<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">Well guys, I think I have been possibly scammed on Ebay and wanted to give the rest of you a heads up. I won this auction, ebay#160989937849, a New in box Tamiya Tiger last week. I thought I scored a good deal considering it only went for $107 with $70 for shipping, however, a few items this week aroused my suspicion. While perusing my favorite search of 1/16 scale tanks again on Ebay, my eye caught Ebay#251247843948, Ebay#2512478445649, and finally Ebay#271175111886. These auctions were similar to mine in that they all start at a low price point and all are located in a similar geographic location with a seller with no rating. Ebay#271175111886 really struck me as odd as I could have sworn I have seen that tank before, so a little digging later I found Ebay#160991308176. This sealed the deal for me. The morons used the other guys picture AND description of the item in their ad. Fearing the worst, I contacted the seller in my auction and requested a tracking number, they replied a courier was used so a tracking number was not available and I wouldn&rsquo;t see the tank for 20 to 30 days. I sent another message asking what company they used and so far I have not received a response. I will be the first to apologize if the tank does indeed show up, but I am not holding my breath. I did contact the creator of the righteous ad to let him know there are unscrupulous types using his picture to scam people. If I don&rsquo;t have an answer on the courier question by tonight, I will report the whole operation as a scam. What do you guys think, am I overreacting? I am a FFL that sells firearms and I have seen many scams before, it sucks that I may have fallen into one here&hellip;</div>

Not at all....my first warning would have been that he was a zero feedback seller......I only deal with 98% or higher feedback sellers that have a proven track record..sorry that you might have gotten burned. Hopefully you paid with pay-pal and you will be refunded. I would call eBay/Pay-Pal and give them all the questionable sellers/auction numbers...

As long you followed the rules and paid with paypal, following normal procedures (pay as good), then you are 100% covered.<div>
</div><div>Just remember you only have 45 days to file a claim to get your money back. It takes a bit of time, but at least you get it back.</div>

The only reason I took a chance on this was due to Paypal's policies of refunding money due to bad/scam sellers. I am still pissed people like this continue to steal oxygen from the rest of us....

Interesting ads. The one you won, and the JS-2 certainly sound like Tamiya's but $70 and the courier will take 20-30 days? They must using Cletus and Brandine to get it from Georgia to you in 20 days. No courier would be giving them that kind of delivery schedule for $70.

Unless they were total rubes, you'd think they would be yelling out "Tamiya" in the ads, too.

Hope it's legit!

Mike.

I went ahead and contacted eBay and gave them all the info so hopefully theyll take care of this moron. I suggest you all do the same thing so eBay takes it seriously!

