Is eBay’s “Money Back Guarantee” facilitating scams against seniors?
Scams against Seniors
Scams against seniors: eBay recently implemented its new money back guarantee, forcing sellers to be found guilty until proven innocent by, well eBay. Basically eBay will always rule for the buyer in ANY and ALL disputes. They own you. PayPal holds the sellers money hostage to be dispersed by eBay at eBays will. We’re not sure if eBay owns PayPal or the other way around. What we do know is that they are, for all practical purposes, one company. To sum it up, you sell your product on eBay, they pay you through your PayPal account, hold your money for up to 21 days, charge you immediately for freight, take out a 10% commission for their trouble, both at PayPal AND eBay, then to promote their business policies by returning the money from your PayPal account to the buyer. They appear to do this without hesitation, ignoring like Obama and Co., the due process guaranteed by the 5th and 14th amendments and upheld to be applicable to civil matters by the numerous Federal Laws and Cases.
Investigation Update
After a full and impartial investigation, we have come to the conclusion that eBay is perpetrating a fraud on it’s members. There isn’t, and never has been, any form of due process between buyers and sellers at eBay when a dispute cannot be settled between the parties. eBay will always allow buyers to return products, even when they have been fully and deliberately destroyed. eBay will illegally remove the funds from the sellers PayPal bank account and assess additional freight and return charges to the seller. Further eBay’s applications were deliberately written to give its users the impression that they are investigating disputes when it is nothing more than timing delays and pre-written messages. We believe this intended deception to its users is a criminal fraud. eBay is required by law, to uphold the 5th and 14th Amendment provisions of the U.S. Constitution on any such dispute. eBay tries to intimidate users pointing to their contract provisions. Don’t be intimidated, their contract is moot as it does not, and cannot trump Federal and State laws. The actions by eBay and Paypal appear to be a conspiracy, and one so egregious that they may meet the standard of a criminal conspiracy, and therefore, meet the bar for Federal R.I.C.O. (Racketeering Influenced Corrupt Organizations) charges. See our full investigation into this eBay fraud. Note that these conclusions are solely the opinion of the U.S. Watchdogs Network. eBay, PayPal and others may have other opinions concerning this matter. We have asked eBay for their side of the story, but they have thus far ignored our requests.
If this sounds all too familiar, the almost exact story was taught to us in history class, when they still taught history, that is. It was The Sherman Antitrust Act approved July 2, 1890. The Sherman Anti-Trust Act was the first Federal act that outlawed monopolistic business practices and the most famous use of the act was brought against Standard Oil (John D. Rockefeller). But I digress.
Now, we know most of you are thinking either that the seller is running a scam, or that they can afford to take back questionable items. In other words, that the sellers are “big businesses”. Here are the true facts, hidden as well as eBay and PayPal hide their contact information (note below, our having to fax to 5 eBay fax numbers we found from outside sources). The hidden (but we believe well known to PayPal and eBay) side effect of this new policy is that it has created a whole new scammers market meeting the bar for scams against seniors where businesses, posing as individual buyers, specifically target individuals selling off a few personal items. This is particularly troubling because the trend appears to be scams against seniors trying to supplement their retirement. While we’re just beginning our investigation, we believe that the following is not an isolated case, but rather, a rapidly growing cancer festering on eBay. We just received a complaint against an eBay buyer, William T. Ward, Jr. of Huntsville, Alabama, known as Bill256 on eBay, who ordered a monitor from a senior citizen, a monitor of the exact type he currently admits to owning. He bought the monitor for $75, had it shipped priority mail for $57.10 and then claimed that the monitor had pixel problems so he wanted to return the monitor. He was very clear that he was going to contact eBay and demand that the senior citizen seller would have to pay the return freight (another $57.10?). It just so happens that the senior citizen he allegedly tried to scam is a member of the U.S. Freedom Network and was not going to be intimidated by Mr. Ward’s continual reference to his 15 years in the IT business. What Mr. Ward didn’t know was that he was targeting a Senior Computer Scientist with almost 40 years in his field. One so skilled that he held that position at a Los Alamos Think Tank. Our money for both knowledge and credibility are with our Senior Citizen, how about yours?
