Ok so I guess it has come down to this. I recently found a Carbon Fiber wing on craigslist in the LA craigslist area. Looks cool and legit. I send him PayPal $260.00 to have it shipped here. It's been over a week and I basically get the same excuse. Like he forgot to ship it, brought it to the Post Office and the wing was too big, cant find a box, working overtime, etc. etc. I mean these are Scammer stories you hear all the time via various forums, but what do you know, I'm now the latest victim. So now apparently the guy is not even responding back.

Besides going thru the PayPal dispute what else can be resolved? Can my bank do a charge back? I've contacted PayPal and they basically told me that they will attempt to call him, but because it's outside of "EBay’s Transaction" they can't really do anything but go thru their dispute process, and it doesn't guarantee my refund either. That's crazy.

I mean I could careless of loosing the $260, but it's all about the moral and principle that if money is received for a product you advertised for, it's in good faith that you ship that advertise product to the buyer..

- Just pissed me off knowing there are still people like that out there.

 

Out of my 10 years of using Paypal I've never have to go thru paypal dispute before.

I usually only buy parts off of forums and from individuals with reputation. This purchased was off a Craigslist AD, and I did not get any of his info except cell# and email address.

 

Always protect yourself, file the dispute already.

 

yes I did. I called Paypal and they said they will file the dispute for me. I have all text, a copy of the ad, and everything pertaining to this transaction.

Paypal didn't seem too interested in the documents.

 

I'm sorry I can't be of much help but I can offer a bit of advice. A good tip, for paypal transactions, is to pay with a credit card so you're protected in an case like this. Paypal doesnt really do much and if this scammer tells them he shipped it, they'll pretty much take his word for it. It's the same story even if the transaction was conducted through ebay. See www.paypalsucks.com for horror stories. Call your bank and see if they can get your money back. I rarely use craigslist because of the shady people there. I've had more bad experiences than good using that website.

Hope you can get your money back. It sad that our small rotary community is turning into the Honda scene

 

In paypal's defense, I bought a $225 item not via EBay but paid with Paypal, and ran into the same month to month excuse after excuse. So I filed the dispute with Paypal just before the time limit ran out to do so.

Even though this had nothing to do with EBay, there were able to get me back my money after the rather long drawn out process completed. But, to be fair, I paid via paypal via my VISA card. So I suspect they leveraged into the VISA system to get the money.

 

well I pay using my Debit Car/ which is my VISA card. Is there a difference. I contacted my bank and they basically said that they can't do anything until the outcome of Paypal. If paypal can't do anything too then, they will open up a claim for me. That's all that I got back.

 

good luck man maybe you should have had a member in LA check it out

 

Sending money through pay pal on craigslist doesn't seem too reliable. Unlike the forums or ebay craigslist doesn't have some sort of feedback option on your account.

All you can really do now is wait for the dispute process. If you really want to find his information you can always type up his phone number on reverse white pages and find a address linked to that cell phone number. It costs money though.

goodluck.

 

were about LA is he?? maybe i can go pick up the wing and ship for you? lmk

 

exactly what i was thinking.. whats his contact info?

 

Well a visa check card has less protection than an actual visa but you are still protected somewhat. But only if you truly paid with your visa check card and not with a direct bank withdrawl.

There is a reason that paypal makes it really easy to pay directly with your checking account. As when you want to send money the option of using the bank acc is already selected for you and all you gotta do is accept. But if you want to use your CC, you have to click your way around, and even paypal sometimes tries to convice you otherwise... That is because it's better, better for them that is. See if you pay with a bank account all the scammer has to do is leave his bank account at zero balance and paypal can't do ****. So basically you are SOL and paypal comes back with 'sorry we tried'. Now if you pay with an actual VISA the game is not over. Not even close as VISA has the power pull money out of a fraudalent transaction. And where do you think it's gonna pull it from? Yep paypal's account. So at that point it really becomes paypal's problem and not yours