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Buyer trying to extort $200 from me
 

I'm looking for advice on how to deal with this issue. I am thinking about just ignoring him. i told him I will have the money in 2 weeks, I am really just waiting for my funds to be withdrawn from amazon in case I really get banned. I am also thinking of taking his bluff and seeing if he really does try to take me to small claims. Probably not hah. And if I would have gone to small claims I would be saving 50$ rather than sending him 200 even If i lost. Id say there is a 90 to 95% chance nothing would happen but I dont wanna be banned from amazon. also the info is in my dads name.

Ok so here is the story. i buy alot of ipads, Ipods, iPhones, tablets, video games and headphones off craigslist. I do this daily.

Someone contacted me saying they wanted my phone number to talekd about the beats over the phone.. I wasl ike what the hell. When I talked and texted him I found He was a dumb 15-16yr kid that spells the word "Went' as "Whent" dozens of times and more spelling issues. I talked to him. He wanted to know the condition, if they were real, blah blah blah. I was like yes.. I bought them off craigslist, great condition. ECT

Anyway I sent off a pair of beats by dre studio that were 99% authentic. he messaged me back 3 months later saying the headphones were making funny noises (He BLEW SPEAKERS) And wanted me to admit they were ⊗⊗⊗⊗. he started naming the the battery cover was loose and some other things none of which were really conclusive of them being ⊗⊗⊗⊗. And then I was like ok they are ⊗⊗⊗⊗ lol. Just joking around. Now hes like "I have proof!!. "If you don't send me 200$ in the mail I will report you to amazon and sue you" . After this I stopped responding to his text. he then proceeded to call me 37 times in a row..

So anyway now he wants me to send him 200$ in the mail or els he will report my amazon account for selling ⊗⊗⊗⊗ and he will sue me supposedly.... Ironically he does lives only 20 minutes or so away from me. I think he was scoping me out before he bought the headphones. After he tried to

Anyway the address on file is not my real address and the name is my fathers name (Dad lives in china for the moment, not VA). Also The account is verified with a social security number. Account is in good standing with hundreds of transactions. Would a complaint to amazon have me shut down?.

99% Authentic isn't good enough, it's either Legit or f@ke.

Just give him the $200 and move on.

Use your head.

Refund him, move on.

See how much money you make a month of Amazon. Is that $200 worth it to not be able to make that money anymore?

Regardless, I am sure that he would even settle for less money if he has to.

Give him a few options to maybe even call his bluff. A lot of people are really tough behind a keyboard. Tell him you will give it to him in person and I have a feeling he wont even show up. Or ask him to return the headphones and give him what he paid for them.

However sometimes the best option is to avoid all this stuff and just try to reach a settlement with him. Offer him $100 and call it day. Apologize a lot to him as well.

If just 20 miles away, ask him to meet in person.

Well I have 2 amazon accounts and only sell on amazon routinely along side ebay. 2nd one was a back up.

What are the chances of amazon banning me if he reports me?.

If I personally wanted to get someone banned, all I had to do was just buy an item and report that it was ⊗⊗⊗⊗?. Bam, then he is banned?.

I feel the real reason he wants to return them is because he broke them.

Smart move about meeting in person. Hope he backs off sense I said he was right down the road.

3 month is WAY past the limit..

ignore him, hes probably mad be broke the expensive headphones and now wants his money back and thats the easiest/best excuse to get it back.

unless you mark the headphones you sent me with some type of hidden mark then you wont even be able to tell if what you sent him 3 months ago is what he is trying to return to you.

I see you winning this both ways in court due to length and by amazon probably as its just been too long.

You dont know what could have happened between that time and now.

Your own spelling and grammar is not that much better than that kid's.

Time to be an adult.

Refund and move on.

I do not imagine you want to explain to your Dad you damaged his account?

Never, ever EVER play games online with an unknown idiot.

He has broken the law by making such threats to you.

