Ok here goes sold my ipad on eBay, buyer contacted me and asked if they could pay in paypal but collect in person as they only lived 10 mile away. Not thinking anything different I told them this was fine. Cheked paypal and the money was In my account, the buyer then came and xollected the item. 2 hours later payment was reversed and I had no ipad and no money contacted paypal who told me that I wasn't covered by sellers protection because I had no proof the guy came to pick it up. No tracking number meant no protection. So I found out the contact details of the eBay member and called them immediately, she told me her account was hacked over a week ago and she hasn't been able to access it since! Checked the name of the person who paid me in paypal and it's completely different person, and it looks like the scammer had hacked the paypal account to pay me, so as soon as they found out they contacted paypal and had the paymny reversed. After an hour or so on the phone to paypal they hung up on me, i'm extremely upset because I no longer have an ipad nor do I have the money for it. Does anyone have any suggestions on what I should do? I have contacted local police but they are unable to help as have no car reg or lead to go on. eBay will only refund final value fee and listing fee. Was thinking maybe my bank could help what do you guys think? I look forward to your responses. Many thanks in advance. Jason
How would your bank help? Unfortunately these are the risks of trading online especially if you don't get any proof of receipt from the person collecting the item. Leave it up to the police to deal with it and hope but be realistic that as they say, you have nothing to give them. Your home insurance may cover the loss as technically it is theft but that will depend on what impact a claim will have on your premiums and if there is a deductable/ excess
You should move on with your life and be thank-ful the scammer just took your i-pod, and did not stab you in the heart and take more.. I always find it interesting that a paypal dispute never is started, until the item is long gone.. it would not surprise me if scammers used legit paypal accounts, and then scammed people, then act as if they were the victim....however if paypal sees this type of pattern, then they are likely to suspend the paypal account... oh well, you got played, unless you got a lic plate, then police probably will not do anything, even if you did, he would just say I paid cash for it, then it would seem you are ripping him off... either way, sounds like you lost this one.
Was your iPad a 3G model? Not sure but I think MobileMe(cost money though) has a feature called Find my iPad that uses the GPS to find it. http://www.padgadget.com/2010/06/22/find-my-ipad-and-mobileme-is-it-worth-99-a-year/
I have sold many things on ebay (notebook computers), and I can tell you for a fact your SOL. Next time, dont fall for the scams, watch out for fake paypal emails, and NEVER send a product unless the paypal account is VERIFIED, and you have waited a few days after the transaction is complete. Never let the "buyer" pick it up directly unless you verify via identification that the buyer and the person picking up the item(s) is one and the same. No verification, no pickup. Make a copy of the person's identification, and have them sign a receipt for the item purchased as this protects you as the seller. The way I usually do it is I only sell to US residents, and only if the account is verified. Then I contact the buyer via the verified info, never by the info they send-especially if it doesnt match the verified info sent from ebay/paypal Here is some advice for buying on ebay: ALWAYS use a real credit card/debit card to make a purchase via paypal. This affords you protections that you will otherwise not have with Paypal, and in the event you are scammed, you simply call your bank and dispute the transaction, cutting paypal out of the loop. Your bank refunds your money and charges back paypal, then paypal will charge back the seller. Otherwise, you may find out to your dismay, that paypal will not refund you (e.g., non-tangable items: purchased downloadable items).