Beware of this user!!!! Crazy story!!!!

[TimothyB]

Man, be careful selling or buying to a user called MastA, or possibly known as zWiLD at rage3D.com

He agreeded to buy my PS2 on this forum, said he sent a Money Order on 7/19, Monday, I week later on a Tuesday, 7/27, I sent a PM with concern about why his money order hasn't arrive yet. He never replied, which you'd think he would if you said yourself your money order would arrive in a week, and with it being $100+, I myself would be freaking out, but he didn't respond.

Then this site shows he has been active viewing threads several times here, so it's not like he's out on vacation and hasn't been at a computer and unable to respond, he has had several times to respond.

Now it gets even more crazy as I dig some stuff up on him. MastA said he had no feedback or heat, I quote from him, "i don't have heatware but you can be my first one am new to hardforums thats why." Yet when I searched for posts under his name I found he actually has a FS thread for some ram and video card where he says he has ebay and 100% heatware feedback. Here's the thread: http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=779432

Then if you scroll down, he gives a link to his heatware, http://www.heatware.com/eval.php?id=29153 , but it's under a different name, zWiLD. His 100% feedback he mentions in his thread is actually a 1 postive feedback. What's strange is why he told me he has no feedback. And that single heat he has is 10 days before he told me he had no heat, so it's not like it's new. Why was he hiding this heat, was it to do with the name zWiLD?

Then I realized I've seen that "zWiLD" name before. After searching it struck me I had at one point nearly sold the same PS2 weeks earlier to a zWiLD at Rage3D.com, same uppercase and lowercase spellling. That's why he didn't give me the link to his heat this time, as I'd connect it all togethor. That sale wtih zWiLD at rage3D was basically a closed deal. After I got the final price after shipping total he never ever responded again, even though the site showed zWiLD was still active and even posting "ygpm" in other sale threads, totally ignoring me.

And what made this zWiLD a positive match as one and the same as the MastA here, it's all thanx to that single heat feedback in the link he gave under MastA here. The seller's name that left him his feedback matches a thread in Rage3D with the same item for sale under the same seller name and where zWiLD had posted in too. Here's that thread: http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?t=33766319

So there is no question, zWiLD is actually the noob MastA on Hardforum. And once again, it looks like he is standing me up, and even wasting more of my time than last. I've waiting 10 days for that Money Order, it has not shown, and I can't even get a response from him.

So after learning all this I sent a similar message to what I just wrote here to him last night explaining all that I found and asking why he is playing games with me. Plus if he didn't reply the deals off, and if a money order does show up later, it will just be returned.

I woke up this morning hoping to have a reply, but no reply and hardforum showed he had new viewing activity again. Then later again just before I decided to write this, he was online and viewing the for sale thread again.


I'm posting this to warn you guys if he PMs you about an item your selling or thinking of buying something from him and since he was just viewing the for sale thread I hope I might get a response out of him after he sees this.


Also, anyone else ever have such trouble with a buyer, a buyer that sounds interested and legit, but then never replies again at one point, then does it to you a second time under a new name elswhere, even says he sent a money order this time, and then again never replies anymore. What a waste of time this has been. Now I will only accept Paypal like I have in the past, no more wasted time waiting for a M.O. that might never have been sent in the first place.

This is really crazy, one would never expect this kind of stuff, but maybe these kind of problems happen all the time :(

[Cold Dark Shadow]

doesnt belong here, goes in the trools section at the top

[Azn226]

dude, good eye. and researching stuff. u should be a private investigator. :p thanks for teh heads up.

[TimothyB]

doesnt belong here, goes in the trools section at the top

Doh!!! I wish I noticed that. But again, I'm also trying to get a response out of this guy since he still is browsing this forum, but I don't think he's browsing the trolls area. And I wouldn't have been able to warn as many of you.

