OK Mercenary - you asked for it!!! The Complete eBay Escapade:
FYI, before recent events, i had 2 NPBs from a long time ago (one is from 't.rothhh' some European guy regarding a Sony TFT who simply refused to communicate in English yet managed to use the language perfectly well in his listing or when he requested payment but never in reply to my questions post-sale about methods of payment [i had no Paypal account at that time and needed reassurance before paying him via another means]) and my first NPB was from 'shadowmajik' on about $25 of PC case badges who wasn't happy to wait on payment until i returned to university after xmas (i had no internet access back home) even though he had accepted my request just before going home to bid on multiple items to combine shipping. I accept that these 2 instances weren't the ideal way of trading through eBay but i had only been registered 2 months or so at the time and hadn't researched the risks of paying by International Wire Transfer, Western Union and suchlike (these sites seemed official enough), and as far as i was aware i needed a Credit/Debit card to use Paypal (which i don't have right now being a student), so to me i was able to be covered through Western Union and anticipated no problem using this method where a Wire Transfer wasn't available until i WRONGLY ADMITTEDLY researched it post-auction. Now i understand where you are coming from up until this point and yes i wasn't an ideal eBayer by any means because my actions were certainly immature (i had no idea about how the system worked in terms of his financial obligation to eBay for listing/selling and was just relieved to have won the auctions mentioned having spent weeks bidding unsuccessfully).
So this was in the past and, despite your thoughts thus far, i'd managed to build up a decent feedback rating as interestingly enough neither seller has left me negative feedback (at least showing my genuinity) and my other few transactions had been completed perfectly (because they were in the UK and they gave me bank details for direct transfer). I had learned from my mistakes (making sure i asked any important questions before bidding and paying close attention to the sellers payment request information before even watching an item) and also found out that Paypal was fine provided you had a bank account so registered there in preparation for buying/selliing through eBay securely (though i wasn't able to become a verified member because of my lack of Credit/Debit card). I then started to add items to my watchlist with a vengeance (i'm in the middle of a system build if you hadn't guessed already) and built up my feedback from +2 to +8 with no negatives finally starting to see the benefit of using eBay the correct way. More recently, to cover myself, my girlfriend also registered on Paypal with her Visa Electron (she has no eBay account and i needed confirmed status) and as the verification letter was on its way i assumed i would have no problem with bidding on virtually any auction from thereonin due to the request of the majority of sellers to ship to a verified member with a confirmed address.
Things were going well - too well i suppose - until the escapades of the last 2 weeks. Now i have plenty of funds available and started my 'wave' of bidding the weekend before last on a whole manner of things ranging from £2 to £30 (mainly smaller PC components, much-needed clothes for myself & girlfriend, and a few items to start a 'Tigger' theme for my 6 month old son' bedroom) as well as 4/5 more expensive items (such as an Epson Picturemate, Coolermaster Aquagate System and more recently the X800 Platinum Edition). It was at this stage that i realised the Paypal account of my girlfriend wasn't verified (only able to receive funds via Direct Debit) so i requested using Paypal the phonecall (& subsequent letter) to become verified alongside using eBay on a daily basis.
Regarding Shawn: I wasn't aware of anything surrounding his background and knew i was looking for that 'personal touch' which he satisfied (or so i thought) by adding a note to the listing picture stating his eBay ID & date, and i noticed the current bid was well within my budget so i had a bash at it and surprisingly won it (my max bid was even higher than the final value as i wasn't aware of the price-fall on these cards in the US at the time - these ATI branded cards aren't available in the UK so therefore have more appeal over here).
