Chances are, he's not even actually in the US.

I would never sell a game and accept PayPal or any other form of credit. Too much risk. Vid has a great guide out there for how to safely do business as a seller, everyone should review it.

Sorry to hear you can't get it back. If I'm in your shoes I would be happy you had enough of a good instinct to pull back when you did otherwise you would be out 14k!

You work hard for your money and have it stolen by a pos parasite.Is there any way to track him down.I would donate to a tracking fund.

Count me in for 50 to track this SOB.

Damn shame it happens at all and even worse we couldn't set the B@st@rd up and have his ass arrested before he got thrown off the forum.

I have successfully gotten money back from PP friends and family for something like this. I used a credit card and my CC company (chase) was able to chargeback and refund the money. That said, having learned from that incident, now if it's someone I don't trust or know, I don't use FF, I use goods and services and just add 3% to cover the fee.

there is no way to track these kinds of scammers. they're invisible and move from place to place. Countless federal tax dollars are dedicated to fund the FBI's fraud division, and even they'll tell you, they rarely pin down the people they're looking for.

paypal, never charged a % before. They used to be always free. Until they merged with Ebay. when I signed up. paypal paid you to sign up with them. and every transaction was free. that's what I signed up for. If people don't want to send me money as a gift. Then they can send me check/m.o.'s. I give them other options if they don't like going that method.

Poooor Paypal.

Got a link? I am not seeing it.

Figure it out. You have no issue finding and trolling my posts.

Such a class act.

I was a longtime lurker before I began posting, I spent a lot of time educating myself in all aspects of the pinball life. One of first lessons I learned and which has stuck with me since was from Vid's guide. For the best protection as a buyer and seller, an online escrow service is the best. One company he mentioned was escrow.com. Makes sense. Basically, no money changes hands until all parties are satisfied.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/how-to-not-get-ripped-off-in-pinball-vids-guide

Yeah my heart bleeds for them.

They do provide an infrastructure for transfers of money and have employees they need to pay.

I'll start one. All you guys need to do is send me the money via Paypal Friends and Family.

It's not. You as the buyer pay the fee rather than the seller paying the fee.

Because I'm leery of F&F, I usually will calculate the cost to send the money the "regular" way and add enough in to compensate the buyer so they don't get less than they were expecting.

That is always a possibility. I would recommend having the buyer sign a bill of sale and you each get a copy. If the buyer issues a chargeback, you have clear evidence that they did so fraudulently.

A credit card chargeback is not an open and shut case immediately. The credit card company will do an investigation (maybe almost no investigation, maybe very involved depending on the situation). Ultimately, if you issue a chargeback for goods not delivered to you as a buyer, then the scammer would have no way to prove that he gave you anything. If a buyer fraudulently issues a chargeback against you for goods you delivered, then a bill of sale that they signed would combat this.

well then, how did they function for years when they didn't charge anything?

I'm sure it was a type of loss leader to gain market share. Like how hulu was completely free 10 years ago and they changed over to a subscription based system later. Neither was intended to be free forever, they were playing the long game and bleeding money the whole time.

That is awesome in so many ways!

Not sure if this was mentioned earlier. But I always get at least 3 references from a buyer before sending them money. Or use escrow.com

Give us a name! This douche needs found. You've got pinhead brothers all over the world that can assist before he screws someone else over.

You're paying for the protection, not the transaction fee. Costs Paypal practically nothing to draft it from a checking account.

They won't get rid of it because it would limit use of their service. Who's paying 3% to send fantasy football fees to their buddy? They offer that for free and then know you'll use them when you buy something on Ebay or an online store.

It is not ripping them off, it’s a different product that comes with a different service. The commission option comes with an insurance, up to the buyer to decide if he should pay for it or not, and it looks like he should have this time.

He contacted me to purchase my Alien but was banned the next day lol. Sounds like he was gonna scam this guy for 14k then use it to buy my pin, that would have been very very bad.....

Any transactions from Miami should be considered a red flag. Not saying everyone’s a crook, but....

OP, the next time you decide to spend $16,000 on a game, offer a $100 to have a local go inspect it for you. Just sayin'.

This is simply not true. There are at least 4 that came to Florida.

"avoid FOHUNTER" isn't useful anymore. If we all promise to simply ignore and not harass, can you share something relevant (i.e. paypal, email, name, city)?

This is the kind of person that will be back... and on pinball classifieds, etc.

we need a name and a picture.

I hate to throw the wrench in here but if you simply go into the games for sale and find the archived market ad, you can find his post history.
I looked through every post he’s made on Pinside.

He posted maybe 5 times. Amazing community posts such as

And finally his only decent post:

Do some research on new people. Look into their history. If they seem sketchy, avoid them. If you absolutely must be a glutton for punishment, then spend an hour cyberstalking.

Naming some titles should NOT be the only criteria for being in the community. At least look for some social interaction.

That's because they used Zero seller protections. I own a salvage yard, I deal in used auto parts from 20 dollars to 10,000 dollars. If you do not follow the guidelines Ebay/Paypal or your CC processor sets for chargeback protection. You will absolutely lose a charge back.

Cash on the glass is great... Are you using a counterfeit marking pen on each 100 dollar bill?

The pen is not reliable. There’s counterfeit bills which will mark gold with the pen and in 5-10 minutes, turn black. Also, the pen doesn’t work for washed/reprinted bills. Watermark is the only way to go. I did a large cash deal years ago, and to verify every bill, I used a Mars 2800 DBA in my DBA test setup-I ran every bill through. The folks that have the notes which fool DBAs aren’t coming around buying pinballs and old arcade games...

You need to pee on his rug dude.

YES, 100% Please, out this S.O.B.!!!

Yeah, I don't get why the OP hasn't. If this is really a criminal act then there is no shame in sharing his name, in fact, it's your duty.

Perhaps we should all privately PM him and he might give the info out.

2020: People still sending large sums of money friends and family

Paypal is coming for you. They are awful

It’s a fake name. That’s the name of Lady Chatterly’s lovers penis. Probably a burner phone as well.

It will be interesting to hear PayPal’s threats/sob story about why you owe them $2k. Please keep us posted.

It actually isn’t. PayPal provide a separate option for paying for an item or service (which is what the buyer in this scenario is doing).

I don’t care one way or the other how others use the service. I do however read the terms and conditions of services I sign up for so I know what I’m agreeing to. Do you?

Yea and watch out for them aholes from Clearwater too. Heard they all have Covid amiright?