The MLP Arena
TCB => Trader & Shipping Support => Topic started by: Brightglowpony on May 01, 2013, 06:58:38 AM
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First of all I want to say that this is not a confirmed scammer, but I wanted to advise everyone since my transaction with this seller is becoming suspicious, and this person has more pony listings. I bought a lot of G1 MOCs from the ebay seller yo61yo. I tried to pay a few times within a 12 hour period, but ebay would not let me proceed to Paypal since the seller had not added the shipping costs. I kindly let the seller know that I tried to pay but shipping was not yet added. The seller responded several hours later with this message:
No I am sorry to say that as of Saturday the 27th paypal decided to close my account as it it linked to my sons (has he same address). So they only way I can accept payment is by moneyorder, if you don't want to purchase the ponies that way I will understand, please let me know of your decision.
I spoke to two ebay reps about paying via money order and they both strongly discouraged it, since there is no proof that payment was received and no way to file a claim if the item is not sent. I replied to the seller letting them know my concerns, and asked if they would consider opening another Paypal account so I could pay the way ebay suggested. Over a day went by with no response, so I sent one more message letting them know I was still interested in the ponies and asking them if they could let me know of any updates. That was about 12 hours ago and still no response.
Take caution if you are bidding on an item from this seller, as this person is NOT updating the auctions to say that they no longer accept Paypal. This is a new seller and the lot I bought cost me a pretty penny, and it is suspicious that he/she wants me to pay outside of ebay.
Has anyone else encountered an issue with this seller? :huh:
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I believe sellers on ebay have to accept paypal. This definitely sounds like scam. I'm so sorry you didn't get your Moc pony!
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That was a pretty good amount for that lot and I am currently watching a couple of the ones they listed more recently. Thank you for the heads up on this, I will now have to reconsider bidding. :(
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Good thing your scammer senses are on, Brightglow, because that's definitely suspicious.
My mom and I both have separate paypal accounts, and we both live at the same address. Paypal has NEVER had an issue with either of us being at the same address. My dad could open up an account tomorrow and they shouldn't have an issue with it. So yeah, that sounds way off.
That username sounds vaguely familiar...I wonder...
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Hubby and I have separate accounts, same address. something fishy...
Anyone check for stolen photos? Several different backgrounds.
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Thanks for your comments everyone. I finally got a reply from the seller, but once again, it makes no sense to me:
yes, i cant have a paypal account at this time they told me money orders i understand ur concer and apoligize, if u have any other suggestions im open otherwise im sorry.
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Thanks for your comments everyone. I finally got a reply from the seller, but once again, it makes no sense to me:
yes, i cant have a paypal account at this time they told me money orders i understand ur concer and apoligize, if u have any other suggestions im open otherwise im sorry.
You should message the seller back and told her that you spoke to ebay twice and they strongly oppose the use of money orders and is actually against ebay's policy.
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What about all those folks bidding on her current auctions? She needs to update those auctions so folks know she has no paypal and need to pay by MO. Technically it's a bait and switch due to the fact these people think that they will be paying via paypal.
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Apanda: Thanks for the info, I did not realize that was against ebay's policy. I found where ebay states that what the seller is doing is against their policy.
"Sellers who offer PayPal as a payment option in their eBay listings (either via logos or through text in the item description) must accept card funded payments...Sellers may not communicate to buyers that they only accept account balance or bank account funded payments, or will not accept card funded payments."
In case anyone is interested in reading the whole bit, here is the link from which the above info was taken:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/paypal-payments.html
Hawaiian Rain: That is my concern too, and I mentioned this to the ebay rep this morning. To my disappointment, I was told not to worry about the other auctions, and if someone buys from the seller and has a problem, they can contact ebay. My personal thoughts are, why put other buyers through this same ordeal when it can be avoided? Based on the first message I received from the seller, it is my understanding that they knew their Paypal account was "closed" before I bid on their auction, and I would have appreciated the update because I would have not bid and would not be going through this hassle now.
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Sounds fishy to me...hopefully no one falls for it :satisfied:
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My guess is that she saw how much PP and ebay were taking out and nixed the paypal payments.