This was on the 28th March and my bids from the last 7-10 days needed actioning so i set about paying for those. I didn't treat Shawn as a priority as i'd only just won his item so concentrated on chasing the verification letter from Paypal (which they instructed takes 7-10 working days due to delays in the US Postal System) while stupidly not worrying that much about the UPI processes from 2 of my sellers (as i THOUGHT payment would be made anytime once Paypal was confirmed and i had already communicated with them explaining the delay in payment through the UPI console) when, you guessed it, my account became suspended. I spent 2 FULL DAYS e-mailing the 8-10 sellers still waiting (whether a UPI process had been started or not) to pay via an alternative means and suddenly i had got myself out of a pickle and everything was going well until i realised that Shawn had started his UPI process against me in view of relisting the item as i was no longer a 'registered user' which obviously he was quite entitled to do - and its this strike that i'm currently querying having cleared the vast majority of my outstanding items while explaining to Shawn (via e-mail to
shawn@neo-geo.com) that even though MY paypal account (which i referred to as 'my account' to him for sake of clarity - it was actually my girlfriend's verified one) was awaiting the verification letter from Paypal it should be here any day now and that payment could be made immediately. Stupidly of course i wasn't aware of the further delay of 10 days to transfer funds to the account (who would attempt to transfer funds before being verified?). Anyway by now i had to concentrate on settling the last of my other transactions (all via non-Paypal payment methods) and as i had no reply from Shawn i assumed everything was in order (it had not been more than a couple of days since his listing ended). Now its important that you know this - I AM COMPLETELY UP TO DATE ON MY ACCOUNT BAR 2 TRANSACTIONS: these are a CounterStrike Neon Sign worth $9.99 from Hong Kong and the card from Shawn. I've since found out through investigation that the card had been relisted and having had no contact from Shawn i thought he wouldn't have been allowed to do this so i contacted eBay. They sent me the usual auto-generated rubbish of 'recommending i try to work through the disagreement with the seller' and it was up to me to find out via the MASSIVE help section that he could do this because at the time of relisting (2 days after the auction had ended) i had been suspended from eBay.
Now i appreciate your all probably thinking i've brought this upon myself but how many of you can honestly say you would expect an NPB 2 days after an auction had ended (in fact as far as i can gather under normal circumstance its against eBay policy anyway - i think that 7 days must elapse first) and tbh if Shawn had replied JUST ONCE saying that he would still sell provided i got the money to him before the relisting ended i would have been very happy to accept it. I spent a lot of time on him from the 28th March the day Shawn's original listing closed (simply through lack of contact - i began to doubt him as i have encountered other fraudulent attempts on eBay in similar circumstance) unnecessarily trying to contact him via phone, email, contact eBay, check him out in more details, my head spins even now just thinking about it. I admit i lost my rag with him when i realised he was blatantly ignoring me and had given me an NPB (though again i was probably shouting at fresh air as i really don't think he has had all my emails) wouldnt you? All this because i had had no personal contact from him just the invoice (which as i stated earlier is auto-genned through Selling Manager Pro anyway isn't it?) and believe me this resembles exactly how a fraudster works (i'm sure there are some on here who know what i mean there?). Obviously having checked him out i realise he's genuine now just disorganised (as i am admittedly its hard work doing a degree as it is running a business) and all i want is for him to say something to me and to at least confirm that the item will be available when my money clears next week or reassure me so that i know my payment through Paypal will be returned if not (which i must do to remove the NPB filed against me) please understand that!
Thats what's happened guys - that's my life on eBay right there! I have learned obviously that i should only do a couple of transactions at a time (especially because i now know the NPBs from before still count against me) and to not bid until the funds are at least on their way to my Paypal account beforehand. I've also learned not to trust anyone on eBay either as the following 2 transactions will vouch - they were trying to rip me off so i got one of 'em banned and one is being invesigated - simple.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5175334642
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=6754870313
I'm a nice guy who got out of his depth temporarily - surely you guys can see that?
Look forward to your replies.. barring one/two this board is very funny & very interesting (though there always is one/two w@#kers wherever you go eh!) and i sincerely mean it when i say on the whole you guys have cheered me up (you can probably see why now!) so a BIG THANK YOU for that! Peace!
