Did I get ripped off by a BLF'er?

I responded to this thread, and sent $22 via PayPal on Jan 16th

Heard nothing at all from the member after that, so sent him an email asking if the light was on its way. On Jan 25th he responded that he had been working 6 days a week, and had not had a chance to send the light, but would send it the following weekend (Jan 28th). That weekend has come and gone, and so has the next, and I still have no light. I sent him another email 3 days ago on Feb 3rd, have not gotten a response to that one.

I hope I am just over-reacting and that the light is on its way. but just in case, thought I should give a heads-up here in case anyone else is in the same situation. And I will gladly retract this thread if the light shows up, but three weeks is a long time to wait for a light shipped from and received in the CONUS, heck, I can get one from Manafont in 3 weeks via Hong Kong snail mail.

Paypal verifies $22 sent on 1/16, no credit to my account, no light in the mail.

For $22, this is no big deal to me, if someones needs it that bad I'll just give it to them if they ask. But BLF is a close community, others might be affected as well, so be warned. And it could be that he got sick, or some other emergency came up, I'm cool with that, hopefully he will respond to my last email and all will be well.

Did anyone else receive the light yet? There were 4 up for sale and at that time it seemed 2 were left. I hope you get this worked out soon and hear from him.

To me cheapo 20€ (=26.xx$) is not none of a deal but last week i gave a 20€ bill to a freezing afro-american door beggar (a pre-college student!!) who simply asked in an honest way for some support. he didnt trot out any stories or else. He was really thankful (because he could return home earlier with this, i guess) and i was glad to have enlightened one afternoon of his life. If i had had a 5€ bill in my wallet, i would have given him that. Neither did i want to ask for change ("hey bro', you got 15? then i can give you this 20. how's that. cool?" haha).

Next time i open the house door (and expecting a similar situation), i will hand out 5€'s only from now on. for two reasons. 1. i need my pocket money for myself flashlights liion cells DD and DX, and 2. i am still el cheapo

:D

as long as you didn't use the "gift" option, you should be able to open a case with Paypal and get your funds back.

the seller is making excuses about not having enough time to ship the item and not replying promptly to your messages. both are serious red flags in my book. USPS has many locations with automated postage centers that can ship packages 24/7, so the first excuse is bogus. and as for the lack of responses, there's no excuse for that short of a health or family emergency. i sincerely hope that the seller is well and that there's nothing bad going on in his life. but barring that, the seller isn't fulfilling his basic responsibilities here.

The kid was American ?

That's sad. Seems like everywhere you go scams and flams. If only adam and eve would of left that apple alone. HEH.

Sorry to hear though, Troop. I would seek some sort of resolution through paypal.

I'll never understand people accepting getting ripped-off because they find the amount to be trivial. If you've got that much money, send it to me and I won't even BS you. Thieves should be nailed to the wall, whether its 5 pesos or 5 million pounds.

But hey, at least your thief isn't hanging out here posting like he didn't scam anybody.

Troop, looking at the thread you linked to, the seller was on BLF 5 hours, 6 minutes ago, so he's around (but before your post). Have you PM'd him? Send him a link to this thread, I would think he would want it cleared up.

Yeah, he hasn't posted since Jan 15th.

When it comes to "accepting" getting ripped off, it's all about time and aggravation. I'd put more effort into it if it was $100, hey, I could buy another TK41 with that.

Besides, I always believe that karma will have a way of evening things out.

I received a PM, requesting sale of the DRY spacers two day ago.

I hope he follows through. I'd be PO'd if I send payment and they don't ship within 1-2 business days.

he has time to post but not ship your item

Reflection
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Last seen: 5 hours 1 min ago....
send a message and email again no answer by tomorrow pull it. although his posts look real, a bit too REAL hmmm

Karma's funny like that. You always have the PayPal dispute option.

I'm still giving him the benefit of the doubt, but wanted to post in case there were similar issues with other people here.

Boy I hope not. He pm'd me once. Seem like a nice guy. But I hope he is legit. I can't stand being ripped off. It sucks. And I don't take it lightly or any of my buddies being ripped off as well.

Come on Reflection. Do the right thing here.

It's the principle of the thing to me. Money amount isn't what is important it is about being a thief. I don't know what I hate worse a thief or a liar. Hopefully he will come through but it sure seems unlikely.

Maybe it's just laziness and failure to follow thru on things.

I have a guy at work like that, 23 years old and was a spoiled child.

He has no self motivation or internal work ethics.

Really too bad to hear, hope you get it soon.

The thing is I agree with Steve, that "I work 6 days a week" thing doesnt mean anything.

Once you take someones money you should send right away (that day), make the time before or after work - or tell the person in advance I cant take your money until I can ship on this date XX.

Who knows...at least with PP you have some recourse.

Just can't find the PayPal clause at the moment but if the sellers account contains no funds, you can win all the disputes you want and you will not receive a refund.

PayPal doesn't care about you and will only refund if the seller has money in his account, they're not going to reach into their billions to help you out.

I've been ripped of by unscrupulous sellers in the past.

Not to say the seller in question falls into this catorgry.

+ 1

but...

I have received $ from people when I knew I would be out of town until Xxx date, and that said item will ship as soon as I get back. As a buyer I try to get a contact # if I come across the same thing, just for piece of mind. I really hope this gets worked out between you guys, and also that nothing bad has happened to the seller.