Probstein F'd me again!

[55koufax]

Over the years I have had problems with eBay purchases from Rick Probstein. The latest takes the cake. Apparently he has either figured out an eBay policy loophole or he "inadvertently" fell into one. This will blow your mind. I recently won three cards from his auctions to the tune of approx. $1,400. The key card was a Reggie Jax for $1,100. I rec'd a USPS Priority Flat Rate signature req'd box in a timely manner and signed for it as it appeared to be in perfect order. Upon opening it, only two of three cards were inside. Of course, the key Reggie card, was not. It only gets better (worse)....I immediately eBay message Probstein. He does not respond for 24 hours. I message him again. He does not respond for another 24 hours. I contact eBay Concierge who understands the situation and they open an Item Not Received case. They tell me I have wait 7 days so the seller, Probstein, has an opportunity to respond. Of course he does not and the week expires. I contact eBay Conceirge again thinking I would then be refunded.......That is simply not possible I am told, after speaking to three reps in "Sportscards" at eBay, including Team Leader Heather. She stated I would not be eligible for a refund because I signed for the pkg and there is tracking on eBay confirming it. That is all that mattered to her. She did not care that Probstein ignored any/all communication requests for 10 days. She did not care that the pkg was short packed and missing an item. She did not care that I am out $1,100 because of this. I tried a few times following up with other eBay Conceirge reps and got nothing but a run-around. Multiple reps thought they could resolve this by trying to do a return item case instead of an item not rec'd. At the end of several days and attempts, that will not work either - again, I am told because of the tracking and me signing for it and accepting it in good order. Well, could this mean that any package that comes signature required should be opened in front of the carrier? Of course not, but eBay has no answer to that insane proposal. What it does mean, is eBay is either protecting their biggest sports card client (now that PWCC was given the boot) or they have a loophole. I will be taking advantage of this loophole to recapture my $1,100. I (or you, or anyone) can just sell multiple items to a single buyer on eBay. Short pack a USPS Priority Flat Rate box intentionally, and require a signature. Then just ignore any/all communication from the outraged buyer, then ignore eBay communication for the one week period and be done with it. No consequences whatsoever. That said, I am honest as the day is long, but I refuse to be F'd out of $1,100. They and Probstein leave me no choice. If anyone has any experience or recommendation for a better resolution, I am all ears, and I thank you for suggestion. PS - Tried calling Probstein and the same old "Mail Box Full" recording comes on.....

[jason.1969]

That sucks. I personally avoid any Probstein listings,
just as I avoided all PWCC while they were still around. When you buy from sellers with no integrity, bad things tend to happen.

Jason Schwartz


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Johnny630]

I'm so sorry buddy. This does not sound like Rick Probstein at all. I do not think he would do this purposely, maybe he didn't get the message. Nah no way, he would'nt.

Have you tried calling him or emailing him??? Not through ebay but directly? You have to find a way to get a hold of him, not his assistants working for him.

or maybe cc charge back as last resort. Idk very sad. I hope this get resolved.

[Snapolit1]

Have heard many stories about Rick but has always been totally on the up and up in my dealings. I even went to his warehouse once and picked up a nice photo in person. Hope this works out.

[Snowman]

He's not trying to scam you. Just email him. He will fix it. I guarantee it. His email is: rickprobstein1@gmail.com

[Popcorn]

Originally Posted by Snowman

He's not trying to scam you. Just email him. He will fix it. I guarantee it. His email is: rickprobstein1@gmail.com

Yeah don’t try and rip someone off man. Bad karma.

If this happens again always go item not as described, the not received route is always a headache.

[tribefan]

Originally Posted by Snowman

He's not trying to scam you. Just email him. He will fix it. I guarantee it. His email is: rickprobstein1@gmail.com

Not intentionally, but his poor inventory practices allowed this to happen.

I have had the same situation twice with this seller. The first time they found the missing card and it was sent to me. The second time they could not find it, and said it must have been sent, so they let ebay close the case since it had been scanned as delivered.

Anyone who chooses to deal with this seller needs to understand the risk involved.

Why not use a packing slip? That could help solve some issues.

[uniship]

Story does not surprise me one bit. Probstein is horrible and he doesn’t care.

