Risky Purchase - UPDATED

[egbeachley]

How should I handle a risky purchase on Ebay? It's with a brand new seller, rating is 0. The only pictures are borrowed scans. I would normally not bid, but the listing gives some details (checklist never published) that he would not know unless he had the cards. So I bid and won.

Payment will be with Paypal, so if the cards never show up or are somehow fake, is it automatic that I will get my payment back? What if the seller already pulled the cash out, does that make a difference? What does Paypal Buyer protection provide?

[TheBig6]

If your Paypal account is connected to a credit Card and not your bank account.
You can dispute purchase with your credit card company bypassing paypal all together , if you have too.

[HRBAKER]

Will the paypal be a cash transfer from a balance or pushed through to a credit card?

[egbeachley]

It's setup to a bank account right now. I guess I could disable that function for this purchase.

[M's_Fan]

Ive only had one time where the seller didn't deliver, I opened a paypal grievance and eventually got my money back, about a month and a half later. It was not a pleasant experience. After that, I've stayed away from low feedback sellers.

Did the seller list any other cards at the same time?

If you do decide to take this risk, I would definitely not pay until you contact the seller, and try and get as many details and info from him that you can. If the seller is unresponsive or evasive, DO NOT PAY. You may even try to get him on the phone to feel him out. It sort of also depends on how much the item cost. Good luck.

[CW]

It's setup to a bank account right now. I guess I could disable that function for this purchase.

yes, in order to be completely protected, and have piece of mind, make sure
to send payment with a credit card connected to the account. Hope it all
goes well and you don't even have to file a claim.

[HRBAKER]

yes, in order to be completely protected, and have piece of mind, make sure
to send payment with a credit card connected to the account. Hope it all
goes well and you don't even have to file a claim.

Yes, you need to make this PP purchase with a CC. That way you have the coverage of the credit card compnay in addition and I would even say primary to the coverage provided by PP.

[ethicsprof]

hope it all goes well for you!

best,
barry

[bobbyw8469]

Any feedback on if this deal turned out OK or not?

[ScottFandango]

BAD IDEA
stay away

very rare a legit seller would try to sell an expensive card before selling a few smaller items to get the feedback score up

i have over 1000 tranasaction on EBAY as a buyer and NEVER GOT BURNED..this happens by being very careful who you buy from....

rule 1: NEVER BUY FROM less than 3 feedback person

[T206DK]

Scott, unfortunately there is a growing wave of Ebay scheisters that have up to 15 seperate Ebay accounts going at any one time. They use them all to bolster feedback on the account they plan to scam with. When the time is right they set off on a short but lucrative ( for them at least) selling spree and then simply switch to another account the next month when negative feedback starts rolling in. Even worse they will shill their own auctions using several of their other accounts and if you go to check the bid histories out , they are now smart enough to have gone and bid on useless items they know they will never win in whatever category they are trying to sell in. Example: Seller wants to sell bogus goudey cards, so he and his cronies or family members start bidding on random sportscard auctions they know they will never win, like bidding $1.00 for a $5,000 Ty Cobb card. they are assured of being outbid, but it shows up on their bid history and makes them look like a collector or hobbyist to the average joe who might check bidding histories on Ebay. Ebay knows this is going on and does nothing to stop it. The antique store dealer that lives down the road from me has 12 accounts on Ebay that he uses to sell and buy from. All have feedback scores in the triple digits now. He told ne he has been doing this for 7 years.
Ebay seller JEREMYPADILlA is a fine example. of this type of activity.

[egbeachley]

2 weeks later, many unanswered emails, finally was contacted by the seller who was getting Second Chance Offers (to the seller?) and other scams. But finally they came today.

36 T90's - you know them as the bird cards Marshall Barkman found in PA. Set of 30. It took me 10 years to get my first type card. With these 36, there is probably still less than 100 known examples.

[Bicem]

congrats... pics?

[rhettyeakley]

Eric, congrats on the cards finally arriving! I was going to make a run on the auction as well (as you got them for an unbelievably low price) but my brain just wouldn't let me do it w/ some of the red flags that were present. They couldn't have gone to a better nonsports guy! Now, if you want to sell your dupes at slightly more than cost I'm game!:)
-Rhett

[egbeachley]

Here's one of the 4 pages.

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n304/egbeachley/T90-03.jpg