[Oh No!]

3 months ago I have won a bid on eBay for a used PowerBook G4 667.
I have paid the guy, Dwayne White (From Chicago), through PayPal $1,260 (!!!) and never got the laptop or a refund!

First, he ignored all of my emails and after 3 weeks he wrote me a bull**** story about how he got robbed.
I called him a few times and he told me that he is broke and can't pay me at the moment (like i care!).
Now, he is not responding to any calls or emails at all.

Beware of that Dwayne White!!!
His email address: [email protected]
and he lives in Chicago.

PayPal did not helped a bit and i know they are holding some money of his.

I know about an other guy with exactly the same story with the same crook, but he got his money back from PayPal...

I have decided that i'm not going to let him get away with it!
Any suggestions???

[Fyre4ce]

There was a thread in here a few months ago about a guy who was in a similar position. Do a search for it.

[Oh No!]

But it's not the same guy.
No patern.

10x anyway!

[def H H H]

Well, that's the risk you take from buying **** online, and ESPECIALLY from eBay. Plenty of people have luck with it; but I will never ever buy anything from it. Plus, if it sounds too good to be true, then most likely it is.

Argh, um, I don't have any advice for you, except for calling your credit card company. Cause, I bought a Sony minidisc player and within a month it broke. I called up my credit card company and they filed a claim. Boom, got my money back. Now, my problem is nothing like yours. But hey, it's worth a shot. Sorry guy.

[Oh No!]

American Express decided that i have to pay...

[olePigeon]

eBay is perfectly safe if you follow these rules for buying:

1) ONLY pay for items with Cashier's Checks from your bank.
2) NEVER make any compromises to rule 1, especially for "faster" and "more convenient" online payment services.
3) NEVER bid on an auction that only accepts PayPal. It's a gauranteed scam.
4) ALWAYS pay for insurance through the shipping courier.

Cashier's Checks from your bank are the safest and best way to handle transactions. Some banks require 90 days before they can refund the check, but hey, 90 days to get ALL your money back is way better than eternity with none of it.

A few rules when selling items:

1) Take any form of payment you are comfortable with where you get to verifty and confirm deposit before shipping. i.e. NO C.O.D. My suggestio is to NEVER use PayPal for anything.
2) Allow personal checks at least 8 working days (not including weekends) to be verified, and check with your bank on the status of the deposit on the 8th day before shipping.
3) ALWAYS ship insured through the courier.


If you follows those rules eBay is safe to use. Make NO exceptions to them or you will be screwed.

A few side notes on why you won't get your money back:

In a recent ruling, online payment services such as BillPoint, PayPal, and eScrow were found NOT reliable for the money they hold. They are not obligated to be FDIC insured because they are NOT banks.

Here's the main problem with that. Services like BillPoint, PayPal, and eScrow void any fraud protection on a credit card becuase they're an intermediary and not the seller. So if you have a Visa or American Express with the fraud protection, it no longer applies.

[def H H H]

Well, all I can say is:

"Damn homie" - 50 Cent.

[alex_kac]

Originally posted by olePigeon:
eBay is perfectly safe if you follow these rules for buying:

1) ONLY pay for items with Cashier's Checks from your bank.
2) NEVER make any compromises to rule 1, especially for "faster" and "more convenient" online payment services.
3) NEVER bid on an auction that only accepts PayPal. It's a gauranteed scam.

I only accept Pay Pal because of scams. I don't trust money orders (at least until after its cashed). I've done at least 20 eBay sales for equipment we no longer use and every one has gone through PayPal with no troubles.

[MacGorilla]

When I do an auction, I always accept paypay and money orders/cashier's checks. I never accept COD. never.

[Anomalous]

I agree that PayPal's customer service department is unhelpful (and practically nonexistent) when you need assistance, but I have used PayPal in several auctions that were not scams.

Originally posted by olePigeon:
eBay is perfectly safe if you follow these rules for buying:

1) ONLY pay for items with Cashier's Checks from your bank.

Cashier's Checks from your bank are the safest and best way to handle transactions. Some banks require 90 days before they can refund the check, but hey, 90 days to get ALL your money back is way better than eternity with none of it.

How does that stop the seller from cashing the cheque and shipping you a brick instead of the shiny new Powerbook you expected? Do the cheque's take 30 days to clear or something?

[olePigeon]

Originally posted by hayesk:
How does that stop the seller from cashing the cheque and shipping you a brick instead of the shiny new Powerbook you expected? Do the cheque's take 30 days to clear or something?

When you take out a Cashiere's Cheque, it is no longer your money but a debt agreement between you and the Bank. When you send the Cashier's Cheque there is no time limit on stopping payment of the cheque, however, as with my bank there's a $25 fee.

If the cheque is already cashed, some banks require you to fill out a Fraud Investigation form. In that event your bank calls the recipient bank and check transactions. This may take 90 days or so, sometimes only a few weeks. Then the bank determines if you get your money back.

If this was a scam, most likely the guy opened an account for a few weeks, had 100 deposites, then closed it. Obviously, that's grounds for suspecting fraud and you'd get your money back. Or, the scammer's bank will give the scammer a call asking him to check his records if he recieved payment from you. If he says no, then you get your money back. If he says yes, the bank sends someone to your house to take a look at the product (or lack thereof). Then it goes to the courier who supposedly shipped the package, etc., etc.

The end result is that you eventually get your money back. And since it's the Bank's money and not yours anymore (as appose to a personal cheque) the Bank is more inclined on getting the money back rather than "just letting it go." (banks have credit records too.)

[OptimusG4]

What about the sellers ratings? Did you check that before purchasing?

[wataru]

Originally posted by OptimusG4:
What about the sellers ratings? Did you check that before purchasing?

This is a good point.

I'm selling my PowerBook G4 on eBay right now, and I just got an email from someone offering to buy it early. This email came from a hotmail account and his eBay account has 0 feedback and has only been open for a month.
Red flags? You betcha.