 packages to eBay customers. Not 2000 items, 2000 packages, so more than 2K items. Think about it, at least 4% of people do not pay and among those who DO pay, there is a certain percentage of scammers or rude buyers looking to take advantage of you. If you sell as much as we do, you're just statistically bound to run into those people. (Also depends on what you sell/buy) "I was once hacked and I got my money back with no problems." OK, so what about the seller? Can you see how the transaction may have been problematic from the seller's perspective? It's not uncommon for a legitimate buyer, not a hacked person, to ask us to ship to an alternate address because they're out of town for the holidays, they're intending it as a gift for the recipient, etc. If we DON'T ship to the requested address, we risk retribution from the buyer anyway. The last time I balked at shipping to an alternate address, the buyer totally freaked so I shipped to the alternate address figuring it was worth the risk of loosing my item and/or money if it meant saving myself from the negative feedback. "I felt that the seller was working with the hacker becasue he did not ship it to my ebay or paypal address" The seller has NOTHING to gain by doing this. They can ONLY lose their item and/or money AND they don't get their eBay fees back. I guarantee that seller PAID to lose their merchandise and likely harmed their account. "I was once hacked" Did you leave your account logged on? Are you comfortable letting us know how you were hacked?

(continued from below) I told ebay on phone that since they had nothing in their policy requiring sellers to hold onto tracking slips after seller sees item is delivered, then it's on them. Short of it all is I will not pay them back because buyer lied about not having item and I just may post the phone call. I know I can legally post phone call to ebay because they are a public company but not sure about buyer.

@dannecah be interested to know what happens. This is a regular scam. If anything, i hope this video at least makes people aware of what ebay/paypal dont seem to concerned about!

Ebay has a 100 things that suck about them, but them charging youthe final eval fee automatically isn't a big deal. But yes, this is an old scam. But thanks for posting it. We need people to post something like this weekly. I have known people to lose thosuands of dollars. But this happens with normally merchant accounts too. I know someone that owns a vacation home and charged $8k for a month, the tenant disputed the charge after their vacation and 3 months later got all the money back. This happens everywhere. It is important to understand the rules and regulations.

I have a large collection of high end/vintage guitars and planned to sell one every now and then. After just 3 sells the stress was so high on me that for me its just not worth it. I am considering simply making it local pickup only. PERIOD But yeah. NEVER,ever,never sell internationally. Like gambling,unless you can afford and accept the fact you can lose it.

I've had a similar problem. When I went to ship the parcel, the guy at UPS looked up the address and said its probably a scam. I didn't ship and told Ebay what's going on.

That sucks, On the other hand it also SUCKS if a seller wont accommodate a simple shipping address change that is handled THROUGH eBay messaging ....I just did that a couple days ago and seller was happy to help me out. The OBVIOUS solution is for EBAY to simply provide a change of ship address prior to it shipping...I believe Amazon accommodates on this as I recall. Having said that I stopped selling on Ebay after being burned badly as a seller

Thanks for making this video. It always boggled my mind in what ways can a buyer scam the seller. Well, I started using ebay recently, sold a few items, and I have not been scammed so far. I am considering my options of trying a different selling site.

Thank you for this post. This confirmed that a suspicious buyer was indeed trying to scam me. Appreciate your help!

for me ebay is not worth it now.Ebay made an mistake and refused me ,when I proved my claim they said.”we stand by our decision”

I've had similar issues with Ebay and Paypal, which are virtually the same company so PayPal keeps your money and they will refund it to the Buyer even in these scam situations, and you will have to pay for the return shipment, final sale fee, and taxes - and they will deduct it from your paypal or bank account. Ebay is good for Buyers but not sellers. They will hold on to the money until the Buyer gets the package and in some cases, longer. In my case, the guy bought the item and claim it was not what he ordered, then he wanted me to give him a discount and when I refused, he requested a refund, and even though it was AS IS, no returns, eBay via Paypal sent the money back to the guy. I had to pay return postage and that was on top of the postage i paid to send. I was out of $65.

@Agemrepus Yes, there are other scams, and my experience made me realize ebay/paypal don't offer support when things go wrong.

Thank you , I'm a new seller and just got a inquiry asking for my email , paypal , and wanting to text me. I appreciate your help.

Always sad to know someone new got scammed. However, I really hope many others can benefit from this video... Personally, I will remember it. Thanks.

Thank you folks for all the information.

Its common sense you never change the address or send it to another person address not listed without proof.It was your fault for bad judgement.

It isn't that simple. The funds are often not available to sellers until the item has been confirmed as delivered to the proper address. The funds may be in your account but a HOLD is put on the funds. For a new seller, even a plain vanilla sale can have the seller waiting 21 days to receive the funds from the sale.