Now we believe, apparently unlike eBay, that there are always two sides to every story. Even when the scam is a scam against seniors. The following is a copy of the certified document we sent eBay which contains a copy of the questions sent to William T. Ward, Jr., aka Bill256 of Huntsville Alabama. We will be posting his and eBay’s answers, if they have any, in our next installment of this series. We want you to form your own conclusions in this matter. You see, it’s not those greedy big businesses that are affected by the new eBay policy, it’s your grandma and grandpa and your neighbors and friends who use eBay as a modern day garage sale, who are now being targeted by this new eBay-created scamming industry, now festering on eBay.
Scams against seniors appears to be a rapidly growing cancer in our society. The one thing we certainly can’t allow is that a global company like eBay and PayPal, even unknowingly, facilitate the rapid growth of a new industry we have tagged as “Scams Against Seniors”.
Here are our letters to eBay and William T. Ward, Jr. of Huntsville Alabama, aka Bill256 at eBay.
eBay Inc.
2065 Hamilton Ave
San Jose, CA 95125
Phone: (408) 376-7400
Fax: (408) 516-8811Re: eBay’s new return policy promoting predatory practices by eBay buyers: targeting senior citizens
Sent via fax: 866-316-7698, 408-516-8811, 408-376-7401, 408-376-7517, 408- 376-7514
Sent via email: [email protected]
Certified mail: #7014-2870-0002-1624-8477
Complaint filed with U.S. Freedom Network Against:
William T. Ward Jr.
eBay Customer Id: bill256
ebay return ID: 5006257889
eBay item number: 251795486619
eBay buyer ID: bill256
A copy of this document is also be sent to you by certified mail. We faxed you a copy as a courtesy to give you an opportunity to respond before the story goes to press. This appears to be a far greater problem than the complaint filed against one of your members, and goes directly to your new return policy.
The US Freedom Network has received a complaint of predatory practices by an eBay member, William T. Ward Jr. This eBay member professes to be an individual while, in fact, he is a business, as evidenced by his listing in the Yellow Pages: http://www.yellowpages.com/huntsville-al/mip/william-t-ward-jr-24968229?lid=24968229
William T. Ward Jr. is attempting to scam prospective sellers. He is using your new return policy as a weapon to take advantage of sellers, apparently targeting senior citizens.
We have just sent the following correspondence to William T. Ward Jr. We would like to know what you are doing to protect against such predatory practices. You can reach us with your response at: [email protected]. This story concerns what we believe are the unintended side-effects of your new buyer’s return policy. While we believe this policy is well-intended, it is having the effect of facilitating and targeting independent sellers, individuals not businesses, to the actions of predatory buyers. This is disproportionately focused on senior citizens.
We will be publishing a series on this across the over forty blogs on the US Freedom Network and the many senior sites to which we and our members are associated, to protect and alert senior citizens and others of the dangers of selling on eBay with your new return policy. Obviously, your actions to protect sellers will be of paramount interest to our members and readers. We anxiously await your response. Please note that the first in this series will be published in approximately 72 hours.
Sincerely,
Reporter1
==================================================================
Correspondence sent to William T. Ward Jr.
==================================================================William T. Ward Jr.
2508 Reabok Cir SW
Huntsville, AL 35803-2570March 4, 2014
RE: Complaint filed with U.S. Freedom Network
Mr. Ward:
We are an organization comprised of primarily older citizens who were and are experts in their fields. While we generally target corrupt government officials and corporate executives, we also are strong advocates for senior citizens. We have received a complaint from one of our members that you are running a scam on eBay, and that this scam is targeted against seniors.
While the pictures and correspondence in this matter that concerns you, seems very clear, we wanted to give you a chance to tell your side of the story before we publish the story across over 40 blogs. And before you decide to ignore our requests, we strongly suggest you google Judge Christopher Muse.
If you don’t provide DOCUMENTED answers to the following questions, we will print the story stating that you were given an opportunity to answer the charges against you but decided instead to ignore them.
1) There is independent testimony from a party who wanted to purchase the monitor, that it was perfect, with the sole exception of a few very small white chips on the base of the stand. Do you deny this testimony? If yes, do you have any evidence to deny this claim?
