Ebay and other online Scammers

Don't risk it. Get a refund. The popular items will be offered again.

I’ve never ordered from them before, but I’ve also never heard anyone complain about them. In this day and age, however, that doesn’t mean much. I would take shazzdan’s advice if you’re worried about it.

I suppose I was really waiting for at least one or two people to confirm they got scammed by Loontentoys.

But so far, I have had two positives on the other forum from people that pre-order frequently from him (even 2yrs before!) and got their orders no problem.

In fact, in all my google search I have not found even one person that claim they got scammed by them which seems reassuring.

With the more popular figures, surely you have to pre-order.

Look at the Hot Toys Harley Quinn - this is frequently fetching well beyond £500 on EBay now.

That would definitely price me out of the market (not that I actually pre-ordered Harley as that was way before I began getting into this hobby).

There have been a dozen or so Harley Quinns already from various companies. If you want a Hot Toys one then just wait for the next movie, HT will release another one.

Not heard back from Ebay on the above, but here's my latest adventure from AliExpress, transferred from the 'shipping' thread to here where it belongs:

Kit chen wrote:

GeeWillikers wrote:Is it usual for a package to travel from China to the UK using USPS?

I'm having all kinds of 'fun' with an AliEx seller who has run his 'processing time' for an order down to the last hour twice without 'allowing' me to cancel the order after the first time, effectively giving me the runaround for four weeks before finally (allegedly) sending the items ordered last week. I strongly suspect he didn't have one of the items I ordered, and has just been stalling for as long as possible since to string out the process of refunding me for as long as possible.

Now he has given me an effectively useless USPS tracking number (I have never seen USPS tracking progress beyond 'label created, not yet in system' even after I've received the goods concerned).

Thanks to AliEx's terms of sale I will be unable to claim a refund until December, because he has, allegedly, now shipped the order.

AliEx's processing and delivery estimate times for all their sellers have grown insanely long recently. Ebay might have its own particular issues, but AliEx is becoming equally ridiculous now, just in a different way.

Anyway, this guy. Baby Wonderland Store, if anyone's taking notes. Possibly one for the 'Ebay Scammers' thread, with the byline 'including AliExpress'. I guess I'll let you know by December.


I think I'm done buying from AliEx now unless it's a seller I've dealt with before who I know is reliable. Stuff may be cheaper on there but it's becoming such a hassle it's no longer worth it.

Can’t you claim with a fault tracking?

I don’t know how Ali express works but I often buy on taobao, most are same sellers on both taobao and Ali express I guess as they both belong to alibaba

In the old days I buy from seller who offer cheapest price on same item but now I only buy from stores that I dealt before or I will select the store with most expensive price, learnt it through a hard way, not many reliable sellers there

Rather than wait until December, once it was clear there was no movement whatsoever on the false tracking that Baby Wonderland Store had supplied, I took a chance on opening a dispute on the above using the faulty/false tracking argument kit suggested above. As there is no actual 'False tracking given' dispute option however, I had to use the "I haven't received it" option and then explain further. To my surprise my claim wasn't refused outright on the grounds that the delivery window was still open.

Opening the dispute gave Baby Wonderland Store five days to respond. For whatever reason, they didn't care to. On day six, I got an uncontested automatic full refund.

There's a (theoretically) different seller called Bodies Wonderland Store on AliEx who I've bought a few things from and never had any issues with, but from now on, I will be avoiding Baby Wonderland Store like the plague.

Oh don't even get me started on AliExpress...
Aside from the Insane! slow terrible shipping times, I've never seen a  site with more shady sellers.
I was interested in getting a CCToys Drake figure awhile back, but had a suspicious hunch and thought I'd contact two different sellers first.
Turns out neither of them even had the figure in stock. Lol
I also ordered a stack of paint brushes with tracking that shows they landed in my country via arimail on August 30th. I'm Still waiting for them to show up.
I've lost too many 1/6 scale items with AE, so now I just try to avoid buying from them altogether. Just isn't worth the hassle.
I did however manage to snag an SW Sherry Birkin figure once for $138 CAD (which surprisingly even showed up!). Only good deal I've ever gotten from them. Lol
Unfortunately a lot of the sixth scale sellers on AE are also the same ones on eBay.