[deadoralive]

damn that's a long ass post.... not really all that revolutionary... buyers do that shit all the time, just as long as you didn't ship first not too big of a deal

sure it kinda sucks... but what ya gonna do.

[TimothyB]

damn that's a long ass post.... not really all that revolutionary... buyers do that shit all the time, just as long as you didn't ship first not too big of a deal

sure it kinda sucks... but what ya gonna do.

I'm a new seller, only three heats, but big items I've sold, like an X800pro, 9700pro, and GC system. I was totally unaware that this could happen. :(

Also, yeah, it is a long post, but you can't complain that I didn't use paragraphs :) Some people would post that much without a single return.

[deadoralive]

I'm a new seller, only three heats, but big items I've sold, like an X800pro, 9700pro, and GC system. I was totally unaware that this could happen. :(

Also, yeah, it is a long post, but you can't complain that I didn't use paragraphs :) Some people would post that much without a single return.

you were under the impression that everyone that says they are going to buy something, come through? haven't been on ebay, eh?

[ThreeDee]

I'd move on and just find a diff buyer and do like you said ..if mo shows up from him , and you know his name address ...just return un openned envelope back to him and save yer self the 37 cents and envelope :)

[TimothyB]

you were under the impression that everyone that says they are going to buy something, come through? haven't been on ebay, eh?

I have a very old ebay account with 44 feedback, all positive, never really had trouble. I was under the impression that a buyer would come through, but I'd always be careful the other way around if a seller was telling the truth. I just never though a buyer would be so flacky and waste time as this one did, especially after saying he sent a money order.

[TimothyB]

I'd move on and just find a diff buyer and do like you said ..if mo shows up from him , and you know his name address ...just return un openned envelope back to him and save yer self the 37 cents and envelope :)

Yeah, I plan to move on, the dang day this MastA purchased my PS2 was the day my Aunt and cousin were visiting and they were like, "why didn't you mention you were selling it, we would have bought it". But since I couldn't back out on MastA, it was too late. Now I'll have to contact them to let them know, which I am happy about that they'll get it instead.

Also, ThreeDee here is a great buyer, I sold an X800pro to him and everything went smoothly, can't find anyone better to deal with, top notch buyer.

[MikeF98765]

you were under the impression that everyone that says they are going to buy something, come through? haven't been on ebay, eh?
I just had 2 nonpaying bidders in a row. The first used buy it now in less than an hour from auction start. pissed the HELL out of me. Now im out 6 dollars, with no sale.

I dont get why people do that, if you dont want it, tell us, we dont care. But why lie about sending an MO and waste a week of our time when we could have had it sold.

I hate them.

[TimothyB]

[QUOTE=MikeF98765]I just had 2 nonpaying bidders in a row. The first used buy it now in less than an hour from auction start. pissed the HELL out of me. Now im out 6 dollars, with no sale.
QUOTE]

Boy I'd hate if that happened, if someone won an auction of mine without planning on paying just to cause me grief I'd be pissed. I'd want to leave anyone who did that a negative feedback, but then I'd worry about the guy then responding with a negative feedback with some crazy lie tainting a perfect feedback.

[deadoralive]

I just had 2 nonpaying bidders in a row. The first used buy it now in less than an hour from auction start. pissed the HELL out of me. Now im out 6 dollars, with no sale.

I dont get why people do that, if you dont want it, tell us, we dont care. But why lie about sending an MO and waste a week of our time when we could have had it sold.

I hate them.


if you use buy it now, require immediate payment...

[Mad Machinist]

My problem has been the other way...bunch of nOObs saying yeah I have it,...yea I'll ship first.....(I have 55-0-0 heat most of it purchases) and then I can't get them to reply....they even sent addresses so I could get the money order bought and addressed (which I did)so I could just give it to the post man at the office when the goods came in....bunch of limp tools..............

