Have you ever sold something on eBay only to find out a couple days later after the item was delivered and your money you got already spent that someone performed a chargeback on you and you end up with a negative balance that can result in overdrafts when PayPal decides to settle your account?
It would seem somehow that PayPal has been overanxious to allow buyers of digital products to rip you off via chargebacks. I have no idea how it happens so fast either. I mean, I've had chargebacks happen literally 5 minutes after payment was received. It can hurt very badly after it happens just a few times. I know policies have tightened up, and it's probably not likely to happen on eBay any more, but be prepared.
If you are using PayPal for digital goods or services sold through a website of yours, be very wary of any buyers in foreign countries. All my chargebacks were from customers in the pacific islands, or India, or sometimes Europe.
All I can say is, don't spend ALL the money you get from selling digital goods and services, hold onto some for just in case, because all it takes is one time of needing it, and having it, and you will be grateful.
Monday, April 25, 2011
Thursday, April 21, 2011
SCAM ALERT: "Gold Leaf" with BIN well below market prices.
Yes, this is one of those "Too good to be true" deals. Gold was about $1000 an ounce at the time, and I was able to buy one ounce of gold leaf for about $600... Oh yes, there was an ounce there... But it did not melt like Gold should. Instead, it reacted to heat the same way Aluminum Foil does... I surmize the seller collected something along the lines of the gold colored aluminum foil from say, Hershey's Kisses... It definitely was not Gold! Mercury would not even amalgamate with it... Mercury would have bonded with Lead, Zinc, Gold, Silver, probably other metals too. But it does not like Aluminum.
The only real gold in the lot was a gram and a half gold nugget worth about what, $60 at the time...
Fortunately, eBay buyer protection kicked in and worked in my favor... I did not get a FULL refund, but I got most of my money back, and the nugget easily covered what I didn't get back. I was very lucky.
Don't get me wrong. There are real lots of gold leaf... In fact, one common source is off the connectors on circuit boards. It is extremely pure Gold by the time one recovers them. Just be careful. Read the listing carefully. An honest seller will tell you the source of the Gold. If there is no source listed, beware. And check feedback too. eBay is much better now about handling bad deals, but I don't trust them 100% to do what's right.
The only real gold in the lot was a gram and a half gold nugget worth about what, $60 at the time...
Fortunately, eBay buyer protection kicked in and worked in my favor... I did not get a FULL refund, but I got most of my money back, and the nugget easily covered what I didn't get back. I was very lucky.
Don't get me wrong. There are real lots of gold leaf... In fact, one common source is off the connectors on circuit boards. It is extremely pure Gold by the time one recovers them. Just be careful. Read the listing carefully. An honest seller will tell you the source of the Gold. If there is no source listed, beware. And check feedback too. eBay is much better now about handling bad deals, but I don't trust them 100% to do what's right.
SCAM ALERT: Mini Gold Coins
I fell victim to this one myself. I bought a few "mini gold coins"... They are sold as if they were solid gold, or gold filled. They MIGHT be gold plated, but my chemistry experiments on them indicate they are most likely brass.
The coins are usually tiny, say, an eigth of an inch in diameter, maybe bigger. They sell for a few dollars...
Well guess what? THEY ARE NOT GOLD. Not saying gold mini's don't exist... The 1/10th ounce gold eagle for instance is quite small, but it is still larger than a mini, and you can tell for sure that it is real gold just by holding it.
The mini's I bought, dissolved in their entirety in nitric acid. Gold is a noble metal. Very few mixtures will dissolve it. Only the most powerful of acids, such as Aqua Regia will dissolve Gold. And that is such a potent combination I dare not even mess with it. Nitric on the other hand, is incapable of dissolving Gold. I use it in removing silver and copper from gold that I find or melt. It works beautifully. Well... I thought ok... I have these mini gold coins, and I know they can't possibly be Gold, so I put them in the Nitric.
The result was, they dissolved completely, leaving a green/blue solution. Greens and Blues are what you get when you have copper, and the color can change depending on the other metals in the alloy. And it dissolved within seconds. I've never seen anything react so fast. Gold does not react with Nitric, Sulfuric, or Hydrochloric acid. However, Gold can form Chlorides via RedOx reactions, but it is a VERY slow process... And Nitric Acid would have formed Nitrates, not Chlorides.
There should have been anything at the bottom of the beaker if there were any Gold. There was not one iota of Gold in the Beaker when I filtered the solution. The filter was completely clean, meaning EVERYTHING dissolved.
Conclusion: STAY AWAY FROM MINIATURE GOLD COINS OR AT LEAST BE AWARE THEY VERY RARELY CONTAIN ANY GOLD IF AT ALL!
The coins are usually tiny, say, an eigth of an inch in diameter, maybe bigger. They sell for a few dollars...
Well guess what? THEY ARE NOT GOLD. Not saying gold mini's don't exist... The 1/10th ounce gold eagle for instance is quite small, but it is still larger than a mini, and you can tell for sure that it is real gold just by holding it.
The mini's I bought, dissolved in their entirety in nitric acid. Gold is a noble metal. Very few mixtures will dissolve it. Only the most powerful of acids, such as Aqua Regia will dissolve Gold. And that is such a potent combination I dare not even mess with it. Nitric on the other hand, is incapable of dissolving Gold. I use it in removing silver and copper from gold that I find or melt. It works beautifully. Well... I thought ok... I have these mini gold coins, and I know they can't possibly be Gold, so I put them in the Nitric.
The result was, they dissolved completely, leaving a green/blue solution. Greens and Blues are what you get when you have copper, and the color can change depending on the other metals in the alloy. And it dissolved within seconds. I've never seen anything react so fast. Gold does not react with Nitric, Sulfuric, or Hydrochloric acid. However, Gold can form Chlorides via RedOx reactions, but it is a VERY slow process... And Nitric Acid would have formed Nitrates, not Chlorides.
There should have been anything at the bottom of the beaker if there were any Gold. There was not one iota of Gold in the Beaker when I filtered the solution. The filter was completely clean, meaning EVERYTHING dissolved.
Conclusion: STAY AWAY FROM MINIATURE GOLD COINS OR AT LEAST BE AWARE THEY VERY RARELY CONTAIN ANY GOLD IF AT ALL!
Welcome to my eBay scams blog!
I have been a seller for about 6 years on eBay, if not more. I have not only been scammed by sellers, but by buyers too. It is hard to imagine that eBay actually allows buyers enough leverage over sellers to take advantage of them, but this too I will explain so you can beware and protect yourself.
I have seen a lot of deals too good to be true and they were. I have seen a lot of deals that weren't too good to be true, that were not good anyways.
I spot a lot of commonly sold items that are not what they are sold as, and one by one I will expose them.
I do not like seeing people make succcess off of fraud, when honest sellers are having such a hard time making any money. I will post as often as I can, but this is a topic that I can only post when I have new things to warn you of. So feel free to subscribe so you aren't left out of the loop!
I have seen a lot of deals too good to be true and they were. I have seen a lot of deals that weren't too good to be true, that were not good anyways.
I spot a lot of commonly sold items that are not what they are sold as, and one by one I will expose them.
I do not like seeing people make succcess off of fraud, when honest sellers are having such a hard time making any money. I will post as often as I can, but this is a topic that I can only post when I have new things to warn you of. So feel free to subscribe so you aren't left out of the loop!
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