Another too good to be true item??

[RJSakowski]

I use Paypal rather than a direct credit card transaction whenever possible. The thought of giving my credit card information to someone I don't know makes me extremely nervous.

One way to curb all this illegal internet activity would be to make it a capital crime. Or at least a prison term at hard labor. Think of it as a business. If the rewards outweigh the risks, it's worth doing. We can't do a lot about the rewards bur we surely could d0o something about the risks.

 

[Flyinfool]

Unfortunatly most of the scammers are not in this country, makes it hard to prosecute them. Many other contries do not so much mind that they are taking USA money and spending it in their home country and employing people. Makes them less likely to track them down for us.

 

[MrWhoopee]

So close..
My package actually got within 250 miles of me, but over-shot the mark and landed in Mineral Point, Wisconsin. I was really hoping to see what was in it. Oh well, it's been fun. If eBay ended up eating it, hopefully they will find the motivation to trap this type of scam coming in. I could write the routine to catch these, and I haven't done any serious programming in 30 years or more.

 

[MrWhoopee]

I use Paypal rather than a direct credit card transaction whenever possible. The thought of giving my credit card information to someone I don't know makes me extremely nervous.

Just remember that in the case of fraud, the most you are legally liable for is $50, and I've never heard of anyone even having to pay that. The credit card companies want you to just relax and use that card. Back about 15 years ago, both of my credit cards went wild. It was a slight inconvenience, cost me nothing and I had new cards within a day or two. Debit cards are another matter. If they get compromised, you're broke until the bank makes it right (which they will). It can take a week or more for them to fix it, meanwhile you're borrowing from friends and family. It happened recently to my SIL. I do not have, nor have I ever had a debit card.

Because I hate getting that surprise when the credit card bill arrives, I have my Paypal account draw directly from my checking account. As insurance against my Paypal getting hacked, I turned off over-draft protection on my checking. If they drain it, I don't want them draining my savings too.

 

[RJSakowski]

Bank of America has been really good at catching anomalies in our credit card accounts. Sometimes too good. They have deactivated our credit cards at some particularly inconvenient times. When we travel to Europe, we rely on the cards for the majority of our transactions and having a card suspended will leave us pretty much high and dry. Fortunately, most of the times this has happened we have been able to have them reactivated with a phone call but in one instance, there was an illicit charge and the card was canceled. We always carry a backup card for events like that and we were able to continue with our trip.

Also, more than some bogus charges on the card are at risk. The cards are a part of our entire financial identity. I prefer to have as little exposure as possible which is why my preference is to use PayPal for transactions.

MrWhoopee, I don't have a debit card for the same reason. If I ever were to get one, I would open a special checking account just for use with the card and limit the amount of funds in the account. Our bank is pretty good about inter-account transfers. We can do them over the phone and they are usually completed within a few minutes with an e-mail message confirming the transfer.

 

[Djl338]

Well, I live in VA, got my refund last week.

 

[Superburban]

Our local mail carrier uses that "delivery attempted, no access to delivery location", when she forgets to deliver the box, with the mail, and does not want to come back. That code is too easy for them to use, and allows them to cover up their mistakes. It seems like we see that at least once a month the last year or so.

 

[Norseman C.B.]

My package was delivered in/at mailbox in Mcallen Texas today............ Long way from Oregon..........Got my refund days ago

 

[hman]

Debit cards are another matter. If they get compromised, you're broke until the bank makes it right (which they will). It can take a week or more for them to fix it, meanwhile you're borrowing from friends and family. It happened recently to my SIL. I do not have, nor have I ever had a debit card.

Because I hate getting that surprise when the credit card bill arrives, I have my Paypal account draw directly from my checking account. As insurance against my Paypal getting hacked, I turned off over-draft protection on my checking. If they drain it, I don't want them draining my savings too.

I was very fortunate in that my credit union in Oregon allowed me to get a second debit card, in a special account that is NOT able to access any of my other accounts. I can transfer money into the account electronically, but never put in more than about $50 to $100 over my currently anticipated purchases. If anybody were to steal/abuse the card number, all they could get would be that $50 to $100.

Among other things, this saves me from having a credit card hacked, mainly from the attendant hazard of having the card voided by the bank just when I need it (like on a trip). I know there's no perfect solution, but this seems the best way to limit exposure.

 

[nnam]

This turns out to be more headache than I thought. Lesson learned. I still didn't get refund. They said they tried to refund me, but something they didn't say keeping it from doing the refund. But something is odd. They transferred me to a few people compared to previously they can just refund and few minutes later it shows. I also got refund for other items, but just not this one. I am worry eBay may have lost money on this. This is just very odd a big company like this would have problem with the seller's scamming after all these years. I thought it's pretty obvious for them to prevent such a scam.