[SteveS]

If you paid by credit card, file a dispute with the credit card issuer. If you paid with PayPal, file a dispute with them. Signing indicates only that you have received the package, not that you have inspected what's inside.

[swarmee]

Originally Posted by 55koufax

Over the years I have had problems with eBay purchases from Rick Probstein. The latest takes the cake. Apparently he has either figured out an eBay policy loophole or he "inadvertently" fell into one. This will blow your mind. I recently won three cards from his auctions to the tune of approx. $1,400. The key card was a Reggie Jax for $1,100. I rec'd a USPS Priority Flat Rate signature req'd box in a timely manner and signed for it as it appeared to be in perfect order. Upon opening it, only two of three cards were inside. Of course, the key Reggie card, was not. It only gets better (worse)....I immediately eBay message Probstein. He does not respond for 24 hours. I message him again. He does not respond for another 24 hours. I contact eBay Concierge who understands the situation and they open an Item Not Received case. They tell me I have wait 7 days so the seller, Probstein, has an opportunity to respond. Of course he does not and the week expires. I contact eBay Conceirge again thinking I would then be refunded.......That is simply not possible I am told, after speaking to three reps in "Sportscards" at eBay, including Team Leader Heather. She stated I would not be eligible for a refund because I signed for the pkg and there is tracking on eBay confirming it. That is all that mattered to her. She did not care that Probstein ignored any/all communication requests for 10 days. She did not care that the pkg was short packed and missing an item. She did not care that I am out $1,100 because of this. I tried a few times following up with other eBay Conceirge reps and got nothing but a run-around. Multiple reps thought they could resolve this by trying to do a return item case instead of an item not rec'd. At the end of several days and attempts, that will not work either - again, I am told because of the tracking and me signing for it and accepting it in good order. Well, could this mean that any package that comes signature required should be opened in front of the carrier? Of course not, but eBay has no answer to that insane proposal. What it does mean, is eBay is either protecting their biggest sports card client (now that PWCC was given the boot) or they have a loophole. I will be taking advantage of this loophole to recapture my $1,100. I (or you, or anyone) can just sell multiple items to a single buyer on eBay. Short pack a USPS Priority Flat Rate box intentionally, and require a signature. Then just ignore any/all communication from the outraged buyer, then ignore eBay communication for the one week period and be done with it. No consequences whatsoever. That said, I am honest as the day is long, but I refuse to be F'd out of $1,100. They and Probstein leave me no choice. If anyone has any experience or recommendation for a better resolution, I am all ears, and I thank you for suggestion. PS - Tried calling Probstein and the same old "Mail Box Full" recording comes on.....

Quoted. Glad to know that's your next step.

[Carter08]

What is your eBay seller name? Asking for a friend. Just kidding, I hope it works out. For what it’s worth (not much) I’ve had good experiences with Probstein. Similar to pwcc, I’d rather avoid the big guns and support smaller operators but sometimes the cards call to me.

[Casey2296]

Originally Posted by swarmee

Quoted. Glad to know that's your next step.

Have to agree with John here, I get that you're angry but don't take it out on the good people in the hobby. Bad form.

[NYYFan63]

Email him directly or call him. If that doesn’t work, call him out on IG. He has a big presence on IG and I’m sure he doesn’t want negative publicity.

Full transparency - I have not had any issues with Rick with buying or selling cards.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[tinkertoeverstochance]

.

[UKCardGuy]

That sucks. I hope it works out for you.

I think your issue from an ebay perspective is that you should have filed a claim for "item not as described" claim rather than a "item not recieved" claim.

Item not received means that the package didn't arrive. (Clearly it did as you signed for it). Whereas item not as described means you received the package but the contents are different to what you purchased.

You may want to contact eBay and open an item not as described case.

As a general rule, when buying on eBay (esp for more expensive items) I use PayPal to pay. That leaves me a second avenue to try in cases like this.
______________
Gary Goldberg

[Directly]

If worse comes to worse I would try to file a claim with your Sports cards insurance policy--

[jayshum]

Originally Posted by Directly

If worse comes to worse I would try to file a claim with your Sports cards insurance policy--

I'm not sure how you would expect an insurance policy to cover this if the card was never received. Would you claim it was stolen in transit, but even then, if you never actually had it, wouldn't it be the insurance policy of the sender that would be responsible for covering the loss?