• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Sold my PS4 on eBay to cover my Pro, buyer is claiming it's console banned, what do?

I saw this thread while I was currently in the process of selling my ps4 on ebay, prompted me me to take a snap of the serial, so no matter what happens OP, this thread has done some good by getting helpful info out there.

Maybe I've just been really lucky with ebay over the years. Only problem I've had is with a western digital green hdd I sold, guy claimed it wasn't 7200rpm, which the amazon listing template must have said, ended up having to send him almost half the money to appease him.

I've also had non-payers before, but I always go through 'unpaid item process' instead of immediately relisting to and make sure their account is marked for an unpaid item.

I've sold all my consoles, various old PC parts, various hifi equiment, and never heard a peep from anyone really.

My advise is to put a number of bullet points at the end of your listings, things like

'check feedback and bid with confidence'
'no time wasters, only bid if you are interested'
'if you have less than 20 feedback message me before bidding,'
'all products are fully inspected and photographed before sending'

None of that really means much, but a scammer is perhaps less likely to pick your item if he sees those red flags?
 

Tak3n

Banned
The thing is there is no hard and fast rule, there are methods.... it looks like OP has a good old fashioned scammer.... but I go in hard and fast

For example last week I sold a fitbit, I sent it without tracking...now a lot of people are not scammers, they just take a chance and are easily turned over....

I got a email saying they had not received it.... so I instantly fish.... I got their local sorting office address, made up a postmans name.... and emailed her and said... I have just spoken to your sorting office in *****, I raised a concern about your parcel, the manager called me back and he spoke to Dave Tree (made up name) and he confirmed to me that he did indeed deliver the parcel to your address. I have requested a signed letter to this effect.....

now if they are a proper scammer, they would ignore this as they know paypal would not take that as POD, but because they were just a chancer, I got a email back less than 1 min after sending it....

"it's ok, we found it in the outside bin, Royal Mail hey! "

Yeah...right! but you can easily spook those people off from making a dispute...
 
Thing is, if the buyer returns the same console he received from OP, he didn't "scam" anyone. He just got a refund for a console he couldn't get to work.
 

N30RYU

Member
What amazed me the most is the level of help the customers support gived to the Op with the serial number and all the info.

I hope it all ends well and you can prove that serial number is the one from the PS4 you shipped... otherwise the scammer can claim that you send he the banned PS4 with the banned serial number.
 

Tak3n

Banned
I saw this thread while I was currently in the process of selling my ps4 on ebay, prompted me me to take a snap of the serial, so no matter what happens OP, this thread has done some good by getting helpful info out there.

Maybe I've just been really lucky with ebay over the years. Only problem I've had is with a western digital green hdd I sold, guy claimed it wasn't 7200rpm, which the amazon listing template must have said, ended up having to send him almost half the money to appease him.

I've also had non-payers before, but I always go through 'unpaid item process' instead of immediately relisting to and make sure their account is marked for an unpaid item.

I've sold all my consoles, various old PC parts, various hifi equiment, and never heard a peep from anyone really.

My advise is to put a number of bullet points at the end of your listings, things like

'check feedback and bid with confidence'
'no time wasters, only bid if you are interested'
'if you have less than 20 feedback message me before bidding,'
'all products are fully inspected and photographed before sending'

None of that really means much, but a scammer is perhaps less likely to pick your item if he sees those red flags?


Also put BTW as it helps.... especially with electrics...

"Item was taking to local police station and hidden marker was applied as witnessed by local constable and this has been uploaded to paypal before dispatch"
 

big_z

Member

after the buyer claimed the console is banned did you send the conversation with sony to ebay to counter his case?

as tempting as it is to argue with the scammer its best to only provide basic details and correspond with the intermediary to build your case. keep the scammer in the dark about what you have for proof, which is what a lot of gafs advice has failed to provide since they want blood.
 

Ogawa-san

Member
I saw this thread while I was currently in the process of selling my ps4 on ebay, prompted me me to take a snap of the serial, so no matter what happens OP, this thread has done some good by getting helpful info out there.
Something else you want to write down is the mac address(es), from the wired and/or wireless connections. They can swap out the serial that's visible to you since it's just a label outside, but the mac can't be easily spoofed (on a console that is) and it's tied to the hardware. You'll be able to tell immediately if they sent your console back with swapped innards.
 