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I thought I would contact the seller, who has auctions ending soon, just to check out her story:
Dear yo61yo, Do accept paypal payments by e-check (transfer from checking - takes about 3-4 days to process) ?- dizzydaisygirl
Dear dizzydaisygirl,No pay pal has limited my account and I can only accept payment via money order- yo61yo
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What!? I should have known something was up. I just bought a lot from her. So she doesn't accept PayPal? So what's going to happen?
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Wow- sounds fishy indeed. I wondered about that auction when it came up... thank goodness sellers are no longer able to require payment by money order.
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So lame. I was really hoping to bid on a couple of their auctions, too. So, have they not realized that they cannot request a money order from someone? Especially since all of their auctions list Paypal as the only payment method...
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I saw the auctions as well and I was bidding on a lot, too - because there is a grail Moc in it that I wanted for a long time.
I asked the seller if the bubble or the pony have any issues and I got a simulare answer like Brightglowpony... the seller told me that she don't know and that she will double check for me - but that I must accept to pay by money order when I win the auction.
I told her that she listed her items with paypal payment method and that she must accept paypal then as well - anything is against ebay rules...
Then I got the same story in a message from her - that paypal closed the account and that she is using her sons account.
My answer was - when that is really the truth she normally must stop her auctions until she cleared things with paypal - she can't list her items that way and after auctionsend she only accept money orders...
That seems very fishy to me, too.
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New seller + highly desirable items + backing out of allowing a secure payment method = Major Red Flags.
I would not bid on any of her auctions no matter how tempting it may seem. You have almost zero protection if going through money order (and absolutely none for money transfers); it's just not worth the risk. There's a reason the saying goes "if it seems too good to be true, it probably is."
Sorry for everyone who has to deal with this mess now. :cry:
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Thanks for the heads up! I did a search on her completed auctions and saw the same 3 MOC Rockin' beat ponies in two separate auctions! Seller may have multiple moc's but still something to look out for. I was going to bid on a lot, but not now!
Edit: they are also currently auctioning the brush n' grow and happy tails in another auction that they recently sold!
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Yes it seems better to stay away from these lots.
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I contacted ebay again and had a very positive experience this time. Ebay is now aware of the concern and is going to look into the situation.
Blonde2themax: I feel your disappointment- Has the seller mentioned anything to you about no paypal? My suggestion to you is what ebay has told me- stay firm in saying that you wil pay by Paypal only, and if they absolutely refuse, ebay suggested to me to cancel the transaction for my protection. Their reasoning for not having Paypal is not a valid one, and if they are selling on ebay, they should have Paypal. Hope all goes well for you :hug:
Plushroo: I know the exact lisitngs you are talking about. I saw them before I bid, and thought of that too, but then thought maybe it was a non paying bidder case. So hard to know, but I do feel now that it is very suspicious.
To anyone who is bidding on these lots, please take caution and do not agree to pay by money order!
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I just got this message from her - after I wrote her a day back that she normally must stop her auctions otr that she must open an own paypalaccount when her sons is blocked...
thats fine, and I did have my own paypal account but paypal can do what they want and because my son and sent money to my account and they blocked his they decided to limit mine because of it. And that is the only reason they will give me, and I don't understand it either so sorry
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Just another update: I had not replied back to the seller's last message yet, but she sent me another message similar to Stern's
If you still want the ponies please let me know but paypal has limited my account and will not allow payment made to it, and I can't get an answer from them except that it was linked to my sons account. Sorry if you do not feel comfortable sending a money order, I understand and I will sell the ponies to someone else. Please let me know and I will send my address if you want it. Thank you
I am going to stand firm in that I will not send a money order. It's too much of a risk :huh:
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She hasn't mentioned anything about not accepting PayPal so I'll ask about it. And I'll let her know that I won't be doing a money order.
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The auctions made me feel iffy even before all this. I noticed the different backgrounds and the fact the seller is new and has all these rare MOCs......seems too good to be true.
And the stories here make it sound highly suspcious. I think you are all doing the wise thing by not sending them a money order.
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Thanks for letting us know!
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way too risky, steer clear dolls. i would never send a money order to someone i didnt know personally.
