Gold Hopper (40 count!!!)

[Katers]

I was lucky enough to be at table 20 in the Gremlins section and got a gold hopper! As awesome as that is, the story goes south from there =\

4-5 months ago I fell into some really rough financial times and sold my Hopper on eBay. It was packaged in a stack, wrapped in bubble wrap, inside a small box, which was also wrapped in bubblwrap and in a larger 3rd box. I also fully insured the shipment.

The buyer messages me after it arrives claiming it was damaged. They sent pics and it was literally a scratch/cut across the LE40 sticker. That damage was literally impossible the way I packaged it, especially since the shipping boxes had no damage to them either. The guy said he wanted his money back and I assured him one way or another I’d take care of him. He decided he wanted to try filing the insurance claim on his end first. After 30 days it was denied. I wanted to try again on my end but he refused to send more pictures and said he refused to wait any longer. I contacted Ebay immediately and they told me since it’s after their 30-day guarantee, the buyer would have to work with me or be stuck with the item. The next morning I woke up to an email from PayPal saying the buyer opened a claim that the item was “drastically different than what was ordered”. They immediately took the sale amount out of my account, putting me at a negative balance. I sent all of my evidence and our conversations, yet PayPal still sided with the buyer. He immediately got his money back and I got an email saying they notified the buyer to return the item, but due to consumer protection laws they cannot guarantee it’s return. I contacted the buyer via email and he literally told me he refused to send it back despite having his money back. PayPal told me all I can do is hire a small claims attorney if I ever want the item or the money back.

Soooo yeah, I got scammed out of my beloved Gold Hopper Lesson learned, never sell a high value item on eBay or through PayPal and never trust a buyer you don’t know.

I'm so sorry to hear how spectacularly South this went for you. This is truly a nightmare scenario! Really hoping you are able to win in small claims court against this jerk.

Thanks to this cautionary tale, I've now learned how to block a buyer on ebay. Good info to know!

[deetran24]

Selling grails off eBay is challenging because of these bad apples!

[Kickinittt]

Thank you everybody for your kind words of support and for the pointers some of you gave! I’m definitely taking him to small claims, but I’m going to look into the attorney general thing and how I can have charges pressed on this guy for fraud and blatant theft.

On a happier note, I got through on the general sale and will be seeing a bunch of you at Freaky Tiki Fundays! The last time I was this happy was Fundays last year! Lol ^___^ I’m beyond excited!

[JJLecaros]

wow that sucks.

[YeetGrimes]

Thank you everybody for your kind words of support and for the pointers some of you gave! I’m definitely taking him to small claims, but I’m going to look into the attorney general thing and how I can have charges pressed on this guy for fraud and blatant theft.

On a happier note, I got through on the general sale and will be seeing a bunch of you at Freaky Tiki Fundays! The last time I was this happy was Fundays last year! Lol ^___^ I’m beyond excited!

That's so awesome! Can't wait to see you there!

[Joshua1117]

Not a huge fan.

[supertoygiant]

Thank you everybody for your kind words of support and for the pointers some of you gave! I’m definitely taking him to small claims, but I’m going to look into the attorney general thing and how I can have charges pressed on this guy for fraud and blatant theft.

On a happier note, I got through on the general sale and will be seeing a bunch of you at Freaky Tiki Fundays! The last time I was this happy was Fundays last year! Lol ^___^ I’m beyond excited!

Great news!!! hope to see you there!! Fundays does have a tendency to make people very happy!

[millone]

Cautionary tale. I'll definitely think twice about putting high-end items on eBay. People can be so dishonest and scandalous!

Yeah and too many ways to get scammed. Sorry to hear about this story

[Cephus]

I posted it above ^^^. Lol just noticed you’ve got nearly the same exact name as me O___o

I’m really sorry that happened to you. Does the buyer live close to anyone you know? I always thought that a buyer had to send back the purchase in order to get a refund. This buyer got the money back and got to keep the extremely rare and expensive purchase? What a nightmare for the seller.

Unfortunately since it was through PayPal that they filed their claim, they didn’t have to send the item back before getting their refund. Paypal literally told me they can’t guarantee or oversee the return of my item =\ So yeah, sadly they did get their money back and still have my Hopper

That's where you file a lawsuit.

[Mantheharp00n]

I’m really sorry that happened to you. Does the buyer live close to anyone you know? I always thought that a buyer had to send back the purchase in order to get a refund. This buyer got the money back and got to keep the extremely rare and expensive purchase? What a nightmare for the seller.

Unfortunately since it was through PayPal that they filed their claim, they didn’t have to send the item back before getting their refund. Paypal literally told me they can’t guarantee or oversee the return of my item =\ So yeah, sadly they did get their money back and still have my Hopper

That's where you file a lawsuit.

I’d lawyer up to at that point.

[Popfanatics]

I was lucky enough to be at table 20 in the Gremlins section and got a gold hopper! As awesome as that is, the story goes south from there =\

4-5 months ago I fell into some really rough financial times and sold my Hopper on eBay. It was packaged in a stack, wrapped in bubble wrap, inside a small box, which was also wrapped in bubblwrap and in a larger 3rd box. I also fully insured the shipment.

The buyer messages me after it arrives claiming it was damaged. They sent pics and it was literally a scratch/cut across the LE40 sticker. That damage was literally impossible the way I packaged it, especially since the shipping boxes had no damage to them either. The guy said he wanted his money back and I assured him one way or another I’d take care of him. He decided he wanted to try filing the insurance claim on his end first. After 30 days it was denied. I wanted to try again on my end but he refused to send more pictures and said he refused to wait any longer. I contacted Ebay immediately and they told me since it’s after their 30-day guarantee, the buyer would have to work with me or be stuck with the item. The next morning I woke up to an email from PayPal saying the buyer opened a claim that the item was “drastically different than what was ordered”. They immediately took the sale amount out of my account, putting me at a negative balance. I sent all of my evidence and our conversations, yet PayPal still sided with the buyer. He immediately got his money back and I got an email saying they notified the buyer to return the item, but due to consumer protection laws they cannot guarantee it’s return. I contacted the buyer via email and he literally told me he refused to send it back despite having his money back. PayPal told me all I can do is hire a small claims attorney if I ever want the item or the money back.

Soooo yeah, I got scammed out of my beloved Gold Hopper Lesson learned, never sell a high value item on eBay or through PayPal and never trust a buyer you don’t know.

Horrible...so sorry this happened

[FunkoAlphaBravo]

One of the holy grails I hope to one day get!

[PopPChulo]

I’m really sorry that happened to you. Does the buyer live close to anyone you know? I always thought that a buyer had to send back the purchase in order to get a refund. This buyer got the money back and got to keep the extremely rare and expensive purchase? What a nightmare for the seller.

Unfortunately since it was through PayPal that they filed their claim, they didn’t have to send the item back before getting their refund. Paypal literally told me they can’t guarantee or oversee the return of my item =\ So yeah, sadly they did get their money back and still have my Hopper

That's where you file a lawsuit.

Even small claims court if necessary tbh. Hate to hear things like this happening to collectors.

[cptsailor]

Thank you everybody for your kind words of support and for the pointers some of you gave! I’m definitely taking him to small claims, but I’m going to look into the attorney general thing and how I can have charges pressed on this guy for fraud and blatant theft.

On a happier note, I got through on the general sale and will be seeing a bunch of you at Freaky Tiki Fundays! The last time I was this happy was Fundays last year! Lol ^___^ I’m beyond excited!

Hope everything works out for you and to see you at Fundays! Good luck!!

[Mantheharp00n]

Thank you everybody for your kind words of support and for the pointers some of you gave! I’m definitely taking him to small claims, but I’m going to look into the attorney general thing and how I can have charges pressed on this guy for fraud and blatant theft.

On a happier note, I got through on the general sale and will be seeing a bunch of you at Freaky Tiki Fundays! The last time I was this happy was Fundays last year! Lol ^___^ I’m beyond excited!

Good for you man. That’s really messed up what he did to you.

[FredKruger]

Thank you everybody for your kind words of support and for the pointers some of you gave! I’m definitely taking him to small claims, but I’m going to look into the attorney general thing and how I can have charges pressed on this guy for fraud and blatant theft.

On a happier note, I got through on the general sale and will be seeing a bunch of you at Freaky Tiki Fundays! The last time I was this happy was Fundays last year! Lol ^___^ I’m beyond excited!