I just finished dealing with a scammer on ebay.
I sold an expensive Pokemon card on ebay for £56. I put the card into protective card sleeve, placed that into a protective hard plastic toploader, taped it closed, taped that into a stiff strong greetings card to disguise it from postal workers, put that into envelope and posted it signed for first class.

Day after buyer purchased they received it, only to open a claim stating they received nothing in the packet and that there was tear in the back of the packet.

"Hello iv now received you letter addressed to me but it as come with no pokeman card in it and damaged there was a birthday like card in it but no pokeman card please could you explain and weresy card ?????"

They supplied photos of tiny tear on back side of envelope then photo of envelope ripped in half and the greetings card (in perfect condition, untorn) with nothing inside. They initiated a return stating they were returning the packaging for full refund.

I immediately noted that the rip on the back of the envelope was a: too small for contents to fall out, b: on the back side so not possible for card to fall out as tear would need to be on the edge for a chance for the contents to fall out and c: contents was taped in to prevent it falling out even if there was a tear....
Additionally, the photo showing the envelope ripped was not even a photo of the envelope I use (mine are plain white inside and out, the one in the buyers photo had blue pattern inside the envelope).

I saved the photos the buyer sent, added notes and red circles pointing out all the inconsistencies, added photos of my packing process and the materials I use to post cards and added it all to the case.

I had spoken to several ebay reps and they all agreed I was in the right and that once the 3 business days were up I would be able to ask ebay to step in and they would close the case in my favour.

The buyer responded to all my evidence:
"Rubbish I have not signed for nothing send my signed for it come through my letter box not sealed you have not sent me my pokeman card I have paid for I do not wont to send you an empty envelope there was nothing so ebay will decide am sick of people trying to ripe people of bye"

then again:
"I dont care what you say that was not my envelope you have put red righting on I did not receive what I payed for end off"

So now the buyer knew the evidence proved they were lying they claimed it wasn't even their photo despite them having sent it via ebay messages (so there is proof they sent that pic) and all the objects in the background as well as the carpet matched the other photos they sent.

Ebay rep agreed 100% that they were lying. They said I would win the case 100%. I also reported the buyer then once the deadline arrived I asked ebay to step in and immediately they closed the case in my favour.
And refunded the buyer.
After an initial panic they confirmed that the refund would be covered by them (my money was safe) but I was still shocked that a clear scammer was getting a full refund. I asked why and they just said that due to volume of cases they do not make such judgements and instead refund and that they only investigate when an ebayer is reported, something I had done a couple days prior with no visible result. I explained that rewarding scammers will only encourage them to do it more but they didn't seem to care (no wonder ebay fees are so high, I am paying 20% per sale to cover refunds to scammers!) :/

So, that scammer has the expensive trading card plus a full refund and is free to scam again at a later date.

Where is the deterrent?? There is none. If you are a scammer you are gonna get the item plus full refund whether you win or lose the case. Ridiculous. Scammers are only going to become more common as time goes on, especially for collectibles.

I am nostalgic for old ebay... ability to leave negative feedback for buyers (saved me from bad buyers many a time before they did away with it), more options for listings, worldwide visibility at no extra cost, freedom to choose how you wanted to be paid, multiple ways to pay, low fees, easy to navigate seller pages with full options, ability to set how long buy it now listings ran for etc etc etc. Ebay sucks now. it is a trash platform. We need a viable replacement. Rant over.

I'm glad things worked out for you in the end, but you are right, this is very troubling.

