What is going on? eBay Hot Toys scams!
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Collectorcol
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I wouldn't touch anything on eBay if PayPal didn't protect the purchase.
Collectorcol
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You mean PayPal?
Collectorcol
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Just bought five to resell on errrr... eBay!
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ebay has buyer protection too but wont work on a claim until the estimated date of arrival has passed, paypal on the other hand will contact them and give the 7 days to respond to the buyer with updates, if nothing happens on the sellers end you get a refund straight away
Motuxmen
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Yea with the new paypal policy, you have to wait till the estimated delivery before you can open a paypal or ebay claim. But, if you have a fake tracking number(how do you know it's fake btw?) then you can call paypal to speak with the resolution department. Calling would be my advise.
As to how they can refund your money...even if the ebay/paypal account is closed they can charge the bank account/credit card used to open said account. If those accounts are closed or don't have the money then paypal/ebay still can refund your money, they just pay it themselves. And can sell the debt to a creditor, or write it off as a tax lose. Or a few other things. Needless to say, if you are entitled to a refund you would get one. No matter if ebay gets its money back.
When you are a seller one ebay, if you don't maintaine a perfect 5 star rating plus over 99% feedback, or have a certain amount of feedback, or to many negative claims in a 3,6,12,24 month period they require the money to be held in the paypal account until postive 5 star feedback is left, or there is a 30 day mandatory hold on the funds.
Obviously people get around the min feedback or percentage easily. There are a few ways to do, buying cheap items and building up feedback that way then start selling(buying ten 2 dollar items is worth it if you sell 5-10-20 50$ or more items as a scam, right) or they can sell a few items legit till they get a rep then steal a bunch (confidence scam for the new age) or even set up two or three or ten accounts and buy and sell to themselves (if they feedback is left positive they don't even have to actually send themselves money as long as both "accounts" are happy with the transaction) and leave the feedback then they can build up a handful of accounts at one time.
So never buy an item unless you see a photo of the actual item, not a stock/PR photo. If it looks to good, it is. Ask questions. Real sellers will answer. Never preorder on eBay. Ever. After the 30-45 day window paypal will not help. After 12-18 months they won't even have a record of it. It's not worth the risk. And if you are not sure ask someone on here. Ask me or a mod or anyone. I have way way to much experience with bad ebay deals.
And fyi-ebay and paypal are the same company. eBay bought out paypal about ten years back. The same rules apply to both. eBay buyer protection is paypal buyer protection.
As to how they can refund your money...even if the ebay/paypal account is closed they can charge the bank account/credit card used to open said account. If those accounts are closed or don't have the money then paypal/ebay still can refund your money, they just pay it themselves. And can sell the debt to a creditor, or write it off as a tax lose. Or a few other things. Needless to say, if you are entitled to a refund you would get one. No matter if ebay gets its money back.
When you are a seller one ebay, if you don't maintaine a perfect 5 star rating plus over 99% feedback, or have a certain amount of feedback, or to many negative claims in a 3,6,12,24 month period they require the money to be held in the paypal account until postive 5 star feedback is left, or there is a 30 day mandatory hold on the funds.
Obviously people get around the min feedback or percentage easily. There are a few ways to do, buying cheap items and building up feedback that way then start selling(buying ten 2 dollar items is worth it if you sell 5-10-20 50$ or more items as a scam, right) or they can sell a few items legit till they get a rep then steal a bunch (confidence scam for the new age) or even set up two or three or ten accounts and buy and sell to themselves (if they feedback is left positive they don't even have to actually send themselves money as long as both "accounts" are happy with the transaction) and leave the feedback then they can build up a handful of accounts at one time.
So never buy an item unless you see a photo of the actual item, not a stock/PR photo. If it looks to good, it is. Ask questions. Real sellers will answer. Never preorder on eBay. Ever. After the 30-45 day window paypal will not help. After 12-18 months they won't even have a record of it. It's not worth the risk. And if you are not sure ask someone on here. Ask me or a mod or anyone. I have way way to much experience with bad ebay deals.
And fyi-ebay and paypal are the same company. eBay bought out paypal about ten years back. The same rules apply to both. eBay buyer protection is paypal buyer protection.
Thanks guy for the tip. Sucks for me. Well, i tried calling ebay customer service but the item i won hot toys die cast war machine mark 2 for 205$. Paid on dec. 27. Estimate delivery is feb 27... But can't open a claim yet. I don't know if paypal can help then. Hoping to get my money back. It's just unfair for us to earn our hard work and be scammed. I for me, if i see a good deal its really tempting also. But at the end of the day, it's all a learning lesson for me.
Tried checking the tracking no. Using the said china post mail that seller used. Shown there are no records of the said tracking no. It will be almost a month now. And still no records to show of tracking no,
chewblacca
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Is that why many of these auctions are from China? They claim item will be delivered in two or more months knowing it's a scam and its beyond the PayPal window of a covered transaction?
Motuxmen
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If they say it's going to take two months it violates ebays shipping and you can get your money back. Everything paid for has to be in hand by 45 days after auction. Otherwise they refund your money. Ebay can't check every auction, there's billions of them every year. It's up to the buyer to know their own rights and the policy.
As for the tracking number...China post is not good at updating their tracking. PM me with the tracking number and I can have it checked (I know someone that works for them) and see if they have a record of it, or if it's an old reused or inactive number. They can tell if it's a number generated within a certain time period.
Edit---
Just so people know, I did a quick (well took about an hour) look at as many hot toys auctions as I could(which was maybe 1% of the total) and I found 32 for sure scams, 146 (additional) that violate ebays listing policy by not having the figure in stock and ready to ship in 30 days (like say a Hulkbuster) becuase if there is no announced release date how can you garuntee it will be in stock or if the announced date is months away same thing...and another 72 that are shady.
