For future reference, I don’t think I’ll ever purchase something through eBay again without using Paypal — at least with Paypal, if something goes wrong, you can generally get your money back. In this case, I used a legitimate-looking service called “Bidpay.”
The next day, I got a note from eBay’s Loss Prevention Department:
Our records show that you were a bidder or buyer of one or more of this seller’s items. We recently removed this seller’s active listings and suspended the seller’s trading privileges. Due to privacy concerns we cannot share further details about this seller.
Checking eBay, the auctions have been unceremoniously removed. It doesn’t appear that Bidpay has charged my card, perhaps they caught on to the scam, but their policies in this regard are somewhat obnoxious.
Also somewhat obnoxious — the auctions disappear from eBay, including MyeBay and history, as if they never existed. This makes these sorts of things difficult to keep track of.
At any rate, although I’ll have to monitor this credit card usage for a while, just in case, at least I’m not retarded enough to use a debit card or a direct draw from a bank account.
So, a big, hearty “Good Job Sucking” goes out to Bidpay, for this exchange:
Question
This and order number 29965909 were apparently posted on eBay by a fraudulent seller. I received this from eBay:
(see quote above)Discussion Thread
1/22/2007 1:39:00 PM — Your question was submitted to BidPay Technical Support
1/22/2007 1:58:10 PM — BidPay wrote:
Order 29965906, 29965909- Item Not Received
Dear xxxxx,
This is in response to your report that your auction item has not been received, or is not as described. BidPay will initiate a dispute and will act as an advocate on your behalf to first resolve the issue with the seller. If we are unsuccessful at the end of the dispute process, we can attempt to recover your money from the seller’s bank account. The process typically takes 3-4 weeks.
The dispute process includes attempting to contact the seller. Bidpay will attempt to contact the seller twice within 2 weeks. If the seller does not respond, BidPay will then attempt to debit the sellers bank account. If the first attempt to debit the seller’s account is unsuccessful, BidPay will attempt a second time. The debiting process can take up to two weeks.
So, here’s to you, Bidpay. Good Job Sucking.
