Whoa...so sorry to hear that Doc J. and Invisibl.
Recently, like 2 months ago, I was scammed on eBAY while trying to buy a Mackie Onyx Satellite.
I was sick of my Audiophile 2496/Behringer UB-1204 combo and really wanted a firewire AI with good pres.
So, I find an auction for a Mackie Satellite for $330, the seller had good street cred, 3 years history, over 200 transactions. I paid for the item immediately, it never came.
I was off on vacation for a week, when I returen there is an email for me, from eBAY, stating that I should not converse with the seller of that item via Western Union or other means outside the eBAY network.
I realized...fuck, I've been scammed. They deleted the goddamn auction. The only way I could research it was through PayPal.
Luckily I remembered the name of the seller, AndyKee, but the name of the seller on PayPal's portal was "ChingWanFungPai" or something crazy like that. Apparently, someone hijacked AndyKee's account and listed a bunch of shit, collected the money, cashed it out, and then laughed his ass off.
I reported the item, waited 10 days for PayPal to resolve the case (please note they expect you to try and "work it out" with the seller, which is not possible if the seller is not responsible, and if you cannot contact the seller because they yanked the goddamn auction), and if you wish they (PayPal) will mediate the case for a $25 fee and you must accept their settlement of the case no matter what the outcome. The only way you are protected for $1,000 on any transaction of things you buy is if the seller is PayPal verified AND you paid with a PayPal line of credit. Otherwise, you are at their fucking mercy.
I ended up getting $260 of my $330 back, so no big deal in the big picture of things.
But, last year I bid on a Motif ES6 and lost, only to be enticed by a second chance offer that looked really fucking legit. I got concerned when the bastard asked for my eBAY username and PW to "confirm the transaction" and reported the email.
Luckily, no harm was done, but I changed my eBAY user ID and PW.
It's a nasty little market and thieving shit-eaters like the ones we just dealt with know that audiophiles are willing to take a chance to own top notch gear.
Sorry for your loss, fellas.
Tread carefully!
