posted on July 12, 2001 09:57:35 AM
About 2 years ago I bought some software from an eBay seller. I received the software and there was nothing wrong with what I received. The software was exactly as I expected. However, I did file a complaint with eBay for excessive shipping charges. This seller charged $6 to ship the CD software in a plain manilla envelope with actual postage of 99 cents. I think, but don't remember exactly, if I left a neutral or negative for excessive shipping. I received a canned response from eBay and that was the end of that, or so I thought.
I recently received a letter from eBay's Fraud Department asking for my help (along with many others I presume) in cooperating with the North Carolina Attorney General's office. We were sent a form to complete and send to the NC AG office. According to the letter, this seller had at least 8 different IDs.
I guess I am posting this as a matter of information and, with some amazement, that there is actually someone who works in the eBay Fraud Department.
posted on July 12, 2001 10:51:21 AM
People who must have never shipped anything think that the postage amount on the box/envelope are all that the seller spent to "ship" the item. After all containers, bubble wrap, tape, are all free.
If your only "beef" with this seller is the shipping charge, I'll bet the AG insn't interested.
posted on July 12, 2001 11:44:39 AM
Did you give yourself a negative for bidding on the item without knowing shipping, then not being satisfied? Come on, if you're over 18 act responsible. I hope the seller gave you a neg.
Ebay does not care about excessive shipping charges, they only care about fee avoidance. This is not a fraud case.
posted on July 12, 2001 01:00:10 PM
Well it seems obvious to me that the seller has been doing something worse than overcharging on shipping. The authorities are probably contacting everyone who had complained about him about anything. It is interesting that eBay had kept all this on file, even complaints about high shipping.
It is true that a bidder should read the TOS and/or email to find out the shipping charges before bidding, but $6.00 to ship a CD @ .99 sounds like fee avoidance to me, as well as excessive shipping/handling charges.
posted on July 12, 2001 01:08:02 PM
I doubt the NC Attorney General cares about excessive shipping charges. I am sure the fraud investigation must be related more to the content of what is being sold, not the shipping practices. Perhaps he was selling pirated copies or cheap imitations of popular stuff?
Gerald
"Oh but it's so hard to live by the rules/I never could and still never do."
posted on July 12, 2001 01:56:16 PM
6 bucks is kinf of high, if it was stated i would have emailed asking , why so high?....if it was listed i say tough tootie, ya bid, ya live with it
posted on July 12, 2001 02:04:02 PM
Video Professor and other mail order companies routinely advertise their small products on TV with about $5.95 s/h, including CD's. As long as it's disclosed (on TV or in the auction listing), it's not fraud. It's up to eBay as to whether it's fee avoidance, or not, but I doubt that they'd jump on this.
posted on July 12, 2001 02:37:53 PM
There is no Fraud involved here with out mentioning any Company name here there are all Kinds of mail order company that Charge shipping this way.
one exsample there is two Popular Office stores that have online stores both Charge $20 to ship a package of Labels or a program CD's anything for that matter I order some label cost of my purchase $9.00 shipping charges $20.00.
Delivered 5 day later buy UPS acual Shipping under $4.00
There is a music club offering 12 Cd's for .01 Shipping on your order for this $42.00 delivered USPS Cost to ship under $5.
another very popular cat company I bought a bed set shipping they Charged $59.00 arrived UPS 6 days after ordering actual shipping $8.45 .
posted on July 12, 2001 02:43:30 PM
The investigation most likely focuses on the legitimacy of the software that was sold and whether or not the seller had the authority to sell the software in the manner in which he/she did.
There has been a crackdown on illegal, OEM and unauthorized software sales by many agencies in cooperation with the software publishers.
posted on July 12, 2001 04:14:13 PM
I don't see how $6.00 shipping could be considered fee avoidance. epsecially since the OP didn't tell us what she paid for the cd.
posted on July 12, 2001 09:17:47 PM
It would be amusing if the investigation turns out to be pirated software and the buyer/complainer loses the right to use the software.
posted on July 13, 2001 01:54:00 AM
The NC Attorney General isn't investigating this seller's shipping charges.....he's either investigating non-delivery of merchandise OR pirated software.
I bought an expensive piece of software a couple years ago on eBay (along with many other people), and received a sheriff's request to send it to him as evidence in a criminal trial against the seller (it was pirated, though we couldn't tell from the looks of it---and we didn't know enough about illegal software to know that being 'box-less' might mean it was pirated). We were told we might get a legal replacement for it, but Microsoft said "No" and we were all left with nothing to show for our cashed checks (it contained Windows along with other programs).
EBay has a fraud department to cooperate with all law enforcement agencies who request Auction information. Listings are only available to US for a month, but the data on every listing since eBay's beginning 5 years ago is stored away and available to various agencies upon request (law enforcement, IRS, state taxing authorities, judicial and Justice Department, Customs, Parks & Wildlife, reps of copyright/patent holders, etc.).
posted on July 13, 2001 05:13:50 AM
I also purchased software from this Ebay seller. He had many IDs, lots of AOL emails, his Ebay information showed an address and telephone number in Colorado yet he actually lived in NC. He had been pulling this stunt for a long time, selling software and computer parts, cashing the checks and money orders or overcharging the credit cards or using them to buy stuff for himself and never delivering the merchandise. I heard he had been kicked off Yahoo auctions earlier as well as Amazon auctions for pulling the same stunt. He cashed my check and never sent the software. However, never mess with an Irish girl! I tracked him down by doing research on the Internet (he's on every bad seller website you can find!). I found out where he worked, where he went to school, even where he bought his computer parts! He would ignore phone calls or messages left on answering machine. Finally, though the help of a friend who happened to live in his same town I cut off his computer parts supply! Suddenly, in a few days my software arrived! Let me tell you - I was afraid to install it for fear it would blow up my computer! LOL. However it was okay and ran just fine. Had a registration number which registered just fine. I really think he went out and bought me a legal copy of the software just to get me off his back. I even received emails from buyers in Australia who had bought multiple copies of software from him, had their credit cards charged for 10 times the amount of the purchase plus other purchases and never received the items.
posted on July 13, 2001 05:28:30 AM
One more thing. I do have to credit this slime Ebay seller for making me a good Ebay seller! I swore that when I started selling on Ebay I would NEVER do anything to cheat my buyers!!
