Wall of Shame

This a thread for calling out buyers, traders, or vendors that should be avoided because they may attempt to cheat you or steal from you.

My first, and hopefully only addition to the Wall of Shame is :

eBay id : lancaster_back
email :
real name (?) : Julio Vargas

I put a ? by "real name" because you can never be sure of someone's "real" identity on the internet.

If you have a chance to sell to or trade with, this person, please think twice. I, for one, would risk disqualification for an otherwise nonsensical cross-table oust if I ever came across him in a tournament.

This person ordered various VtES products from me (4 listings, two occasions). Upon receiving the products, he left positive eBay feedback, and seemingly all was well.

Afterwards, he contacted the credit card company used for payment, and arranged for a "chargeback" (see explanation below).

This buyer has swindled me for roughly $150 in this way, and has also hit multiple big eBay sellers in the exact same way.

On chargebacks, for the curious... This is usually used for when you are mistakenly or incorrectly billed for something, or if a vendor has ripped you off. But it's also the leading type of internet fraud, because the credit card companies will typically take the consumer's word for things and processes the chargeback without question, refunding the buyer and pulling the money back from the vendor. This leaves it to the vendor or an intermediary (PayPal for most eBay vendors) to dispute the claim. If the dispute is not successful, either the vendor or PayPal winds up eating the loss. In some, but not all, cases PayPal will eat the loss instead of the vendor, even when the credit card company dismisses the dispute. If the dispute is resolved in the vendor's favor, then it's the credit card company who eats the loss.

Anyway, the fees that PayPal charges (and that sellers pass along to you indirectly), and the fees that your credit card company charges, are partially to cover losses from scoundrels like Julio Vargas. So although he's ripping me off, in a way this behavior hits all of us, so I hope you'll treat him with the contempt and disdain he deserves.

If anyone in the Mexico crowd knows this individual,

Julio Vargas
Odesa 1218 int 104 col portales sur
México City, Mexico City 03300
Mexico

Already pulled all money from paypal so even if they take the charge back they can't take it from me but this guy needs what is coming to him.

Although I understand your anger about being robbed I don't feel comfortable about this kind of public accusations.

I believe you that you were betrayed by those guys. But I see the danger that people try to spread untrue slander about so. they dislike.

This is a difficult matter.

Since this is a public forum, such a person could also use it defend himself.

How would you suggest that important information about a buyer's or seller's trustworthiness in the secondary VTES market get reported to the community? Without trust between parties, the cost of transactions will go up. Do you think it's okay to report positive information about a buyer or seller on this forum? If so, why would it not be okay to leave negative information? As an online buyer and seller, I want to know if there are parties I should avoid, especially if the person's actions are egregious.

The feedback system on Ebay is not the answer, either. I recently wanted to leave neutral feedback about a buyer because he made a late payment. I had to report him to Ebay because he ignored my reminders to pay me within the timeframe specificed by the auction agreement. After he finally paid me, Ebay would only allow me the option to leave a positive comment. On the other hand, I recently received neutral feedback from a buyer because I made an error in an auction title, an error that any non-stupid person would have caught either by reading the auction description, looking at the auction picture, checking his delivery before ripping open sealed packs that could not then be returned, or realizing that there was no such product as the auction title described. I have to accept the rating because I did make a mistake; my point is that it is much harder to hold buyers accountable on Ebay than it is to do so for sellers.

No, I say hoist the scoundrels on the pillory of public opinion. I'm willing to listen to any defense. I know both Prunesquallor and Pagan, and I don't think they would put out negative comments about someone unless it was warranted.

I think that sharing the bad experience is certainly acceptable and is very valuable for the community.

I do think that Joscha has a point about possibly crossing the line when it comes to sharing personal information such as the supposed address.

I think Pagan could publicly mention that he has a Mexico City address and then privately e-mail/PM it to prunesquallor. However, I think that publicly posting the potential address (even if it's likely to be a bogus one) is going too far.

AaronC wrote:

No, I say hoist the scoundrels on the pillory of public opinion.