The MLP Arena
TCB => Trader & Shipping Support => Topic started by: daffodil101 on July 21, 2016, 03:17:46 AM
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So, back in June a bunch of MOC/MIB G1s popped up on Etsy, selling for about $50 USD each. Of course they were all snapped up pretty fast. I bought some over a couple of days -- the seller said she didn't know much about them, and they were from an estate.
I messaged her after buying the first one asking if she had any other pony items to list. She was very nice and helpful and responded quickly, saying she had more to upload soon and wishing me good luck as they were disappearing as fast as they were uploaded.
Two days later I bought a few more and messaged her asking if i could get them shipped together as they were 3 separate transactions. I never heard back. I guessed it was my bad luck and that maybe after I received them I could contact her if the postage price was significantly less than the shipping costs I paid (I paid $80 US postage all up which seems like it should have been priority shipping, and overpriced at that.)
After over a month of waiting and the seller not responding to messages the shop has now suddenly closed. And another buyer, who also never received her items,did a search and discovered that all the photos were lifted from all over the internet. They were all close-ups, not showing any background and there was only one picture per listing, which is pretty unusual for Etsy.
They also pointed out that despite selling heaps of items there was NO feedback for the store at all.
So far two people (me and another buyer) have opened a dispute through Etsy, but you have to wait 7 days before Etsy will get involved in which time you're supposed to try and resolve it with the seller yourself.
The fact that she shop has been deleted (just after I last messaged her) and that no tracking numbers, replies to messages or feedback exist make it highly likely that she's a scammer.
It's likely some of the buyers are on the Arena. If anyone else has been scammed please join the thread. This seller has made some serious money. Or, if you have received an item from her please let me know!!
hugs xox
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Yes my poor friend bought some and this seller has also stolen pictures from other sites like eBay, Pinterest and even mlp wiki. She never could reply with tracking details and just deactivated her etsy account when PayPal claim was filed. Anyone who is still waiting for this sellers response or items I urge you to open a PayPal dispute ASAP. X
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How awful! yes this does sound like a scammer :( Thank you for the heads up - please would you post the sellers etsy ID in the title of the thread so that more people can see it? there could be a lot more Arena members involved.
Anyone who has bought items from this person and not received them needs to open a case right away
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It's Poemsandnotes and seller's name is Christina from Alberta Canada is what I am told xx
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Yeah, she got Aadra310 too. I'll point her this way.
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Yep. She got me, too. I opened a case and I checked for a thread here yesterday about her. I've been looking at the shop for the last two weeks waiting for someone to leave feedback and was starting to have suspicions when, after about 40 sales, there was no feedback.
ETA: I just opened cases and escalated them on PayPal as well.
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Yep. She got me, too. I opened a case and I checked for a thread here yesterday about her. I've been looking at the shop for the last two weeks waiting for someone to leave feedback and was starting to have suspicions when, after about 40 sales, there was no feedback.
My friend says PayPal has automatically put the cases under review. So I hope you all get your money back. So sad this has happened x
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She got me as well, I bought two. :( This is the absolute worst feeling, I was so excited about those ponies, but should have remembered that if something seems too good to be true, then it probably is.
I escalated my case with Etsy last week, but no response yet. I paid with a card (not paypal), so I filed a dispute with my bank at well.
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That's really too bad.
It always seems like when something seems too good to be true, it is because there is a scam somewhere... difficult not to fall for those things because there is always a chance that it is real...
Can't you skip the etsy dispute and file a paypal dispute?
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I would skip messing with Etsy and file with paypal and quick because if there are no funds left in the paypal account refunds may be hard to come by for everyone. Paypal freezes the funds when a case is opened. It's really important to do that quickly. I have a friend that lost a lot of money because she filed late on a paypal case. The seller removed the money and closed the bank account. My friend's refund was 10 cents. Unless they have changed this way of handling refunds I really would go for the paypal refund quickly. The more cases they have on a particular seller go through at the same time also assures that person may lose their ability to use paypal in the future hopefully. I always look for feedback before I bid or buy now. I am really sorry this has happened. It is sad to see that people so easily can steal from others this way.