My advice to you is to record opening the package right in front of the delivery guy. Once you seen the serial numbers do not match then send this thread to one of the Eurogamer writers on twitter or another publication.
 
Stories like this scare me away from selling on eBay, last thing I sold was a Mac mini for £240 and I worried about it for months. Now I personally go to a trade store and do business there.
 

Tak3n

Banned
Stories like this scare me away from selling on eBay, last thing I sold was a Mac mini for £240 and I worried about it for months. Now I personally go to a trade store and do business there.

sell on private forums, much safer... in the UK

AVforums...Over Clockers... HUKD to name a few, as feedback there is much more important and people dont want to lose their accounts
 
Welp :(

Just woke up to this:



Plus this lovely message from the buyer:



(I had a death in the family resulting in a late delivery)

Plus this in the Return detail section:

Fuck man, I'm sorry to hear this. Maybe we should get a kitty going and we can all throw in a few pounds to try and get you enough to buy yourself a Pro.

I don't understand why can you just remove all uour payments from ebay and get a new credit card? How will they take money from you? Also dont accept the package at all.

Yeah, is this not an option? Have you visited your bank, said you've been a victim of fraud and you want to block any PayPal money coming from your account. If it's not too late.

eBay have ruled in the buyers favour WITH THE BUYERS SCUMMY MESSAGES attached.

eBay at this point are worse than the buyer.

They give zero fucks. It's awful. Can't they even look at the PMs from this illiterate arrogant little bag of shit, and it will take all of two seconds to clarify he is running a scam.

OP

I can get you out of this, but it will require you to adjust your morals somewhat, and I wont tell you publicly, so best you PM me.... if you want to win

You can win any paypal dispute... and only to be used when dirty tricks are being used against you

Give us the low-down! I wanna know what dirty tactics he can employ to get his money back!

Here's some advice to the OP, don't back down even at this point. Keep escalating it if the worst does happen, find the ceos email or linked in and contact them that way. Or just guess the email of key eBay personnel. In my experience even when eBay does wrongfully back the buyer sending evidence and proof this way often results in action being taken that the call center don't have the power (or the interest) to do. Good luck!

This is what I did and once I contacted the right person I got a response and had the decision reversed in less than a day.

Yep; if you pester the right people they'll probably just tell customer service to give you your money back.

So I was thinking when he sends back the banned PS4, surely there will be some incriminating evidence on it?

I'm sure the idiot will leave something on it? Such as a download history that will predate the point at which you sent it to him?

I don't think eBay give a shit. They probably have a ton of disputes like this and their automatic response is to side with the buyer because they don't have time to look at all of them.
 

Vashetti

Banned
Fuck man, I'm sorry to hear this. Maybe we should get a kitty going and we can all throw in a few pounds to try and get you enough to buy yourself a Pro.

I already have my Pro, man. Just sold my OG PS4 in order to get some of the money back on it.

I appreciate the thought though.
 
Thing is, if the buyer returns the same console he received from OP, he didn't "scam" anyone. He just got a refund for a console he couldn't get to work.

Yeah I'm betting money on it not coming back with what was sent.

Regarding winning paypal cases a quick Google sends you in the direction of claiming digital goods as a seller

http://www.ownedcore.com/forums/wor...s/352003-win-paypal-dispute-claim-seller.html

Paypal Buyer Protection said:
However, there are some payments that we do not cover including payments for services, real estate, businesses, vehicles , custom made items, airline flight tickets, eBay classified advertisements, licenses and most intangible items. In addition, items prohibited in the PayPal Acceptable Use Policy are ineligible for coverage.
 

Tak3n

Banned
forgot to say OP....

you can try thr honest route, and call up paypal when the PS4 comes back.... Paypal know this scam goes on and if your account is in good standing they may just refund you as well at their cost.... it is not unheard of
 
Hit the PS4 with a hammer when it arrives and claim that it was sent like that :D

If you cannot proof that you sent him the unbanned PS4 (after he replaces it) - it works both ways!
 

thenexus6

Member
If you're in the UK OP I would look into AVForums for trading. I've been a member on there for a while now and always had a good experience buying and selling.
 
