400 Watts of Solar for $37 ?

thanks for keeping us posted
i hope you don't have any trouble, getting your money back
i sincerely doubt you are going to receive any shipment

I found this posted under the item, in Purchases, in My eBay:

"We had to remove this listing from the site and you're not required to complete the transaction. If you've already sent payment, the sale should process as normal and you don't have anything to worry about. If you have any questions about delivery, please check tracking or contact your seller. If you run into any trouble along the way eBay is here to help. Please visit the Resolution Centre to help resolve any problems you may encounter."

Not to mention, shipping to Canada from China is usually a small fraction of the cost, compared to shipping from the U.S.... I'm sure things are designed that way, too, seeing as it's all built around import and export tariffs, and such.

jrnymn7 wrote:
I do an overwhelming majority of my on-line buying thru eBay and Paypal. Other than a few crappy items from either China, or from let's say less than forthright private individuals, I have had no problems. And even then, I've been offered discounts from legitimate vendors.

eBay does seem to be on the ball, for the most part. Hackers are just an inconvenient truth, it seems, and are not likely to go away anytime soon.

I usually PREFER to buy from China, as the shipping to the US west coast is about 3 days faster than from east to west within the US.

I do an overwhelming majority of my on-line buying thru eBay and Paypal. Other than a few crappy items from either China, or from let's say less than forthright private individuals, I have had no problems. And even then, I've been offered discounts from legitimate vendors.

eBay does seem to be on the ball, for the most part. Hackers are just an inconvenient truth, it seems, and are not likely to go away anytime soon.

My ebay account was hacked a few years back. I got a notice that I owed them money for items listed except I have never sold on ebay. After contacting them, ebay pulled the listings and charges.

Mex,

How did eBay deal with that situation, or did they?

eBay removes items when it gets flooded with complaints. I would chalk this up to live-and-learn. The vendor should have been more suspicious. Hacking PayPal is difficult to near impossible. If the eBay vendor site was hacked the crook would not have any access to funds paid. That scenario makes no sense. It could be an act of revenge against the vendor but he would have caught it immediately. The vendor had a side arrangement almost certainly unfortunately his "supplier" was a crook. I purchased a four dollar item on eBay and forgot to check delivery. Money was extracted from my VISA account through PayPal. Contacted RED FLAG the vendor and got an immediate answer. WE HAVE NO RECORD OF THIS TRANSACTION. IT DID NOT OCCUR. Yeah right. RED FLAG is a crooked CHINESE vendor. It refused to acknowledge its own confirmation of shipping email seven months earlier.

Jim,

From what I can tell, Paypal has not been affected. This seems to be limited to certain eBay ads, only, and definitely targeting those selling solar kits. Maybe it's some sort of cyber war amongst (or against?) the purveyors of all things solar?

It does go to show, though, eBay needs to beef up their security.

I received this email from eBay:


"We're writing to let you know that we've removed an item you recently won:
111611597783 - 100W 12V Foldable Solar Panel Charging Kit with charge controller ship from


Since you've already paid for the item, you don't need to do anything else. If your item hasn't arrived yet, it should arrive soon. If it doesn't, then you'll want to open a case in our Resolution Centre. You can learn how to do this, plus find timelines for opening cases, at:
http://pages.ebay.ca/help/buy/item-not-received.html

We wish you all the best on eBay and hope your future experiences are pleasant and successful. If you have questions, please click "Help & Contact" at the top of most eBay pages."

So, not sure what to make of it, at this point. Seller says it shipped. eBay says the item has since been removed. Next step, I guess, is to check with the seller, seeing as I was not given an estimated delivery date. He/she may ask for more money, to cover the actual cost of the item? In which case I'd be willing to buy it at cost... still a good deal.

I'm wondering if eBay offers some sort of coverage for vendors, in such cases?