This is my first post, I’ve been just lurking for awhile but I just felt the need to vent.
I got back in to the hobby recently and I’m buying cards here and there in LGS, Target, Walmart, etc with my son and online on eBay without my wife knowing how much they cost shhh(she knows how many cards come in the mail though…) and it’s a lot of fun opening packs with my son and I find the time very rewarding.
Anyway, I got a mail from one of my purchases that I made 29 January today and to my surprise there’s nothing in there. So i messaged the seller asking what happened and he immediately told me I’m a scammer. Bottom line, he will not refund me my money. Granted it’s a very small amount(15 dollars, i was trying to get a good shining mew to grade for my collection, bought 2 more before and none were that great) I guess I was more pissed off than trying to get that $15 back? I just opened a case with eBay because I don’t want him taking my money and calling me a scammer.
Has this ever happened to you? as a buyer or seller? What was the outcome? Will I get my money back?
This picture doesn’t really support my case but still, taken after I yelled WTF.
@richi2rich first and foremost, welcome to E4 and glad to have you here! However, im not glad about these circumstances which have gotten the best of you, and ill see if any input I have can help.
I myself recently had quite the awful experience with a seller on ebay as well, but due to different circumstances (you can find that post in sour grapes if wondering) but rest assured, things will work out here. File the claim with ebay, and they should be able to handle the situation. As for the seller, it would be best to just ignore them completely, and block to protect yourself down the road. Luckily this isnt a high priced item, but always remember that ebay does very well in backing up their buyers, so take it up with them and you should see a refund hopefully and things will work out.
For the future, just know that cards will come and go, and a card like Shining Mew isnt hard to obtain, so its just a matter of finding a more reputable seller somewhere down the road. If wanting anything also theres a buy thread here where you can list your price willing to pay and someone can contact you if they have said item. Or being that you were looking to grade this, maybe try buying the graded card to cut out the wait time of PSA submitting and getting one on the spot from a better seller. All and all, at the end of the day things will work out and, just like me in my situation, dont let this one bad experience destroy your re entrance into the hobby. Again, happy to see you here and hope this helps!
The way I see it is, if you propose an issue as a buyer to a seller and the very first reaction is combative and telling you you’re dishonest, then they are the dishonest ones projecting that he likely tried to scam you. If that’s not the case and it’s an honest mistake or it was stolen or something, then maybe he’s not dishonest, but he’s an ***.
@richi2rich to add to this, i should mention you should post the ebay user here as well, just so others could protect themselves from this situation happening to any of us. Theres also an ebay blocklist thread which could also help you add buyers/seller whom have a bad standing in the community if you search it out in the above links.
Thank you for your replies! I love this place it’s like a vault of information filled with talking wikipedias.
I was really hoping it was honest mistake on his part and maybe he’ll find the card laying around somewhere. If not, he really is an ***. I’m really glad it’s a real common card to find so i won’t have any problems getting another copy, probably just graded already.
Just blows my mind how someone can ship an empty envelope? And I still wasn’t provided this video he told me he had.
His user id is micke1962 and as of today had 2 feedback. The user who sold the fake mewtwo was robhic_38 and told me he got the card at target with his son and i just didn’t want to pursue any further as that was even cheaper.
I’m sorry to hear this happened to you. I always hate when something weird happens when I’m buying cards and I’m like, “Here we go again!”
I actually did receive an empty envelope once but that was from TCG Player. It came in a PWE but the weird part was that it looked like at some point it had the card in it and someone had taken it out during transit, or it fell out. Not only did it have the impression, but it had a small collection of that dirt that you get on the outside of envelopes when they come in the mail. Usually if I have to mail something in an envelope I always make sure to add extra tape to the seal just to make it more obvious if it’s been tampered with, or deter people from messing with it.
An actual Ebay scam I received though was when I was buying a 1st Edition base Caterpie a while back. The seller sent me an Evolutions Caterpie in a bubble mailer. I messaged the seller and they told me that their wife had packed the cards and messed up and asked if I wanted the card. Well at that point the seller also started getting feedback from other buyers that purchased stuff at the same time I did, and it was obvious that this seller was just scamming. If I had thought this was a legitimate mistake I would have happily been patient to receive my purchase but I just asked for my refund and he sent it right away. Oh, and the even weirder part was that he approved the return and I sent the Evolutions Caterpie back. He obviously knew what he was trying to do but why would you lose another $3+ dollars on shipping again?
eBay hate their sellers and love their buyers. If you open a case with eBay, and give them the same amount of info as you’ve given us you’ll more than likely win the case.
Although your situation was resolved and mystery solved, I have had a situation where I received an empty package but the buyer was very insistent that he did ship out the cards.
This happened over a year ago. I just now looked at his ebay account and all 10+ transactions he’s had since mine have been positive, and he had hundreds of positive feedback before my sale. When I looked closely at the empty package I received, it seemed very clear that the top had been opened and resealed with packaging tape.
It was quite the mystery, and he seemed like he was being honest about it - I’ve dealt with a lot of scammers in my time and can sniff out their BS pretty well - and he wasn’t giving off any shady vibes. Of course, I spent $300 and received an empty package, so of course I’m going to file an item not as described claim. Ebay gave me a lot of guff about the refund and I don’t blame them for the awkward position they were in. They have two people with 100% positive feedback and hundreds of sales/purchases saying the other one was not being honest about the situation (that, likely, both people were being honest about!).
In the end ebay made me jump through all the possible hoops, file an i3 (or whatever it is) report, only refunded me half of the sale at first, etc., but I did get my money back. In the end both parties felt slighted (I really wanted those cards), but if he was honest about actually sending the cards, he would rightly be more angry at the situation.
And to really add to the mindfuck of the whole situation - another padded envelope of pokemon cards, from a completely different seller, came at the same time as the empty package. And this padded envelope also had the same signs of fuckery - the top looked as if it had been sliced open and repackaged with packaging tape - BUT THE CARDS WERE STILL IN THERE!
I’m guessing the seller put two cards into one envelope by mistake and the buyer contacted the seller the next day i received my package? Otherwise seller wouldn’t have known it went to someone else and probably would have had eBay step in and issue the refund.
I’ve lucked out this time but I was scammed with a fake rainbow Mewtwo before this and i see many fakes for the burning shadows Charizard as well when i look at pictures carefully.
What other scams are out there that I have to look out for as a buyer? I just feel very…inexperienced when it comes to these situations.
) and it’s a lot of fun opening packs with my son and I find the time very rewarding.
