Some of you may have read a post I made about a person doing a Visa Code 53 (Not As Described Merchandise) against one of my sales a few months ago. This person made an incredibly weak attempt to return a “defective” item by suggesting that I send a replacement to her in Russia before she sent the original back. Based on my refusal, she was able to succesfully get her CC to give her a code 53 chargeback outside of PayPal. My funds were stripped instantly, and she thought it was over with. She threatened harassment charges (she is back in the U.S. now) if I attempted to contact her any further regarding the matter.
For those of you who don’t know, this type of chargeback is not covered under Paypal/eBay seller protection. There was never a case opened, just the reversal. PayPal will go to bat for you with the CC company, but there is no guarantee (several reps told me I had little hope) of getting your money back, and the buyer is “supposed to” return your merchandise, but the general perception is that this is not heavily enforced.
There is little information on these types of situations around the internet, and the information that I found almost always ended with the seller losing the money and the item.
Well, I actually won the case, the entire $800 is back in my PayPal account as of this morning. A knowledgable PayPal rep told me that the only time he ever sees a victory in this scenario is when the seller documents anything and everything. I submitted all of our emails, tracking, the signature upon delivery, her positive feedback left, even some iOS text message screenshots. I literally had a page full of stuff for them to send to the CC and it really paid off.
The point of this post is this… if this ever happens to you – YOU CAN WIN! Don’t just lay down and give up, get any info you can from the buyer and forward it on to the CC company, there is hope for sellers in these situations, especially if you can provide lots of info.
Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/Ebay/comments/1eumis/update_not_as_described_chargeback_done_via_cc/
Has anyone complained about whether or not paypal is actually disputing chargebacks on our behalf or if they are just taking a fee from us? I wrote Am Ex after losing a chargeback dispute. Their response was unclear if my case was actually disputed, citing they did not have a merchant agreement with PayPal. I only found out the cc company because the buyer said she was going to file a chargeback with AmEx (since she was unable to file one through eBay since she damaged my item and returned it in a different condition) Of course, I lost the dispute through pay pal.
Source: http://www.paypalwarning.com/paypal-fight-chargebacks-fooled/
My buddy isn't the smartest man. He picked a chick up and drove to a motel. They were walking into the room and she says, "oh sh*t, I forgot my purse in the car do you mind if I go grab it?" He says, "yeah that's fine," and tosses her the keys. 5 minutes later he walks outside wondering where she is and his car is gone.
From Redditor /u/pointynipples69:
I got two stories: quick one is a guy who would come in all the time to ask about/buy obscure Vita dating sims and asking inappropriate questions like if the next dragon age (at this time would’ve been inquisition) was going to “finally” have sex scenes in it.
Next one is New Year’s Day, miserable I’m working already, it’s super early and first customer of the day, of the whole year, is this like 7 foot tall guy who comes in asking for AV cables for a PS4 cause the one he just bought didn’t have one. We immediately tell him the PS4 only uses HDMI and so it wouldn’t have AV cables, even confirming with him “you mean those red, yellow and white cables?” He start getting mad and asks again for the cables which we again tell him don’t exist. Maybe there’s an adapter or something but I’ve never seen one and we don’t have them here regardless, maybe check Best Buy. Guy immediately starts screaming “You racist motherfuckers get me this cable! I’m homeless, I just bought this thing for my grandkids! You’re all racist white devil fuckers!” Thankfully I froze in fear and confusion and my boss took over and just scooted the guy out the door. Hell of a way to start the year.
Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/bicr5z/gamestop_employees_of_reddit_what_are_some_of/em05vdb/
The Dark Web This story starts in 2009, what im telling you today, has taken years for me to get over, and i still struggling with the events that transpired, I have nightmares, I can't look at people the same way, what I saw has made me lose all faith in humanity, I can't unsee or undo what happened. Have you ever seen something so unsettling, so unbelievable that you didn't know if it was real or simply a dream, some twisted imagination you didn't know you have.
