Possible scammer, definite bellend

ADP

Just a heads-up on an auction I "won" on Sunday. The next day, the seller contacted me to ask which address I had made the payment to. Sure enough, when I looked, the payment was "not accepted by the seller", which means he had given the wrong address in the listing. So, he tells me, this is eBay's fault - they keep doing this - and can I pay to another PayPal address?

I told him to contact eBay and/or PayPal to sort it out. I would only make the payment to the PayPal account linked to the auction. If not, I suggested that he could cancel the transaction, list it again as a buy-it-now with the right PayPal account, taking advantage of the £1-per-listing offer, and I'd buy it. Here's his reply:

"Don t worry about e bay I can simply mark paid it does not matter how it is paid for.
Otherwise it is going to get complicated. Believe me the way I requested is the easiest way.
As I said it s eBays fault"

I repeated my suggestion to relist.

"Sorry, I m not willing to do that it s too much hassle for me. I was willing to take out insurance at my own expense to cover the transport.
If you don t want it I have many more people who asked about it.
Let me know asap so I can contact them"

Fourteen minutes later and before I had a chance to reply, I got a message from eBay:

"We're sorry to let you know that belleliq cancelled your order and mentioned the reason as Something was wrong with the buyer's delivery address."

When I saw that he'd relisted it as an auction, and not for me to use as a buy-it-now, I contacted him again and pointed out that those many more people hadn't bid. I had and I had paid. It’s not my fault or eBay’s fault that he had used the wrong PayPal address. It was up to him to sort that end of things out. Hassle? In the time it had taken him to write his messages to me, he could have done what I suggested.

Then:

"I did what you asked and re listed it. I could not put a buy it now price as you suggested as I have to list it for you 40 percent more than the auction price which means you would pay over £900. It seems you are blaming me when I said it was e bays fault they did not update my details as I requested, that is between eBay and me.
Incidentally the reason I had no bids is because I had several offers before the auction ended. It was my choice to let it go to auction. If I get an offer next time I will accept and cancel e bay

If you don t believe me try selling something and add a buy it now price you seem to know everything else including my mistakes as you say."

After a couple more messages, I told him I hoped he had the correct PayPal address in his new listing, but I won’t be buying.

Here's his answer and his final words on the matter:

"Don t worry I won t sell to you anyway. You obviously don t know much about guitars and the bargain you missed out on. Try looking at what these sell for new without hiscox case.
Someone else will have that pleasure now."

So that's the misunderstanding that he's talking about in his new listing. I didn't understand that it was OK for me to pay him for goods with no guarantee of getting the guitar or my money back. It's an easy mistake to make. He's either trying to get someone to pay for the guitar in such a way that he can just not bother sending the guitar or he's a complete idiot. Either way, I'd steer clear if I were you.

Funkfingers

Changing the payment or delivery address after an auction has ended should always raise alarm bells.

As a buyer, if you send payment to anywhere other than the seller's registered address or a confirmed account, your eBay/PayPal protection will be null and void. 

Hopefully, if the message exchange that you describe was all via eBay messaging channels, they can inspect everything and adjudicate. 

ADP

It was, and I'm trying to figure out how to report him to eBay. I can report the new listing, but it doesn't seem all that easy to contact them about my experience other than calling them.

Simon_M

Whether he’s a scammer or not, he doesn’t seem like a very pleasant chap so you’ve probably made the right decision there.

skullfunkerry

I'm surprised eBay aren't already on at him; I've had conversations with people on there about auctions and they've messaged me with "It looks like you're trying to sell outside of eBay" because of the content of the messages - if he's talking to you about cancelling the auction and paying to a different address that should have flagged up straight away with them

skullfunkerry

Also, he needs to get a decent camera! "Photo added to show action at twelfth fret"... yeah, if you can actually make out where the string is in the blur

danishbacon

what a prick

equalsql

danishbacon said:

what a prick

My thoughts exactly. Well done for keeping your wits about you, I think you've managed to avoid a world full of pain from that 'tool'.

Hattigol

Is 'belleliq' a typo? Or maybe an olde Englishe way of spelling bellend?
Well avoided anyway.

DB1

skullfunkerry said:

I'm surprised eBay aren't already on at him; I've had conversations with people on there about auctions and they've messaged me with "It looks like you're trying to sell outside of eBay" because of the content of the messages - if he's talking to you about cancelling the auction and paying to a different address that should have flagged up straight away with them

I feel your pain - I've had the same problem with eBay and am currently trying to get some sort of response from them, as they're ignoring my messages now. Talking to them is also useless as they seem to be programmed by B-stock robots. I've just 'emerged' from 7-day restrictions for doing something similar to your description. 

1) Someone messaged me a few weeks ago to ask if I'd deliver a Fender red label case to East London. As this involved a 300 mile round trip, I said that I couldn't really do it, but as someone else from the area was showing interest in a guitar that I had for sale, I'd let them know via eBay if it came off, in which case I'd be happy to drop it off. Cue 'warning - offer to sell outside eBay' message. I ignored it because I couldn't be bothered, in all honesty.

2) Someone enquired about my Vintage 47 amp - I replied to them, courteously as ever, and waited for them to come back to me. They didn't reply, and in the interim it sold from a Gumtree ad (I've since had it back, but that's another story). I then informed the enquirer that it had been sold and that I wouldn't be able to sell it to him. Cue 'restriction of account - offer to sell outside eBay'. 