[Cold Dark Shadow]

i run part of my biz on Ebay and i get atleast 2 or 3 non payers every couple weeks. Immediate payment is good but its for the US only and i ship world wide so that doesnt help any

[MrJekyll]

seems like there are a LOT of noobs here lately trying to sell things and when you ask for heat they all say I don't have heat blah blah blah... Its getting where unless you have been here for a year or more I can't bring myself to trust anybody........

[topcat989]

cut tim a little slack fellas. If it was over one transaction ya, this is a little much. but the deceptions and saying they'll buy twice sounds fishy. This guy may be on the troll, and what may be happening is although he says "MO is in the mail" he may be hoping someone will ship stuff to him anyways. It wouldn't suprise me, he comes off as completely compliant and "no problem, I'll ship/pay first!" and says it's on the way. Some folks might still ship stuff off becuase it's packed, ready to go, they may not have much freee time to ship so they're tempted when the opportunety come up, etc. the fact that he drops all comunication, for the second time, w/o even a "sorry, changed my mind" is suspiciopus to me. I wouldn't want to deal with a guy like that, so I thank tim for bringing him to my attention. :o

[topcat989]

i run part of my biz on Ebay and i get atleast 2 or 3 non payers every couple weeks. Immediate payment is good but its for the US only and i ship world wide so that doesnt help any

what do you do about those NPB?

just curious, i know you can't burn their house down or anything, but that sounds like a pain in the ass to deal with :p

[Cross]

While I don't think anyone would consider me new with all the laptops I keep selling I think that I am a rather new. Between eBay's 35 and I think my heatware is up to 13, I am still awaiting some feedback, I have not had many problems. I have had people say they want it then back out, I have wanted items and had to back out but you let the person know.

The main problem I see is all the new people with no heat selling around here and it may be hard to trust them but the basic questions of pics, email checks, paypal and other things that those who are making purchases should know can help keep you protected. Its a hard thing to buy anything anywhere, but atleast we can try... that and I am prone to give almost everyone a chance. But I will watch for this user, thanks for the heads up.

Also just so you know not only have I seen this alot lately but I have noticed that the noobies are rather...well they act like they can not trust us. In all my sales I have forgot once to send an item and it was to pvtgoose (just this last week) because I wanted to get everything out that day and I had to relabel items that did not ship correctly. Well I forgot a controller in the PS2 setup (another funny thing both of us had problems with ps2's) and I left my Final Fantasy 6 disc from anthology in there. I wrote him asking for it back, that I would pay shipping and he said hey you forgot the controller I said my bad I will get that right out, I was trying toget it out sooner to you and I must have forgot it. His reply to that was, I will hold you final fantasy 6 until it gets here. I asked him oh, so its holding a game hostiage against a guy who has the heatware for laptop sales like I do and who already sent you the system? I am really upset about it and quite frankly don't think I would ever do business with that guy again either (pvtgoose).

I just don't know what to think anymore but I know if we all stop trusting eachother then we will never be able to buy and trade. I thought u had to have 50 posts before you could post in here anyway?

On the eBay side I have had problems with NPB to, eBay used to let you get the final value fee's back from the auction rather quickly now they make you wait 7 days. Personally I just sold a laptop on there and the guy bid at the last second, ignored my emails, I had to relist it then a week later after I had sent ebay payment reminds (you have to wait 3 days with eBay to start the NPB setup) He responds, did you get my payment. I email him again saying that I am going to have to leave negative feedback and no response then I file one more payment remind and he responded that he never bid and has no idea whats going on and that he never bid. So I emailed him back and told him that he needs to accept the NPB and leave positive feedback, I would do the same and it would be over. I sent him another email last week with the same message and still no response and now he has a positive feedback (he had no feedback before that). Its really annoying, and now with the process taking longer I have to pay and extra 24 dollars in eBay fees for the auction. eBay is starting to be more of a hassle then anything else. People don't know what they are doing, are rude and its just becoming a place that is almost not worth the time because people are so quick to jump on someone. I had a guy (my only neg and we are now talking in square trade mediation) that refused to believe that the sticker on the bottom of a laptop was the windows key. He was so rude over the phone that I told eBay about it and he called me again saying he neededhelp and to be rational, I tried that and as soon as I helped him he started talking over me and being rude and I told him I was not going to help him with anything else. He did not listen to my email's after that even still tring to get him to realize the sticker was the serial key and to transfer the warrenty he just had to go into CompUSA he left me a neg.

