eBay Nightmares

[Little Texan]

I have one bad experience to share...about 6 years ago, when I was first discovering the VH community and VH bootlegs, before I knew anything about boot trading, I used to bid rediculous amounts of money on bootlegs at eBay. Well, this one asshole was selling CD-R copies of boots on eBay, passing them off as authentic bootlegs, and failing to mention anything about them being cheap CD-R copies. Well, I ended up having the high bid in one of his auctions, totalling out in the 30 dollar range. When I received the boot in the mail, I quickly discovered that I had been had, that my boot was a cheap knockoff of the real thing, and I was very pissed about it. Well, I try to email this asshole, and he don't respond to my emails, so I went ahead and left him negative feedback at eBay. He emails me a week or so later being a real dickhead, and says that he was on vacation or something and that was why he didn't immediately respond to my emails. Well, the language and way he put things in his response really rubbed me the wrong way, on top of being ripped off $30 by this asshole, so I wrote him back and really tore into him, calling him every name in the book. The asshole wrote me back, cussing at me, and long story short, more back and forth ensued until I blocked his email. This asshole responds to my feedback saying that I used alot of foul language, insults (guilty on both counts :D), and personal threats, which was total bullshit...I never threatened the asshole one time! I was just looking through this prick's feedback recently, and I noticed I wasn't the only one he ended up ripping off...apparently he sold someone a fake Les Paul guitar after passing it off as the genuine article. I also happened to notice he is no longer a registered member there...the last transaction goes back to 2002. Anyway, that's the only real negative experience I've ever had on there, and I've had no problems with my dealings with people on there since then...all possitive experiences. To this day, that is the only negative feedback that I've ever left on there.

[bueno bob]

I've never had any real huge problems...I did end up buying the old Tormentor/Destruction split '83 demos from a guy, thinking they were the official boots...he was banned from ebay about 2 days after the auction ended, of course I'd already paid for them...well, to make a long story short, they got to me in the mail about 2 months later, just a cheap CD-R burn...but I figured I was lucky to end up with that...

[binnie]

No, there are some real assholes on Ebay - I always check feedback now that I've been burned a couple of times.

Don't even get me started about Amazon....

[Ellyllions]

I did my (hopefully) last Ebay transaction this week.

My only real gripe with both Ebay and Amazon is that my accounts on both have been tampered with. In 3 years, I've had to change my debit cards on 3 seperate occasions and all were because Amazon had been compromised.

A week ago, I listed a car on Ebay (first time selling on Ebay) and within 4 days I had an email in my inbox from Ebay saying that my account's password had been changed because there had been activity to suggest that my account had been hacked.

I never answer emails from Ebay outside of Ebay. My hubby is a computer guru so I have all the latest bells and whistles to protect my system as well as pretty familiar with email pros/cons.

I don't know if it's easier to steal people's account information or if people are just getting more brave about doing it now-a-days. But I'm pretty much finished with the whole shopping on-line thing as a whole. I'd much rather paper order or call in an order if I want something.

[bueno bob]

Originally posted by Ellyllions
I did my (hopefully) last Ebay transaction this week.

My only real gripe with both Ebay and Amazon is that my accounts on both have been tampered with. In 3 years, I've had to change my debit cards on 3 seperate occasions and all were because Amazon had been compromised.

A week ago, I listed a car on Ebay (first time selling on Ebay) and within 4 days I had an email in my inbox from Ebay saying that my account's password had been changed because there had been activity to suggest that my account had been hacked.

I never answer emails from Ebay outside of Ebay. My hubby is a computer guru so I have all the latest bells and whistles to protect my system as well as pretty familiar with email pros/cons.

I don't know if it's easier to steal people's account information or if people are just getting more brave about doing it now-a-days. But I'm pretty much finished with the whole shopping on-line thing as a whole. I'd much rather paper order or call in an order if I want something.

I've gotten the "Your account password has been changed because you were hacked" bullshit e-mails too...they've always been frauds...

My password's never been changed and nobody's ever hacked my ebay account for all the years I've used it...

Are you sure the e-mail was legit? Not questioning you, it just seems kinda odd...

[Ellyllions]

It was legit.
When I logged into my ebay account, the warning was sitting in "my messages"...

I don't answer anything from ebay unless from "my messages" in my account inbox.

[Ellyllions]

Also I've got a "junk" email inbox that I only use when I know I'm going to get spam...and there was a message in that inbox that said,

and I quote...

"Thanks for the extra money, I could use it. See ya at the end of the auction. Nicky"

I forwarded that message to spoof@ebay.com with the header information attached.

[bueno bob]

Wow...that's pretty fucked up...

Did they clean out your paypal account, or...what exactly did they do?

[Ellyllions]

I immediately cleaned out my paypal account and notified my banks of what had happened. Luckily I was sitting right here when all of it came in so I had the opportunity to cut any foul behavior off from the outset.

I also wrote ebay a scathing email that too many people depend on them for security and this is complete lack of service. The security windows are still open and they most certainly need a customer service telephone number that can be reached in events like this.

When they replied, they'd been researching some account I'd never even heard of advising me through my primary email that they could see no evidence of tampering. So I took the matter into my own hands and closed everything, the listing and all.

[bueno bob]

I don't feel so safe anymore...heheh...

I don't know, maybe I'm just lucky, but I've had the same account at the same address using the same card number for years now...never had a problem at all...

I'm sure ebay will shut the guy down in no time flat, though...

[Ellyllions]

I honestly don't think we're safe at all.

I never ever allow a web page to "save" my information anymore. Nothing, not even my mailing/shipping information.

Another thing that's helping hackers are these "survey" bulletins like on MySpace. Might be fun to talk about yourself but when they ask the same questions that security features ask like: "Your mother's maiden name", and "the name of your first pet"...you're better off leaving those things alone.

Like my grandpa always said, "The bigger you get, the more vulnerable you become"...

[Nitro Express]

Nothing is 100% sure or securre. That's why you don't keep all your eggs in one basket. It's always been the case. People have forgotten that tottal bank failures and rampnat inflation do happen. All the FDIC and Federal Reserve are is window dressing. If your monitary and financial system isn't built on sound principles, you eventually get burned.