[taylorh]

I do wonder though. . . how does a 17 year old make over $250,000? I had to go through three years of law school and work my *** off and I still dont make quite that much.

I doubt she makes 250K+. I think that entry into her blog page was merely a smart-*** answer to the question. Her blog reads like she's just po' white trash.
I do wonder, though, how the heck (at 17) she's able to get a loan to buy that big-assed house in the "rich neighborhood."

[gt5l]

I am just your avg joe, over the past 7 years, I bought several SUVs on eBay, all were at least 2K, one 4.5K UNDER trade in value. The truck had clean carfax and drove like new for years. So not everything on eBay that is below market value is a fake. Now when I first read this thread I felt that this was a scam, so the other side of the coin is not everything below market value is a good deal, most are scams.

[ombra]

rbenjami,
Would you have sent this person a cashiers check for the money? I didn't think so. You were gambling with someone else's money, because you knew you weren't liable.
You admitted it in your first post.

[treo2die4]

I do wonder, though, how the heck (at 17) she's able to get a loan to buy that big-assed house in the "rich neighborhood."

She doesn't. Not if the lender new she was 17 that is.....

[rbenjami]

Hello Mr. Naive Clueless:
Next time someone offers to sell you something for an unbelievable price, don't believe it, ok?
People like you make credit card rates go up.

rbenjami,
Would you have sent this person a cashiers check for the money? I didn't think so. You were gambling with someone else's money, because you knew you weren't liable.
You admitted it in your first post.

Of course not. Nobody sane would send a cashiers check for anything on ebay. I put some faith in the system. ebay and PayPal both verified her identity. My credit card company has faith in the PayPal system or they wouldnt use them as a merchant. My personal liability is always at risk. I didnt know 100% that the credit card company would cover me, but they did. That is one of the services they provide. Buyer protection.

There is no way anyone on this board will convince me I am at fault here. Did I suspect she was a fraud when I entered into the transaction? Slightly. Did I later learn a lot of information which made me conclude she was a fraud? Yes. I engaged in a transaction precisely the way eBay and PayPal ask you to. At the time she had a 100% feedback. She was ID verified on eBay and ID verified on PayPal. I paid her through PayPal and funded that with my credit card. I then immediately contacted eBay, PayPal and my credit card company when I suspected something was amis.

Ombra, lay off. You are completely out of line.

Don't you dare blame me for this.

[beowulf777]

Why would anyone blame you? That is ridiculous. There should be a level of trust in this world where an action like hers is unthinkable. People that abuse and take suck...

[Christinac130]

rbenjami, What happened with your transaction was not your fault. Just as beowulf777's bad transaction was not his fault. Some people will try to feel superior by saying they would have been wiser than you and pointing out the woulda, shoulda, couldas. In the end, there are just some bad people who are selfish and greedy. It's sad to think we've become so cynical that when bad things happen to good people, we blame the good people. Don't even waste your time responding to such accusations. You're above that...

[dstrauss]

Of course not. Nobody sane would send a cashiers check for anything on ebay. I put some faith in the system. ebay and PayPal both verified her identity. My credit card company has faith in the PayPal system or they wouldnt use them as a merchant. My personal liability is always at risk. I didnt know 100% that the credit card company would cover me, but they did. That is one of the services they provide. Buyer protection.

There is no way anyone on this board will convince me I am at fault here. Did I suspect she was a fraud when I entered into the transaction? Slightly. Did I later learn a lot of information which made me conclude she was a fraud? Yes. I engaged in a transaction precisely the way eBay and PayPal ask you to. At the time she had a 100% feedback. She was ID verified on eBay and ID verified on PayPal. I paid her through PayPal and funded that with my credit card. I then immediately contacted eBay, PayPal and my credit card company when I suspected something was amis.

Ombra, lay off. You are completely out of line.

Don't you dare blame me for this.

No, Ombra's not out of line, you are. Look at your gross rationalizations:

"Did I suspect she was a fraud when I entered into the transaction? Slightly." You tell me where you could expect to get ANY Treo for $250, unless it was "hot".

"At the time she had a 100% feedback." A feed back of 100% based upon TWO transactions at $8.00 total?

You didn't put your "faith" in the system, except to the extent that your "faith" was in PayPal getting stuck for the fraud you "SLIGHTLY" suspected.

No one condones what this girl has down, but to come here and whine as if you were the victim is ridiculous. If the cashier makes change for your $10 by giving you change for a $20 do you give it back?

[rbenjami]

No one condones what this girl has down, but to come here and whine as if you were the victim is ridiculous. If the cashier makes change for your $10 by giving you change for a $20 do you give it back?

Of course I give it back! I am not a theif! I am an hororable person and will not stand here while you question my ethical fortitude.

Unless I'm wrong, wasnt there a contest not too long ago where a lot of people got Treos for free? It could have been one of those. Who am I to say that it was stolen? Sure the price seemed low and she only had two feedbacks. That is why I was slightly suspicious. She also was a new eBay member so only having 2 feedbacks cant really be held against her. You have to start somewhere.

It is incredible how many people think they are holier than thou. I think if anyone else saw that listing with a $250 buy it now. They would have jumped on it as quickly as I did. I did a quick review of the listing and saw 100% positive feedback and ID Verify. I then moved as quickly as I could to ensure someone else didnt snap up the listing before I could. I did nothing unethical at all and would appreciate it if you would retract your criticizm of my ethics here.