Oh well I have ranted long enough lol. I hope u have some luck selling ur PS2 again

[TimothyB]

Well, I never got a reply from the guy since I've posted this and sent my last message to him, but he has been active. So I guess watch out for him. He only has 8 posts and as zWiLD at rage3D only 17posts.

I can see how it's possible people do this in hopes someone sends out the item in advance before the payment arrives. But what's strange is I did ask for his address several times to prepare the package and just get a general idea if the payment is being mailed from two cities aways or from the other side of the united states, but he seemed to avoid it. That should have been a clue there I guess.

Some transcripts from begining to finish:

hey ill take the ps2 what payments do you accept?

So I reply saying all the payments I accept, plus I gave information like my phone number, e-mail, home address, my personal forum, etc etc, many ways to get a hold of me so he feels safer etc etc. I talked about my heat and other stuff, then I also asked if he has heat.

new messageill send payment of $115USD by mail on monday and i don't have heatware but you can be my first one am new to hardforums thats why. And what shipping service are you going to use and can you get a tracking #.

So I reply saying FedEx, tracking and insurance included. I then asked for his address

new messagehttp://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=778434
this guy is selling his ps2 with tons of games for 100 bucks can you lower the price a bit more..

I understood his concern. I only was able to lower $5, basically $100+10 shipping. Then I gave a speach that at $5-15 difference in the bundles, his decision should come down to which games he wants the most, and blah blah. His reply also avoided giving me an address.

new messageam gonna buy it...ill send $110USD tomorrow in M.O.

later a new message hey dude payment has been send today should arrive this week :)

So I reply saying cool, I'll keep an eye out for it, etc. Then I asked for his address again. But I never got a reply, then a week pasted, no payment, and you no the rest of the story.

It just seemed like he was real, especially after asking to lower the price to be more competitive to another FS PS2.

[Cold Dark Shadow]

what do you do about those NPB?

just curious, i know you can't burn their house down or anything, but that sounds like a pain in the ass to deal with :p

It is a pain in the ass, all you can really do is file complaints with Ebay and if it happens enough times they get booted, or you can get there phone number if you really want thru Ebay. But the reverse is that when you file to get there info the other party in return gets yours.

So pretty much you have to grin and bear it, But it still sucks

[pvtgoose]

I can understand some cases in trusting someone to do business or not to do business with, but when you send an incomplete item, which means it is not as described, it is your mistake. Now, when you send a ps2 to someone, and accidentally forget to send a controller AND a game, and then forget the game again, but you want the buyer to ship the item you accidentally sent back to you immediately... at this point I was still out a controller and a game (still out the game btw). So when you come crying to me about the game you left in the ps2 when all my merchandise didn't come, and you are 'surprised' somehow that I am 'holding your game hostage', I don't think that I am the troll. I believe that I did my part by sending you the money... and now after recieving the controller know that you are being honest, but when you recieve less stuff than you bought in the mail, honesty isn't the first thing I attribute to someone.

[Cross]

Thats what heatware is for, everyone does make mistakes and as you can see it was. I am still sure I sent the game but since you did not get it, it should turn up in my move if not I will order it from gamestop.com and have it sent to you ^-^. The point here is that you did not use the resources given (heatware) and if you think someone is going to screw you oin a controller when they sell laptops here pretty much all day and they have great feedback for it. I find it alittle odd.

