[Rita]

Do not do any business with Total Escrow or Trading-net.net!!!!!! Our grandson is trying to raise money for college and sold an expensive itemitem on E-bay and was told to have the money put into this Total Escrow. He was notified that the money was there and sent the camera and has not gotten his money and can not reach the site.

I don't know why he put the money in there, perhaps the buyer was in on the scam. We have since found that a lot of people have been scammed and these scammers close down one site and immediately open another.

Does anyone have any idea how he can get his money back? His mom died two years ago and his dad is very ill and he is doing his best to raise money. Thanks. Rita

 

[Guest]

Enlist the help of Ebay. They should be able to track down and see if the company is still in business and using their site under another moniker.

 

[prhamell]

I have been hearing about lots of problems with scammers on Ebay lately. Is Ebay trying to do anything to help the common innocent individuals trying to do business on their site?! Becky

 

[Guest]

I have been hearing about lots of problems with scammers on Ebay lately. Is Ebay trying to do anything to help the common innocent individuals trying to do business on their site?! Becky

It took my friend months to sort out an ebay problem with paypal!!! not uncommon unfortunately

 

[Gercarson]

Neither eBay or PayPal was successful in helping with a seller who took my money via PayPal and did not send the merchandise. I've become very suspicious of both of these organizations. The concept is fantastic and I’ve had many great transactions - but, all it takes is that one time when we get conned and we are left dangling when we're told that we are "protected" - somewhat.

 

[Ozarks_1]

We've had over 400 transactions on eBay ... and only two negative experiences. In one case, the Seller never responded ... perhaps because my winning bid was too low? ... and was suspended. In the other case, the Seller never delivered the merchandise or gave a refund (lots of empty promises though) ... he was suspended from eBay; plus the Post Office and State Attorney General are acting on our complaint.

 

[Guest]

I used to be an ebay seller. Sold stuff for 3 years but stopped due to non-paying bidders. It had gotten to the point where 1 out of every 2 bidders was failing to pay. Ebay does little are cares less but makes plenty of money. Ebay was a wonderful concept but it is too easy to cheat the system. Bottom line on Ebay is the same as gambling: don’t risk any money or items you cant afford to loose.

 

[texican]

Please, Please,

send me all of your expensive items..."don't worry" :no: , I'll send you the money :no: , yeah, yeah, that's it, I'll send you the money, :no: no, I'll send it some escrow service...

Now how many of you would send something to me, a total stranger? without me paying you for it. If I showed up at your house, after you'd placed an ad in the local paper or the radio 'swap shop' programs, would you let me walk away with it without paying. Would you take a check from a stranger??? How about an out of state stranger??? Could I give you the address of an offshore escrow service...so that once I get home and test out the nice item you've sold me is actually worthy of the price you requested...I can then authorize the escrow service to release the funds.

I'm sorry. Truly. I'm just continually amazed at friends, family, acquaintances who will do something financially over the internet that they'd never do in person. Like buying and selling stuff on Ebay. If I'm buying, I don't want to send money till I see the goods. Then, if I'm selling, I don't want to ship the goods till I see the money. This dichotomy, which requires a degree of trust on both parties, introduces a criminal element into the process. I read all the time about someone buying something which is a considerable markdown off of wholesale prices. A large screen plasma tv for 1/4 of the wholesale price, NIB. It's either stolen or doesn't exist. The old saw, if it's too good to be true, it probably is, usually is correct when dealing with strangers on ebay. If you've done business over the internet with an ebay seller, and have had success, keep dealing with them. But always use caution.

Now if anyone needs my shipping address for a nice track hoe, or a plasma tv, or bags of gold coins....

 

[Barb in Ky.]

Rita, other than going to ebay, I have no idea what to tell your grandson to do. I am so very sorry this happened to him and do hope it can be resolved. He certainly is to be commended for trying to earn money for college. God bless.

 

[Rita]

Hi, Thanks for your input on this. There was a list posted that these scumbags had taken people for up to $4000!. Our grandson is young and was so successful selling things on E-bay and when this person bid $l00 more than a new camera would cost I guess he was only seeing dollar signs. It is not really E-bay at fault. The man buying the camera was sooooooo nice Zach said (aren't all con people that way?) and he suggested this escrow company that he did business with and Zach went along with it. I guess we all get "taken" at some time in our lives and we learn from it. It seems now that you can't trust people like you once did. Handshakes were as good as a legal contract and your word meant something. There was something about the FBI being notified of this particular escrow company. Not likely anything will come of an investigation, they will just switch company names. Rita

 

[bluereef]

Nobody has mentioned that if you use PayPal, but pay with your credit card, you are protected.

I bought a Palm Pilot as a holiday gift last year. The seller never delivered. He eventually got terminated from ebay. Dn't know why he turned into a bad guy; he had a positive rating of several hundred with over 98% positive at the time of my transaction. By the time the whole thing bowled over, he had gotten about 50 negative complaints within the course of a week. Weird.

Anway, I immediately called the credit card company to give them a heads up ,and then complained to PayPal.

Within a week, paypal refunded my money. I never even had to formally dispute the charge with the credit card company.

Bottom line: a credit card will give you buyer's protection when all else fails.

 

[SueD]

Do not do any business with Total Escrow or Trading-net.net!!!!!! Our grandson is trying to raise money for college and sold an expensive itemitem on E-bay and was told to have the money put into this Total Escrow. He was notified that the money was there and sent the camera and has not gotten his money and can not reach the site.

I don't know why he put the money in there, perhaps the buyer was in on the scam. We have since found that a lot of people have been scammed and these scammers close down one site and immediately open another.

Does anyone have any idea how he can get his money back? His mom died two years ago and his dad is very ill and he is doing his best to raise money. Thanks. Rita

Contact both ebay and paypal (if that's how it was supposed to be paid...)
If he's got any of the emails from this company, he can get back to their ISP, and notify them of what's happened - sometimes they can research things out.

I am not sure of any other methods of hunting them down... After that, it might be a matter of an attorney - assuming they can be located.

Can I ask a stupid question??? Why didn't he use the escrow and protection services offered by ebay and paypal in the first place?

Sue

 

[Windy in Kansas]

PayPal is owned by Ebay.

 

[edjewcollins]

I agree with the post about only using a credit card though Paypal. I figure that gives me 4 avenues of complaint if there is a problem---Credit card, Ebay, paypal and the seller. I buy my college text books there and save a ton. I just received a new furnace for $307 delivered from Arizona to Michigan. 75,000 BTU, 80% efficient, dual stage burner, energy efficient blower and set up for air. It is an Armstrong Air and is made by Lennox. I couldn't even buy one near me cause I'm not an HVAC tech.

Ed

 

[Rita]

Hi, As I said in my last post our grandson (Zach) used the escrow account the buyer suggested. Zach said he was SO nice!! Zach is 17 and was so tickled to be getting $l00 more than he had paid for the camera that he didn't think about it and being young and naive didn't help. Of course the person could make any sort of big offer because he wasn't intending to pay for it. The offer over the going price should have been the tip-off. It's a hard way to learn not to trust people just because they seem SO NICE!!!!! I just wanted to warn other folks about this type of scam. The buyer and the escrow account were working together of course. Rita