I saw this thread while I was currently in the process of selling my ps4 on ebay, prompted me me to take a snap of the serial, so no matter what happens OP, this thread has done some good by getting helpful info out there.

Maybe I've just been really lucky with ebay over the years. Only problem I've had is with a western digital green hdd I sold, guy claimed it wasn't 7200rpm, which the amazon listing template must have said, ended up having to send him almost half the money to appease him.

I've also had non-payers before, but I always go through 'unpaid item process' instead of immediately relisting to and make sure their account is marked for an unpaid item.

I've sold all my consoles, various old PC parts, various hifi equiment, and never heard a peep from anyone really.

My advise is to put a number of bullet points at the end of your listings, things like

'check feedback and bid with confidence'
'no time wasters, only bid if you are interested'
'if you have less than 20 feedback message me before bidding,'
'all products are fully inspected and photographed before sending'

None of that really means much, but a scammer is perhaps less likely to pick your item if he sees those red flags?

Also take shots of your warranty stickers if they are still intact. Scammers sometimes just swap the guts over giving you the same casing back with new insides. Another option is to get the mac address I guess.
 

LostDonkey

Member
Someone said something about the mac adress earlier in the the thread. Can you not log into your router and see the mac address history of connected devices and then ask him for the address of the device he claims to have? If they don't match, bingo.
 
Someone said something about the mac adress earlier in the the thread. Can you not log into your router and see the mac address history of connected devices and then ask him for the address of the device he claims to have? If they don't match, bingo.

Well he did "bingo" already by calling Sony. Did it make a difference? Nope, no fucks were given by Ebay.
 
Oh, so we know for sure the device the buyer is returning is 100% not the one he was sold?

Not really until it turns up, once OP has the device then we can tell what's gone on, IF the serial number matches but it's banned then chances are the guy has swapped out the guts of the machine, check the warranty stickers etc.

As much as the buyer may be telling the truth and it wasn't working for him, I'm betting that he's just scum and ripping OP off :( I hope once you get it back you can prove it's not the machine you shipped and you get some solution from eBay/PayPal.
 

LostDonkey

Member
Not really until it turns up, once OP has the device then we can tell what's gone on, IF the serial number matches but it's banned then chances are the guy has swapped out the guts of the machine, check the warranty stickers etc.

As much as the buyer may be telling the truth and it wasn't working for him, I'm betting that he's just scum and ripping OP off :( I hope once you get it back you can prove it's not the machine you shipped and you get some solution from eBay/PayPal.

Wow people actually go through these lengths (swapping the innards of machines) just to scam a ps4.

There's some sad folk around.

I hope you get it resolved OP I can't stand scammers.
 

Coxy100

Banned
Some people are going to read this thread and "learn" how to scam on Ebay and get away with it.

I think people who want to do that will be doing it already.

Conversely this thread also shows how important it is to track serial numbers etc.

Also I haven't used ebay for years to sell stuff - it's reminded me to keep that tend going. So sad because it used to be great.
 

Dash Kappei

Not actually that important
Welp :(

Just woke up to this:



Plus this lovely message from the buyer:



(I had a death in the family resulting in a late delivery)

Plus this in the Return detail section:


Told you :(

Really sorry but it was painfully clear the moment you posted the first time how it would go down, bastards
 

JORMBO

Darkness no more
This happened to me with a PS3. Guy received it and said it would not turn on. I Googled the guys address and it was this run down trashpit, so I thought something may be up. I had pics of everything prior to shipping so I asked him to mail it back then I would send a refund. I got back one that was broken and not even the same model. I sent him the before and after pictures saying that and he dropped everything.

Now I just use Amazon trade in for everything. They buy a little cheaper (I think), but they also pay for shipping and there is no worry about being scammed. Ebay is a shitshow.
 
well, to be fair, that's the 'reasonable' thing to do.

If people put up millions of auctions, yet no transaction of funds ever happens (because buyers lost trust in the platform), ebay would be dead.

The buyer is infinitely more valuable to ebay than the seller.

It's why i never sell shit on ebay, but only on our local craigslist equivalent.

Not true, as you have to pay to list something on eBay. And when you sell something eBay take a cut.

