Beware of buying from international sellers on Ebay! On 4/16/02, I missed an auction I had been watching on Ebay. The item I was watching did not sell so I contacted the member and inquired if they would be relisting this item. On 4/18/02, I received a response back from Carmen Weigt (miss_erzgebirge) stating that they were not relisting at this time but that I could buy the item directly. I was sent photos and a price list if I was interested in buying these items. Being a fairly new Ebay memember I did not realize that this was not a good idea.
After viewing the pictures and prices, and contacting one of her previous buyers who had posted a positive feedback, I contacted Carmen and told her which items I wanted and she sent a payment request through PayPal, which I paid on 4/21/02, for 358.00.322.00 for the items and 36.00 for shipping via air mail with insurance. This seller was listed as a international verified member on PayPal, which I have learned means nothing.
Once payment was received by Carmen, I never heard from her again. I sent 10 different emails with no response. After contacting several of her other buyers on Ebay, I found that they were having the same problem. This woman has ripped off quite a few people! There is now quite a bit of negative feedback on her Ebay account, which she has since removed all of her items. I have been told that she just closes her accounts and will just open another one under a different name once she receives too many negative feedbacks and that multiple complaints have been made to Ebay against her but they just continue to give her new accounts!
I still have not received my items or any response from Carmen. PayPal won't help since the complaint was filed 31 days after payment was sent, Ebay won't help since purchase was made after auction ended, post office can't track insured mail on this end from another country and since I can't get a response from Carmen, I really don't believe they were ever mailed anyway.
I've learned an expensive lesson and I hope this will help someone else from being ripped off by this woman.
Cheryl
Powhatan, Virginia
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