FS: Yonex Muscle Power 100 (brand new) **Dispute

The seller was a liar, and I paid him through PayPal for these two badminton rackets. He also said he didn't get the money. I've sued PayPal.

 

I think it's rather callous that you would think we are raising the suspicion of fraud without any thought or evidence. I don't particular have a taste for show trials on forums but it seems rather dangerous not calling this guy out, especially when multiple members are having problems with him. I find it particularly alarming that he has sold the same racquets to multiple people, including myself; that is not normal practice and not something you can simply blame on tech. On top of that, I (?we) have not received any further communications from him since the issue has been brought up, other than the customary "I didn't do anything wrong speak to paypal".

For your reference.

 

I'm not doubting that there is an issue, I always like to give people the benefit of doubt especially when I have have had very good experiences with dealing with them in the past.
The evidence is stacking up so something amiss has obviously occurred.

 

I believe all affected members did give him the benefit of the doubt and tried to sort this out privately in the first instance, without much success. This misadventure can end immediately with him posting his paypal transaction history (with the appropriate date range), but doesn't look like he is particularly keen in doing that.

Liars who are telling the truth are the best liars. Isn't that how the saying goes?

 

True, he could easily and promptly clear any doubt by posting the evidence asked for, but the delay is working against rather than for him. Hope you lot eventually manage at least to get your money back via PayPal.

 

That's exactly what I did, I didn't want to tarnish someone's reputation in case the problem lay with PayPal. However as I found out now that other people have lost money in the exact same situation as me. I in fact now deeply regret not stepping forward earlier as I could have prevented others from losing their money. This is something I have to live with (and not something I take lightly), and all because I heavily gave someone the benefit of the doubt.

 

I dealt with him before (sort of), I have initiated a trade with him via international mailing from Singapore (my N99) to Germany (for his JS10). He mentioned there were cases of lost mail when shipped internationally to Germany, assuring him that i have shipped to other parts of Europe, so I agreed to ship over first. freewilly said it had never reached him even though tracking status says it arrived in Germany via DHL. Since then I filed for a claim and got back only 1/3 of the value.
Coincidence perhaps, so take note when you ship to Germany..

 

some buyers here make a basic mistake by sending the funds to seller as friends/family. whenever buying something online and paying via Paypal, always send the funds as buying a Product/Service, this way buyer is protected against fraud.

 

PayPal is unable to transfer payment in China as family or friends

 

By the looks of it, nobody is going to be receiving a refund from @freewilly, as it looks like he's been scamming both buyers and sellers, probably with the same racquets. Hoping banks/PayPal are able to pay back all those affected based on fraud.

BadmintonCentral is such a friendly community that it was only a matter of time before someone would be abusing the benefit of the doubt.

@Cheung , @kwun , what can we do to better respond to serial scammers in future? I appreciate in this case it appears to be a user who 'went rogue'. However, for example, can we implement a system to raise a flag whilst a seller/buyer's account is under investigation to limit damage?

I know people can always create new accounts, but it does take time to build reputation so it'll at least heavily disincentivise the practice.

 

A few rotten apples spoiling the bunch? I like to think the vast majority of transactions go well, though clearly I won't see the number of reports the moderators get...i imagine a significant source of complaints arise from the buy/sell forum compared to other sub-forums.

As per disclaimer, I don't suggest that the mods adjudicate or settle disputes - you've got plenty to do as it stands, but more that there is some method of making a repeat offender known.

For example, to recommend in the sticky that if there is an unresolved dispute, a post can be made on the buy/sell thread, and that the buy/sell thread cannot be deleted/unlinked from an account. At least then that people are more likely to search someone's post history to uncover past problems - it probably helps buyers/sellers to also close threads with positive feedback too.

 

actually some of his posts where to good to be true, so he was selling rackets at lower prices, but scamming others - so even more money, but when you see someone is selling a lot and then stating that it is his rackets - it is already the lie... and you should never send money to such person... and then if someone asks to send money as family, such person should have reported immediately instead of sending money

 

Due diligence only works if there is information there to examine. I'm sure we've all heard of Enron, where you'd be hard pressed to uncover anything suspicious until the whole thing collapses. In this case, we have 5+ people who each have not spoken out until too late, where a decent amount of due diligence would have revealed nothing.

Is it unreasonable to add a minor update to the sticky you mentioned to include posting your intention to buy/sell on a thread, and/or posting the outcome of a transaction? At least then there is a process that people see as accepted practice and will not feel leaving negative feedback as a big problem.

Again, I'm not saying BadmintonCentral or the mod team should be policing or be responsible in any way for problems in the buy/sell forum, but I feel the guidelines could be updated to improve the transaction chain...perhaps there's no appetite to improve it.

Then at the least, I'd ask that the mod team recommends people with complaints to air out their grievances in a thread, such has been done in this case. That's certainly better than having people sit in silence.

Thanks @Cheung for handling this by the way - I can see why you'd soon get fed up of this, as it probably not the first time it's happened...

 

I do agree with DarkHiatus, I think the Buy and Sell forum is a fantastic feature and really useful way to reach out to many other enthusiasts around the world. Something you can't really do with the other main re-sell websites such as ebay and amazon.

It would be a shame to close it based one a handful of bad transactions when perhaps 99% of them are good. I think if the mods really want to close the forum, a good compromise would be to restrict the use of the buy and sell forum to regular members or those who have reached a certain requirement - number of posts, number of likes etc.

Also, I'd like to mention that I previously bought a BS12 KRP from freewilly and it arrived quickly and safely, no problems at all. So to learn of these recent issues with him comes as a bit of a surprise.

 

I also have bought 3 NS9900 of freewilly without issue all arrived as described, im also surprised of the recent transaction issues with him.

 

I bought from Freewilly once. While I got my racket in condition as described he didnt ship it in original cover (he didnt mention it).

So I contacted him why I didnt get it, but he was ignoring me so I opened a dispute on Paypal for partial refund and he started to spam me with bs.

He told me to cancel my dispute and he will send me the amount which I wanted as partial refund. - it doesnt make sense since he could just refund me.... clearly attempt for scam

I dont mind posting the full conversation.

I have lot of experience in online trading and he got all the propositions to be a scammer or at least being unfair.

While I understand that some people had smooth trade with him it seems many others didnt.

I think there is nothing else to say... I recommend to avoid him at all cost.

 

Really wow - You opened a dispute because he sent you a different Racket cover!!!. Who uses a cover anyway! . I have about 10 Covers I never use. I think its a bit harsh that you post a negative review and call him a scammer because he sent you a different cover ! If the racket is what you purchased and it was original then how can he be a scammer!!!.