Ethics question - Amp on eBay

Tweedledee

Tweedledee

The middle
A couple of weeks ago I bought a 70s Fender Bronco amp on eBay. The seller had no feedback and I knew it was a risk (terrible posting with no info and one bad photo - but I've scored a few amazing deals on these types of listings when someone was new to eBay), but I paid with PayPal and knew I would be covered if there were any issues. So I used the Buy It Now feature, paid immediately, and then got an email a couple hours later from the seller with a PayPal request for me to pay him again. I thought it was probably a scam, but also thought it was possible that he was new to PayPal and didn't know how it worked. Of course I didn't pay the second invoice, but I explained that I had already paid him. He said he checked and he did already have my payment from me so he apologized. Red flag #1, but I still gave him the benefit of the doubt.

A couple of days later he asks me for my address (which he already has, of course) and says he's going to ship it in the morning. Then, silence. I write him a few emails to see if he's shipped it and if he has the tracking number. Nothing. After a few days of unanswered messages, I open a case with eBay. I wait the required number of days for the seller to respond to the open case, but he never responds.

Then I check eBay and he's listed the amp again, under a different user name (also with zero feedback). So, clearly a scam. I call eBay, explain the situation, they check out both listings and refund my money immediately. (Kudos to eBay for the immediate action on that front - the money was back in my PayPal account within minutes). I leave negative feedback and assume they'll pull the second listing. Nope. The new listing is still up and someone has bid on the amp. It's been a couple of days and it's still there. So I'm now in the position of being pretty sure that someone is going to get screwed and it's killing me. I've reported the auction, but no action has been taken.

Here's the ethics question: Is it unethical to open a second eBay account and place a high bid for the amp and not pay, just so I can be sure that someone else won't get screwed? Clearly it's against eBay policy to bid without intending to pay. And I don't want to do it with my actual account as I have worked hard to maintain a perfect feedback score for nearly a decade.

Thoughts? Another way to handle it? Just let it go?

Here's the listing where I purchased the amp: http://www.ebay.com/itm/252333847402

Here's the second one where he posted it under a different account: http://www.ebay.com/itm/141956238984
 
In this case you've already done what you could do; I would just walk away and be happy I got my money back.
 
ebay is terrible at this sort of thing. I sell real estate at a small bank and got a call about one of our properties being for sale on ebay.

we don't list properties for sale on ebay so clearly someone was trying to sell a property they didn't own. same thing, no feedback and one blurry pic.

I called ebay and tried to explain that someone was trying to sell our property. I was concerned because if someone paid they would move in and I would have a squatter situation even if a deed was never recorded I would still have the expense of dealing with pissed off squatters who thought they had bought it.

they didn't care. i offered to send proof that we owned the property and they actually told me they dont have email or fax. they said they would remove the listing but they never did. it would end with a winning bid and the guy would relist the next day. I spoke with 4 or 5 "supervisors" and no one stepped up and did a thing about it.
 
I don't think it's your responsibility to fight that.

I get that you don't want anyone else to get scammed, but you shouldn't step outside the rules to fight a fight that really isn't yours.

eBay took away the ability to communicate with other account holders a long time ago because people would try to crap on an auction to convince other bidders to step away. When they did that, they took away the ability to legitimately warn other users about stuff like this.

The most you can do is click the "Report item" link to the right of the "Description" and "Shipping and payments" tabs and hope that eBay will do something about it.
 
So the dude responded to me saying he has 3 bronco amps and the one that sold he shipped but it was returned to him. He asked if I would ask the buyer to contact him he will ship it out again.
 
Chad said:
So the dude responded to me saying he has 3 bronco amps and the one that sold he shipped but it was returned to him. He asked if I would ask the buyer to contact him he will ship it out again.
Click to expand...

Why change his user name, though?
 
Chad said:
So the dude responded to me saying he has 3 bronco amps and the one that sold he shipped but it was returned to him. He asked if I would ask the buyer to contact him he will ship it out again.
Click to expand...

Ha! That's a pretty good story. :) I've written five messages to him through eBay plus I have his actual email address from when he sent out the second invoice to see if I would pay twice and I've sent several messages to that address as well. No responses since the first apology.

Part of me wants to try contacting him to see what he'll say, but I bet he'll ask me to send the money again and then he'll ship the amp.
 
I know how you feel. You've done the best you could do under the circumstances. Going any further would open you up to being on the wrong end of this situation. It's really on eBay at this point.
 
Walk away...you have your money, no use poking a hornets nest.
 
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The auction just ended. $355. I'm pretty sure the winning bidder has a few weeks of misery to look forward to, but there's nothing I can do. :(
 
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