I was scammed. eBay won’t help.

[28wils]

Hi. So long story short I was scammed by a buyer. I sold an engagement ring for $900. I received fake emails from eBay and PayPal telling me I was safe to ship out and that I received the money. I paid out of my pocket $50 for the shipping. Sent the package. Email said I would get paid once it was shipped because there was a high case of it being fraud because it was an expensive item. Seemed legit. Package was delivered. I never got paid. I completed the Internet crime form, haven’t heard anything. Buyer will not email back. I’ve contacted eBay multiple times and they’ve done nothing! I am now out an engagement ring and $900. Why was I not protected!? Why did eBay not know this jerk was a scammer?! I’m so mad and eBay hasn’t done a thing. Does anyone know of an email or phone number to contact a higher up from eBay? This is absolute **bleep**. 

[pburn]

As a seller, it's your responsibility to confirm that you've been paid for a transaction by checking your own account rather than relying on emails that are easily faked.

That's how eBay protects you from unscrupulous buyers. It's up to you to protect yourself, as well, by checking your own records to confirm payment.

I'm not sure what you expect eBay to do to help when you've brought this problem on yourself by falling for fake emails and not checking your own account to confirm it was okay to ship.

[alcoforever]

Sorry to say but since those emails were fake, this was not an ebay transaction and that is why ebay is no help.

In the future, you always log in to paypal to verify that the money is there before shipping.   Never rely on emails from ebay or paypal as they are easily faked, as you have seen.

[28wils]

Whatever dude. Anyone can be scammed. 
im trying to find out what I do next and reach out to people who have experienced this before. Which many people have. 

[alcoforever]

You can file a police report with the scammers local police.   That may, or may not, help.   

The other people that have experienced this fraud are out their items but a life lesson learned.

[outdatedrecreated]

This is some next left blame shifting in my opinion. Literally everything you described is a red flag whether experienced selling on eBay or not. Don't get me wrong, I am certainly no fan of eBay's customers service (or lack thereof), but if you're going to sell high dollar items like that, you should know how the system works first. 

[pburn]

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@28wils wrote:

im trying to find out what I do next and reach out to people who have experienced this before. 

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That's a different question than you asked in your original post. I was responding to the following questions you posed in your first comment:

"Why was I not protected!? Why did eBay not know this jerk was a scammer?! I’m so mad and eBay hasn’t done a thing."

So, to answer your new question, there's nothing you can do beyond pursuing your case with law enforcement.

[kensgiftshop]

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@28wils 

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Sorry that happened, but if you didn't check your Pay Pal account to make sure the payment was there before shipping, there's nothing Ebay can do.

You can file an unpaid item dispute and get your Ebay fee's refunded.

[luckythewinner]

In a nutshell, here is what happened ...  someone sent you an email telling you that you had been paid, and you believed it. 

eBay has an internal  messaging system for a reason - so that eBay users know that a message came from eBay and not from a stranger.

Did you by any chance give out your email address when communicating with this "buyer"?

All that aside ...

You just paid $900 tuition to the school of hard knocks.

[mtgraves7984]

It is certainly a tough lesson to learn. It won't help much, but you're actually only out the beautiful ring (plus s&h)... not "the engagement ring and  $900. Sorry this happened to you.

[bonjourami]

" Why was I not protected!? "

Protected from whom...yourself? The biggest red flag should have been shipping before being paid...

[kensgiftshop]

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@28wils wrote:

Whatever dude. Anyone can be scammed. 
im trying to find out what I do next and reach out to people who have experienced this before. Which many people have. 

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Other then filing a police report, not much more you can do.

It won't get your money or ring back, but it might help someone in the future.

Yes, there have been many new sellers fall for this scam and the outcome was the same for them.

[southern*sweet*tea]

The only way they could have gotten your Paypal email address is if you gave it to them.

Did you?

There is a reason why Ebay tells sellers to do business only on the Ebay platform, and this is one very good reason.  If you replied to a text me scammer, and took the deal off of Ebay, I'm sorry to say you are toast.

There is nothing Ebay can do to help you because you did not complete the transaction. You were never paid. Paypal can't help you, again because you were never paid.

The only thing you can do is file police reports with your local PO or Sheriff's office, and with the buyer's local PO/Sheriff's office.

[wesk_36]

So sorry.

"Why did eBay not know this jerk was a scammer?!"

How would ebay know that you were communicating off-site with a scammer or that you were receiving spoofed emails?

You sent the item without logging into your account to confirm payment. edit That is a costly mistake that some new sellers make, emails are not indicators of payment.

"...eBay hasn’t done a thing."

And they won't do anything either.

Good luck

[calntom]

One of the oldest scams in the book. Sorry to hear you fell for it.