Actually I have crossed shipped (this means shipped before getting payment/trade) on laptops before, disgram would be the best to go to on that but no sense in thread hi-jacking. This is someone elses thread. Anyway my point is that I kept in contact deal with laptops and have cross shipped as you mention below that you doubt I would do without payment. To someone who has positive heatware esp on high dollar items that shows you there history but you also never know if thats enough so that is fine but again my points were that if I really wanted to screw someone I would do it on a 1000 laptop not a 20 dollar controller that I forgot to put in the box. Now if I had sent you everything but the PS2 your right I would be skeptic, but with continued regular contact you know this person is not trying to run away. They are working to get things corrected. Flat out I have been here trading for sometime and to be told that someone is going to hold a game hostage over a controller that I shipped as soon as I could, thats harsh esp. when I have heat for laptop sales from this forum. Our point is that those new to the forums who feel the need to question those of us who have been here and established ourselves some time ago. Once you establish yourself you will get that rating as well. I can say I would not do that. Now since I have been in the middle of getting ready to move, and getting my military school dates amoung other things setup yes I was busy and honestly broke on what I could spend. I sold some of my items and made sure that I shipped your controller priority as soon as I could manage it (i had another gentleman waiting on a backplate as well). I never hid from you and always answered your PM's infact I PM'd you first because I realized the game was still in the system you did not contact me first. So again it all comes down to the fact that someone with no trader rating held a 30 dollar game hostage and didn't even contact me first about it, I contacted him. When I had such a feedback rating in heatware. But I do understand your trust issue and your motives but again thats what heatware is for, to let you know others ratings of the seller/buyer.

[pvtgoose]

But I think you missed the point in that it was a successful transaction, I paid, so I already trusted you, and yes, yours was an honest mistake, but I don't think it's fair to be getting on people if they are just trying to protect themselves. I paid, you shipped, it may have taken more time to get FF6 back (because I held it until my controller arrived), but how different is that from a net 30... I doubt your terms for selling laptops (trust or no trust) involve sending one off before you get your money. You making that my fault (when in reality, you did leave it in the ps2), isn't really appropriate, especially when I have been glad to work with you (even when shipping that second controller was severely delayed).

[VoBoy]

holy cow. i was so freaking close to buying his ram and i had dibs too. but i backed out because some deals for me didnt go down and edned up not having enough money for it. and then now i just read this. wow. thanks for letting us know!

[bipolar]

Not much to add here except I offered to buy a stick of PC3200 from zWild on the Rage3d board if he would ship first. He initially agreed than backed out saying he didn't want to ship first after all, but making no effort to try and keep the sale.

I think it's a kid who's attracted to the idea of buying and selling but has no money or items =\

[JrCamacho]

is this use zMastA?

thats how i see his name.. i think

[Falls Included]

2 years ago some fag from my high school figured out my ebay password and went and bought over 3 million dollars worth of shit. jesus that pissed me off, but there was no way to prove it. ebay banned me, and one guy even tried to sue me over it (it was like 66 dollars, lol)

but, since then i've learned of the little non-paying bidder button, and if ebay finds that the bidder didnt pay, you get the auction fee back. you only get 3 non paying bidder things nefore you are banned, and i'd say the 20 or so cars, and the french military jet did it

[TimothyB]

2 years ago some fag from my high school figured out my ebay password and went and bought over 3 million dollars worth of shit. jesus that pissed me off, but there was no way to prove it. ebay banned me, and one guy even tried to sue me over it (it was like 66 dollars, lol)

but, since then i've learned of the little non-paying bidder button, and if ebay finds that the bidder didnt pay, you get the auction fee back. you only get 3 non paying bidder things nefore you are banned, and i'd say the 20 or so cars, and the french military jet did it

I would have got a tape recorder and recorded him admitting it if someone did that to my account. To me that's no different that stealing a credit card. At least though he didn't put up expensive items for auction then kept the money from the winnings and left the buyers to yell at you for the item.

[Ruckus]

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=800035

tried to "buy" another one.

[palabared]

lol owned him there