Dear Fellow Modellers,
This a WARNING post against a scammer who is using eBay to 'buy' models made by others. His name is William J. (Joseph) Travis and he lives in Florida, US. His eBay nick 'willitravi-pic4knk'.
Let me present my story. This guy has bought 4 models in my auctions. He asked for a free delivery. When I agreed for that I told him that an economy post from Europe to US may take up to 1.5 months and tracking number may not show where exactly the package is but he replied that he will wait patiently.
After 3 weeks from the day of purchase eBay informed me that the buyer has not received models and claimed for a chargeback, even though he did have a tracking number and package was still on a ship to US. To my great surprise eBay has decided that refund is valid and charged me for that.
A week after William Travis has received my models and he admitted receiving them. There were 4 aircrafts worth 460 EUR. I appealed to eBay and I asked William to pay me back since he received goods as we agreed. He sent me several misleading and contradicting replies "money has been transferred but were collected in Georgia", "eBay said that you got your money", "I will not pay". I asked politely several times and appealed to his good will within scale modellers community. eBay does not want to help me due the fact that a refund was already granted and it was my responsibility to manually change the status of economy package to "in transit" when it was on a ship and then to "arrived in US" when the ship reached US harbor. Was this really my fault as a seller? How could I know these details for economy package?
You may think that I was unlucky or careless.
I've contacted several other businesses who sold good to Mr. Travis.
Two of them replied explaining the very same issues with this scammer (PROBUILTMODEL and dreamworkshobby). This confirms that it is not a mistake but a deliberate action against professional model makers. I am considering legal action, however, since the amount is 'small' it may not brig this thief to justice in the near future.
I've contacted several other businesses who sold good to Mr. Travis.
Two of them replied explaining the very same issues with this scammer (PROBUILTMODEL and dreamworkshobby). This confirms that it is not a mistake but a deliberate action against professional model makers. I am considering legal action, however, since the amount is 'small' it may not brig this thief to justice in the near future.
Please share this post and block him on eBay (willitravi-pic4knk).