I'm having all kinds of 'fun' with an AliEx seller who has run his 'processing time' for an order down to the last hour twice without 'allowing' me to cancel the order after the first time, effectively giving me the runaround for four weeks before finally (allegedly) sending the items ordered last week. I strongly suspect he didn't have one of the items I ordered, and has just been stalling for as long as possible since to string out the process of refunding me for as long as possible.

Now he has given me an effectively useless tracking number

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Thanks for this post GeeWillikers. I'm having a very similar experience with a seller on AliExpress even tho' it's only early days yet. 'Details' page shows that I can raise a dispute in early January if I don't receive the item - but like you, I'll be raising a dispute way before then (using your tips) or contacting Paypal for a reversal.

Sandron wrote:I'm having all kinds of 'fun' with an AliEx seller who has run his 'processing time' for an order down to the last hour twice without 'allowing' me to cancel the order after the first time, effectively giving me the runaround for four weeks before finally (allegedly) sending the items ordered last week. I strongly suspect he didn't have one of the items I ordered, and has just been stalling for as long as possible since to string out the process of refunding me for as long as possible.

Now he has given me an effectively useless tracking number

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Thanks for this post GeeWillikers. I'm having a very similar experience with a seller on AliExpress even tho' it's only early days yet. 'Details' page shows that I can raise a dispute in early January if I don't receive the item - but like you, I'll be raising a dispute way before then (using your tips) or contacting Paypal for a reversal.

I would wait until around 12 days after purchase (which should cover you for their "tracking information may not always be available immediately, please wait 5-10 days" disclaimer). After that if there's still no tracking info it'll depend on if the seller wants to contend the issue or not (I was lucky there). Good luck!

GeeWillikers wrote:

Sandron wrote:I'm having all kinds of 'fun' with an AliEx seller who has run his 'processing time' for an order down to the last hour twice without 'allowing' me to cancel the order after the first time, effectively giving me the runaround for four weeks before finally (allegedly) sending the items ordered last week. I strongly suspect he didn't have one of the items I ordered, and has just been stalling for as long as possible since to string out the process of refunding me for as long as possible.

Now he has given me an effectively useless tracking number

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Thanks for this post GeeWillikers. I'm having a very similar experience with a seller on AliExpress even tho' it's only early days yet. 'Details' page shows that I can raise a dispute in early January if I don't receive the item - but like you, I'll be raising a dispute way before then (using your tips) or contacting Paypal for a reversal.

I would wait until around 12 days after purchase (which should cover you for their "tracking information may not always be available immediately, please wait 5-10 days" disclaimer). After that if there's still no tracking info it'll depend on if the seller wants to contend the issue or not (I was lucky there). Good luck!

OK. Will do.

I purchased three pairs of Trinity boots yesterday, from xx02, commitmenteam and 5thlj.
Not only were the listings nearly identical, but the responses came at the same time and were identical, too. First they needed my phone number for shipping. Fair enough.
Then they offered a refund, because the item (all three of them??) are damaged and getting a replacement from the manufacturer may take a month.

Or they realized they sold them too cheap? I asked for a photo of the damage, since I may not mind, and that I would rather wait for the replacement to come in. Nice try. We'll see.

Well, apart from these being possibly (possibly!) different incarnations of the same seller, they may be "getting" the product from the same warehouse or business, and relaying the standard excuse of the month for being out of stock. Just like many of these sellers have gotten sloppy about indicating whether or not a product is actually in stock or just on pre-order (they now use the term "pre-sale," but usually only when they write to you to see if you are willing to wait a long time more than specified in the listing), they likewise make it seem like they have something in stock, when it is just a matter of having it theoretically available from somewhere else -- and when it turns out it is not actually available, the excuses follow.

[quote="Diana"]I purchased three pairs of Trinity boots yesterday, from xx02, commitmenteam and 5thlj.


Ah yes, xx02.
I ordered the Sariah throne from them on eBay early last year and without any communication, they canceled my order.
For over a year they still had it up for auction starting at my original purchase price.   
The reason they gave for the cancellation? "Buyer asked to cancel" which is BS.