You acted poorly by responding.
:peace:

wow 3 months is a LONG time for someone to start moaning they are ⊗⊗⊗⊗.
I would refund him if you are worried about the account, but i would also make him return them, broken or not, because for all you know he is trying to get an easy $200 back from you.

He cannot have his cake & eat it too.:bored:

Yay, another unfortunate happening that I have plenty of experience in... lol. Here's the deal. They are phake.

Not only that, but 99% authentic is verbage that a China seller would use (this makes me think you imported). They often times have 2 levels of quality, the high quality that they consider 99% or almost 1:1, and the lower quality that is often 85% to 95%.

If you are really buying these on CL, you wouldn't know how authentic they really were.

But lets just say that you were buying them on CL. That would be incredibly stupid by itself. You have no idea what is authentic on CL, especially when it comes to things that are often copied/counterfeited/pirated, etc.

It's important to know that information, in case you somehow haven't figured it out already. Unfortunately, Monster Cable Products (maker of Beats) doesn't really care what you know. By the way, they were at one point represented by Johnson & Pham. I say 'at one point' because I don't see Monster listed as one of their clients anymore (but they still might be).

If you haven't heard of Johnson & Pham, do a quick search, or just punch yourself in the face and assume that if you piss them off, it will be x100 the pain of what you just felt. Whether or not they are still being represented by them may be irrelevant, as it at least shows that they're pretty serious when it comes to cracking down on offenders. As much as I would love to elaborate on my statements with stories of experience, I'll just save the sad stories for another time.

Even worse, you could be dragging your dad's name into all this! I advise to stay away from these sort of business practices, ESPECIALLY when your real info is out there.

You may get away with it this time, but if it were me, I would probably refund the full $200 no questions asked.

Next time, title your post "Trying to extort $200 from buyer" -you know it's phake, we know it's phake- at least we'll all be on the same page a little quicker.. :bored:

n8zz couldn't have said it better. Clearly they are counterfeit and clearly you simply trying to avoid paying this person who bought your goods in 'good faith', believing they were legitimate. Pay the child the $200 and move on...

Actually, pay the child $200 and take a few lessons in English, specifically the ability to type better than a 12 year old. Also, quit trying to flog nasty counterfeit product.

You make me embarrassed to say I'm a seller on amazon.

No need to resort to verbal abuse.
The OP probably made an honest mistake.. surely you have had one of these in the time you have existed?

I highly doubt that amazon will shut his account for a report that is 3 months overdue.
They will take other factors into account.

I honestly believe that the buyer is just blowing off steam, as he is a teenager and we all know how they act and react to situations.
If they do not get there own way, they simply throw there toys out the cot.

Also, if he was that worried if they were ⊗⊗⊗⊗, he would have had them checked out when he bought them 3 months back or bought them from an official dealer.

people seem to love giving money away on here.

First get him to prove they are phake. He lives near by so either ask him to return them or meet with you. Tell him they will be sent off to the official company and when they confirm that they are not genuine you will refund in full.

If they really are phake then imagine you are some kid who has been saving for these headphones and you get a dodgey pair, I would have been gutted.

However as mentioned kids also think they can try it on. It seems stange that he wants you to send the money in the mail. I would ask him to prove that these headphones are phake and if he does you will refund through amazon but if he does not and he continues to harass you he will be reported to the police for extortion.

You have to make sure you can authenticate items you buy off of CL.
Either they are 100% or not at all authentic.

Has he filed a claim through Amazon, if so you should process through Amazon, so you have proof that it was done. Just don't go sending checks out.
I do not see you getting shut down, unless you have had other issues with the account.
Just refund the money, and go forward.
If the Amazon account is in good standing, then why risk losing it over $200.

This is my account. My dad does not use this account what so ever. I don't care if he is some teenager who saved up any amount of money. I offered a refund on it and he is now trying to extort money money from me. I then learned the headphones were broken, A refund 3 month later on broken headphones?, Give me a break. If he was worried they were ⊗⊗⊗⊗ he should have returned them when they were working 3 months ago. If it goes to small claims which I think is highly unlikely I probably would win and it would be over with.

