I recently purchased (or at least I thought) an item from an individual that came on the board an offered a 1950’s Desert Inn for sale. He even provided a scan of the chip upon request. He used the name Kevin Hill and the screen name kjhillinlv@yahoo.com

After some negotiation, we arrived at a price of $700. I paid thru PayPal using my credit card. The buyer emailed me and stated the item was shipped. I asked for a tracking number, and he stated it was sent from a generic Postal Shipping Center in Las Vegas so there was no tracking number to provide. After not receiving the chip in a reasonable amount of time, I emailed him again. No response. Consequently I filed a complaint with PayPal.

PayPal gives the seller 10 days to respond to the complaint. If they do not respond within 10 days, the case is settled and closed in favor of the person that filed the complaint, in my case, the buyer.

Today I received an email from PayPal stating, “My case and complaint had been settled in my favor, and they would credit $15.63 cents to my account”.

That was all he had left in his account. They would pursue the balance if they could.

I called my credit card company and disputed the charge. They of course deducted the $700 from my balance and will go after PayPal for the difference.

Moral to this story, when dealing with strangers, if using PayPal, or making any payments, make sure it goes on a credit card so you have recourse. A personal check would have been long gone for sure.