That's out of like 641 total MIB auctions I made it through. So around 39% are scams or very high chance of being scams. And I didn't spend much time on each auction. I would bet that number is actually a lot higher, percentage wise, then I found. And I included ones in my "shady/scam" count that may be legit sellers now or in the past but have listed items that are not covered by ebay or paypal. Even if it's a legit seller I count those as no go auctions becuase they violate policy. And if just a few people get funds reversed or ebay removes the listings and they do it again their accounts can be suspended and then you have no way to get help. If they are violating ebays seller policy eventually it's gonna catch up.
Also, out of those bad listings/auctions if you look at past feedback you can tell pretty easy what's going on. A guy with a feedback of 178 but has never sold anything ever is a red flag, especially when suddenly he goes from a year old account with no selling to now selling 30 hot toys. Or all the sales are tickey tack 2 dollar junk items. I've seen a few sellers that have negative feedback for this exact scam, but people still buy.
As for the tracking number...China post is not good at updating their tracking. PM me with the tracking number and I can have it checked (I know someone that works for them) and see if they have a record of it, or if it's an old reused or inactive number. They can tell if it's a number generated within a certain time period.
Edit---
Just so people know, I did a quick (well took about an hour) look at as many hot toys auctions as I could(which was maybe 1% of the total) and I found 32 for sure scams, 146 (additional) that violate ebays listing policy by not having the figure in stock and ready to ship in 30 days (like say a Hulkbuster) becuase if there is no announced release date how can you garuntee it will be in stock or if the announced date is months away same thing...and another 72 that are shady.
That's out of like 641 total MIB auctions I made it through. So around 39% are scams or very high chance of being scams. And I didn't spend much time on each auction. I would bet that number is actually a lot higher, percentage wise, then I found. And I included ones in my "shady/scam" count that may be legit sellers now or in the past but have listed items that are not covered by ebay or paypal. Even if it's a legit seller I count those as no go auctions becuase they violate policy. And if just a few people get funds reversed or ebay removes the listings and they do it again their accounts can be suspended and then you have no way to get help. If they are violating ebays seller policy eventually it's gonna catch up.
Also, out of those bad listings/auctions if you look at past feedback you can tell pretty easy what's going on. A guy with a feedback of 178 but has never sold anything ever is a red flag, especially when suddenly he goes from a year old account with no selling to now selling 30 hot toys. Or all the sales are tickey tack 2 dollar junk items. I've seen a few sellers that have negative feedback for this exact scam, but people still buy.
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Mugatu
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Actually took a chance on one of those for the Iron Man for $49. I figured I would get it covered by Paypal/Ebay, and worse case scenario if I didn't I was only out $50. So the item supposedly shipped a few days ago but with no tracking number on eBay.
After reading this thread I called Paypal to start the process flagging a potential scam, and their first step was to demand a tracking number from the seller, which they surprisingly did. I checked it and it does work, showing current shipping dates and going through customs. So I am led to believe that SOMETHING has shipped to me...though there's no telling what THAT is.
If anyone has better ways of investigating China Post tracking numbers, please let me know and I can PM you what I have.
Side note: I too noticed that while the sellers feedback was over 97%, their previous sales consisted of $2 flash drives a year prior.
chewblacca
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I saw that too. Most of many sellers previous sales were scarves, flash drives and usb cords.
Motuxmen
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It's pretty common for them to ship something to you. It's often just an empty box or envelope. I would suggest when you see it coming in you ask it be held at the post office and you go there to open it. If it gets delivered and it's not what you ordered then things get more complicated. I have a friend that works for China post agency so I can check some things but if it's a good tracking number I'm not sure what I could find. But if I can see the weight listed as way off what the hit toys would way maybe. But if it's a solid tracking number you will probably have to wait till it's delivered. Again, I would not have it delivered to your home. Go to the post office. Otherwise you may end up with the whole your word against his. It's just much easier to have the post master confirm what was in it if anything. If you want me to check the tracking info pm me the number
Lejuan
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Some people sure do have a lot of time on their hands. Feeding scammers and chewing up ebay and PayPal resources. Good grief.
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Yes. I do wish people would be smarter about these sort of things. The only way you're going to get a new $50 IM Hot toys figure is, if an angry spouse puts one in their garage sale while you're at work.
Don't give the angry spouse's any more ideas than they already may have!On the opposite end of the spectrum I have purchased some auctions thinking they were scams and ended up receiving product at a great discount. Sometimes people make mistakes with their listings ect. With the way eBay protects you now a days I do take some "calculated" risks sometimes. But I'm only able to do this because I do have some disposable income. So if it doesn't work out, I wait and get my money back. But these $50-$100 Hot Toys scams......I wouldn't touch them with a 10 foot poll. Way too many red flags IMHO.
Lejuan
Super Freak
It's pretty easy to tell the legit 'too good to be trues' from the dodgy ones, just by paying a little attention to the listing. I've picked up some really good deals from casual sellers who just want to get rid of stuff they either bought ages ago and don't place a 'today's prices' premium on the item, or stuff they're selling 'cause their kid has moved out. Nothing yet from Hi-Fidelity style angry wives though.
Joeyrainbow
Super Freak
Be aware of this. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. I got burned with a hot toys preorder a couple of years back. the price was awesome. too awesome. communication was good so absolutely no warning signs. as soon as the 90 days passed (thats how it used to be) the seller vanished. account deactivated. £150 gone.
*****kers.
JR
*****kers.
JR
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