The dark web, im sure many of you have heard of it, it goes by a few names, most know it as the deep web. It was early 2009, around march time, I had just got a new pc, and well I had heard a lot about the deep web, all the stories of snuff films, and weapons, drugs and all the other stuff that you could find there, you guys know what im talking about here, so I made the dumbest mistake of my life, even after all the warnings from others that had gone and used the deep web, I didn't listen, I was curious, and that was my downfall. I used my old pc to go on the dark web, I thought why not, it's disposable, I won't be using it anymore anyway so I thought I was being smart, it made no difference, I downloaded TOR, and got to the hidden wiki, I spent all day just going through it, and found guns for sale, drugs like meth, cocaine, and some other drugs I forgot the name of because I had never heard of them before.
The next day I was feeling confident, so I decided to go back on the dark web again, this time I wanted to go further, I went to the uncensored version, this was my first mistake in a streak of many to come, so I clicked on the links there, many of them leading to dead sites, but some lead to some intresting stuff, such as conspiracy theories, some snuff films of people getting beheaded, and other things that I won't bring up, this isn't about snuff films anyway. I should have turned away, but I was curious, my urge to see it all kept tugging on my strings, on my mind, I had tried to leave it, and I did, for a week, but at school all I could do is think what else was on the dark web, I was seventeen at the time, so the weekend came, and I couldn't hold back anymore, and I went back to the deep web.
I had told some friends at school that I was on it, told them what I saw, they said I shouldn't go back on it, that I should just throw away my old pc, I of course didn't listen, I was arrogant, and thriving to see more. It was saturday, when I went back to the dark web, I clicked and clicked, and eventually, I made it to a chat room, there was maybe fifteen-twenty people in it, I knew better then to type, but it didn't matter, im sure they all knew, everything about me the moment I got into the chat room, I simply watched, they were all riled up, waiting for something to start, I didn't know what, so I stayed, wanting to know what it was they were all waiting for so impatiently, this was another mistake of mine, I should have left, turned off my pc, and just thrown it away. I didn't... it took about three minutes since I entered the chat room for it to start, the video popped up, I knew it was a livestream, there was people in a dark room, the room had one small window near the ceiling, I figured it was a basement.
The room had three people chained up against a wall, legs and arms bound by chain, they all made X's, and another three people in chairs in front of the people on the wall. They just sat there with blindfolds on, it looked like they had been crying and screaming for hours, and now had ran out of all energy they could muster, two figures came into the view, they were tall, both above six feet, there build was average, both figures had mask on, the mask was blank, a deathly white with a corrupting grin on the mask, there was no slit for the eyes, im guessing you could see out the mask but not in, since I couldn't make out any features. They both waved at the camera, and then said 'it's time to start the fun'.
They took the blindfolds of the people sitting down, two of them were girls, they both looked so young, mid twenties, and in between them was a boy, I won't say man because he looked very young, he looked my age, seventeen or eighteen. The two men, look at each other and nodded, than one of them began to explain what would happen, his voice made deeper by some device im sure, he said that the three of them would be killed, that there was no avoiding what would happen to them. My heart exploded in my chest, I began panting, realising that I had found what I had secretly been looking for this whole time, that somehow a sick twisted part of me wanted to find something like this, I won't tell you how I tried to turn my pc off, that they told me not to or something along those lines, because that simply wouldn't be true, I didn't try to turn it off, I knew it was messed up, I was sweating, I knew it was awful, but I had to see it, I needed to know what happens.
The man stopped talking, and the other one now began to explain that two of them would suffer, and the other one would have a quick death, and that it was up to them who got the gift of having a quick end. I didn't stop watching, all the while my mind going frantic, the two men were toying with them, they both had no consideration for human life, or just life in general, how did people like this come to be I asked myself, did something happen to make them this way, were they born like this ? I couldn't understand why someone would do this. The man said 'we will untie one of your arms, and you will then try to gouge out the eye of one of the other people sitting with you, the person to gouge out an eye will get a painless death, the other two will not be so lucky'.
