scammed when selling bitcoins on ebay

[Coinoisseur]

Not sure how Paypal manages to give the impression it is a secure banking system. They are not a bank, they don't fall under the kind of rules and regulations many people just assume must be in play with Paypal.

Don't have more in Paypal than you can deal with losing.

[5850Guy]

I sold $116 worth of BTC on eBay last month. After I sent the bitcoins, the buyer (in Hong Kong) initiated a chargeback, claiming that the charge was made without his consent. Another ebayer tried to warn me, but a little too late.

There's nothing I could do, and there's probably little you can do. PayPal will NOT side with you.

The only upside is that it was my first time being scammed after selling many many BTCs with a high premium on eBay. I won't keep selling them, though. Too much risk.

Sorry, dude. I sympathize with you.

That sucks.

I discovered bitmit.net earlier today, and although it wouldn't help you sell bitcoins, it was kind of a cool place.

They also had a escrow service, which is very useful.  I might sell some stuff there.

Sorry about your coins.  Another reason I need to remember to avoid paypal!

[RandomQ]

I know alot of sellers get around ebay/paypal by selling a coin or baseball card with free bitcoins included. You are only buying 1 penny or baseball card and getting free bitcoins in the process. Ship the Penny or baseball card with tracking and you can be as safe as you can selling stuff on ebay.

[DeathAndTaxes]

I know alot of sellers get around ebay/paypal by selling a coin or baseball card with free bitcoins included. You are only buying 1 penny or baseball card and getting free bitcoins in the process. Ship the Penny or baseball card with tracking and you can be as safe as you can selling stuff on ebay.

or not.  It takes a dedicated scammer about 0.00002 sec to work around that "protection".

[deus-ex-machina]

Never use Paypal. They drew my account dry. My bank account. That I didn't give the info for. That I had my college savings in. Without me agreeing to the terms. Without me making an account.

If I find the person who owns the site, he's screwed. Literally. I heard jail does that to you.

[Inaba]

Never use Paypal. They drew my account dry. My bank account. That I didn't give the info for. That I had my college savings in. Without me agreeing to the terms. Without me making an account.

As much as I despise Paypal and think they are bunch of money grubbing, lying assholes, gonna have to call bullshit on this one.

[Raoul Duke]

Never use Paypal. They drew my account dry. My bank account. That I didn't give the info for. That I had my college savings in. Without me agreeing to the terms. Without me making an account.

As much as I despise Paypal and think they are bunch of money grubbing, lying assholes, gonna have to call bullshit on this one.

And 2.

[DeathAndTaxes]

Never use Paypal. They drew my account dry. My bank account. That I didn't give the info for. That I had my college savings in. Without me agreeing to the terms. Without me making an account.

As much as I despise Paypal and think they are bunch of money grubbing, lying assholes, gonna have to call bullshit on this one.

Yeah this troll account is "weird".  Previously he made this claim:

My wallet literally sent you its contents by itself and games started rapidly playing until my wallet on the site emptied. Anny chance of looking into what happened there? It looks like my wallet was stolen and sent to you, but I don't see what possible benefit that could have for whomever did it. That was kind of my paycheck for this month that I just got today. I have to wait another month to get groceries unless this gets solved.

Yes he is claiming that after depositing 0.01 BTC to the site somehow the site later pulled all the funds from his Bitcoin wallet and lost it.

[highlevelminer]

You have to be very careful when dealing with the trade of bitcoins for cash.

I would avoid this process as much as possible because there are a lot of shady people out there looking to steal everything and anything they can.

Just find some online services in which you can spread your wealth and everything should go a little smoother.

Once again i am sorry to hear that.

[deus-ex-machina]

Two separate instances. The Paypal one was a few years ago, back when I was still in high school. The mining game was a couple days ago. I gave up on the mine incident, since I had a good job to cover my losses. Even got a few Bitcoins with some of the pay and played the game again with a different wallet. Lost them all, but I'm fine with it because I lost fair and square. Maybe I'll head back soon.

The Paypal one though was too much to cover.

Funny how a person who isn't completely happy with everything is automatically trolling. I'm not here to cause trouble. I generally try to avoid that kind of thing.

[doogthyme]

so glad i read this before i made the purchase tonight

[zer0]

When I worked @ ebay you could buy advertisements that aren't listings, so can still advertise your bitcoins for sale that come up in searches just it would happen offsite through a more trusted payment method.  I think they still offer ads.

You can also link paypal accounts to an ATM card that comes with virtual bank account, then drain the funds and get cash in hand before transfering any coins. If paypal freezes the account get a new VBA.

