BEWARE if you sell Internationally on Ebay - New Fraud!

shmup-o · Post by **shmup-o** » Mon Feb 28, 2005 11:52 pm

Just wanted to drop this tidbit off on anyone who sells on ebay and sends internationally.

DON'T SEND VIA AIRMAL!!! I cannot stress this enough. Most people on the forums will realize if they want tracking and insurance they will need to pay up for EMS. However, no one uses EMS due to the high expense, Airmail is typically 2/3 or 3/4 cheaper.

The fraud is right there in PayPal. They require you to supply a tracking number in case of a Buyer Complaint. So what happens? Buyer pays for auction via PayPal, wants Airmail, then claims to PayPal that they never recieved the item.

It doesn't matter how much proof you fax or scan for them, they require a tracking number. I'm out close to $300 because this has happened 4 times in the past month.

Don't let this happen to you! Just wanted to warn the community!

Thanks,
Andy

Ganelon · Post by **Ganelon** » Tue Mar 01, 2005 12:17 am

Meh, sellers can do the same shit. Sell an ultra-expensive game, send you a blank package, and claim they did everything on their part while the buyer is out of luck. Never happened to me before but both scenarios are worth keeping track of.

GaijinPunch · Post by **GaijinPunch** » Tue Mar 01, 2005 1:12 am

Pay an extra $3 for tracking confirmation. I still don't see how Paypal can be such a fucked up system.

thesuperkillerxxx · Post by **thesuperkillerxxx** » Tue Mar 01, 2005 1:25 am

GaijinPunch wrote:Pay an extra $3 for tracking confirmation. I still don't see how Paypal can be such a fucked up system.

Word

Vexorg · Post by **Vexorg** » Tue Mar 01, 2005 2:06 am

If I ship items internationally, I use FedEx, and specify that fact in my auctions.

shmup-o · Post by **shmup-o** » Tue Mar 01, 2005 3:33 am

A) Where the hell do you pay $3 for international tracking? Certainly not the US.

B) FedEx?!? That's crazy! It costs from $30 to $50 to send anything via UPS/FEDEX outside the US (except Canada)...

Vexorg · Post by **Vexorg** » Tue Mar 01, 2005 3:36 am

If they don't like it, then they don't bother bidding. It is very rare that I would ship anything outside the US or Canada anyway.

GaijinPunch · Post by **GaijinPunch** » Tue Mar 01, 2005 4:40 am

shmup-o wrote:A) Where the hell do you pay $3 for international tracking? Certainly not the US.

I didn't say tracking did I? Receipt confirmation is like $3. 415 yen in Japan...those are the only two systems I'm aware of. You can't track it, but it says whether or not the package arrived, which is all Ebay needs. Sorry if it came out wrong at first.

The answer to this system is very simple... well, the answer is, but the solution is hard. Paypal is so broken -- t's a fucking joke. They get a commission on EVERY transaction, yet they have zero liability. Where is the justic in that?! If the US, leader in computers and everything technical would wake the fuck up and make a decent system where the banks could easily send money to and from each other, we could tell Paypal to piss off, and not have to deal with them.

The Japanese banking system is for the most part, horrible, but they set up a pretty nice method for USERS to send money to each other. Each bank has a number, as does each branch and each account. A very easy to program skeleton, where you make your interface however you want. If I do a deal on Yahoo Japan, Johnny Tanaka sends me his info, I got to the ATM (yes, ATM people) punch in his info, my code, and how much I went to send... costs 315 yen (at most) and it's done immediately. Get a Japan Net Bank account and I can do it from anywhere in the world, even cheaper. Back here in America, people are still mailing checks to their landlord. WTF?!

Specineff · Post by **Specineff** » Tue Mar 01, 2005 5:20 am

I am happy to report every single international transaction I have engaged into has been successful and pain free. The only ones I'm a bit wary of is Hong Kong or China, but that's due to the rampant piracy that goes on there, and not the integrity of the sellers.