After being pretty furious with them and stating the reasons for my annoyance firmly but politely, they then came back to me, changing their argument, noting that I had said that I could deliver or collection could be made from my offices near Stafford (as vague as that). Apparently, 'personal details' aren't allowed. They have yet to reply to my response that points out that just about every advertisement has the seller's location in the frigging ad. 

Yet, when I reported an ad for a guitar that I'm sure was stolen (or certainly dodgy) they didn't remove the listing, and seem to be happy to let gobshites like the one you've mentioned operate with impunity. Sorry for the rant, but it hasn't half wound me up. If I sell something, I like to be polite and helpful, which goes for most of us, I'm sure - a chap enquired about my 335 Larry Carlton - he was new to 335s - and I suggested that he tried a few mainstream ones first for various reasons, and that he could drop me a line if he wanted any advice, as he seemed a nice lad. I'm not going to do that any more, unfortunately. 

Kinioo

I'd pass on this one.

JerkMoans

Hattigol said:

Is 'belleliq' a typo? Or maybe an olde Englishe way of spelling bellend?

It's a 'special'.  Available in the more louche parts of Pigalle.

DB1

JerkMoans said:

Hattigol said:

Is 'belleliq' a typo? Or maybe an olde Englishe way of spelling bellend?

It's a 'special'.  Available in the more louche parts of Pigalle.

Either that, or he can't spell 'lick'.

skullfunkerry

DB1 said:

skullfunkerry said:

I'm surprised eBay aren't already on at him; I've had conversations with people on there about auctions and they've messaged me with "It looks like you're trying to sell outside of eBay" because of the content of the messages - if he's talking to you about cancelling the auction and paying to a different address that should have flagged up straight away with them

I feel your pain - I've had the same problem with eBay and am currently trying to get some sort of response from them, as they're ignoring my messages now. Talking to them is also useless as they seem to be programmed by B-stock robots. I've just 'emerged' from 7-day restrictions for doing something similar to your description. 

1) Someone messaged me a few weeks ago to ask if I'd deliver a Fender red label case to East London. As this involved a 300 mile round trip, I said that I couldn't really do it, but as someone else from the area was showing interest in a guitar that I had for sale, I'd let them know via eBay if it came off, in which case I'd be happy to drop it off. Cue 'warning - offer to sell outside eBay' message. I ignored it because I couldn't be bothered, in all honesty.

2) Someone enquired about my Vintage 47 amp - I replied to them, courteously as ever, and waited for them to come back to me. They didn't reply, and in the interim it sold from a Gumtree ad (I've since had it back, but that's another story). I then informed the enquirer that it had been sold and that I wouldn't be able to sell it to him. Cue 'restriction of account - offer to sell outside eBay'. 

After being pretty furious with them and stating the reasons for my annoyance firmly but politely, they then came back to me, changing their argument, noting that I had said that I could deliver or collection could be made from my offices near Stafford (as vague as that). Apparently, 'personal details' aren't allowed. They have yet to reply to my response that points out that just about every advertisement has the seller's location in the frigging ad. 

Yet, when I reported an ad for a guitar that I'm sure was stolen (or certainly dodgy) they didn't remove the listing, and seem to be happy to let gobshites like the one you've mentioned operate with impunity. Sorry for the rant, but it hasn't half wound me up. If I sell something, I like to be polite and helpful, which goes for most of us, I'm sure - a chap enquired about my 335 Larry Carlton - he was new to 335s - and I suggested that he tried a few mainstream ones first for various reasons, and that he could drop me a line if he wanted any advice, as he seemed a nice lad. I'm not going to do that any more, unfortunately. 

I listed an Epiphone guitar with Jackson pickups and they sent me a warning about 'keyword spamming' - because apparently my Epiphone would turn up in search results when someone was looking for a Jackson O_o

DB1

:-) - they also pulled an ad of mine for the same sort of thing. I'd advertised a Gretsch Country Club, and mentioned that it was fitted with a Bigsby, and the reason for the sale was to put funds towards a vintage Gibson. Apparently, the words 'Gibson' and 'Bigsby' were unauthorised use of trade names. They didn't answer my response to that either. Funnily enough, I just relisted it with no amendments, and it was fine. 

Strat54

I've given up playing ebay and Reverb police. I've had enough with both of them, they really don't care as long as they keep taking the fees. Both are full of scammers, fakes and people generally circumventing selling laws etc etc. Buyer beware as always. Well done to @ADP ; in this case.

Bellycaster

Fabrique de Belleliq

  

JezWynd

Can't focus a camera + can't get his address right = Avoid.

fandango

Strat54 said:

I've given up playing ebay and Reverb police. I've had enough with both of them, they really don't care as long as they keep taking the fees. Both are full of scammers, fakes and people generally circumventing selling laws etc etc. Buyer beware as always. Well done to @ADP ;;; in this case.

Ebay police I can understand - lots of documented stories, but Reverb police? Can you provide some evidence? @iain.reverb might like to hear about this.

Strat54

LIke I said, I'm not reporting ads for them anymore.

Meanwhile the OP's ebayer is on Reverb. No surprise there.

https://reverb.com/item/15822013-prs-s2-custom-24-2014-charcoal-grey

Henrytwang

I guess that I must be lucky. I’ve done over 1000 deals on eBay both as a seller and a buyer and had very few problems. I think that most sellers are honest and that it’s the few dishonest ones that spoil things. When buying an expensive item such as a guitar I always carefully read the description, inspect the pictures and read the sellers feedback, if anything looks a bit off I let the item go no matter how much of a bargain it looks.