Ebay heater bargain. A scam?

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pcatterall

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I just bought a New D2 heater kit on ebay. It was buy it now and offered at £288 it came with lots of extras...... a real bargain.
Too good to be true was my first thought but as it was sold through PayPal I couldn't see that I was risking anything and pressed the buy it now button!
A couple of hours later ebay emailed me to say that the buyer had not accepted my payment and that the item was no longer for sale. I was able to cancel the
payment in PayPal.
So what was this all about? How will the advertiser benefit from this?
 
I guess they mistyped when they composed the advert and will subsequently relist at a higher price
 
pcatterall said:
The bank transfer/cheque scam was in my mind but there was only the paypal option which was why I thought it worth a punt!
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I had a transaction cancelled recently without explanation and money was going to be returned. I checked PayPal and contacted seller who said he'd mislaid the item. I got a message a couple of days later to say he'd found it and I could either buy direct or he could relist on eBay. I was a little suspicious and went for the latter option. All went well and I got the item next day. So this seller was genuine.

However, I did a little checking when the first transaction was cancelled and read somewhere that I should not accept the cancellation without getting the refund first. It seems that there is no guarantee of a prompt refund if buyer accepts the cancellation before getting the refund. I don't know if this is true or a myth but I did do it that way round. I only accepted the cancellation after PayPal was refunded.

I think that there have been a lot of these heater ads. on eBay at around the price you mention and they do look very dodgy. Perhaps you'll get a message soon to offer the heater at a lower price outside eBay using money transfer (presumably via Nigeria :D).

However, your case seems slightly different as the seller refused to take payment. That seems odd and I don't know how they'd do that. I thought that the normal process was for the seller to ask you to accept the cancellation and also refund the money already paid. I think I've heard of a message saying "Seller unable to accept funds" when seller has something dodgy about their PayPal account.

I assume that you have already logged on to PayPal directly to check the actual status of your account.
 
Last edited:
The listing you're interested in is no longer available

Hello 8657peter, We're writing to let you know that we've removed an item you recently won:
122393466656 - EBERSPACHER AIRTRONIC D2 12V 2 OUTLET DIESEL MARINE HEATER PLUG & PLAY WIRING


It looks like you haven't paid for this item yet, and the seller hasn't shipped the item. Since we've canceled the transaction, please don't send any payment.


That's the ebay message above. When I checked with my paypal account the item was not paid and I had the option to cancel payment which I did!

So, as suggested I await my request to send cash to Kofi in Lagos !
 
Did the message come from the seller or eBay? It looks like the type of message eBay security send when they've decided something is wrong (copyright infringement, counterfeit or just dodgy in some respect). It seems likely that eBay are controlling this, not the seller. I wonder if their account has been suspended? Can you still search for their details?
 
As long as you pay through Paypal on eBay then its pretty much impossible to get scammed. They tend to favour the buyer over the seller most of the time.
 
Not totally true. PayPal guarantee does not cover all types of purchases. Vehicles is one that comes to mind, and this possibly also means boats.
 
Yesterday I got an email telling me I hadn't paid for a Samsung phone I didn't buy... Suspecting spam I deleted it but on checking my eBay account later I found out that somehow, someone had committed me to buying this from some outfit in Hong Kong...
All passwords changed etc and reported to flea-bay.
 
EBAY SCAM
Another EBay scam to be aware of if you are selling something goes like this: You advertise a part for something it is secondhand but definitely working and useable. The buyer pays for it, but then tells you it's not working and wants a refund.
You agree to the refund (you don't have much choice) and ask for your part to be returned. What you get back is the buyer's old non-working part. At this point you complain to EBay but they don't want to know.
Even in my case when the serial number of the part returned didn't match the part sent.
 
I sold something before Christmas, only one bidder, who took two weeks to pay, then paid on Christmas day ( odd I thought, but he might just have been paid himself), then right on the max 30 days claimed it hadn't been delivered so no choice but to refund. In such circumstances ebay doesn't permit bad feedback ! I left 5 star feedback but the wording made my views clear.
 
Onia said:
I sold something before Christmas, only one bidder, who took two weeks to pay, then paid on Christmas day ( odd I thought, but he might just have been paid himself), then right on the max 30 days claimed it hadn't been delivered so no choice but to refund. In such circumstances ebay doesn't permit bad feedback ! I left 5 star feedback but the wording made my views clear.
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On high value items I usually opt for 'fracked and signed for delivery' and sometimes even the delivery insurance. It scuppers any scammers chances of claiming non delivery.
 
Onia said:
I sold something before Christmas, only one bidder, who took two weeks to pay, then paid on Christmas day ( odd I thought, but he might just have been paid himself), then right on the max 30 days claimed it hadn't been delivered so no choice but to refund. In such circumstances ebay doesn't permit bad feedback ! I left 5 star feedback but the wording made my views clear.
Click to expand...

And he can have your views removed by ebay :disgust:
 
john_morris_uk said:
On high value items I usually opt for 'fracked and signed for delivery' and sometimes even the delivery insurance. It scuppers any scammers chances of claiming non delivery.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, they can still claim it is faulty. Send you back any old rubbish and as long as they have proof that they sent you something, could be an empty box, they get a refund. I've moved to gumtree mainly now, or eBay with collection and cash payments only.
 
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