Pretty sure I've seen several sellers list in their disclaimer that they will not ship to any address that is not the listed Paypal address.

Great video sir many folks are unaware of the pitfalls of ebay and paypal.

why do you keep giving the finger?

Yeah they help thieves,they may started overzealous buyer protection because of seller scams,now those same people that were commiting seller scams have just switched to committing buyer scams,then have the audacity to just suggest that you just move on from it after they help someone steal your merchandise.

The protection you only have as a Seller...is to send the item to a Confirmed address and keep a tracking number. Paypal will not take the funds from your account if the buyer ever dispute their purchase. But now these scammers are more sneaky. They’ll use a confirmed address for a shipping company where all their fraudulent purchased is shipped to and send them to indonesia. And all these items that are being shipped to this place were paid with fraudulent payment..

Yes Mate Ta for that! Most of the stuff I sell is Pick up C.O.D,On Items I post,NOTHING goes out until I recieve the email from paypal that payment is recieved, I and others really appreciate feedback on experiences from folk,it helps keep the bastards honest!

hey i just got scammed twice and after watching your video now know that i was correct. ebay made me refund both of my payments even though i know both buyers received their item in perfect condition. this is crap the ebay refuses to do anything about this. thanks for making this video!

Why Did U Use Middle Finger As A Pointer?

Thank you for taking the time to tell us about this I will pass it on had some similar experiences as well thank you.

There's still a growing climate of fear, distrust and bad experiences going on at ebay. There's a blog about it all on Wordpress. It's called Ebay Horror Stories.

I sold a gold necklace on eBay several years ago, and was paid via PayPal. The payment cleared, I sent the item (with tracking & insurance), and as soon as I notified the buyer that the item was shipped, he reversed the payment! How he was allowed to, I don't know! But I contacted PayPal, and they refused to take responsibility, telling me, "It sounds like fraud, but we're not responsible, because the buyer was not "verified" by them. (Isn't that THEIR job??). Why let the payment go through?

Thank you for this information. I will be sure to never walk into a situation like this. I just recently joined ebay and know very little about how fees work.

Just signed up for PayPal and now I'm having second thoughts... So many bad reviews for the seller... I've got a couple of items I want to sell but I'll probably just avoid PayPal and eBay now.

So if you don't use PayPal or eBay for shipping Big Ticket items what do you use what platform do we use

It not really allowed but u can click the positive button and leave a negative comment the buyer can have it removed but most don’t

You set yourself up. Never send any item to alternative shipping address. Let the buyer themselves forward the item to whom ever they buying the gift for. Always adequately describe your item; do not use the manufacturer's stock images whenever you're selling a used item. Also utilize KZfaq & post a video in your eBay listing to show the actual item you're selling, so you leave no doubt in the buyer's mind about the item they'll be receiving when they win an auction or purchase an item BIN.

I was scammed over a purse. The buyer claimed it was a fake even though it was authenticated, took a knife and destroyed the bag but pp took the buyer side. They are making me do "police reports" so i called pp and said im suing you

Right this minute there are thousands of fraudulent listings on Ebay. In about 30 seconds I found about 4 hundred.

I have now realized that the reason ebay started giving an random alias to bidders is to hide the bidders that always seem to know the high bid in advance of their own offer. I wonder how they know??????????

that's why you ONLY ever ship to the address listed in paypal period. You can call paypal and speak to them. You should of also called Ebay's trust and safety department. I would sum it up to a learning experience. Also never send anything out the door when its pending payment once someone pays you and shows completed they only thing that they can do is file a claim with paypal they cant just say hey I want my money back it does not work like that.

They also do this with Craigslist. I put up a laptop for sale with my cell # and a scammer text me and said they'd pay $300 for a computer I only wanted 200 for. They asked for my Paypal email saying they wanted to purchase it for a cousin that was out of the country. I text back "Local pickup and CASH only" I never heard back from them.

Another scam: they send a fake cashiers check which takes a few weeks for your bank to verify is fraudulent. In the meantime though, many banks will extend a credit to your account so that you think that the check has cleared when in reality it hasn't. The scammer then either steals the item you send them or demands a refund be wired back to them. When the bank finally figures out the check is bad, they reverse the credit to your account.

what do you do when you have not received your item , and the seller accuses you of being a scammer . and obviously will not give you a refund back. im new to Ebay and live in a country in Africa (Namibia) unfortunately. I found out that africa is a commonly used address for scammers. also had a tracking number apparently which I cant follow up on.

here's another, buyer will contact you to pay for a purchase by depositing money in your the sellers paypal account, if you don't have one they will tell you how simple it is to set up, they say the money is sent, it shows up in your paypay account and you ship the item, here's the issue, paypay does not release the money to you for 30 day's, you item is sent, in 30 day's your are advised that the buyer did not send the money to start with, be careful, don't ship anything with a paypal payment unless you are 100% plus sure you have your money in hand, THIS HAS NOTHING TO D WITH EBAY, all the best , Tom

Ebay protects its buyer but not sellers!!! After watching this video i realized that i do this all the time. I buy things and send them as gifts to family/friends in Canada. And all the sellers have been mailing the items for well over 4 years and never had an issue.

