This Great eBay Scam Will Warm Your Heart [EBay]
Schadenfreude. It’s when you enjoy others’ misfortune. Read BadgerMatt’s insane eBay story of how he sold tickets for $600 to a woman who then reneged on the deal (and then got her coughing-up eventually), and you’ll be feeling it too. More »
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hahaha this is great … thats the best piece of revenge i’ve heard of in a long time hahah
Daemonicus
You meant underhanded (not underhand), or did you mean awesome?
#corrections
TanyaRei
Well done.
This reminds me of that episode of Fresh Prince where Donald Trump was going to buy the Banks’ house. The only one who really wanted to stay was Ashley. Then it turned out they were looking for the house next door.
I think it also happened in an episode of I Love Lucy… with a washing machine… or something?
Anyway, if you do decide to sell tickets, you should do it through stubhub. It’s really convenient despite them taking a cut.
InfiniteJustice
Haha amazing!
pandaSmore
@CallMeJordy265: hahaha, right!? She definitely got what she deserved.
XIGODMODEIX
Dingg…!
KVirtanen
Considering I just went through a month-long ordeal myself on ebay, I feel no remorse for this woman.
Story: Sold a guitar to a woman and was very clear about what she would get. I even threw in insurance for free, a stand, a music stand, a case, and ate the difference in shipping when I underestimated it.
I get an email a week later saying “no stringggggs??? I am very upset!”. I proceeded to tell her that there were no strings on the guitar in any of the pictures and that the description said nothing about strings. She then gave me positive feedback and I thought that was that.
3 weeks pass then I wake up to an ebay notification that she’s filing a complaint on me saying that I had sent her a guitar without a bridge and there were no strings. She wanted an $80 refund to pay for parts. Woman admits she knows nothing about guitars and accuses me of removing the bridge because “the screws are still on it but no bridge”. Its a tune-o-matic bridge so unless it is held against the guitar by strings it can fall off if it is tipped forward. I responded showing her pictures of the auction with the bridge on it and that I had put it right in the case after taking the pics then put it in the shipping box so no way the bridge wasn’t in there. She had lost it somehow when she was looking over the guitar or in the three weeks she had it in her possession.
Lots of emails back and forth of us repeating ourselves and her giving me loftier numbers for a bridge and strings and even threatened me to change her complaint to ebay so that it’d include man-hours to install a set of strings and gas to the store. I told her I would buy a bridge and strings and send them to her if ebay ruled for partial refund but she said no way and that I had to pay what she wanted without a receipt or proof of it costing $80. I told ebay my side of the story and woman ends up getting absolutely nothing. 3 weeks had passed, she could have dropped the bridge (which she wasn’t even aware was removable) and that my auction never showed strings on the guitar.
tl;dnr – Some ebay buyers are just looking for a way to screw you over.
Anyone else got some horror stories?
KamWrex
@TheLostVikings: Whenever somebody gives a scam a funny name, Leverage comes to mind.
blalien
@Kenny Powers: Thanks for the added information.
im2fools
Chilli
but you can’t back down like that, an ebay auction is a legal contract.
like the seller can’t charge you delivery if it’s listed as free for your area.
Gonzie
@im2fools: He says in the comments that scalping is legal in his state. Besides, in most places scalping is only illegal at the event location.
Kenny Powers
These guys would be proud.
BadShane
Epic!
*Goes off to watch Leverage*
TheLostVikings
@Sockatume: It’s just the original instance of it. The concept requires any object of little inherent value, but of value to the owner. The first Reddit comment addressed it rather well:
“This is called the Glim Dropper scam. The basic idea is that you take something worthless (in this case your game tickets, since their value disappeared as soon as neither party was gong to attend) and, usually with the help of the accomplice, apply a false price tag to it. In this case you accomplished that by playing both roles because she had not spoken to you on the phone previously.
Then, you arrange to sell the item to the mark under the assumption that the item’s value is fixed by the other outstanding offer for it. When it comes time for the mark to resell at a profit the offer miraculously vanishes.
You can read about this scam in its original form here:
[en.wikipedia.org]
Usually this involves some item of seeming personal, or inherent value (often a fake piece of jewelry or, in the original, a glass eye) but which is actually worthless to the scam artists.
Congratulations on your first short con!”
Azu-nyan
I don’t feel at all bad for that lady. If she had been courteous about backing out of the deal, then it would be different, but she deserved it.
NickFoote
Genius. Don’t get mad, get even. I shall file this for later use, should the need ever arise (and I hope it doesn’t, certainly hasn’t yet).
“BadgerMatt’s move is perhaps underhand”
Meh, seems harsh but fair. It’s the buyer that insisted eBay transactions were not binding (despite the fact that they are). The seller was just playing her game, and using her greed against her.
pjc
Thank you, BadgerMatt. Thank you from all from all of the eBay sellers that have been screwed over by people like that. Thank you.
Iowa11
Depending where he lives, she’s got a decent chance of getting him prosecuted. If scalping is prohibited, then he utilized fraud to facilitate an illegal act. She could be charged for attempting to scalp, as well, of course, but hey, great stories all around.
im2fools
Glad she got what she deserved, she essentially screwed him out of $600 by not following ebays terms in the first place.
LordNige
This guy is awesome!
maddave
That it quite an amazing story. I could have used this tactic when I sold my DSi and got stiffed. D:
Cochese 2.0
Pure genius:)) ROFLMAO
XKobbra
You sir, are a legend.
DASFREEMAN
“The glim-dropper scam requires several accomplices, one of whom must be a one-eyed man.”
Is this the right scam? That seems an awfully specific request.
Sockatume
I bet she didn’t even have a husband.
CallMeJordy265
Just priceless.
Manly McBeeferton
Nothing will beat the P-p-p-powerbook.
Azu-nyan