Also the fact amazon won't take him seriously either, I probably shouldn't and neither should anyone els.

Another thing is how in the world can you even sue an amazon seller.

Jhonsan and pham guys threaten you but never follow up I have read on here.

You're being very, very immature about this. I suppose some lessons have to be learned the hard way.

If they are not genuine, it is 1000% your fault that you sold them. How dare you put the onus back on him? He should have known better? WOW.

You won't win if it goes to small claims because the item is not genuine. Why would you even think about letting it get this far?!?

He is trying to extort money from me and has already lied to me many times. Harrassed me and called me 37 times in a row. Me immature?. Are you kidding me. You actually want me to take this idiot seriously?.

And who cares if it goes to small claims. What am I out. 150$?. Less then he is trying to extort from me.

Another thing is how in the world can you even sue an amazon seller. Amazon does not give out your name or any other thing information about you. This kid doesnt even have the package anymore I sent the headphones in. I don't even know how he would even go about this.

You're not looking at the bigger picture.

You'll be out the money, plus his filing fee, plus the amount of time it takes for court, plus the fact that now you're on the radar to practically everyone in the area for selling products that are not genuine. I'm not sure if you're aware, but that is a criminal offense.


Perhaps you think you don't deserve this treatment.... Have you considered the consequences of your actions? What's your risk reward scenario? Best case scenario you save face and 200 bucks? Worst case scenario you go to prison?

Why are you asking for help and being overly critical of everyone's advice?

How can you sue an amazon seller? BABABAHAHAHAHAH... you think you're protected under the veil of Amazons legal department?

In America, anyone can be sued at any time for ANY reason.

Refund. Move on. Don't escalate it.

If these were phake, then I'd refund.


If these are real, I'd call his legal threat bluff and ignore him. I would make sure the last message states that you will be cutting off communications with him because of the harassment. It's passed the 3 month time frame for amazon to do anything about it. Make sure your return policy is stated somewhere if this turns into a legal issue. By the description of the buyer, it doesn't look like he will do anything. I've received a few legal threats in the past, nothing came out of it.

I see. Thanks for your input furious George. and guantum. The problem is I don't know if they were ⊗⊗⊗⊗ are not. They certainly the best ⊗⊗⊗⊗ I had ever seen if they were.

I am trying to find the best action under these facts.

He does not know my name.
He didn't tell his parents he bought these on his moms amazon account?.
He doesn't know exactly where I live.
He called me 37 times. Seems he's overcompensating for feeling powerless
THE AMAZON ACCOUNT IS UNDER A ⊗⊗⊗⊗ ADDRESS and MY FATHERS NAME
He Has my phone number.

And How in the world would everyone Now think I sell counterfeits in the area. Isnt this a private matter that is civil and isnt connected to police or anyone els's records?. Thanks

From what you stated earlier about mailing $200.00 or else, sounds like extortion to me. Second, 37 calls sounds like harassment to me. Texas law states that if you tell the other party to stop harassing after the first-time and they continue, then you have the right to prosecute. Keep in mind that's for Texas. Third, if you had a clear return policy, I don't see any good reason why he's crying about something 3 months after the purchase. If they were ⊗⊗⊗⊗, that's something that would have been identified and communicated within the first month of purchase.

By the way, 200 dollars is hard work for some people. That's one whole day of work for me on the job.

200$ is hard work yes. Also I know it might be harassment but in the case they were ⊗⊗⊗⊗. You honestly can never be to sure with craigslist. I might be able to get into trouble.

I think the stress you are trying to convey here is not needed honestly.

He sold ONE item for $200... and you think he will be sent to jail?
If that was the case, do you not think the prison system would be overflowing, and not to mention the amount of MORE law enforcement the country would need.

The buyer does not have any information on this seller, nor does he have any concrete evidence that these are ⊗⊗⊗⊗, and he is just a child.

Really... calm down.
This buyer is just blowing hot air & like i said before, if he was genuinely worried about the ⊗⊗⊗⊗ he could return it to get a refund but simply throwing your toys out the pram and threatening a person is not the way to solve a problem.