[mofo1]

...sometimes you do get lucky;
I "won" a Treo600 on ebay for $200 bucks. I couldn't afford a 650 and thought I would start small.
The 600 came w/o a camera, so I started trying to get in touch with the seller to what what we could do... no response for a day ( it seemed like much longer though, because I was dying to open up the box and start playing with it)
Finally got an e-mail back saying "you can keep that one, I'll let you know when I send the one with the camera..." or something to that effect.
A day or so later, the mail guy at work walks into my office, and from my seat, I can see that the box is a little different; tear it open, and lo and behold: a brand new Treo 650!! My wife is very pleased with her Treo600...
It was locked to ATT and a huge pain to get it unlocked, but definitely worth
the trouble.
I read somewhere on one of the forums that customer reps from the wireless companies are granted some sort of allowance of phones to send to big companies or Government dudes...
...sometimes you do get lucky

[mofo1]

Point being:
you did what anyone else would've done, no need to defend yourself.

[gtwo]

rbenjami, What happened with your transaction was not your fault. Just as beowulf777's bad transaction was not his fault. Some people will try to feel superior by saying they would have been wiser than you and pointing out the woulda, shoulda, couldas. In the end, there are just some bad people who are selfish and greedy. It's sad to think we've become so cynical that when bad things happen to good people, we blame the good people. Don't even waste your time responding to such accusations. You're above that...

Ditto, ditto, ditto

[ka1]

Don't you dare blame me for this.

i agree the buyer is not at all at fault here. The credit card companies are well aware of the risks when they issue cards, add new features, get merchants to accept the cards, etc. And the merchants are aware of the risks when they agree to accept the cards. It is the price of business. And do not doubt for an instant that AmEx doesn't have teams of accountants, actuaries, or what-have-you looking at projections of interest rates, likelihood people will default, crime rates, fraud rates, looking at what Visa offers, etc. and then make decisions accordingly.

Except, of course, when the rates do go up, and people start declaring bankruptcy, then the credit companies have congress re-write bankruptcy laws for personal cases, making it harder for individuals to declare bankruptcy, while making it easier for corporations, because they never, ever expected something like this to happen when they sent out the low-interest credit cards to just about everyone, even those with bad credit ratings...

And now that congress bailed them out, you can thank the US taxpayers for keeping charges low, lol.

[rbenjami]

UPDATE: I spoke with paypal. Her account has been frozen, but she has agreed to refund my money in full. PayPal confirms they have received her direction to refund the money. They say it will take a few days and I should expect to see it back in my PayPal account on Monday or Tuesday at the latest.

I would rather be getting my Treo on Monday or Tuesday, but since that was never going to happen I'm glad she is refunding my money. I think she learned her lesson. I'll report back and consider it case closed once I confirm the money is in (and promptly withdrawn from) my PayPal account.

[Christinac130]

That's great! Glad it will all work out in your favor!

[TRoN]

I have this bridge for sale if anyone is interested....cheap!

[rbenjami]

UPDATE: Well. It is over. I got my refund. Some interesting notes about PayPal. When a seller receives a lot of complaints their account is restricted by PayPal and any money in the account is held there. That money is then distributed to buyers in the order they file their claims with PayPal.

The moral of the story: If you think you entered into a questionable transaction ACT FAST! File your complaint with PayPal so you will be covered. You can always cancel it.

I'm impressed that PayPal actually was able to fix this. I never had to do a chargeback through my credit card.

Thanks to all on this board for their support.

Now does anyone want to sell me a new unbranded unlocked 650 for $250?

[phxstarrR]

You know..
I told you a long time ago I was going to refund you..
It's not my fault it took so long to refund you.

I went out of town, and came back, and everyone had complained about my auctions, and all my accounts were frozen.
I couldn't log into any of my accounts, so I had to refund everyone, but I couldn't do that either so I had to email PayPal and ask them to do it for me.

I also told you I had no intention of taking your money..

But just because some people are crooks when they sell online, that doesn't mean that I am.

I really wish you wouldn't trash my reputation online, not that it matters.

But an apology would be very nice.

I was always polite to you through e-mails.
And I fixed everything as nicely, and as quickly as I could.
Yet you come online and trash me on some forum.

[Fry-man22]

You know..
I told you a long time ago I was going to refund you..
It's not my fault it took so long to refund you.

I went out of town, and came back, and everyone had complained about my auctions, and all my accounts were frozen.
I couldn't log into any of my accounts, so I had to refund everyone, but I couldn't do that either so I had to email PayPal and ask them to do it for me.

I also told you I had no intention of taking your money..

But just because some people are crooks when they sell online, that doesn't mean that I am.

I really wish you wouldn't trash my reputation online, not that it matters.

But an apology would be very nice.

I was always polite to you through e-mails.
And I fixed everything as nicely, and as quickly as I could.
Yet you come online and trash me on some forum.

OK then sell me a new 650 for $250 and everyone here will apologize and admit they were wrong. If you are really the eBay scammer you have A LOT of nerve posting here and asking for an apology. So you're saying you took money from auctions and went out of town, what does that have to do with you shipping the items? Why did you not ship upon payment BEFORE you went out of town? Why did "everyone complain" about your auctions unless there was something to complain about? Also if you really had the products you could have just sent them to your customers and fulfilled your end of the transactions. You make no sense.

You gave the refunds because you lied and got caught. It took you a long time to refund because you thought you could keep doing this sort of thing and then Pay-pal locked you down. Did you even do anything to send the refunds or were they pulled from your account? you know what, scratch that, I don't really care what else you have to say.

!.) No one is apologizing to you.
2.) Your reputation on-line is already trash; accept it and crawl back under your rock.
3.) Don't post here anymore. This board is for Treo Users/Aspiring Treo users waiting on the device. Not crooked sellers that would use the name of our beloved Treo to take advantage of others.

Have a nice day .

[HumP]

well that about sums it up !!