Thanks pal. I've often edited an address at customer's request after a sale. I'm not sure I'll continue doing that.

unfortunately you are right, even my video gives options for crooks. If ebay/paypal had any concern for their customers, they would close these loopholes

Holy shit mate you saved me. This man wanted me to send my laptop to Zimbabwe. Thanks for saving me almost 200$ for shipping

Thanks for the vid. Can't be certain, but I have a feeling this is what someone is trying to pull with me right now. Seems very odd to ask for an invoice when there's a Buy It Now set up.

had a question, lets say scammer sent me the money in my pay pal, and I spend it really quickly. would I get in trouble or might I remind u I dont have a bank hooked up to my paypal

It’s not eBays fault in my opinion I do believe they should have done but also you should always only use eBay normally if any buyer asks for anything out of ordinary don’t do it ! Also pay attention to buyers history I personally wouldn’t sell to anyone with a low amount of buys I sell supreme and designer clothes ! If someone doesn’t have history of being a legit buyer I don’t care how much they offer me I’m going to reject their offer ! Someone tried to scam me recently by sending me a offer than asking me to message em outside the app😂 so I trolled em and just sent them prank messages ! Anytime someone wants to do business outside the app you know they’re a scammer ! They wanted to PayPal me money outside of the app so I’d ship it and they’d cancel it but I caught on the moment I saw what they were doing ! eBay is a great platform just be sure to avoid new buyers especially when you’re selling valuable goods!

Very nice of you to share this experience so that other people can avoid this sort of bull from happening to them as well.

A seller has no protection on ebay. I listed a pair of sneakers and very quickly got a buyer. The buyer made an offer for more than the buy it now price. WHY?? Why would anyone want to pay more than the buy it now? I reported it to ebay but they play dumb. So now my product is off the market for 48 hours until the buyer pays. Which is not going to happen.

I am a US powerseller. If you go in and try and cancel the transaction, you should get the fee reversed. We have similar scams here in the US. I'm glad you were able to retrieve the laptop. I've had people buy from the US and ask for shipping to international and I will refuse to do it or will only do so if they also pay for full parcel insurance. Then if they scam me, I can make a claim at least.

Stop flipping me off man -.-

So what else can you use apart from eBAY and PAYPAL.....??????????

The only thing I agree with it that Ebay does double dip in fact they triple dip. They charge for the listing then the final fee and then again if you use paypal. But if you get everything signed for and do not allow people to circumvent the rules by changing adresses - it is not really my defintion of hassle unless you have zero patience.

Thanks for taking the time for this video.I know that any of the questions when your choice is there limited list of possible right answers or even worse yes or no only crap its time call instead of going down that dead end street ?

Exactly, some of thse buyers might even lie they received something else. Ebay is only protecting buyers. And i do not understand the necessary collaboration with paypal because paypal will stipp charge you money for transferring the money into your bank account

Someone is trying too do exact same thing to me right now..what do I do? I haven't sent the item yet

I was almost a victim too. Thought I had my motorcycle sold using PayPal. Got a message that looked like I had money in my paypal account plus an additional $550 that I was to send to a U.S. address to pay for my bike to be shipped to Halifax. However the funds would not be released to my paypal account until I first paid for the shipping. When I canceled the deal without paying the phoney buyer then said I could not cancel and that she would lose her money. Thank goodness I didn't forward the $550 for shipping in advance. The crook would have my money and then cancel with PayPal. Don' trust pp. too much potential for being scammed

Horrible! Im an ebuyer and thats just nasty! When I want to send stuff to my family the addreses can be added already on paypal so no buyer really needs to request to the seller...ush..so sad that people are so nasty! Nice video

am about to sell an item but am still waiting for the payment to be received once I get the payment I will waste the money and ship the item

Hi. Just wanted to let you know they are also scamming Craigslist as well. I wanted to lease a home in NC for a year and found this one online that would have met my needs. This scam was from Africa, He went on to say he was a minister doing work there and he needed someone to stay in his home while he was away on a mission. They find a house on realtor's website and post it as their own, and ask for first and last month rent. It just sounded too good to be true. Checked on google. SCAM!

Always ship to a paypal confirmed address. Another big scam is the Item Not As Described Cases. These always get awarded to the buyer and they send the seller back a false item. They end up keeping the expensive piece. All paypal cares about is if the item arrived (whatever that item may be).