(I received the refund OK, and eventually got one from MonkeyDepot for about the same price)  

So yeah, add xx02 to the list of those eBay sellers that can't be trusted.

Prior to the pandemic, xx02/commitmeanteam were one of my go-to sellers for parted out items and I never had any issues with them. Idk, I feel like a lot of these sellers went dodgy since the pandemic.....

skywalkersaga wrote:Prior to the pandemic, xx02/commitmeanteam were one of my go-to sellers for parted out items and I never had any issues with them. Idk, I feel like a lot of these sellers went dodgy since the pandemic.....

Scamming people out of money during slow/practically non-existent shipping schedules is a lot easier, I guess, than actually following through with sending items. Tough times like these generally show people’s true character — some are honorable, some are $#@t; it’s not hard to see which side the majority of these sellers fall on.

Stryker2011 wrote:

skywalkersaga wrote:Prior to the pandemic, xx02/commitmeanteam were one of my go-to sellers for parted out items and I never had any issues with them. Idk, I feel like a lot of these sellers went dodgy since the pandemic.....

Scamming people out of money during slow/practically non-existent shipping schedules is a lot easier, I guess, than actually following through with sending items. Tough times like these generally show people’s true character — some are honorable, some are $#@t; it’s not hard to see which side the majority of these sellers fall on.

Yeah, definitely. Hard times are still not an excuse for these dodgy practices.

Yeah, Commitmenteam used to be totally reliable, but they've also started pulling the 'damaged/lost/out of stock' scam too over this last year - done it to me twice, now. Second time is the last.

I've just experienced the final straw with Ebay, certainly as far as head sculpts are concerned. I decided I'd try and bag myself a spare SuperDuck Princess Mera head without buying the full set again. Big Mistake. I've given up now after the fourth attempt resulting in a template "Sorry friend..." email (probably all from the same seller in different guises).

As soon as I get my refund I'm reporting these guys as a matter of course now, not that Ebay are remotely interested. So I may as well save myself the bother and just not even try to buy loose sculpts on there any more. Maybe if enough people do the same they'll eventually realise it isn't a sustainable business practice and finally stop doing it.

EDIT/UPDATE:

Well, this last guy - deep_sea7 - did refund me pretty quickly, but also did the old 'buyer requested cancellation' trick. So I've reported him, but mostly because his listing claiming that he has '2 available' is still active.

One last trip on the Mera-Go-Round:
I've also seen another, apparently different, listing for the Mera head. I've contacted the seller asking him to check whether he actually has it in stock and if it is broken or not, and implying I am now well-versed in this scam, and I'm only willing to consider purchasing if he can assure me in a message that this thing exists. Let's see if he even bothers to reply.

HOW I AVOID EBAY SCAMMERS AND THE DRAMA/TURMOIL THAT FOLLOWS

1. If it's too good be true, I avoid it.

2. I look at this thread to be reminded of avoiding the effort and time lost due to making an needless decision.

That's all.

I creep back into the darkness and observe.

^ But having said that...

UPDATE: The seller mentioned above did respond assuring me that he had the Mera head and it is in one piece and undamaged, so I agreed to buy it, and he seems to have shipped it. So we'll see what shows up.

Fifth time lucky, maybe...

GeeWillikers wrote:^ But having said that...

UPDATE: The seller mentioned above did respond assuring me that he had the Mera head and it is in one piece and undamaged, so I agreed to buy it, and he seems to have shipped it. So we'll see what shows up.

Fifth time lucky, maybe...

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In being bluntly and brutally transparent, that's like saying I will eat an Easter Bunny chocolate made of Ex-Lax again for the fifth time and this time I will not $%^& myself like the prior four times.

The vicious cycle continues for some, but hey . . . if it makes you happy . . . then so be it.

See subject.

DISCLAIMER: This thread is factual with no ongoing drama like the Godawful Star Wars trilogy we've been subject for the past six years or so.