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Yeah my friend has done PayPal first which went straight to escalation and review from what I heard. Will ask when I'm back home as I'm out and about now xx
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Sounds as if this may be something that may get turned over to police if people aren't refunded. So I would definitely file a case/complaint through both Etsy and PayPal.
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Wow, that's awful! :-S I almost bought something from her too, but while I was debating, all of them sold out.
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Ok I just spoke to my friend and she said she filed the case on PayPal without alerting the seller. So, hope PayPal was able to actually freeze the funds and red flag this seller before she could do anything with cancelling etc. But I'm not sure how it works so I'm hoping too. It's still pended as "being reviewed by PayPal" since she filed it a few days ago. But will keep you guys in a loop. I really detest thieves!!!!!!!!!
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She got me as well, I bought two. :( This is the absolute worst feeling, I was so excited about those ponies, but should have remembered that if something seems too good to be true, then it probably is.
I escalated my case with Etsy last week, but no response yet. I paid with a card (not paypal), so I filed a dispute with my bank at well.
Same here... I assumed I paid through Paypal but couldn't find the transaction IDs, finally realised I had checked the 'visa' option not the 'paypal' option, d'oh! I hope my bank can help.
Sounds as if this may be something that may get turned over to police if people aren't refunded. So I would definitely file a case/complaint through both Etsy and PayPal.
That would be really good if the police are able to help, especially if anything goes wrong with anyone not getting refunded. I don't know how it would work though, as the scammer and buyers would be in different states and different countries, but definitely something to look into :( I didn't count how many items she sold - you reckon around 40, Aadra? At $50 each that's $2000 (I think some were priced higher), not including all the postage, so it's a significant amount.
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It would be a federal case. If she's in the U.S., she'd be prosecuted here but her local police would begin the handling.
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She's out of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Yes, I looked at her etsy shop hours before it disappeared and she had about 40 sales. Ponies, purses, a few vintage cabbage patch, and glassware were the bulk of her listings. So, yes, daffodil101, I'd say $2000 is a fair estimate plus probably another $500-1000 for shipping.
Her shop said she and her husband had purchased stuff from an estate sale and were selling it on etsy. It sounded completely plausible as I have bought from and heard about several other such stories through the last two decades of collecting. I also joined etsy when it hit me that I had a TON of vintage stuff from my childhood I could sell so I don't immediately think new shops/sellers are fishy. As many of us know, when you find a good deal, you better jump on it or it will be gone so checking feedback isn't always an option. Looks like some of us will be paying the price for being early birds this go-around.
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I am so sorry for everyone that got scammed by this person. I think I saw a MOC pony on her shop page and was even going to sign up for an Esty account but it showed it was out of stock by the time I found it. I hope everyone gets their money back.
Ponyfan
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Oh my god she got me too. I'm so glad I saw this thread :(
Edit: Have filed etsy dispute, paypal claim.
This is terrible. I had a bad feeling about this but wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt.
Edit: Escalated Paypal. Thank goodness most of the purchase was on my CC, so I know they'll step in if all else fails.
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I feel like I may have dealt with her; I may have sold to her in-person, OR she kept trying to low-ball my prices... I can't recall which right now, I'll go find out...
*sigh* Yes I have sold loose ponies to her... Ah well. At least I have her real name and cell phone number ;)
Time to update the Bad Trader List!
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Could she have been on the Arena? This situation sounds really familiar. I wonder if she was a back in the day scammer too.
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I feel like I may have dealt with her; I may have sold to her in-person, OR she kept trying to low-ball my prices... I can't recall which right now, I'll go find out...
*sigh* Yes I have sold loose ponies to her... Ah well. At least I have her real name and cell phone number ;)
Time to update the Bad Trader List!
Are you positive it's the same woman? I'd imagine if it was it wouldn't be difficult for those to have enough information to file reports with the Calgary police. I do not see why an American cannot file a report against a Canadian committing fraud against them. (Those recently scammed- ask them on FB how to file a report. They do have a FB account). Theft under $5000 is subject to up to 2 years in prison. In the least she'd have issues having a record trying to get a job or rent a house etc.
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I feel like I may have dealt with her; I may have sold to her in-person, OR she kept trying to low-ball my prices... I can't recall which right now, I'll go find out...
*sigh* Yes I have sold loose ponies to her... Ah well. At least I have her real name and cell phone number ;)
Time to update the Bad Trader List!
