# Ebay fraud, possible happy ending



## titan97 (Feb 14, 2005)

So I bought a 72" Coralife Aqualight Pro from a seller on Ebay. I ended up paying around $550 for the light, including shipping. The 4 PC bulbs were listed as being broken. In any case, I won the auction and requested an invoice. I got an invoice and paid for the item (on Superbowl Sunday, btw). That was the last contact I had from the seller. 

I've already filed a dispute with Paypal and I have 20 days to resolve the dispute with the seller before they get involved themselves. They have apparently contacted the seller. I have also contacted Ebay and gotten the contact info of the seller. The phone number is no longer connected. I Zaba Searched the person and came up with the same contact info. Since the seller only had 8 feedbacks, I'm only eligible to get $200 back from paypal/ebay. 

It was about this point that my wife went ballistic.

I then contacted my credit card company that I use for paypal purchases, CapitalOne. They informed me that I have 90 days to file a dispute. At that time they give me a temporary credit to my account. They then contact the merchant and his bank and try to find proof of delivery. The merchant has 45 days to file proof of delivery. After the 45 days, the temporary credit becomes permanent.

I doubt that my bank would go to this length for me. I had my wallet stolen a year ago and CapitalOne once again reversed all charges without hardly any work on my part. I think I will continue to use them for my paypal purchases.

But then again, nothing has actually happened yet, so I'm still crossing my fingers that it doesn't ever get too far.

In the meantime, my new tank will be without a set of lights. bummer.


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## BryceM (Nov 6, 2005)

Every once in a while something like this happens and it reminds me to support my local brick & mortar LFS. You're probably buying from some 16 year old working out of his friend's garage.

Now, if I could just get the local LFS to stock anything worth buying.........


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## modster (Jun 16, 2007)

paypal will come after you if do a credit card charge back, but yeah.. always use credit card for ebay purchases.


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## titan97 (Feb 14, 2005)

Alls well that ends well . . . 

The lights finally got delivered today. I tested them out and everything seems to work. The ends of the main housing are a little bent, but it's mostly cosmetic. The seller included a single 96W actinic bulb, which does me no good other than that I can test the PC ballasts to make sure they work. Looks like I'll be shopping around for some good 96W bulbs in the near future, but that is a post for a different forum.


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## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

Glad it worked out in the end for you.



> Now, if I could just get the local LFS to stock anything worth buying.........


Boy, I hear you there....


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