In early November, I answered an ad on Craigslist.org seeking auction sellers, as a secondary supplement to my income. The ad was identical to this one:
Send your resume to:
Auction Sellers
16161 Ventura Blvd Suite 854
Encino, California 91436
usa
Phone: 866 829 1015
Email: [email protected]
Job Title: Auction Assistants wanted Full or Part Time
Location: Across the USA, Nationwide
Compensation: Neg. Salery or Comission
Job Description: Auction Assistants part or full time looking to earn an extra income or larger full time income. No phone or in person sales only online listing work. No fees to work for us what so ever. This is real Job! Please send your email or phone nummber for full details. Our products Sell very fast and well online.
Requirements: must have computer and good feed back from Auction Sites selling or buying.
Date Entered: October 15
Which I found earlier today while doing a search using the telephone number to see if similar ads were still running.
At the time, I did not know it was against Ebay's policies to list auctions for other people, and I was told by the man who contacted me in response to my inquiry regarding the job listing that it was perfectly legal, and that Ebay welcomed this type of practice, and that he and his company had been doing it for years, without incident. I know I should have checked into it, but I honestly didn't think it would be anything to worry about, and everything seemed to be legitimate.
The man I'm referring to above is Bill Berlin, who works for the company, Auction Sellers, at the address and phone number listed above. This number is also their fax number, and his email address is [email protected].
I started listing auctions for him that week, (I can provide a list of the auctions I listed for him if necessary,) and he had me sign up for an account with Checkfree (checkfreeweb.com) so that, once a buyer won and paid for one of his auctions, I would withdraw the money through Paypal and put it into my bank account, create an invoice with all of the buyer's payment and shipping information, deduct any of my Ebay listing and relisting fees from his auctions, deduct my portion of pay from the sale, (usually around $8 per item,) and then once the money deposited into my account, I would send Bill Berlin at Auction Sellers the payment (minus fee and my pay deductions) through Checkfree. Once Bill Berlin would receive the invoice featuring all of this information, including a Checkfree payment confirmation number, he would send the item out immediately to the shipping address I provided on the invoice. This was his promise, as he was running a business.
This worked well, and he was holding up his end of the deal, while I held up my end, until suddenly, the complaints and emails from buyers started coming in, saying they had never received their items! For a few of them, Bill Berlin was able to provide tracking information and proof of shipment, and most of these early complaints were resolved. Until all of the sudden, Bill Berlin stopped responding to my emails, calls, and faxes regarding several buyers' complaints, which is where I stand right now.
Because of the agreement between Mr. Bill Berlin of Auction Sellers, and myself, as an independent contractor selling his items for him on Ebay (as proven in the ad shown above, and of which I can provide more proof in the form of emails from him,) he was responsible for making sure the buyers received their merchandise. As long as he got paid by me, he was required to ship out the item that was being paid for. And unfortunately, the majority of the items I sold for him and sent him money for, were never sent out. These are fraudulent charges to my account, because the payments were sent with the understanding that the merchandise would be shipped, and they never were.
Two of these complaints, I refunded out of my own money, because I still had faith that Bill Berlin of Auction Sellers was going to come through and then refund me the money I used to refund the two buyers who had never received his items. To date, I have not received reimbursement for these two refunds, and I have nine other refunds I need to complete on my account totaling over $2000.00 as of today, and I cannot afford to refund the buyers their money, because I do not actually have their money.
Now, I do understand that it is not the fault of Paypal, Ebay, or the buyers, and that I am liable for the refunds, and responsible for these transactions getting resolved. I've already notified Paypal, Ebay, Checkfree, Square Trade, my bank, my lawyers, and the proper authorities of his actions.
What's worse, is through more research, I have found that Mr. Bill Berlin also goes by Will Berlin and Will Morton, and has run several fraudulent businesses ripping people off over the years. These businesses include Royal Co., Royalworlds (a Madame Cleo phone psychic scam,) Berlin Investment (an investment scam,) Paint Save (www.paintsave.com - an internet scam,) and several others. Also, he has several other people selling his auctions for him still on ebay. I can provide their seller ids if requested.
To date, Mr. Berlin has been replying to my customers' emails (because I gave them his contact information) and telling them that he never received my money and that it's my problem, not his.
I just think this is a sick individual who must be stopped. He has ripped off more people than I even know about yet, including a woman whose report I found on this website, and he shouldn't be able to get away with this.
Casey - if you read this, please contact me thru consumer complaints!
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