Man sold goods on eBay, never delivered..

[SL-10]

Man sold goods on eBay, never delivered

Tue Aug 7, 6:30 PM ET

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - A 37-year-old man was found guilty Tuesday of collecting more than $90,000 in payments for Rolex watches and sports tickets through eBay but never delivering the merchandise to customers.

Gilbert Vartanian operated the scam from 2001 to 2004, using more than a dozen user-identification names.

A federal court jury convicted him of 12 counts of mail fraud. Vartanian faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. He was arrested earlier this year in Fremont.

Vartanian held online auctions for the watches, as well as for tickets to games with the New York Knicks, Philadelphia 76ers, Pittsburgh Steelers, New England Patriots, New York Giants, Green Bay Packers and New York Jets.

Buyers were told to send their money to Vartanian's mailboxes. He either did not respond or sent back empty envelopes or blank sheets of paper.

[litenflicka]

Shame on him, but didn't any of them look at this guy's feedback?

[Studintx]

maybe this will keep others from trying to use e-bay as a scamming site

[MsRandall]

It took them long enough 3 years...is unacceptable

[king_koopa]

Deserves death penalty.

[Jake]

Shame on him, but didn't any of them look at this guy's feedback?

The article said he used more than 12 user names.

[king_koopa]

I wouldn't trust a guy with 0 feedback if I was buying a Rolex imho. I wouldn't even buy a Rolex on eBay due to fakes.

[jwinslow]

Fool us once, shame on you. Fool us for 3 years, shame on us.

[Scoobmd]

$90k in 3 years is a pretty hefty scam.
I'm glad he got busted.

[Black Ice]

He was good!

[olddog]

String him up I say!!

[thesonofgray]

Look at the way he requested payment. The ones who got scammed are pretty dumb, IMO, if they actually mailed money to him.

Credit cards and Paypal are the only way to shop online.

[Joy]

well bravo to him (sarcasm...........)

hell i opened a new paypal acct the other day and wasnt even allowed to accept the legitimate $200 i was expectn without paypal trying to make me send verification of any and everythign stating that i am who i say i am...

[Wayne 1]

Shame on him, but didn't any of them look at this guy's feedback?

Yep! Tried and true, DO NOT do business with anyone on Ebay which hasn't been on there for at least several years. Plus ANY negative feedback is a red flag.:thought:

[The SPCS Guy]

Any negative feedback is not always a flag. You have very evil, mentally disturbed people out there, who, if they don't get their way, they will give you a negative remark.
Certain people who live in the suburbs and feel they are entitled to things do these types of things, when they don't get their way.

JE

[Wayne 1]

Any negative feedback is not always a flag. You have very evil, mentally disturbed people out there, who, if they don't get their way, they will give you a negative remark.
Certain people who live in the suburbs and feel they are entitled to things do these types of things, when they don't get their way.

JE


Point taken. One can always ask the ebayer why negative feedback, etc. was given. In effect get their side of the story. Also many people will reply to negative feedback posted on their account, which is their right. :)

[klmsu19]

true but that red flag is always there which sux.

Like one guy i sold a bluetooth USB dongle with an old 6700 to. I clearly said the dongle had no software with and i even told him to search for the broadcomm drivers or just google the dongle name and add drivers to the end. Well he leave me neg feedback saying "WARNING! Sold me hardware but no software. Now he tells me im annoying him!" Hmm i wonder why I would say he's annoying me when he emails 30 TIMES A DAY ( i crap you not) with questions (which i was nice enough to try n help him set it up) and i tell him im not tech support stop emailing me constantly. :hee::hee:

Another lady said "Where are my missing items. Cheats me takes my $ and ignores me. WARNING!!" Yes, when you FINALLY make contact 3 MONTHS later (feb 2 auction ended, May 2nd when feedback left) what do you expect me to do? I had a whole drawer of that crap i threw away (old stock headphones, old car chargers, etc that kinda junk). Im not gonna hold onto a headphones that came with a cell phone 3 months after the phone is gone, especially if you dont tell me theyre missing for 3 months THEN leave negative feedback im a thief!! :lol::lol:

another user left me negative because HE DIDNT PAY. gimme a break! i waited a week after auction ended, no resonse so i left a neg non-payment feedback. he THEN emailed and expected me to wait 3 MORE weeks because of a death in the family. i said im sorry i cant wait that long for payment im going to relist it (i had bought another phone already). So i get neg feedback that im not "sympathetic to tragedy" :haha::haha:

Like it was said theres just psycho people out there who think they deserve everything in the world no matter what you give them. Ive NEVER scammed anybody on here or ebay. There was ONE true complication that i got a neutral feedback which was extenuating because i could ship a phone out to a guy i sold it to because i got scammed for a treo i was buying to replace it and it was on my account active.

but yet now i have a 91.5% thanks to a small few crazy people

[Dan]

You can tell a pattern of feedback by certain members on ebay, which are legit and which are people just crying to try and get more from the seller. I think it's important to look past the numbers and see why neg feedback was given.

An example: Person lists a dummy phone on ebay, states that he is not sure but you may be able to use it for case parts to repair a real phone (some companies just use a real case and put in false "guts.") Buyer places neg feedback indicating that it was supposed to be a working phone, or that the case does not work as replacement parts. Buyer didn't bother to read the listing, yet leaves neg feedback.

[Wayne 1]

With Ebay they do have a deal in which both the parties can remove their feedback on a transaction. I've found that calling people helps the deal go better. I guess there's not much one can do about someone that never learned how to read!:ohcrap:

[d4v3m4n]

that a-hole....