After hearing this, my eyes started to burn, and I was crying, they wanted them to do what ? I asked myself, unable to believe what I had just heard, the people that were in those seat started to cry again, and beg, beg to not have to do something like that, the two figures simple looked at each other, and began to untie one arm from each person, and then they sat a timer on a small table they brought in, they set it to five minutes, and said 'if no one is missing an eye in the next five minutes, you will all beg you had done it, and you'll be responsible for the death and torture of the three behind you'.
I had forgot about them, that there was three more people in the room, they began to beg them to do it, saying that this wasn't the first time, that they needed to do as they said. The three in the chair started to panic, but then as the timer began and the two figures left the room, a minute had passed, and they attempted to get their other hand free, but it was no use, the only way to get their hand free was to cut what bound their hands in place. Another minute had passed, only three left, and one of the girls, showed the dark nature of humans first, she suggested her and the other girl team up, and both gauge and eye from the boy in the middle, and that maybe they could both be granted a quick death, the boy panicked, as anyone else would at the idea of people ripping your eyes from your sockets.
The girl refused, so the other one tried to gauge the boys out on her own, it was of no use, he just grabbed her arm, he was muscular, he must have played some sport, and now his life was gonna end, now only a minute was left. As the boy held the arm of the girl on the right, the girl on the left out of panic for the timer, ripped out the boy's eye, he could do nothing, since his right arm was free and not his left, he screamed in pain, blood leaking every where, pooling around him, he screamed and screamed, it was the most vile thing I had seen, the girl just held the eye and looked at it, the boy had let go of the other girl's arm, and now was covering the hole where his eye had once been, and just as he had let go, there was about 20 sec left on the timer.
The girl on the right didn't want to suffer, she didn't want to get tortured, so while the boy was screaming in pain, over his left eye, she took the chance and gauged his right eye, he screamed, the image of a boy, with just black holes where his eyes once were, with blood running down his face, making it look like his tears were blood, he had been the one to draw the short straw, being sat in the middle almost meant he was gonna be the one to lose this twisted game, they knew this, that's why they had sat the boy in the middle, I couldn't handle what I was seeing, and I began to cry uncontrollably, I had my knees in my arms, and I just sat there crying.
The timer went off, and both girls looked at the door as it opened and the two figures stepped back into the room, they both looked at the boy that was still bleeding from where his eyes belonged, and one of the men, simply took a knife, went up to the boy and slit his throat. His head just sagged, as if he was asleep, but blood was everywhere, it got on the figures white mask, and it was the most awful sight, with that grin of a demon on it. The girls began to argue, saying they had got the eye of the boy, asking why he had got a easy death. The two figures both went up to the girls took the eyes they both held and placed them next to the timer, then tied their hands down again. Then one of them began to explain how they didn't follow the rules laid out to them, and that only one eye was meant to be gouged out, and that for doing what they did, the boy was to get that easy death, and both girls would suffer.
They started to cry, and the girl on the left began to beg, exclaiming that she had got the eye first, and that girl on the right had, before she could finish, both girls got gagged by the men. The men laid out some tools on the table, and then it began, the second part of their twisted game, I had forgot all about the chat room that was still open, the people were cheering it on, saying the boy should have suffered as well, that he didn't deserve a quick death, that the figures had given him, but this was a show that the viewers didn't have a say in, so they had to accept what the figures did, the people doing it and the people in the chat room were all broken humans, with no emotions, how can you be happy that the boy died, but was I any better ? I was still watching this, did I have the right to judge them, to say they are the broken humans, when I was clearly no better.
The figure said time to start, and I again looked at the stream, the figure had pliers in their hand, they went to the girl on the left first, and one figure held out her fingers, as the other used the pliers and one by one pulled off her nails, they ripped her nails straight off her figures, she started to cry, and what was screams muffled by the gag she had on, it was at this moment I had notice the three people on the back wall didn't say anything, they just watched, as if they had seen it so many times and were used to it, what were they used for, why were those three still alive and left hanging on the wall, the floor now looked like someone had broken every bottle in a wine cellar, and it was everywhere, just dark red on the floor.
