Has anyone here ever been scammed? You hear horror stories of buyer claiming items never got delivered and getting their money back via eBay and keeping the item. Or people having their packages stolen. Or just a plain old scam or wiring money and never receiving the items.
I read many of them on FB groups where the general public is unaware of how to protect themself. I mean, some of them don’t know what is the difference between Paypal F&F and G&S, or they pay with a bank transfer, or they ask for not tracked shipping, and on top of that Facebook Marketplace doesn’t provide feedback.
It’s also true that unfortunately, evil people exist, and even if you know how to protect yourself there is always someone who tries new strategies to take advantage of others.
3 Likes
Only once - selling an OG Game Boy bundle a few years ago. It was a flawless specimen, complete and intact in its packaging, and the buyer opened a refund request immediately upon receipt to claim “the screen fell out.”
I called their bluff and asked for photos, which they never supplied, but eBay decided in his favor because of course they did. I had to appeal and when they never participated in the appeal I got my money back. I am still bitter all these years later because that was a really exquisite Game Boy and I wish it went to an honest collector and not some swindler.
1 Like
As a buyer, I’ve been scammed a few times sending money as F&F. I think I’m easily prone to getting scammed because I tend to give people the benefit of the doubt and can fall for sob stories 
I’m a bit better about it and mostly only send payment as G&S now using only paypal or through a 3rd party website like eBay
Hmm, I don’t think that I’ve ever been scammed. But there are numerous horror stories on the eBay Garbage megathread. Maybe I’m protected from getting scammed because I stay away from Facebook/Instagram/dark alleys/poorly lit parking lots/etc.
I built a 10k pokemon group on FB nearly from the ground up and left because of the hassel…
Lots of uninformed people.
Lots of naive people.
Many scammers, but there are many failsafes in the community overall .
Obvious red flags are obvious, some people are just easily duped.
2 large FB groups dedicated wholly to feedback , for the purpose of vetting and exposing people, and also for groups that care, there is a private sms group for exposing/banning known scammers/accounts from all groups…
2 Likes
A similar thing happened with virbank. I believe one of the admins just quit because of the toxicity and handed it to someone else. I’m sure there are deals to be made, but social media was just not setup as a marketplace. Its too unregulated. Also the percentage of people who message me on IG that becomes an actual sale is under 10%. I barely have time to respond to IG messages, and had multiple people renegotiate after agreeing to a deal. In every instance the item sells for more on ebay. Social media just feels like a net negative.
3 Likes
Last i heard they were on of “those who shall not be named” list. but after seeing all the ridiculousness behind the scenes as a main admin, i can see its easy for some unprincipled people to just be laissez faire about it.
I always advocated buyer beware and educating yourself, but many dont or wont…
We were just starting to get offers for sponsorships, promos , partnerships etc when i left… its an unpaid job , with very little recognition from most people. I left it in the hands of someone i felt was principled and cared about the community overall.
I think overall i have had net positive results with selling/buying off FB. Did more buying than selling , about the same % of bad deals/issues with sellers as ebay… nearly always newer/less vetted or knowledgeable people.
1 Like