The buyer really has no leg to stand on waiting 3 months to complain about a ⊗⊗⊗⊗.
If we all just simply refunded buyers when they claimed ⊗⊗⊗⊗ i am sure most people would be out of business.

LOL i would have changed my phone number by now... or atleast put it off off for a while...

It might not be prison, sure. I think he needs to understand the consequences of his actions. I'm sure this is the only pair of beats by dre headphones he's been selling that are "99%" genuine....

If it really is extortion, I wouldn't honor the request. It sounds to me like the buyer just wants a refund. The OP already said they are 99% genuine - which means 100% not genuine.

They both sound like children to me.

Agree to refund him half, or something. Workout the situation. If the buyer is threatening to sue and lives right up the road from you and you're selling knockoffs..... come on guys. Walk away.

Worst case scenario: buyer decides to send the item to Monster after informing them that he bought a phake from you. Then you never know when an undercover will try to buy one from you ... and just like that, they have all the evidence they need ^_^

I looked up the scenario and "monster" isn't associated with beats by dre anymore. This is probably why those jhonsan and pham don't represent them anymore.

I have never seen Beats by dr. dre go after anyone. They just don't bother.

I heard dr dre owns the rights now and is the highest payed rapper just for the fact he sells the headphones. He is still raking in so much cash it's stupid and he doesn't seem to care.

Also here is what happened in detail. I offered him a refund 5 times. And instead of taking it he kept demanding me to tell him if they were ⊗⊗⊗⊗ or not. He then told me if I don't send him 270$ he will report me to amazon and sue me and "make sure I never sell anything online for the rest of my life". I then explained that I had financial issues to and would need 2-3 weeks to get 270$. He then said just send me 200$ now and you can keep your business. I said I would pay 200 in 2 weeks because I dont have any extra money to spend. He said fine.

I Only said 2 weeks so I can get my funds out.

Regardless of who is in the right this kid is living in the wrong. What a little asshole.

I was thinking ok Thats cool. id be out only 80$ if I resell them after verifying they are real and this will be over with. He then tells me the speaker makes funny sounds after I asked if they were blown. ( I send a notice claiming I don't cover blown speakers with any headphones I ship in the package. I Have had someone try to return blown speakers in the past). now I realize, yes. These speakers are blown. He also told me the left side of where the B is, is melted... wth?.

Does he want to return these because he thinks there ⊗⊗⊗⊗ or what I wrote above. Not only did he expect to return them without a problem he wanted 270$ from me. What a joke.

That is obviously extortion. Just issue him the original refund and be done with him.
You have already run the risk for your account.

Stop communicating with him and take this as a warning.

Make sure your items are authentic.

Just issue him a refund and move on...

You sold him probable ⊗⊗⊗⊗, which was daft on your part, but he is now trying to export you. A worse crime IMO.

Refund, block, move on.

Next time make sure what you sell is real

he needs to get rid of this guy by being polite and refunding him ..remember buyer knows his account and will hurt if seller list any thing in future (real or phake wont matter, he will buy, complain left feedback, open a-z etc) ... we have all being in situation where we do stuff which we hate to do .. just to save our accounts..

refund him, your account is worth a lot more

you seem to be completely missing the point and yes, you do seem to be very immature.

The only question is are these phake. If he can prove they are then what are you going to do? he might be bluffing about the small claims court and he might be bluffing about going to amazon. But if he is not and you have sold phake beats headphones under your dads name with a bank account attached then yes, you could be in trouble.

The question is not about the amount of time or if they are broke, it is are they real. Saying you do not know if they are genuine is not a good enough answer. FInd out if they are genuine. If they are tell him where to go, if they are not refund him or face the possibility of amazon and legal repercussions.

Did you really think you could come here, pretty much tell people you are selling phakes (i dont know if they are real=phake) and then expect everyone to feel sorry for you?

Ok I don't like to assume things right away but from reading this it seems like they are phake. And it seems that you most likely either knew this or had your doubts about them being real.

