Ebay---VERY close call

[ohiominnie]

Here's the story in a nutshell....
We won tickets in August for a Big Ten football game to be played today.
We asked he not ship because we were heading out of town and told him we'd contact him when we got back. He said fine.
We got back and contacted him....no response, again and again and again. Then he started getting negative feedback on ebay. FINALLY, after emailing DAILY, his wife emailed and said he was out of state b/c his mother was critically ill and he would mail them when he got back---said the recent negatives were because SHE tried to do it, but goofed up some tickets.

We emailed about twice a week. FINALLY he got back in town and said he'd ship them. He did, about 1 1/2 weeks later. Since then I've gotten several emails from other ebay members asking us how we got our tickets, what was the cause of this guys long absences and lack of communication. Finally, I checked back on ebay and his last 42 feedbacks are NEGATIVE (with threats of legal action etc etc) and ebay has shut him down--he is "no longer a registered user."

Well, then yesterday we hear a news report about him!!! My husband YELLED to me from another room to come and listen. The family hasn't seen him since TUESDAY and has filed a missing person's report!!! He, apparently, didn't send tickets to over 60 people!!! Estimates for how much he got away with range from $36,000 to $60,000!!!

We were one of the very last people to actually receive the tickets we paid for. I was a little worried they would be fake or forged in some way, but my dh just called from The Big House and he and dd got in without incident!!

I'm a little worried about this seller. They had news articles on the internet about people who actually hunted him down at his home in Northern Ohio. I hope nothing bad happened to him. I feel badly for those who bought tickets but didn't get them!

Oh, btw, before we bought the tickets he had GLOWING positive feedback--about 99.9% over the past couple of years with lots of happy customers!

 

[christinadei]

Wow! That is all very weird. You guys got lucky to get your tickets! My guess would be that he had good intentions, but everythign got messed up with him being gone, etc. I hope he's okay.

 

[dis ms.]

Yikes! Glad everything worked out for you.

I looked at the seller's feedback and I see what you mean about the glowing comments prior to your purchase. HOWEVER, several of those buyers have since posted follow-ups stating they didn't receive their tickets.

Why would anybody post positive feedback before they received the item? Just because the guy seemed nice? Feedback should come AFTER you receive the item, IMHO.

Again, I'm so glad that your DH and DD were able to go the game. I feel bad for the people that bought plane tickets just to go to the game and never received the game tickets.

 

[sweetpeakaris]

Wow, What a story! Glad to hear you guys got your tickets. Perhaps he is ok, and maybe just got overwhelmed with his mom being sick and took a mini vacation without telling his family.

 

[imsayin]

Oh, btw, before we bought the tickets he had GLOWING positive feedback--about 99.9% over the past couple of years with lots of happy customers!

I had a similar situation last year with an American Girl doll. I got mine, but many didn't. I think people get into bad situations & greed takes over.

 

[Tiffann4k]

This guy lives in my area and apparently after the local news aired the story about him scamming customers he took off.He apparently scammed more than 70 people out of 50,000 worth of tickets. Tuesday his wife filed a missing persons report. The local police dept recieved over 100 complaints about the tickets and they handed it over to the attorney generals office. At 1pm today the AG's office will be filing civil or criminal charges against him ( according to the news article)

 

[MermaidsMom]

He was also a "Power Seller" with the APPEARANCE of good feedback. But as mentioned earlier, if you look back now it shows that a number of people added on to their previous positive rating when they didn't actually receive their tickets and are now furious. Why they gave feedback without the tickets I don't know. I personally know someone who was taken in this terrible scam. These were not people with money- they are people with children and this game was the BIGGEST (and only) treat they were going to enjoy this year. On the TV news he seems like such a victim! Ha! Most scam artist are good at making themselves the victim.The only way they CAN trick good people is acting like that because if they seemed bad no one would give them anything in the beginning, would they?

 

[ntburns22]

I am glad you recieved your tickets. Go Buckeyes!

 

[tinan]

Glad you got your tickets!

We had a somewhat similiar situation years ago with a computer. The guy had glowing reviews before us. We were one of the first ones to NOT receive our computer. I was one of the ones on the hunt (so to speak) and this was long before there were many ebay scams out there. The poor local police in his area didn't know what to do. I added it up and the guy got away with closer to $100K. The state police computer crimes division finally caught up with the guy and he was charged with I can't even tell you how many misdeamors as well as felonies since most purchases were over $500.

 

[newchic99]

I saw the report on the local news last night also. Wonder where he ran off to? Glad you got your tickets though!

 

[3disAddicts]

Hmmm...We just had an experience with a seller. Glowing feedbacks as well, with only a negligible number of negative feedbacks. Ordered from the seller, and when item arrived, it was counterfeit. Seller agreed to a refund if I would leave a positive feedback first, so that ebay would think the transaction was completed. No way was I going to fall for this. I filed with paypal, and received refund in no time. I wonder how many people fall for this, only to lose out on their money.