2) Your pictures and statements clearly state that there was no damage to the box the monitor was shipped in, nor any physical damage to the monitor itself. Is this true?
3) You stated in your email through eBay, that you had the same monitor, and that is why you purchased the monitor. Is that correct?
4) We reviewed the pictures of the monitor when it was returned. There is clear evidence that the monitor’s case was opened. The other corner of the monitor was severely damaged, and a piece of the corner physically missing. The testimony and pictures clearly show that the missing piece was not in the box. This indicates to us that the monitor was damaged before you packaged it for return. Is this true?
5) In reliance on the above, specifically, you admitted that there was no damage to the monitor when you received it, and in fact sent pictures that proved it, yet the monitor was severely damaged when it was returned. Most damaging to you is that the damaged piece was not in the sealed box, indicating you dropped it or deliberatively damaged the monitor prior to shipping it back to the seller. How do you respond?
6) The facts of this matter are, a) it has been independently verified that he monitor was near perfect when shipped to you, b) you admitted, and your photos clearly show, that there was no physical damage to the monitor when you received it, c) you claimed the monitor had pixel problems when you received it, but this has been repudiated, d) you admit to having an identical monitor, e) it is undeniable by the missing corner of the monitor that the monitor was damaged while in your custody and control, and prior to your returning it. How do you respond?
7) It appears that all of your communication on this matter thus far was to bolster your position in reliance on eBay’s return policy. Is this correct?
8) You claim that it was the seller who would have benefited by his offer to give you a free monitor, with you only paying the out-of-pocket freight, even though he suspected you of causing the damage to the monitor. We’re confused, would you explain how the seller benefited from this?
The complainant has made a very strong case that you ordered his monitor to get parts for your existing monitor. That you swapped the parts then refused his offer to keep the monitor for free with you only paying for the actual freight costs. You stated that the seller, as you asked eBay, in addition to paying for and losing the monitor, would also have to pay for the freight to return the monitor.
Your sole claim in this matter is that the seller was taking advantage of you by selling you a bad monitor, yet there is not a scrap of real evidence that that statement is true. In fact the exact opposite appears true in light of the correspondence, photos and independent testimony. Additionally the seller is not a business, but a retired person selling personal items. All of his previous transactions in selling these personal items have met with positive reviews for the whole process. Why in the world would he single you out for a bad transaction?
You have until 8:00 PM EST to show hard evidence and make a statement in your defense. At that time we will be publishing this story with the facts in hand across the 40 usfreedomnetwork blogs, the many senior citizen websites across the country with which we and our members are associated, the Better Business Bureau and Alabama Attorney General, to ensure that every senior we can enlighten, will be forewarned about your deceptive and misleading practices, hopefully protecting as many Seniors and others from what certainly appears to us to be a predator who preys on seniors. We will also be contacting eBay, Amazon, Craigslist and any other place we find you doing business, including filing a copy of our story with the Huntsville Chamber of Commerce and the Huntsville Times. We take crimes against seniors very seriously.
Of course, if you can prove the allegations are false, we would not have a story. The ball is in your court Mr. Ward.
A copy of this request Is being sent to ebay.
I just received notice from our members that there is no question you are a business in Huntsville which may bring your actions to now be criminal in nature. How do you respond?
CC:–
ebay
This is the first part of a multi-part series about scams against seniors and how senior citizens can avoid these scams. While we believe that eBay was not aware of how their new policy gave birth to these new scams against seniors. Now that they have been notified, we eagerly await their announcement of policy that will stop these scams against seniors.
Related Stories
- Is eBay’s “Money Back Guarantee” facilitating scams against seniors?
- The eBay Equalizer: Tell eBay “never again”
- Is Huntsville’s William T. Ward, Jr a victim of eBay Eat It?
- Huntsville’s William T. Ward, Jr. Accused of Being eBay Predator
- U.S. Freedom Network Online Security Guide
- Is eBay’s Seller Protection Scam the Brainchild of Pierre Omidyar (پیر مراد امیدیار)?
- eBay Seller Protection at KloudKover.org
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