If this is the type of business you are in then you should know your products in and out.

Regardless, if you had your doubts about the item you should not be trying to sell them to anybody; infact you should not have bought these headhphones off craigslist if you weren't sure to begin with.

Just like you might be upset that you might "lose" $200, imagine how upset the other person is that he just lost "200" Who knows how many hours he had to work for that money.

The only option in a situation like this is to DO WHAT's RIGHT

edit--HI Bosslay, lol hahaha

To the OP: It doesn't matter if Beats changed owner again and again. I know that Beats still has a legal team somewhere. I don't know if the current legal team is jhonsan and pham or another legal team. But Beats still has a legal team with someone.

And it doesn't matter if the Beats rapper owner has a zillion dollars and raking more in. He still is the owner of the brand and can do whatever he wants with it. He is the legal owner of the brand even with his zillions of dollars.

Don't underestimate jhonsan and pham, they are one of the largest copy right legal firms in the US and the world and one of the nastiest legals firms out there. Most of there so called threats are just that, threats. They go after people who they see fit to go after but don't underestimate them, they still go after small time people like you. Even if you sold 1 "99% authentic" item under a company that they have a contract with, you broke the law and can be sued within the statue of limitations.

You can still be sued after 3 months if it still falls within the statue of limitations time frame (check with your local state on that). Don't think that Amazon and their mighty legal team will help you out because they wont. That legal team if there to help out Amazon and Amazon only. To them you are nothing but a independent seller or "independent contractor" with no rights.

The buyer can sue you in small claims court. The only thing the buyer was to do is get a subpoena from the court to subpoena Amazon for your info. Under law Amazon has to give that info to the buyer. Since "your dad's" account with a fa-ke address but real name has a SSN attached. The buyer can still find "you" (your dad) if he decides to subpoena The Social Security Administration.

In the states of FL, NV, and CA, lawyers can not enter into small claims court. I don't know if every state in the US is like that but those 3 I know for sure. I have sued over 10 people in those 3 states in small claims. So the buyer has to do everything himself but the buyer can still get info on how to proceed from a lawyer, just lawyers cant not get involved in small claims cases.

And the only person who can walk into small claims court is your dad, who is living in China, hahahaha. I wonder what he will think when he gets a notice to appear in court and wonders if its worth to fly an entire day to get to court. If he doesn't show up, the buyer wins by default. I won 3 of those cases in small claims.

Now some info on me, Yes, I have sold some 99% authentic items, including the beats that you sold to the buyer. I completely knew they where "99% authentic". I got into some trouble, lost some good accounts, and moved on. Lesson learned but thankfully no law suits. I now enjoy being 100% authentic with my items.

PS. I would actually just refund the buyer on grounds that your account has your dad's SSN attached (don't get your dad into trouble) and that he only lives 20 minutes from you. So much easier to find you. Good luck...

P.S. again, To OP-Can I get the phone number of your buyer so that I can help him out.

If are authentic headphones meet him in person in the police station, but if are not originals, you better refund him.

I decided what I am going to do. First off beats by dre does not have a legal team that enforces anything right now. There are no reports online for the last 3 years and those reports are slim to none.

2nd if my dad is ordered to go to small claims and loses no big deal. 200$ I will give him I have much better odds of nothing happening and not spending a dime. My dad Owes the IRS over what they estimated is a million dollars and it's been this way for about 10 years. So he doesn't give a **** about his credit.

3rd off I said they looked 99% but I meant 100% lol. just a phrase.

4th If he pulls buyer fraud on this account I will just let the account sit 4 6 months and switch to my previous account until he goes away. Doubt that would happen, sounds like a kid stealing money from his parents.

I see this as pretty open and shut case right here. Just ignore the buyer after 2 weeks. he can't do anything.

Maybe change my number. Get him off my back to.

Oh boy
:faint:

Thread closed.

You made your bed.

If there are consequences, take legal advise to resolve them.

Avoid this forum as a conduit for poor business practices.
:peace: