I want to share an interesting purchase. I saw a Razer Raiju on Ebay for £18. Surely a scam, no? I decided to buy it anyway, on a pure spur of the moment - absolutely moronic thing to do and I accept that. A couple days later, I notice the user is no longer registered. I call Ebay (not contact by mail, nothing will get done) and they said they were suspended under security concerns. Basically, they've 100% assured me that I can get my money back since it was through paypal. If I don't receive it by Monday, easy refund. If I do receive it, dodgy deal. I suspect they were either fake and I won't receive anything, at which time i'll get a refund or they've gotten ahold of them ahem.. "From the back of a truck". From experts here, if I actually receive anything and they are possibly stolen, can I be accused of anything here since I bought it fair and square?
You wouldn't be accused of anything, however, if the goods are proven to be stolen, then the police can seize the goods and return them to the rightful owner. At that point, you will be out of pocket and nothing to show for it. It's unlikely to pan out that way as the original owner would need to come forward and offer unequivocal proof. Being the cautious type though, I'd not even go through the bother of it. Return to sender anything that arrives and just get your money back.
I can't see how you'd get in trouble even if they were stolen goods. At the end of the day, if eBay genuinely suspected dodgy dealings they would refund you immediately and either contact the relevant courier to intercept or ask you to send it to wherever they send swag/evidence/contraband. The onus is on the seller to ensure all goods are legitimate and legal and eBay to enforce those rules, to skip past them and put any punishment on you would be pretty poor on the behalf of the law.
If it's through paypal and there wasn't anything obviously odd/suspicious about the item other than the low price I don't think there is really an issue. Things sell cheaply on ebay all the time for all sorts of reasons. People don't always know the value of the things they own. If ebay/paypal have concerns if this surely their responsibility to deal with the situation, refund you and help the police recover the item, which would be okay assuming you cooperate and you wouldn't lose out monetarily because paypal would still be obliged to refund you. If it's not worth the potential hassle then it would be reasonable to bail out under the "if it seems to good to be true..." rule but I can't foresee any major negative outcome. If it is a scam aimed at you then the seller will probably try to go outside of ebay/paypal at some point down the line, at which point it is obviously time to walk away.
The police won't accuse you of anything. It would be seen that you bought something in good faith. If you get it and it turns out to be stolen then depending on if bought from a private seller you would argue the seller had no title to sell the goods as they do not belong to them so the seller must refund you. The same can be said if bought from a trader to be fair. We all know that eBay and PayPal side with the buyer either way and you will get a refund anyway, and thats even if it isn't delivered or turns out to be a fake.
That's basically what I hoped. If it's a fake or nothing is delivered, I get a refund either way and if it's real, I got a £140 controller for £18.
