M Landon

2/22/17 - Responded to a thread with an item for sale (link). User (grifter757 aka Stephen Sherrill) confirmed that they still had the item for sale. He asked if I could gift him the money through paypal. The price he wanted was $40, I sent him $50 for his troubles.

Once the transaction had taken place, I did not receive any communication or response from the seller regarding shipment up until 3/1/17. I received a message stating that the seller had to travel for work and that they would send once they arrived back home. 3/15/17 - Received a message from seller stating they were still in the process of sending said item and they were sorry for the delay. 3/30/17 - Still have not received any communication from seller regarding shipment.

I figured I'd share my experience with the forum so that other members can learn from my mistake, it's only $50 so it is what it is.

By definition, a grifter is a petty thief (should've done my research). If the situation is resolved I will update the thread.

CRASHz427

iTrader: (14)

If your willing to send someone 25% over their asking price for their "troubles" why wouldn't you send the extra 3% PP fees to cover your ***. I dont get why people continue to send as gift after reading all these stories.

M Landon

Honestly, getting scammed did not cross my mind, as we engaged about the product prior to the transaction the seller was very responsive and things seemed normal (of course). It says the guy is a 10-year member, itrader, etc.. figured he was legit.

This was the first time I had ever used the 'gift' feature for PayPal. I just assumed he wanted to be gifted for his own reasons. I'm just an honest person who thought we were engaging in an honest transaction (gifting should've been my first clue).

This was also my first time doing a transaction with a member on a forum, so I learned that lesson the hard way.

You are correct, I will not and do not advise gifting any money through PayPal (pretty much like a money order). However, I did not read any stories about all of the scammers on forums until after the fact, ha.

Gotta look at the glass half full, could've been worse.

88blackiroc

iTrader: (3)

ive had a issue with the same seller as well, however ended up cutting my losses after the time that had gone by. Purchased a forged 6.0 short block that had little/break-in miles on it. Picked up in person, ended up finding out the motor was never balanced only after going through a second engine builder (first one screwed me over, some luck huh?). Just think it's prettty shitty to do to someone.

Tuskyz28

And this is why I like to buy my stuff in person.....

88blackiroc

iTrader: (3)

I did, kinda hard to tell if something wasn't balanced merely by looking at it.

M Landon

Lol, yeah I generally like to get my hands on the item before I buy. However, living in Alaska it's a lot harder to find local parts and when you do they want an arm and a leg for them. I find a lot of good deals online, some of the best deals are on forums from people like us with spare parts laying around.

But, as you see above purchasing online can come with risk. I would just advise people who are going to engage in online transactions to always play it safe by either using PayPal (NO GIFTING) or another 'secured' avenue. Another member mentioned their American Express card automatically puts a 30-day hold on transactions incase of a mishap. I would assume maybe that's one of the reasons why some places don't accept American Express? Along with follow your gut feeling, if it doesn't seem right or in other words too good to be true, leave it.

214Chevelle

The irony of this all is the seller is a "10 Year Member" which would lead one to believe he'd be an honest guy after being on the board for such a long time. I guess this means anyone can be a thief, huh?

M Landon

Lol, I scratched my head wondering the same exact question... running 10 years strong, thats a good gig.

macknmikey

iTrader: (14)

I did the whole gift thing on one of my purchases off this forum, the deal worked out fine too. not standing up for this guy but with my job I can be forced to leave with three days notice, which most of the time ends up being a day.

I agree though don't use the gift function of paypal online, its not worth it. I don't know if you can use the pay after delivery function on paypal with purchases like this but at least if the item doesn't arrive you have 14 days before you're billed to figure it out.

M Landon

Yeah, the seller did mention he had to go on a work trip as one of the reasons for the delay earlier on, but also said they would be returning the following day to ship the item. That was about 30 days ago. I was thinking that might've been the case, and if it is/was you would think a simple "hey this is whats going on" would be sufficient. However at this point, we're 40+ days out with no communication =/

LLLosingit

iTrader: (4)

And you didn't leave him a negative feedback?

M Landon

Is there a specific place to give feedback? I just made a thread here and put him on the bad trader list. Im not aware of another place to provide feedback.

Wasn't really searching every nook and cranny to bash the guy, just wanted to let others know about my experience to help other people potentially avoid getting scammed.

if there is a specific feedback section other than here or the bad trader list that you think would be beneficial in preventing others from getting scammed let me know.

LLLosingit

iTrader: (4)

https://ls1tech.com/forums/itrader.php?u=69966

M Landon

Sweet, thanks.

M Landon

Update: 5/15/17 - Received full refund - seller states honest mistake - All is good.