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Just another update: I had not replied back to the seller's last message yet, but she sent me another message similar to Stern's
If you still want the ponies please let me know but paypal has limited my account and will not allow payment made to it, and I can't get an answer from them except that it was linked to my sons account. Sorry if you do not feel comfortable sending a money order, I understand and I will sell the ponies to someone else. Please let me know and I will send my address if you want it. Thank you
I am going to stand firm in that I will not send a money order. It's too much of a risk :huh:
Can I suggest that you also actively refuse any transaction cancellation so that she doesn't get her final value fees back and you can leave her a negative to warn others? If she offers to cancel advise eBay within 7 days that you don't want to cancel but want to pay via Paypal. And leave her a negative now.
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Oh goodness!! I am so sorry to all involved.
It definitely is shady and I would by no means send her a Money Order. A seller though is allowed to ask for other means of payment, they are just not allowed to state it in their listing. The catch is that you are NOT protected under EBay's Buyer Protection if you do so.
Anyways I am glad you reported it BrightGlow it may help prevent someone for being taken for a ride.
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But is a seller allowed to not accept paypal, even if they do list other methods of payment? because that would mean that eBay allows seller to provide only a method that is unsafe for the buyer and puts the buyer outside of the Buyer Protection of eBay.
I am a bit confused now, but it's good to know nevertheless that this kind of thing can occur and the seller is allowed to do so.
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Last night I received another message from the seller:
If you still want the ponies please let me know but paypal has limited my account and will not allow payment made to it, and I can't get an answer from them except that it was linked to my sons account. Sorry if you do not feel comfortable sending a money order, I understand and I will sell the ponies to someone else. Please let me know and I will send my address if you want it. Thank you
Per the ebay rep's suggestion, I sent one more reply kindly stating that I will pay her through paypal, and also encouraged her to contact ebay and/or Paypal so they can help her with any difficulities she is having. I by no means want to be rude if this person is truly having trouble with Paypal and not a scammer, but at the same time, I can't send my payment in an unsafe way and she should be aware of selling policies.
StarFaerie: That is a good point, because I feel like I should leave feedback for this transaction.
PonyLady: Thanks for adding that information :) I am a little confused about the policies, because the ebay rep told me that it is a violation for a seller to ask for payment by money order on ebay due to no protection. I guess anyone could agree to a money order though, but that would mean it would be going outside of ebay's policy and outside of ebay completely? What's also confusing is the ebay rep told me a seller must have a Paypal account to open an ebay account and sell, so that seller should be able to take Paypal. :/
Thanks again everyone for the support and advice :)
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If her account is limited, unless it's been over the case threshold, she should be able to fight it. Unfortunately mine got scammed while I wasn't using it, and I didn't know until it was too late, and I lost the account. I had to start a new one with a new email AND a new CC number, which admittedly took a while. I'd say her son scammed someone using her account... or transferred the scammed funds to her account (so paypal couldn't take it) or something along those lines.
That said, not your problem! You have the right to refuse a non-protected payment, and hopefully they can't pull a NPB against you because you've already explained the situation to ebay. You've done all you can do, just leave appropriate FB.
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But is a seller allowed to not accept paypal, even if they do list other methods of payment? because that would mean that eBay allows seller to provide only a method that is unsafe for the buyer and puts the buyer outside of the Buyer Protection of eBay.
I am a bit confused now, but it's good to know nevertheless that this kind of thing can occur and the seller is allowed to do so.
They are not allowed to state anywhere in their listing that they will accept other means of payment. But that doesn't mean they are not allowed to accept per say a check or Money Order if the buyer and seller make other arrangements. As I stated above you will not be covered by Ebay's Buyer Protection in that event. Ebay wants you of course to use Paypal, they own them. If you accept other means of payment they are not getting a cut, plain and simple. Therefore them not protecting you when other payment arrangements are made.
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If you read the feedback they left a seller, it says the seller "was very patient and understanding." I wonder if their story is real. They'd say that of they paid with a money order. Plus I've had PayPal lock my account when I moved because I used the account in a different state and they made me go through a lot of questions.
Of course, I sometimes believe too much in people.
