Caution - Ebay seller offering FM transmitters - Scammer

Hi all, I would like to warn people here of the eBay seller haruyr_kb / lu_cytime208


My dealings were with lu_cytime208 but it is my belief that both ID's are the same seller - They sell the same items and have almost identical feedback.


I bought a "Digital Radio Station 1W PLL Stereo FM Transmitter wide-band 87-108MH 0.1MHZ" back on May 18th, the item was marked as posted a few hours later.


About 3 weeks went past and i had not recieved it so i contacted the seller and asked if they could track it down and tell me why perhaps i had not got it yet. In about 24 hours they contacted me back and said that the item was stuck in customs and that i would get it soon. I messaged back again (feeling somewhat content with the explaination) and requested the tracking number so i could track it too. To this they replied that they do not have a tracking number but if i sent them another $5 they will give it to me but they would gladly resend or refund if i did not have it in a week.


I patiently waited another week with no sign of it so I messaged the seller back to resend stating that if I had not got it within 4 weeks, i'm not going to get it. He re-confirmed my address and told me he had sent another one (over a few messages). I waited another 3 weeks for the 'resent' one to arrive but It never did. Over this time I was still in contact with them and consistently they offered my money back, again and again, thanked me profusely for not leaving negative feedback and insisted they wanted me to be 100% happy.


It then got to over 4 weeks since the 'resent' one was supposedly sent and still no sign of it. I contacted the seller and finally requested a refund - This is where it all went pear shaped.


The seller responded with 'Sure, send the item back and we will refund'. To this I said that if i had the item, i would not be requesting a refund. This went back and forward over about 10 or so messages resulting in the seller accusing me of 'stealing', being a liar, a scammer and generally being very rude. Several more times I requested a tracking number for either of the packages but they refused to supply it. I also stated that if they do refund and the item(s) do ever arrive, I will happily pay for them/it but they still refused to refund.


It wasn't until later that I perused over the feedback of both of these Ebay IDs and you see the commonality. They both have significant negative feedback saying the item never arrived.


I have rarely not received something from China within 2 weeks and NEVER more than 4. The only time I have not received an item, I did when it was resent.


It is my true belief that the item was simply never sent. The problem is, Paypal buyer protection only covers you for 45 days and Ebay feedback is only able to be left within 60 days of a transaction and these sellers know it. They stall and stall and plead with you to not raise a dispute with Ebay/PayPal with the promise that they want you to be 100% happy until you don't have any leg to stand on to dispute the transaction.


It is now August and the item has not arrived (either of the ones supposedly sent) and there's basically nothing i can do about it.


I have learnt a valuable lesson here - If you do not have the item within 45 days, ALWAYS log a dispute with PayPal no matter how much the seller pleads with you or what promises they make. It's the only way to truly protect yourself.


In the end however, I've sort of come to the conlusion that a 1W transmitter was probably not the best decision anyway if i wanted to avoid getting shut down so it's not all completely bad....

 

Well said Elnino.
by the way if you are still looking at transmitters i cant recommend this one highly enough.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/271135698353
Its transmit power can be set between 50mw -1W, and i had it within 3 days of ordering.

 

That one is probably outside of my budget at the moment. There seems to be a few people getting away with the ~$50 ones off ebay at the moment so i might have to pick one of them up. It's a pitty that same seller also sells so many other cheap FM transmitters other than the one i 'bought' - It's just not worth the potential hassle again.


There are a few on AliExpress that look very similar but once again, you can't be sure it's not the same seller!

 

Agree with this - I've had a few dodgy transactions, and if it's looking dodgy, I'll always put a claim in after around 40 days.. You don't have to escalate the claim at that point, but you have to get something in before the 45 days.

Elnino - if I was you, I'd contact Ebay with your concerns - seems they're working the system, but because the reporting periods are passed, Ebay probably isn't being made aware of them. From memory, they have a live chat facility somewhere.

 

Elnino, sorry to hear you were ripped off. That sort of stuff just annoys the crap out of me. I would also contact paypal about it. You might not be able to get your money back but you might help by paypal eventually cancelling their account once they have enough black marks against their name.

 

Sorry to hear about this Elnino and thanks for posting this. I am one of those guys who probably would have waited too (on the basis that I do not want to cause trouble and dont need it straight away)

 

I have learnt via experience ($1.50) to always contact ebay complaints directly esp after the 40 day mark ... some earlier if I suspect something fraudulent ... even postage ...

Not much help, I know ... but to use an old quote, 'let the buyer beware' ...

 

I did report it to PayPal already (which they still encourage you to do) but i'm not eligible for a refund because it's past 45 days. Ebay couldn't give a rats either.

 

I got caught with the same rip off a while back on ebay.
I see aliexpress seems to have a better system, they have a countdown and if you haven't got your item, you can extend the time or lodge a complaint, It would also appear they do not pass the money onto the seller until you mark the item as arrived.
I will always use aliexpress over ebay if it is from china.

 

Aliexpress escrow protection is also no magic bullet.

My wife bought a petticoat from there and it arrived completely unassembled. It was just fabric!

She put a complaint in and aliexpress ruled that she could make a petticoat from the fabric so only refunded 50%!