Are you positive it's the same woman? I'd imagine if it was it wouldn't be difficult for those to have enough information to file reports with the Calgary police. I do not see why an American cannot file a report against a Canadian committing fraud against them. (Those recently scammed- ask them on FB how to file a report. They do have a FB account). Theft under $5000 is subject to up to 2 years in prison. In the least she'd have issues having a record trying to get a job or rent a house etc.
Not enough to be 100% positive but how many "Christine G"'s who are into G1 MLP can there be in Calgary? Not that many...
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I left a message on the Calgary Police's facebook page asking how to file a report. They don't take tips or reports over social media so hopefully I'll hear back from them! LBSquirmy, your info would probably be quite useful if they do decide to look into the case.
I contacted my bank and they had to cancel and re-issue my card as part of the investigation process, which is a pain. They said it would take 6-8 weeks to get a resolution so hopefully they'll be able to recover the money but no guarantees. Hope everyone else's claims are successful!
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I left a message on the Calgary Police's facebook page asking how to file a report. They don't take tips or reports over social media so hopefully I'll hear back from them! LBSquirmy, your info would probably be quite useful if they do decide to look into the case.
I contacted my bank and they had to cancel and re-issue my card as part of the investigation process, which is a pain. They said it would take 6-8 weeks to get a resolution so hopefully they'll be able to recover the money but no guarantees. Hope everyone else's claims are successful!
Well done on looking into filing the report etc. Good luck to you and everyone xxx
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The number the Calgary Police provided to report a case of fraud is: 403-266-1234
Hopefully they consider it fraud taking place in Calgary since that's where our scammer orchestrated it from. If enough of you report they'll likely be able to contact etsy and get enough of her personal details from them to charge.
Not enough to be 100% positive but how many "Christine G"'s who are into G1 MLP can there be in Calgary? Not that many...
Christine/Christina is a common enough name (shopkeeper was with an "a"). Calgary is a huge city with more then a million people, so two people having the same common name, surname starting with G with a MLP connection wouldn't be overly unusual. I'd hate for someone unrelated to get dragged into this. https://www.etsy.com/people/PoemsandNotes
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Update from my friend today : PayPal has sent her an email saying they are attempting to contact the seller to ask for details.So let's see what happens I would be surprise if they get a response or she may come up with some story :/
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Update :)
I just got in contact with the Calgary police over the phone (it's 12.30am here and 8.30 am there.)
They said that to file a case with them, each person scammed needs to file a report individually with their own local police in their own country. They can't do one big investigation on behalf of multiple parties. The police in our countries will then communicate with the Calgary PD on each of our behalf. This sounds fair enough, as we will probably need stuff like ID and to fill out forms, have print-outs of information etc which would be difficult to verify over the phone.
I'll try and go to my local police when I get a chance this week. Anyone else scammed, it would probably be good to do the same if you want to go down that path. I know that some of us had quite significant amounts stolen. I do feel that as she stole so much money, it would be good to at least have law enforcement make contact with her, even if we don't get our money back, just so she knows it's not okay and will think twice about doing it again!!
The tricky thing I suppose is that we don't have her details to give police. I guess my bank will have her account number, but we don't know her real name, phone and address. Presumably the police would need that information? I don't know what the process would be for getting those details.
LovesBabySquirmy, I don't know if it would be right to ask you for the details you have?? I know we're not 100% sure it's the same person, but if it matched details that Etsy or Paypal might have it at least show we're on the right track. I assume that Etsy would have the seller's details on their records, though I don't know if they would disclose them. The problem would be getting all these different investigations to line up. So far there's Etsy, Paypal, our banks, our local police and the Calgary police. At best there will be a lot of running around, updating each investigation with details from the others.
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Well etsy closed my case because I also filed a paypal dispute case I guess?
What the heck :(
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Matthew July 26, 2016
it appears that you've filed a chargeback against this seller with your credit card company since you filed this case on Etsy.
A chargeback is when funds are returned to a credit card owner after they report an incorrect or unwanted transaction on their credit card to the credit card company.
Buyers may only use one method of dispute resolution against a seller on Etsy. Therefore, this case is now closed and will not be reopened.
We've transferred this dispute to our Chargeback team for review. If we need any additional information, we'll get in touch with you via email.