here are the eBay sellers to avoid(same guy I'm sure): waldj7 , rosejdi21 , mcchnh89 , zljyy13 ..all have zero feedback and ask for Australian dollars yet lives in the state of Georgialol..

~~~~~~~~~~

I avoid sellers who don't use Paypal. Years ago I got scammed on a purchase that will forever poison me about Ebay. I think it is a great place for snake oil salesmen and con artists ...... which is very unfortunate for legitimate sellers.
[:@]

I'd be suspicious just based on price. Even if you had a friend who lived in the Phillipines and worked at the factory, it'd cost more than that and Tamiya FO Tigers don't just fall off a truck somewhere.

I bet the $100 mark is one of those values that people may forget about after 30 days and he just puts out a crapload of stolen ads hoping that some forget and he wins.

I know when I order from places like Hobby King or Lucky Model, I usually forget I even placed the order by the time it shows up.

For geezers with 0 sales using Paypal what happens Paypal keep the payment longer than if you had say 50 or mores sales or until you give positive feedback as Paypal are used to cretins avin a giraffe trying to av yer kecks off sometimes these dim witted oafs try it on with several names all with 0 sales hoping to cough the dough before you realise you’ve been had over a barrel.
Wake up and smell the coffee chaps there is no such thing as a bargain and Tamiya’s don’t sell for 100€, I live in Germany my ebay account doesn’t state that in names a different country that I haven’t lived in for 5 years

Thanks Dirtybird, I am at work and Ebay is verboten. I was going to contact them when I got home.

Paypal works both ways  it protects the buyers and sellers. <div>
</div><div> I would start a claim now and tell paypal about the weird behavior <div>they will start an investigation and ask the company to prove the item was shipped, if not no money for them and you get your cash back.</div></div>

Hi,

If it turns out to be as you are now suspecting, at least you fell for a too-good-to-be-true scam ($177 which you might recover anyway if done through paypal).. I lost more than $500 years ago from a bogus seller based in Canada; I should have known better that no Tamiya Leopard 2A6 would go that low. This was paid through Western-Union so there was zero chance of recovering.

Gerry

Well we often learn the hard way that very often a too good to be true deal isn't.

Here's to recovering your funds and seeing the crook into the klink.

Jerry

<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">FIRST: Link your paypal account to a major credit card !!

I've linked my Discover Platinum card to paypal and use it for the lions share of my online purchases, even if I buy something from an online hobby shop's website that accepts credit cards, this way I don't have my card number all over the net.
No need to tell the number over the phone to any stores either, I'm funny that way.

</span></span>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">SECOND:Never link paypal to your primary bank account.

I opened a separate account at my bank just for paypal use and only keep the minimum amount in it to keep the account active, When a private seller such as on this site wants you to add addition fees for paypal use, I simply depost the exact amount and gift it. Probably not morally correct but it does save me and the seller the fees.</span></span>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">
</span></span>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">I've had a few instances with ebay through the years (member since 01) where the item was not as described, never showed up and another where the seller wanted to make up for the ridiculously the low selling price. He emailed my after the auction closed and I paidwith an additional $50 in shipping charges .....and it was for a single 5945 servo. In each and every case a simple phone call to Discover was all it took. No jumping through hoops with paypal filling out forms and waiting a certain time frame. One call does it all.</span></span><br type="_moz" />

NEVER send money 'as gift'. You lose protection offered from paypal.

He would have been less eager to scam the TS if he knew he was a firearms dealer......

Wise words!

always use a credit card via paypal, you couldve easily reversed the charges. dont waste anytime. file a claim immediately and stay on top of paypal aggressively.
you may also contact your bank and explain youve been scammed , they may be able to reverse the transfer. not sure...?


ive been down this same road before and paypal customer service sucks. youve gotta get nasty with them to get quick results.

Actually what you need to do, when dealing with Paypal customer service, is call them, and ask to talk to a supervisor.

Stuff miraculously gets done quicker and neater...

Not fun though

P.S: CS by e-mail is HORRID.

Is this domestic shipping? If so, NOTHING takes 20-30 days except maybe bicycle courier from NY to LA.

LOL don't bet on it. Do a search on here for paypal problems. Paypal always sides with the buyer. The buyer can say it wasn't as advertised, keep it for 45 days and play with it then say it wasn't any good and file a claim with paypal (they will win and your out your money)

But hey, don't take my word, search it and read the horror stories. Paypal used to be the way, now that all the freaking cons found the loopholes, its sucks![:@] Only people I accept paypal payments from or too are people I have dealt with in the past or people I know personally. You cant trust everyone, that's why they are called "CONS"

I trust Postal Money orders, cash on pickup, or I will accept a personal check but it has to clear my bank and when my bank says is safe, it will get shipped. Sad, but with all the evil people out there that want to take what you have and not pay a da** penny for it. This is the only way I feel safe doing business.

WBG

You know... buyer's that use paypal are also protected... not only from your business insurance, but also when you setup a business account with paypal.

I have a business account with Paypal... what i buy AND sell is protected.

The only thing i need to do... make sure i ship in a timely manner, have a tracking number, and take 1-2 photo to show the product in it's condition (maybe 1 short video to show it working).
^I do this regardless of where/what/how i sell.

Update. I contacted Ebay CS last night via email and basically laid out my issue with provided documentation and evidence. I received a reply thanking me for my diligence which led them to cancel the other auctions but on its face, mine in particular seems legit. Therefore I will have to wait the 20 days to see if it ships before Ebay will help me. ***! The others are scams but mine is not?!?! Do they honestly think this guy didnt use a bogus bank account or stolen CC to set up his ebay account?

Open a claim in paypal.

Log on Paypal.

IF your a legitimate seller, then yes, you do offer some protection. But, we are not talking bout legitimate sellers here. We are talking bout obvious scammers. There is very little protection from a motivated and well educated scammer.

Just wanted to make myself clear and nothing personal was aimed at legitimate sellers. I too buy from online stores that offer a paypal option for payment. So I fully understand what your saying

I hope this time Im wrong, but I don't think so

Would you care to venture that the reason why the shipping date is so far down the road is because that gives the scammer 20 more days to sell the same thing to others and 20 days to close out his bank account and take his scammed earnings to his next location? I believe so. They are bottom feeders and don't mind getting dirty to make that extra dollar. Their downfall is they are also greedy. The greed is what will eventually be his undoing.

WBG