This sick twisted game was out of hand, they had families, they would never see, loved ones that would worry about them missing not knowing what hell they had gone through, I thought about my loved one, my girlfriend, now my wife, and I couldn't imagine this happening to her, I wouldn't be able to handle it, I knew if something like this every happened, I would much rather she died quick and not suffer, not like this, what these monsters were doing was horrific. I knew if this happened to my girlfriend, I would without a doubt end my own life, not being able to cope with it, I mean I almost ended my life over these people, I didn't know any of them, but something inside you breaks when you see something like this.
BANG! My eyes shoot to the monitor again, and I now see them hammering nails where her finger nails once were, a nail in each finger, they then moved on to her other hand, but with this one they didn't rip her nails from her flash, no they took the nails, and hammered them into the tips of her fingers, shattering the bones in every finger with the nails. Once they had finished with this hand, they left her there, and moved on to the other girl and did the exact same thing. Her face was as white as the mask the figures had worn before all the blood covered them, it looked like death had already claimed her, but no, she was still alive. She had to go through more than any human should ever, after they had repeated the process on the girl, they then ripped her shirt, exposing her rather large breast, and then with a knife, made a long cut under her boobs, I don't know why they did this, but blood started to drip down, and soon her stomach was all red. They went back to the first girl, and pulled out some darts, they drew a circle on her chest, with the centre between her breasts, and then took turns throwing darts at her, by the end of this, the poor girl had eight darts in her chest, just stuck hanging there.
I was screaming for it to end at this point, begging for it to end, so they don't have to suffer more, and I got what I wanted, they looked at the camera and both nodded, did they hear me ? One of the figures left the room, and came back with a chainsaw, one of the girls was so wide eyed her eyes already so red, made it look like a bad picture with red dots instead of eyes, you know those old shitty cameras. The other girl tho, looked at the chainsaw and looked relieved, she knew it was gonna end now, I guess she was happy, that she wouldn't have to suffer longer, so the figure turned on the chainsaw, and walked up to one girl, and then without warning took it to her neck, the sound of chainsaw against flesh and bone is one that will drive you mad, everytime I hear a chainsaw, or anything even close to it, I just dropped to my knees and breakdown, but that fucker of a person stopped, they pulled out the chainsaw from her neck, they didn't finish the job, now they left her head hanging there by a small amount of flesh, her head just dropped downward, and you could see as the flesh slowly ripped by the weight of her head and gravity doing its work.
The other girl, still looking happy that she would now be freed from this hell. The man pulled out a knife again, and went to the girl, and very slowly began to cut at her neck, after what seemed like forever, the figure took the head, placed it on the table, ripped out the eyes, and replaced them with those of the poor boy. The people in the background still quite and not even moving, some now had blood of the three on them, the two figures looked at the camera and said the show is over for now, but the winner of our prize is 'ThatOne122'.
I froze, that was the name I was using, they just called me out by my screen name, I didn't know what they were talking about, I tried to type and ask what they were talking about, they simple said 'Show over' and the stream ended, the chat room was dead now. I panicked what were they talking about, I found out three weeks later, when a package arrived under my name, my real name, which i won't disclose because of privacy reasons. I figured the package was something I had ordered and forgot about, so excitedly I opened it, only to be hit by the smell of death it self, and in that package was the head of the girl, with the eyes of that boy.
I collapsed, I couldn't tell anyone what happened at least not people I knew, I panicked, I called the police, they came and questioned me, I told them everything, I never heard back from them, they had taken the package. It's now been six years, i've moved multiple times out of fear they may come for me one day, I fear for my life, but more than anything for the life of my wife. One year after the incident, I had got a letter, inside was a nail, and a piece of paper with my screen name it said 'ThatOne122 we hope you liked your prize, do join us again for another stream, we wish you luck in our next contest'. After that letter, we moved again, and again after that, since then we have moved more than ten times, I pray that they no longer know where I am, I write this so that people will listen, listen to all those that say to not go on the deep web.