[benjamindees]

When I worked @ ebay you could buy advertisements that aren't listings, so can still advertise your bitcoins for sale that come up in searches just it would happen offsite through a more trusted payment method.  I think they still offer ads.

Wow I guess that's true.  I was wondering this a few weeks ago but since I didn't see any ads on the site I figured they didn't do advertising.

Now that I click around, they do seem to offer targeted advertising.  I wonder whether they would accept a Bitmit ad? 

It would be funny for someone to inquire about advertising Bitcoin and Bitmit, but only to target E-Bay sellers that have been back-charged by Paypal.    Or maybe the ones that don't use it at all.  Be sure to record it if you do, since the antitrust authorities may be interested and it would be hilarious regardless.

[bitvirtiser]

Ebay doesn't vouch for any currency exchange listing
since bitcoin is a currency,its normal to favour the buyer in dispute due to sellers non-concern of TOS

[bitcoinsydney]

You should not sell BTC via paypal in the first place.

Paypal does not allow any swap or exchange of other e-currency in its platform. They are very sensitive about it.

I recommend you to write this off, the odds are stack against you.

I disagree. I've posted this in another thread, but this is relevant: I sell BTC on paypal and ask that the buyer select "personal" and "gift". The buyer cannot chargeback then. Obviously the risk is on the buyer, and this reduces my sales somewhat, but I am focusing on local sales in my home town to establish trust.

I've conducted about 40-50 transactions and haven't had a problem with paypal yet, though i'm not saying it won't happen at some point.

[deepceleron]

You should not sell BTC via paypal in the first place.

Paypal does not allow any swap or exchange of other e-currency in its platform. They are very sensitive about it.

I recommend you to write this off, the odds are stack against you.

I disagree. I've posted this in another thread, but this is relevant: I sell BTC on paypal and ask that the buyer select "personal" and "gift". The buyer cannot chargeback then. Obviously the risk is on the buyer, and this reduces my sales somewhat, but I am focusing on local sales in my home town to establish trust.

I've conducted about 40-50 transactions and haven't had a problem with paypal yet, though i'm not saying it won't happen at some point.

A buyer can still pay for the item via PayPal with a credit card payment, and then dispute the credit card payment with the bank. PayPal will yank the money right back out of your PayPal account. This can happen months later, as you can see here: http://blog.unibulmerchantservices.com/visa-chargeback-reason-codes-and-time-limits/.

[bitcoinsydney]

You should not sell BTC via paypal in the first place.

Paypal does not allow any swap or exchange of other e-currency in its platform. They are very sensitive about it.

I recommend you to write this off, the odds are stack against you.

I disagree. I've posted this in another thread, but this is relevant: I sell BTC on paypal and ask that the buyer select "personal" and "gift". The buyer cannot chargeback then. Obviously the risk is on the buyer, and this reduces my sales somewhat, but I am focusing on local sales in my home town to establish trust.

I've conducted about 40-50 transactions and haven't had a problem with paypal yet, though i'm not saying it won't happen at some point.

A buyer can still pay for the item via PayPal with a credit card payment, and then dispute the credit card payment with the bank. PayPal will yank the money right back out of your PayPal account. This can happen months later, as you can see here: http://blog.unibulmerchantservices.com/visa-chargeback-reason-codes-and-time-limits/.

Not if my paypal isn't linked to my bank account, so no direct debit options, and there are no funds in my account because I withdraw all funds as soon as they hit paypal. I wonder what would happen then?

edit: also, there are no credit cards attached to my paypal for them to charge either.

[cheapster]

As much as I dislike paypal it did used to be a reliable way for me to acquire coins a while back.  I avoid it today though, of course.

[Justin00]

I can confirm 100% if you have no funds paypal will send debt collector after you.
Some random lawyer/collector sent me a letter to collect my ~$4 I owed.... And that was after not paying for only like a month....

Im in AUS aswell.

Not if my paypal isn't linked to my bank account, so no direct debit options, and there are no funds in my account because I withdraw all funds as soon as they hit paypal. I wonder what would happen then?

edit: also, there are no credit cards attached to my paypal for them to charge either.

[bitcoinsydney]

I can confirm 100% if you have no funds paypal will send debt collector after you.
Some random lawyer/collector sent me a letter to collect my ~$4 I owed.... And that was after not paying for only like a month....

Im in AUS aswell.

Not if my paypal isn't linked to my bank account, so no direct debit options, and there are no funds in my account because I withdraw all funds as soon as they hit paypal. I wonder what would happen then?

edit: also, there are no credit cards attached to my paypal for them to charge either.

That would be interesting to take to court. In fact, i'm almost curious enough to have a friend try a chargeback to test how their system works.

I don't suppose you've still got a copy of the letter?