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Ah, okay, thank you PonyLady that cleared it up for me.
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Thanks Ponylady for sharing that information and Stormness and StoryDreamer for shedding some light on a different perspective. As much as this situation stinks, I've learned more about ebay policies and Paypal.
Nothing new to report. Has anyone else had a good or bad experience with this seller that they don't mind sharing? I'm not sure if there is anything else I can do at this point except wait it out a bit longer.
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If you read the feedback they left a seller, it says the seller "was very patient and understanding." I wonder if their story is real. They'd say that of they paid with a money order. Plus I've had PayPal lock my account when I moved because I used the account in a different state and they made me go through a lot of questions.
Of course, I sometimes believe too much in people.
Who knows who that person was that left FB, could've been her son to help her out? Sorry but this sounds very fishy and I'd stick to replying "I will pay you through paypal" that way she can't get you with nonpayment. Also wanted to add, I was living in TN for awhile recently and my paypal account never got weird on me. I made several purchases on here and ebay so don't know what that was all about. I even added a TN address to my paypal account.
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How odd. I have started my account in California and didnt use it for about 5 years, then moved to arkansas and started using it again and had no problems. :( I hope eBay shuts this person down before they can scam anyone. If they are legit they should just call Paypal and work things out no matter how difficult.
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Oh man.. I was eying that SHS lot, I'm glad I didn't bid now.. :(
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It's been a day and a half since my last message to the seller and still no reply. May send one more message but since they are not responding I'm not sure if that will do any good. Anyone else have any success with this seller?
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Oh man.. I was eying that SHS lot, I'm glad I didn't bid now.. :(
Me too! I saw this thread and decided against bidding.
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I also passed on the Lots...
I so badly wanted MOC 4-Speed - but I better wait for another one and have a safe paypaltransaction then.
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So what happens if any of you people who won, just use checkout? Go ahead and pay through paypal? Is that possible?
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So what happens if any of you people who won, just use checkout? Go ahead and pay through paypal? Is that possible?
It wasn't possible for me since there was no shipping cost added. Not sure if any of the other auctions were different though.
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I attempted to pay with PayPal but it said it was unable to go through.
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WOW!!! Do not send money ever that way to someone you do not know. Sory to hear about this :(
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Yeah something sounds up, my husband I have each have our own accounts and I send money back and forth between them regularly depending upon if it is an ebay sale of something of mine or something of his. So unless they where doing something fishy they would not lock or limit the account for simply transferring funds between it.
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Hrm....I wonder....there have been a few lots of MOC/MIB ponies put up for sale in various parts of Iowa recently. I know because my husband is from Iowa and so for the sake of not trusting new sellers I was thinking of seeing about picking up the items in person. The other seller who had a large lot of MOC ponies for sale, like a MOC Munchy, has cancelled all the bids, pulled the auctions down, and is no longer a registered user. And they're all in the same/similar area of Iowa. :(
The one seller I was thinking of is rontoys70. =( Doesn't sound good.....
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I had the same idea as you, cloud_weaver. It does seem odd that there are suddenly so many MOC/MIB ponies popping up in Iowa. There's usually not a whole lot going on there. :lol:
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Found one other seller who had a bunch of MOC ponies in Iowa...and those ponies don't show in the listing anymore...so they must have been taken down. :(
alyzastoyz
So that's three different sellers who have tons of rare MOC/MIB ponies in Iowa, two of which have had the listings pulled down. One seller had 0 feedback, the others each have 2. The feedback is all from different people, mind you...but that doesn't say much. All it takes is to ship out a couple of items to build up a little feedback. =( It does tend to make me a little nervous...
*edit to add names*
rontoys70 - 0 feedback, somewhere in Iowa (Des Moines, Waterloo area?)
alyzastoyz - 2 feedback, La Porte City, Iowa
yo61yo - 2 feedback, Zearing, Iowa
They're all about an hour or two apart. I don't remember exactly which ponies each seller had, only that the MOC Munchy that rontoys70 had caught my eye.
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Very interesting and strange... thanks for sharing that information Cloud Weaver.
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Wow that is indeed rather suspicious. Thanks for the sleuthing!