"
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Trouble is, I looked through my emails with her, and they're all through the anonymous Kijiji system so I don't actually have her real address. :( So I don't have much to offer besides troubling another person if they aren't the same one...
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Got all my money back from Paypal! Hopefully, everyone else will, too!
Well etsy closed my case because I also filed a paypal dispute case I guess?
I got this notification as well. I don't quite understand why Etsy would close a case against a fraudulent seller. Seems to me it would stay open until resolved by paypal or whatever. I hope they have a different department than the "chargeback team" that this email mentioned to flag these things.
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Got all my money back from Paypal! Hopefully, everyone else will, too!
Well etsy closed my case because I also filed a paypal dispute case I guess?
Heya! Did they ask you for any additional info or just closed it in your favour? My friends is still pending. So she wanted to know .. so pleased you got your money back :) hugs
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I spotted a scammer a while back on a Dutch Ebay-like website. She stole a picture from Ebay of a lot with 82 Ponies.
I was looking around on that website and spotted the Ponies, wondering why it was the EXACT same picture. I know for sure cause I ha been watching that lot myself on Ebay, it sold for over 600 dollar back then. So I messaged the seller. She said I could buy all of the Ponies for 103 euro...which is pretty odd already. I wasn't really interested but was more trying to hear her out. There was only 1 picture as well. I reported her and the same day the add was removed by the Dutch Ebay. I must admit, I first thought that maybe the seller was already bored of the lot or was dissapointed with it or maybe even tried to make more profit of it by re-selling it. But I was glad that I knew the picture already. Otherwise I might have fell for it. I mean c'mon...82 Ponies for 103 euro? Who wouldn't do that?
This was a few months back.
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Heya! Did they ask you for any additional info or just closed it in your favour? My friends is still pending. So she wanted to know .. so pleased you got your money back :) hugs
No, they didn't ask for additional info. I wonder why it's taking longer for your friend.
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Heya! Did they ask you for any additional info or just closed it in your favour? My friends is still pending. So she wanted to know .. so pleased you got your money back :) hugs
No, they didn't ask for additional info. I wonder why it's taking longer for your friend.
Yes it's taking so long. She reported it some time back as well I think. Do you know when you filed the claim off hand? Thanks so much :)
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Glad to hear that people are starting to receive their refunds!
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Got my refund from Etsy yesterday, thank goodness!
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:bigups:
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Alright just heard back and PayPal has refunded all my friends money. What a horrendous experience though. I feel so upset for everyone involved. I hope this seller gets what's coming for her! Good luck to the rest and let us know how it goes *hugs*
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Alright just heard back and PayPal has refunded all my friends money. What a horrendous experience though. I feel so upset for everyone involved. I hope this seller gets what's coming for her! Good luck to the rest and let us know how it goes *hugs*
Oh that is really good news.
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My refund arrived earlier this week, after they closed my etsy claim and made me have a tiny heart attack.
They said they gave it to me on behalf of the seller...so I'm guessing she is long gone.
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Alright just heard back and PayPal has refunded all my friends money. What a horrendous experience though. I feel so upset for everyone involved. I hope this seller gets what's coming for her! Good luck to the rest and let us know how it goes *hugs*
Oh yay that's awesome!!! Thank goodness. She was out of pocket a lot of money poor thing.
I just got my first refund from etsy!! I had to open another 2 cases as I didn't realise you have to do one for each transaction, but they should hopefully come through as well since they ruled in my favour for the first one.
They said Etsy would refund me on the seller's behalf and the seller would them owe Etsy. I hope they are able to actually get her to pay... it's good of Etsy to take on that risk.
I didn't end up filing a dispute with my bank after hearing that in another case Paypal closed the case because one was also open through Etsy so I figured it wouldn't be needed :)
I hope everyone else is able to get their money back. :grouphug:
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They said Etsy would refund me on the seller's behalf and the seller would them owe Etsy.
This? This made me laugh evilly. Because given what I remember signing up for Etsy was like, they do have all the information on her to track her down and have her pay them. :D (Provided, of course, that she wasn't doing this because she needed money to move. Then it'll probably be more difficult. I think? :lookround: )
I'm glad to hear people are being refunded! That's wonderful news! ^.^