I think I was scammed on Ebay - advice needed please

[LynneSin]

I made a bid on a Sony 20g MP3 player but the minimum was not reached. An hour later I received a 'Second Chance' offer from the seller that if I wanted to buy the item at the bid price I could. I figured it looked legit and the price was standard with other similiar items and 30 minutes later the item was paid for through paypal.

That was the 24th. I have not heard anything yet from the buyer but in my Ebay inbox I see a message about 'Second Chance Winner' scams which leaves me thinking that I just gave $120 to someone and will not receive anything in return.

I've sent notice 2 times to the seller about shipping information and I've yet to hear anything.

So my question is this, do I have any way of getting the money back AND going after the seller.

Thanks!

[Mrs.Matcom]

1. How did you receive the offer

thru your personal email? Did you use paypal? How did you purchase this MP3 player? By credit card? if so call the card company and cancel the card right now!

[LynneSin]

2. Answers

Received the notice through email but there was no message in my ebay inbox; however, when I paid it does show up in my "My Ebay" list of things I've won

Paid through PayPal with my credit card (although I have a debit card attached too)

[Mrs.Matcom]

3. uh oh!

I just took a seminar on fraud prevention last week and there was a man from ebay there, he said these scams are rampant. And the way they notify you is thru your email. Contact ebay and cancel the payment thru paypal. Also notify your credit card company tonight, that you are a victim of a scam and not to let the charge go thru. Worse case scenario, you lose the MP3 player, but you won't get charged for 'other' things you didn't buy.

[LynneSin]

5. Wait, how can he do that

I saw this notice about an hour after I paid the bill AND changed my paypal account password immediately. And I can see my credit card charges online through my bank - there has been no additional charges.

Don't get me wrong, I'm getting ready to dispute the charge, but I'm just making sure that no other charges are going on my account

[sakabatou]

4. Cancel it

Do not trust these things...

[wildhorses]

6. this is happening a lot to TheSmoker

he deals artifacts on ebay and he has been seeing this second chance on some of his items. he just emailed one of his customers the other day and told them NO it was NOT legit--

does this make sense? i don't do much on ebay--(make that once i made A purchase)

[LostinVA]

7. Yes, you probably were

I've had that happen, and had someone email me all pissed off because he never received the thing he bought from me... thing is, I never "second chanced" him...

Sorry, sis...

On edit: The odds are good you've lost your money...

[LostinVA]

8. The seller is probably innocent

I've had people contact me wondering where their stuff was -- I never sent them an email... they spoofed my email address.

[philosophie_en_rose]

9. Contact Paypal.

Contact PayPal to stop payment, after the shipping time has elapsed.

And contact eBay to see if the Second Chance Offer was legit. If you used ebay to send the money, it probably was. If you transferred directly from PayPal, it's more likely to be a scam.

[Generic Brad]

10. File a dispute with your bank

Since your transaction was card based you have some consumer protection. Depending on your institution you might be liable for up to $50.00 of the transaction. There are other methods of linking to your bank accounts that do not provide the same level of protection that card based transactions do.

Good luck getting this resolved.

[LiberalHeart]

11. What I don't understand is how people get email addresses on eBay...

eBay swears to me there is no way anyone can get my email address via my activity on eBay -- but every time, and I do mean EVERY time, I buy something on eBay, I immediately start getting spam at the email address I use only for eBay.

The spam goes on for days, sometimes several weeks, then stops. Then I buy something else and it's off and running again.

Same thing happens if I sell an item.

[LynneSin]

12. Technically I can send you a message through ebay

I mean, this was related to an actual bid and after it ended seller sent a request through the ebay bid about whether or not I wish to purchase the item. It took me back to the actual ebay item and it shows up as an item I've won in my "My Ebay" section of Ebay.

I've just heard a response from the seller and he says he's shipping it out tomorrow and sending me a tracking number. Since I've checked with my Credit Card, Ebay and Pay Pal, it seems there isn't anyway they can get to my money, my passwords have all been changed and he has a day to produce a tracking number for shipment or I'm disputing the charge as fraud.