You will never be safe enough on it. You will never be smarter than the inhuman people that use it. You will never be safe.
Source: https://old.reddit.com/r/nosleep/comments/5chmet/the_dark_web_stream/
What Etsy maketh, Etsy taketh away. That's the moral of this story, and if you don't have your own domain pointed to either your own website or another venue this could be your story too. It doesn't matter how much or how little you sell. Etsy will get you, if they want to. Or just one admin feels like it.
LildecalShoppe will attest to that. Etsy is shutting them down.
We've been sitting on this for a week, hoping not to have to publish this. We were honestly hoping Etsy would do the right thing, but it appear Tim has started playing the God card so we've been give the pass finally to announce what top seller (who just broke into the top 100 with almost 5000 sales) has been shut down (see last post).
This seller has been featured a number of times in the new defunct gift guides, front pages and Dorque articles, they got tons of exposure online for themselves as well as Etsy, they are also slated to appear in InStyle Magazine, but now will not be providing their Etsy address.
They sent us this brief summation of the whole incident:
So basically after 6 months of great customer service, Etsy banned us. Our customers loved us for not only our fast service but also that we would customize anything and fix ANY issue quickly.
Etsy declared us to be in cahoots with another decal seller. How we have anything to do with this Etsy store, we don’t know. They had a few sales and only 73 percent feedback and being allowed to stay open, we had over 5000 sales with 99% feedback and are being shut down. The guy lives nearby us, but other than that, we have nothing to do with him. It appears Etsy may have just used this as their excuse for getting rid of our account.
My business partner and I have many theories as to why they really shut us down but I assume its because I made another account called “craftyguydecals” to combat yet another decal seller (whose name we were playing off of) who basically just copies ours and others work. It also may be that the hipsters don’t like us. Regardless of that, Etsy’s user agreement states nothing about having a second account and we did no wrong.
So Etsy now loses an active supporter (you have no idea how many people we turned onto Etsy) and the cash flow we provided them. We paid them well - over $3000 in fees during our brief 6 month tenure.
So if you want to support somebody that Etsy screwed over, you can find us on our new website, and also soon find us on Artfire; a website I am going to support fully. If I have any hand in it, will overtake the poorly run Etsy as the top handmade website.
After answering all of Etsy's questions, agreeing to what they said and having near perfect customer satisfaction, we were banned without any warning or chance to comply with whatever it was they wanted us to comply with...we still have no idea what that was"
We got to see some pieces of correspondence between this seller (but we will not share them here) and Etsy Admin Tim, who seemed to be on a bender with his godlike power all but stating he can do as he likes with arbitrary rules and no actual procedure, or answers. All this seller kept asking was "what can we do" and was repeatedly met with accusations of unproved wrongdoing which he provided answers and clarification for.
First this seller was accused of not being handmade, for which they provided video of the two of them working in their shop basement actually making the items. Then they were inundated with accusation of running or being involved with a number of stores (ironically ones that copy them) that have no relation whatsoever. They even helped other sellers in their field and Etsy accused them of collusion. Every time they'd answer an accusation, they'd get hit with another one. It's clear Etsy was pulling shit out of thin air trying to find a reason. Then they were accused of having an undeclared shop, which they did but had fixed. (How many admins have had or do have undeclared stores now? More than we can count.) I can truly say there was nothing this seller did worth the treatment they've received.
The store is inactive, we hope by publishing this that Etsy will be reexamine shutting down a seller that gave more than it got and will flip the switch back.
Shame on you Etsy. You have resellers with months worth of flags and you pick a upstanding handmade store who has made you tons of money to go biblical on?
Source: http://etsybitch.blogspot.com/2008/09/from-bitches-auxiliary-dont-quit-your.html