Hi Folks, I know its been a while.... We got him and the money back.... **** bag was well at it. My advice..... Dont accept paypal for collection in person. It leaves you as a seller vulnerable. Paypal only covers items that are damaged in transit, lost in the post, not as described etc. I have just sold something this morning and the buyer got upset because I refunded the paypal for a collection in person. I requested cash on collection or other direct means of payment. Thanks for your help a couple of years ago folks... Hard work gets the bad guy in the end... I would rather not have the hassle though!!!

Paypal have been very obstructive and will not provide details of their own investigation to myself or the investigating officers. It's hard work!

My difficulty is that you MUST offer paypal as a payment option! Howcan this be? Does that rule out collection items?

YES PLEASE!!!!

I here you, I have never had a dispute before with 197 sales. You dont know the regulations until you are confronted with them

Ebays strength is with its cutomers. No customers, no ebay.. I dont think they regulate well enough. Despite emailing them and advising of my current position, I will get nothing in return apart from automated responses. I have just had one from paypal stating that they could not take the 197 pounds that I have had stolen, from my bank account. Funny that. I emailed them three days ago explaining that I had removed all of my bank account details. Maybe if they read that, they may well understand why.

Hi everyone, thanks for your responses. I have carried out some ground work and am currently looking into ebay/paypal in depth. I have serious concners about the number of unnecessary victims of crime that have been generated as a result. I am hoping to create a one page blog with a survey attached giving people the opportunity to say yes they have been a victim of crime as the result of using ebay, the year they where a victim, the amount of financial loss they suffered, etc... I am getting nothing but automated responses from ebay/paypal at the moment. The good news, I have CCTV of my suspects, a car, and we are hot on their tails!

I am sure we have!! My screen name is a bit of a giveaway!! I am the only one in London

I got it, Well I guess I had better introduce myself.. I am a Police officer of 12 years london service, I have the outmost integrity, caught some of the most hardened criminals in London, been given the freedom of the city and have a lovely certificate to prove it, and just got scammed!!!!

What does that mean?? Sorry Martin I am new on here.. I might stick around to.

I do indeed. I think i'll go in a more formal matter to hopefully get a better result. Just had an email from ebay... Oh My Days, who on earth reads the enquires people send in. Talk about getting the wrong end of the stick! Here is a reply. Talk about a standard response! I didn't report a member selling a stolen Xbox!! Might start looking though to see if mine turns up there! Thank you for your report against the member who is selling a stolen Xbox (item no. 230455395709) on eBay. We're eager to prevent the sale of stolen goods on the site. If we find a seller has been selling stolen items we'll take action on their account. This action includes (but isn't limited to) account suspension. However, we can only investigate such a serious allegation if it comes from the police, or trading standards. I recommend you contact your local police and ask them to get in touch with us. The investigating officer can then use the "Contact Us Webform" link on the following page to contact our Trust and Safety team: eBay UK: Safety Centre: Law Enforcement Again thank you for your email, we know your time is valuable and we appreciate you taking a moment to express your concern to us. Kind regards, Henry Johnson eBay Trust & Safety ____________________ Learn more about buying and selling safely on eBay. Visit the eBay "Safety Centre" by clicking on the link at the bottom of the eBay homepage.

My concern is how paypal make this so easy! (for suspects) As they walk hand in hand with ebay, they are an open marking for [problematic]/criminals. I am sure I am one of millions!!.

A review of recent transactions indicates that you might have received a payment that the PayPal account holder did not authorise. To protect you from problematic transactions, we sometimes request additional information about PayPal payments. We need more information about this transaction. Please log in to your PayPal account, click the "Resolution Centre" tab, and provide more information by 07/04/2010. If you need to provide information by fax, click and print a cover sheet: https://www.paypal.com/uk/cgi-bin/?cmd=_complaint_resolve_tracking_fax&cid=PP-929-459-159 Please fax proof of postage or proof of refund to 08707 303 196. We recommend that you do not post the item until our investigation is complete. If you've already posted the item, please log in and let us know where you posted it. We have placed a temporary hold on the funds until we complete our investigation.

Your buyer asked his or her bank to reverse the payment for the following transaction: Buyer's name: John Palmer Buyer's email: johnpalmeruk@hotmail.com Transaction ID: 7S545373PU0526502 Transaction date: 31 Mar 2010 Transaction amount: 199.00 GBP Your transaction ID: 4XJ83859ME3852505 Case number: PP-929-507-181 We need additional information from you within the next 7 days. Please log in to your PayPal account and go to the Resolution Centre to see the details of this case. There, you can enter any information regarding this case that will help us fight the reversal on your behalf. Yours sincerely, PayPal

Got it noom with home phone number,