Ebay make their money from sellers; not buyers. And while it's true that both are needed to maintain the business model, if you look at it on a small scale case-by-case basis, losing a seller hurts them far more. After all, if a seller quits using eBay, that's lost revenue from any potential sales they may have made. But if a buyer quits eBay, then any purchase they may have made are likely to just be made by somebody else.

Ebay's unwavering bias towards buyers is fucking stupid, and while I sell a LOT of stuff on eBay, I'll never use it to sell hardware. I also make a point of getting recorded postage for buyers who have low/poor feedback.
 

Dash Kappei

Not actually that important
I've had better luck selling stuff on Amazon Marketplace frankly. Amazon customer service alone makes the experience nothing like the hell that is dealing with eBay and paypal.


Again:
Amazon Seller is worse than eBay.
With their A-Z Guarantee is.... guaranteed you'll never win a case as a seller, lol
you can't imagine the amount of (clear-cut) evidence I gave them and the responses I got, they make zero sense and barely skim over emails and such.
Please guys read through the thread or inform yourselves before advising such things, plenty of cases explained in the past few pages.
You can't actually speak on the phone with anyone who's in the legal/seller appeals/decision making team.
At least you can do that with eBay (not that it'll do you any good 99% of times but still better than Amazon...)
 

MissChief

Member
At this point, do we really know that the OP is getting scammed ? Let's be honest, the buyer doesn't seem to be really smart, it could be one of those people that says something is broken because he can't properly use it ...
 
At this point, do we really know that the OP is getting scammed ? Let's be honest, the buyer doesn't seem to be really smart, it could be one of those people that says something is broken because he can't properly use it ...

Nope but judging by the steps taken, and the latest correspondence with the buyer I think it's looking likely to be a scam unfortunately.
 

ANDS

Banned
At this point, do we really know that the OP is getting scammed ? Let's be honest, the buyer doesn't seem to be really smart, it could be one of those people that says something is broken because he can't properly use it ...

They don't know how to "use" a PS4 online? How does that work.
 

DeviantBoi

Member
Scam him back...

1. Take a picture of a serial number of a friend's PS4.
2. When the buyer sends the PS4 back, take a picture of that serial number.
3. Write to eBay and say that the buyer sent back a different PS4 from the one you had sent him. Offer the photos as proof. Explain the scam he's running.
4. ??
5. Profit
 

Lazy Lemmy

Neo Member
I know it won't help you, and I am really sorry for your troubles, but I was gonna list mine on ebay, as I too have a Pro, but now I won't....so if nothing else, you helped me.

I know you get less money, but at least CeX and MusicMagpie won't pull this kind of trick on you.
 

Castef

Banned
Really hope this is the issue.

Time to change that avatar, my dead. :(

By the way, make a full video about this whole story (i meanm within legal boundaries... no names and so on...), put it on Youtube and forward it to Sony if you get a different PS4.
 

NewDust

Member
At this point, do we really know that the OP is getting scammed ? Let's be honest, the buyer doesn't seem to be really smart, it could be one of those people that says something is broken because he can't properly use it ...

OP has it confirmed by Sony the console was online after he sold it and currently wasn't banned.
 

MissChief

Member
They don't know how to "use" a PS4 online? How does that work.

Banned PSN account for cheating, he didn't agree to legal agreement before going online, wrong LAN/WIFI settings, his wifi modem doesn't support some ports used by a console (actually did happen to me with xbox 360), and so forth ...

I would presume, if you try to scam somebody, you try to remain cool about it and act like nothing is wrong, but his message sounds like a frustrated kid ..
 
OP. Contact Sony and ask when the console was last online.

Ask for dates and times. If it was after the date you sold it then bingo.
 

Joni

Member
Console was used online according to OP's talks with Sony. Kid is getting frustrated because OP called him out.
 

Mascot

Member
Could Sony have fucked up with the info they gave OP? I've had shit info from them in the past about PSN purchases so am not filled with confidence. It's just a human at the end of the phone/email after all. People can make mistakes.

Disclaimer: the buyer still deserves to die in a ditch.
 
I don't agree with that poster either (i think it's a terrible idea for a lot of reasons), but... Is this kind of personal attack necessary?

I was banned for telling someone to stop crying and remove their tampon. So it will be interesting to see if this person doesn't get banned for a much harsher attack.
 
Top Bottom