Three times I have bought from japanese sellers, used airmail, and never had a problem. They do have their honor, and doubt one of them would cheat on a transaction like those, even if they could get away with it.

But I agree with GaijinPunch. It's very fuxxored up.

mannerbot · Post by **mannerbot** » Tue Mar 01, 2005 6:50 am

Specineff wrote:Three times I have bought from japanese sellers, used airmail, and never had a problem. They do have their honor, and doubt one of them would cheat on a transaction like those, even if they could get away with it.

Yup.

Post by **Ghegs** » Tue Mar 01, 2005 7:39 am

Out of all my purchases on eBay (30 or so, all international) I've used EMS only twice, otherwise airmail without any major problems.

One time I did get an empty GBA Phalanx box. It was obviously re-sealed and the manual was still there, but no game. The seller refunded me in full, though.

And now it seems the copy of PCE Override I won over a month ago is lost somewhere, but the seller agreed to send me another one, so...

Post by **system11** » Tue Mar 01, 2005 10:58 am

I insist now on tracked postage if selling and they want to use Paypal. If they want to send me cash or cheque, I'll send airmail.

Super Laydock · Post by **Super Laydock** » Tue Mar 01, 2005 10:04 pm

I think paypal is a great alternative for sending possibly unreliable people your cc number.
At over 1 hundred international purchases with paypal I only once didn't receive my game and the seller gave me a full refund. You won't hear me complain about the system.
If you're selling small stuff the paypal charges can add up though, so specifying a small addtional cost (4% of total) is justified and correct.
I don't mind paying that little extra for something I truly want and often mention the costs in my personal auctions. No probs so far...

the2bears · Post by **the2bears** » Wed Mar 02, 2005 1:29 am

GaijinPunch wrote:...Paypal is so broken -- t's a fucking joke...

The Japanese banking system is for the most part, horrible, but they set up a pretty nice method for USERS to send money to each other. Each bank has a number, as does each branch and each account. A very easy to program skeleton, where you make your interface however you want. If I do a deal on Yahoo Japan, Johnny Tanaka sends me his info, I got to the ATM (yes, ATM people) punch in his info, my code, and how much I went to send... costs 315 yen (at most) and it's done immediately. Get a Japan Net Bank account and I can do it from anywhere in the world, even cheaper. Back here in America, people are still mailing checks to their landlord. WTF?!

Absolutely agree with your opinion on Paypal. I've heard some real bad stories of them freezing accounts of sellers etc.

Taiwan has the same kind of ATM transfer system. Very convenient, maybe costs 25 cents to wire someone money. Why don't they do that here? 'Cause they're gouging us with service fees. I got a money wire a few months ago, cost me $15. What did the bank do? They received an electronic signal. Absolute shite.

As far as eBay goes, I've bought 10 or so things in the last couple months and I haven't had any problems.

Bill

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Wed Mar 02, 2005 1:33 am

GaijinPunch wrote:The answer to this system is very simple... well, the answer is, but the solution is hard. Paypal is so broken -- t's a fucking joke. They get a commission on EVERY transaction, yet they have zero liability. Where is the justic in that?! If the US, leader in computers and everything technical would wake the fuck up and make a decent system where the banks could easily send money to and from each other, we could tell Paypal to piss off, and not have to deal with them.

Isn't Paypal just a way to transfer money to sellers? It should be ebay or the seller to offer such liability.

Nemo · Post by **Nemo** » Wed Mar 02, 2005 3:17 am

Paypal is a joke, especially their buyer protection. A got ripped off by a seller in Japan (never sent my item) and after paypal did their investigation and agreed the seller was liable, they said they couldn't do anything because he didn't have any funds in his paypal account. Last time I checked, paypal makes you keep a CC or checking account on file, and they could have got my due money by one of these means, but nope, they did zip. Their weak protection system basically facilitates thievery, especially on the international level.