THE FACTS

eBay item purchased and paid for on November 20, 2021.

Total cost $21.00 ($5.00 + $14.00 postage by USPS Priority Mail & state sales tax).

Message sent same day as payment requesting tracking number once item ships.

No reply from seller.

Expected item delivery date (latest date) is December 2, 2021 by USPS Priority Mail?

Sent follow up message on November 28 requesting status and tracking number.

eBay tracking shows item shipped out on November 29.  Based on the tracking number provided, I checked with the local USPS office and was advised the item was not sent by USPS Priority Mail, but the cheapest method possible.

December 2 and item yet to arrive.  Submitted item not received claim on December 3 after speaking with eBay Customer Service.  Seller have until December 9 to respond.  Seller received a couple of negative feedback from other buyers since start of transaction.

Item finally received on December 6.  Item sent First Class Mail.  Item arrived intact more or less, but overcharged on postage.  Still no acknowledgment from seller.  I contacted eBay Customer Service to close the item not received claim and explained frustration with the seller.

eBay advised I can request a refund and advised I can request either a full refund and return the item (return postage paid at seller's expense) or request a refund of the postage, keep the item, and consider the issue resolved.  I did so.  eBay opened a new claim with my request.

Seller finally responded with offer to refund $14.00 postage on December 8.  I have until January 7 to accept.  I've yet to leave feedback to the seller.

So that's my transparent and simple story that is not a "scam" per say unlike ongoing sagas elsewhere.

I apologize for the lack of drama, excitement, chills, thrills, and suspense let alone any mention of lingerie or nearly nude 1:1 or 1:6 females.

Yes.  I did my due diligence prior to buying the item, but there was no indication others experienced what I did until after the fact.  I consider myself fortunate.  I received the item (however delayed/late) and will be receiving a refund of the postage.

SO . . .

What was the $5.00 item?

That's another post/story for later provided I'm still here and have not been chased out of the OSF village like the villagers armed with axes, pitchforks, and torches raiding Count Dracula's castle.

I’m curious what the item was.

I'm glad it worked out in the end and that you would have the opportunity to recoup the high shipping costs. It is funny that an item costing $5 would cost $14 to ship. Certainly a shady business practice, but you got your mystery item in the end, and after not too long a wait. So all's well that ends well. This example provides some added perspective on what we are up against every time we make an online purchase from an independent seller.

GubernatorFan wrote:I'm glad it worked out in the end and that you would have the opportunity to recoup the high shipping costs. It is funny that an item costing $5 would cost $14 to ship. Certainly a shady business practice, but you got your mystery item in the end, and after not too long a wait. So all's well that ends well. This example provides some added perspective on what we are up against every time we make an online purchase from an independent seller.

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God forbid I of all collectors buck the trend of online buying woes.

ALL sellers are more or less "independent" on eBay. Even the seller with a retail storefront or owns a modest chain can be "independent" short of a corporation owned business.

You know.

Is there a difference between a Viet Cong regular and irregular to paraphrase a line from FULL METAL JACKET.

I know, that's what I meant. But nice quotation/association.

SithDarkLordDFC wrote:
In being bluntly and brutally transparent, that's like saying I will eat an Easter Bunny chocolate made of Ex-Lax again for the fifth time and this time I will not $%^& myself like the prior four times.

The vicious cycle continues for some, but hey . . . if it makes you happy . . . then so be it.

Thanks DFC, your indulgence is both heartwarming and life-affirming.

GeeWillikers wrote:Thanks, your indulgence is both heartwarming and life-affirming.

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No.

It's about as welcome as severe hemorrhoids while wearing a thong.

SithDarkLordDFC wrote:
I apologize for the lack of drama, excitement, chills, thrills, and suspense let alone any mention of lingerie or nearly nude 1:1 or 1:6 females.

SO . . .

What was the $5.00 item?

A garter for a nearly nude 1:6 female?