SOSFakeFlash

Toward A Fake Flash Drive Free World – No More Counterfeits – No More Data Loss

Buying On eBay – MP Players – Memory Cards – USB Flash drives – Why You should Use A Credit Card To Pay And Not Your Bank Account

Posted by KittyFireFlash on January 21, 2009

The evidence gathered in the last eight months by the FrankenFlash Project and their groups indicates that buying MP Players, USB Flash Drives and Memory Cards is a very risky business. You will find more than enough documented evidence at sosfakeflash.wordpress.com.

So if you are going to bid and buy on eBay why use a credit card instead of bank account funding?

In studying victims of fake flash device acquisition on eBay and their struggles to get refunds SOSFakeFlash found that people who used credit cards to fund their purchases had better leverage and success in getting their money back. Too many people who used their bank accounts did not get refunds. PayPal put them through endless hell. Many victims never got a penny back. Others had to fight for up to three months and had a sea of emails. If you add up their hourly wage and compute to the time spent fighting with PayPal they definitely lost big time. The only thing they got? Personal satisfaction in not letting eBay or PayPal get away with it. The refund did not account for the hours and days and months of their personal time.

So who are the lucky ones? Who did not go through such terrible ordeals? People who chose to pay by credit cards. These victims had the opportunity to skip the agonies of PayPal claims and fights by going directly to the credit card company. The credit card company after hearing the story and the evidence did a reverse charge against PayPal. The victim was refunded. PayPal hated it. Hates it. It cascades. PayPal having been “dinged” naturally immediately “dinged” the fake flash seller. Obviously PayPal lost money. A nice nasty bite and frankly victims have only one thing they say or feel. Delight! Victims of fake flash who purchased using credit cards, feel for those who bought by funding from their bank accounts. Many were relieved that they could do what the others could not.

These days with all the silly redesign of eBay (read eat up your bandwidth and confuse you) and the additional hurdles introduced by PayPal to make it very difficult to actually use a credit card – it will be a challenge for you to insist on paying by using a credit card. Go through the extra clicks and steps. PROTECT YOURSELF! Do not expect PayPal to protect you. If you visit SOSFakeflash you will understand why. Your credit card company is more interested in you and your buying safety than PayPal ever will be.

If you want to bid and buy on a memory card, flash usb drive or an MP Player on eBay, do yourself a favor. Really protect yourself – use a CREDIT CARD TO PAY! Never fund an item like this using your bank account! You can increase your buying safety, but do not assume PayPal is the answer. Fake Flash victims will tell you – it is NOT!

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55 Responses to “Buying On eBay – MP Players – Memory Cards – USB Flash drives – Why You should Use A Credit Card To Pay And Not Your Bank Account”

  1. daniel said

    nice post but i still think
    that paypal is the best option to pay

  2. KittyFireFlash said

    Yes Daniel – using Paypal is good. Especially internationally.

    It is the funding method – whether PayPal takes the funds from your bank account or from your credit card to for the transaction.

    For most items taking the money from your bank account is better – people with think twice about buying something. Do I really need it or want it? More controlled spending less credit debt possibilities.

    However..

    The issue is, how to get your money back? Especially when you have been skunked by a fake flash seller. The various groups under the FrankenFlash Project have almost 9 months of experience assisting victims. Getting money back out of Paypal was next to impossible in the early days.

    Getting money back in mid summer required using a club on both eBay and Paypal and writing emails until the fingers were worn to stubs. Often it was a three month battle.

    Getting money back in the fall was still a challenge.

    Starting in January it appears to be less of an issue though some eBayers are still chosen for punishment – much depends on the country. Continental Europe is currently being punished – read eBayers made to jump through endless hoops.

    The fact that many victims are having less of a hard time happens to be the result of the FrankenFlash Project and what we are publishing at our sites. The yearend report just recently published at this site seems to have acted as a laxitive releasing the funds from PayPals tight grasp. But not all victims have it easy.

    Those who used a credit card did not have to walk through fire to get a refund. The credit card companies simply did a reverse charge against Paypal. Ouch! Said PayPal, and promptly yanked the funds from the fake flash seller.

    Having observed the difference – this is why we recommend that anyone who wants to buy any flash based technology on eBay (and is brave enough to try buying it there) use a credit card instead of their bank account funds. There are just too many fakes – so buyers need to protect themselves and have options to get their money back without writing emails that stack as high as K2, or have PayPal slam their cases shut for all sorts of silly reasons.

    For other kinds of items, direct funding is fine. For Flash items such as memory cards, usb flash drives, or MP Players it is not!

    BTW everyone, do not think that eBayers who have had their claims denied have forgotten or that it is the end of it. We didn’t design a database because we liked rows, columns and tables.

    It is also a reminder why it is so important to report in to us.

    And for the record, we don’t hate eBay or PayPal either. We do hate the behavior we have observed and what they have done to people. Many team members are old dinasaurs – they remember when eBay and Paypal were great. And they want things ship and shape up to what it was. You have no idea how sad it is for us to see people deregister and quit both in disgust. It’s not good for the future of either.

    So we stand by our advice Daniel.

    If you want to buy a memory card, usb flash drive or MP Player on eBay – use a credit card to fund!

  3. […] Why? Because if you are bitten with a fake flash purchase you don’t have to suffer their moaning and groaning and excuses. You can call your credit card company. PayPal hates this. Victims of fake flash love this. It seems the credit card companies are more interested in your business and welfare then they are. Read Buying On eBay – MP Players – Memory Cards – USB Flash drives – Why You should Use A Credit Card To … […]

  4. Randy said

    Another reason to use a Credit Card is that Paypal states that you have 45 days from the payment date to open a dispute. This is not the case when you use a Credit Card. Mastercard allows a 120 period for “not as described” or nonreceipt claims. You can still us paypal to pay the seller, but link the payment in Paypal to your credit card.

    Extract from PayPal User Agreement

    13.8 Relationship between PayPal’s protection programs and Chargebacks

    Credit card chargeback rights, if they apply, are broader than PayPal’s protection programs. Chargeback rights may be filed more than 45 days after the payment, may cover unsatisfactory items even if they do not qualify as SNAD, and may cover intangible items.

    You may pursue a Dispute/Claim with PayPal, or you may contact your credit card company and pursue your chargeback rights. You may not pursue both at the same time or seek a double recovery. If you have an open Dispute or Claim with PayPal, and also file a chargeback with your credit card company, PayPal will close your Dispute or Claim, and you will have to rely solely on your chargeback rights.

    If PayPal does not make a final decision on your Claim until after your credit card issuer’s deadline for filing a chargeback, and because of our delay you recover less than the full amount you would have been entitled to recover from the credit card issuer, we will reimburse you for the remainder of your loss (minus any amount you have already recovered from the seller).

    Before contacting your card issuer or filing a Dispute with PayPal, you should contact the seller to resolve your issue in accordance with the seller’s return policy as stated on their auction or website.

  5. […] if at all possible, use a credit to make the purchase. See this article on SOSFakeFlash: Buying On eBay – MP Players – Memory Cards – USB Flash drives – Why You should Use A Credit …. Fortunately I did, but I didn’t have to do a chargeback. Probably should’ve though. […]

  6. […] Buying On eBay – MP Players – Memory Cards – USB Flash drives – Why You should Use A Credit … […]

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