I found myself right in the middle of a terrible rip off recently. One of my numerous weaknesses – I am addicted to make-up. Early this year I decided to open a facebook page. I did what most would do to promote it, start a contest. MUFE had a really amazing set of aqua liners and I thought it would make an awe-some giveaway. Sephora unfortunately will not ship outside the US. Although I have a US shipping address, I also needed a US billing address and I didn’t have that. So I went to the next best place, good old eBay.

On eBay, there was only one seller in the whole world! I thought it was strange but then again I thought, it’s an expensive merchandise so it makes sense that there’d be few if any sellers. I researched the seller, she had >1000 positive ratings and the most recent reviews were good. I happily paid $200 and got myself hyped up about it. I even made a blog entry for the contest.

I ordered this stuff right after my final exams in March and I knew I was gonna travel for the next 4 months. The seller informed me that delivery would take 2 weeks and she even sent me a USPS tracking number, which I checked on the website and it said USPS had received notification that the package would be sent. I kept checking my address for the next 2 weeks and… no package. I convinced myself that it would come and bla bla bla. When it was 3 weeks, I started worrying because even when I ordered stuff from China, it never took so long. Finally I received an email from the seller saying the package was scheduled for delivery at the end of next week as informed and a new tracking number. I could have sworn I saw 2 weeks not 4 .5 weeks when I ordered it. I thought oh well at least it’s end of next week, I’ll wait. Just postpone the contest because once I travel I can’t hold it again till August when I return.

It took me a good 10 days to set up my internet at my destination. First place I went was USPS- no package. Checked my address, no delivery. When I went back on ebay, the listing had disappeared. I didn’t understand this mystery. Little did I know that eBay only monitors things for 45 days! When I rang eBay, they said ‘We are sorry, we can’t help you.  Keep trying to contact the seller’!

Rrrrrrrrriiiiiiiiigggggght! I seeeeee…

This evil seller had planned it so well and I was trapped. I wasn’t as annoyed about the money as I was about the scam. It’s so awful. I didn’t re-contact the seller or visit her page. I couldn’t. I was heartbroken.

You’ll be pleased to know that I finally braved up and looked up the seller. Even though I didn’t make it on time, other eBay users did and she has been removed from the site…

Good riddance if you ask me.