I've recently discovered eBay. Sort of like when Europeans discovered America. Sure, other people have known about it for a long time, but now it *matters*.
Anyway, as part of my first round of purchases, I bought something rather expensive (a refurbished plasma tv we need for testing on a project) from a seller with a feedback of less than 5. EBay tried to warn me, but the deal was just so good I knew I could make it succeed with the power of positive thinking. Right.
I paid for the product (nearly $1000 including shipping).
I waited a week and nothing came.
I contacted the seller, who told me it would arrive the next day, and nothing came.
I went on to eBay to double-check that everything had gone through, and the seller's account was no longer registered and there was a pile of negative feedback from people complaining about their purchases not arriving.
I emailed the seller again, and the email bounced.
I went to the seller's website, and they had no contact information besides the dead email address.
I tried to search for details on the seller based on the name they used in their email. Unfortunately they only used their initials, so I had no luck.
After two weeks from the purchase, it became clear that I had been scammed, so I went to PayPal to file a complaint.
Then I thought, WWRD?
Realizing that the scammer's Web site was really just a smoke screen for their operation, I figured I'd check out their WHOIS entry. Sure enough, the owner's name matched the initials of the scammer, and their contact email address was that same alias, but at a different domain. Even better, there was an address. A *home* address. So I drafted a little note like this to the contact email:
Hello [Scammer's full name],
I did a quick check and found out that it doesn't take 4 weeks to ship a TV from:
[Scammer's home address]
to
[SharpLogic R&D address]
If you were unable to send my TV, please refund the money.
Thanks!
Ed
Three days passed. My TV arrived rush and works as advertised. Not a word from the scammer.
Don't fsck with nerds.