I'm a victim of a handbag scam =(

I had always feared this day would come. I saw a handbag on iOffer.com, knowing it was a replica even though the seller insisted it was real, and I basically didn't care since it was a handbag I had wanted for many years (rare Louis Vuitton Purple Irvine). The pictures of the bag were great, amazing replica, I thought, and the seller explained to me that the bag was used and that is why the price was low on it. The seller and I exchanged conversations almost on a daily basis after I had made my offer. It was my first time making a high offer on a product online, so I was worried. I saw that the other handbags they were selling had offers that were accepted at half the price of mine and I asked the seller if I could receive a discount. They said it was no problem and asked me to pick another bag from their store. Surprised about this, I picked another bag and asked if it was okay to be doing this and they assured me that it was okay. The seller had good feedback, not much, but enough to make me think it was okay to continue on with the process.

So the seller (in China) gave me a shipping confirmation and I was able to track it. The package arrived yesterday and when I opened it, there was a really, really terrible brown Louis Vuitton replica bag in there. I was pretty upset as you could imagine and went to contact the seller. The seller deleted their account off of iOffer.com and their feedback for the past day were all negatives, stating the seller sent the wrong bag. I thought my purchase was safe through PayPal, but when I called them, they said since I didn't purchase through ebay, that my purchase was not covered. I found out on November 1st, that PayPal will start covering purchases made on iOffer.com...I was only a few days away from getting my money back!!

I contacted my bank and since I used my checking account, they could do nothing. I contacted several other internet scam sites and made reports. I will not be able to get my money back, it seems.

If anyone knows how I can get my money back for this scam, please let me know. I now know to use PayPal WITH my credit card next time, because apparently the credit card companies can help you retrieve your money (surprising). If anyone can offer insight into this, it would be gladly appreciated.

Thanks!

Sketchy dealings usually yield sketchy results. :/ I don't see why you can file a claim through Paypal. If your transaction was completed through Paypal, you should be able to dispute it. Did the seller invoice you? You didn't send the payment as a gift, did you?

That's what I'd do also, File a claim through PayPal. 
 

Originally Posted by lolaB /img/forum/go_quote.gif

Sketchy dealings usually yield sketchy results. :/ I don't see why you can file a claim through Paypal. If your transaction was completed through Paypal, you should be able to dispute it. Did the seller invoice you? You didn't send the payment as a gift, did you?

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If it was done through Paypal, contact paypal. But tracking down the seller wont be hard. I'll have a look around tomorrow on my free day )

How awful! I'm so sorry this happened to you. You should be able to dispute with paypal. I would try doing the dispute online. If you go to contact us section, there is a tab that let's you file a dispute. I really hope you get your money back!