It's not about the money. Not only has this thread brought out other disgruntled members who got screwed just as I did (a simlar post came up yesterday and Jordan responded almost immediately), it brings awareness and caution to potential buyers. Mods may or may not keep a tighter leash as a result of this, but sellers would exercise caution dealing here. Since ST does not offer the same protection eBay does, nor does it have a rating/feedback system, crooks find it easy to get away with these things. In the words of my friend: 'Paypal does not do quality control, caveat emptor(look it up) all I have to do is provide proof shipping and that cranks were sent as my 1/2 of the transaction sit back and let paypal kick back your case'

More than retaliation, it's making sure that these things are prevented. I'm fighting to oust this guy from Craigslist, Paypal and eventually, ST.

These guys know they're sending crap when they send it. So did the jack-off I did business with. They know it's a hassle and a battle for you that you probably won't win. And somehow they can sleep at night. I'm | | this close to posting the name of the guy who I dealt with but I'm waiting to see if he pops up as a problem on any other threads. He trolls the classifieds a lot..........

Why hold back. It's a public forum. We also have the right to know these things.

I'll PM you...

Want to pm me who the guy is? I just bought something on the classifieds so hopefully its not from the same person.

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Yea same here. I think we are all going to be paranoid until you post it!

Did you ever get a resolution? I see 'he' is back with a post as of this morning. Some poor sucker who just joined wanted to buy something from him.

Case with PayPal is pending. Looks like he was able to 'present' his case the last day he was supposed to respond. I'm waiting to hear from PayPal.

Don't worry, provided you had paypal fees when you bought it, you should easily win the case. I have never seen a case for tangible goods where the buyer does not win. Bummed to hear about the bad experience, only good ones so far here.

One of my first transactions on here several years ago went bad. I bought an older bike off ebay that needed new shifters. I found a guy here on the forum who had some Tiagra 9 sp STI for sale. Price was only $95. We corresponded electronically and completed the transaction via PayPal. I never got the shifters. Ever. Opened a dispute at PayPal, they investigated it, made contact with the seller and informed me he would be refunding my money or shipping the shifters ASAP. I never got either. When I got back with PayPal, they basically said they had done all they could do. I never got my shifters, a refund or so much as a message or email from the seller. I never said anything about it here on the forum; in fact, this is the first mention I've ever made of it. Ever since, I've great transactions. I've bought everything from cycling shoes, sunglasses, wheels, even a mountain bike. But yeah, I had one bad experience that cost me $95.

This is the kind of problem that keeps these lowlives down the same road. Someone gets ripped off, PayPal does nothing, offender keeps the money, and the cycle continues.

I'm doing what I can to put this guy in place. At the very least we've seen the last of his antics here. He doesn't know yet what I'll do next should I not get what's due from PayPal.

I just went back and looked to see if I could find out who that was that stole my money in the shifters transaction, and I can't find it. I know I have some record of it; I'll keep looking. I wonder if that person still posts here or has tried to sell anything since.

Paypal does a great job at giving the impression they "protect" your transaction, but most of the transactions gone wrong I've heard, paypal does nothing beyond what you would do yourself (i.e try to contact the other party involved and ask them to refund the money or send the goods). Paypal doesn't seem to invest a whole lot of effort into this stuff. A good friend of mine (not "a friend of a friend's next door neighbor's uncle") lost $900 on some wheels that did not exist. All paypal did was say they tried to make contact but the seller didn't respond. No more they could do. Nice.

I hope you get your resolution and by all means let us know if paypal does come through for you. As far as I know, however, they are pretty useless.

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"I'm happy when life's good,
and when it's bad I cry.
I've got values but I don't know how or why."
- The Who

I'm interested to know if you escalated it to a claim through paypal. If there is no evidence of the shipping (ie delivery confirmation or signature confirmation >$250), that is what protects you as a buyer. I have had a few cases on ebay (none on slowtwitch) where someone tried that, but as soon as delivery confirmation never showed up, it didn't matter. Or as soon as I proved I return the item (again delivery confirmation), I was refunded.

Yes, I escalated it to a claim with PayPal. After a week or two, I got an email from PayPal that said they had contacted the guy and he would be shipping the items by a given date or give me a refund. When neither happened, I emailed PayPal again and told them what happened (or didn't happen). I got another email that said they had done all they could and that was that. I emailed and PM'd the seller repeatedly. Never heard a word from him again. Didn't have a phone number to call him, either. I hope he enjoyed my $95.

That really is odd. I've had people try to do that as well, but it always works out. Did you send through personal payment or just a standard payment (fees)?

"Did you send through personal payment or just a standard payment (fees)?"

I can't remember. It was over two years ago and I've had dozens of PayPal transactions since then. I found it odd that I didn't get something in return as well. But I didn't.