Wow, horrible story. I can't fathom how PayPal would do that, makes me rethink using Ebay at all if there is no protection for the seller at all, that's a joke. I'd almost contact Ebay again about it, cant imagine they would let their "customers" take a hit like that. And what a scumbag that guy is.

On a side not, got denied again for fundays, so enjoy, I'm sure will be a great time, and hopefully consolation for this fiasco. Maybe I can finally get in next year, and Funko can get rid of the flipper horde that attends every year as a large portion of the attendees. SMH, but that's another story.

Sorry again to hear this, that's worst case scenario for a high value pop. Honestly, the guy prob planned to do that from the beginning, and that's the prob. Ebay is rolling out their own version of PayPal, and I'd hope that is a new feature.

[FredKruger]

Unfortunately since it was through PayPal that they filed their claim, they didn’t have to send the item back before getting their refund. Paypal literally told me they can’t guarantee or oversee the return of my item =\ So yeah, sadly they did get their money back and still have my Hopper

That's where you file a lawsuit.

Even small claims court if necessary tbh. Hate to hear things like this happening to collectors.

Alternatively, you could have immediately withdrawn the money from PayPal, put in your bank, and file fraud if anyone tries to touch it once in bank. Crazy, the scammers out there these days.

[Mantheharp00n]

That's where you file a lawsuit.

Even small claims court if necessary tbh. Hate to hear things like this happening to collectors.

Alternatively, you could have immediately withdrawn the money from PayPal, put in your bank, and file fraud if anyone tries to touch it once in bank. Crazy, the scammers out there these days.

That’s true to.

[rexflexall]

What a bad experience!

[anime23]

I was lucky enough to be at table 20 in the Gremlins section and got a gold hopper! As awesome as that is, the story goes south from there =\

4-5 months ago I fell into some really rough financial times and sold my Hopper on eBay. It was packaged in a stack, wrapped in bubble wrap, inside a small box, which was also wrapped in bubblwrap and in a larger 3rd box. I also fully insured the shipment.

The buyer messages me after it arrives claiming it was damaged. They sent pics and it was literally a scratch/cut across the LE40 sticker. That damage was literally impossible the way I packaged it, especially since the shipping boxes had no damage to them either. The guy said he wanted his money back and I assured him one way or another I’d take care of him. He decided he wanted to try filing the insurance claim on his end first. After 30 days it was denied. I wanted to try again on my end but he refused to send more pictures and said he refused to wait any longer. I contacted Ebay immediately and they told me since it’s after their 30-day guarantee, the buyer would have to work with me or be stuck with the item. The next morning I woke up to an email from PayPal saying the buyer opened a claim that the item was “drastically different than what was ordered”. They immediately took the sale amount out of my account, putting me at a negative balance. I sent all of my evidence and our conversations, yet PayPal still sided with the buyer. He immediately got his money back and I got an email saying they notified the buyer to return the item, but due to consumer protection laws they cannot guarantee it’s return. I contacted the buyer via email and he literally told me he refused to send it back despite having his money back. PayPal told me all I can do is hire a small claims attorney if I ever want the item or the money back.

Soooo yeah, I got scammed out of my beloved Gold Hopper Lesson learned, never sell a high value item on eBay or through PayPal and never trust a buyer you don’t know.

I have never heard of paypal doing that. I thought it all had to go through eBay. Now I have heard of eBay doing that but I thought wants the said its past the 30 days that is it.

Well that’s exactly what Paypal did. It was outside of ebay’s 30-day policy so they went through PayPal which has a 180-day policy. They ruled in his favor and literally in my email stating they sided with the buyer it says they cannot guarantee the return of my item due to “consumer protection laws”. The moment they filed the claim the funds were taken out of my PayPal account and the moment they ruled in his favor they dispersed it back to him.

That's so crappy. I hope you do take him to court. You have pictures of what it looked like when you packed it? I am not sure how you prevent something like this from happening outside of removing your bank account after a big purchase. Seems drastic though. Paypal needs a better claim procedure.

[Thepopninja]

I seen a few fake gold hoppers out on the ebay market already... Thats why we cant have nice things.

[Pop_A_Razzi]

To my Knowledge there are only 39 because, i saw someone make a video smahing him to bits, i almost cried and threw up !! i was so upset !! meanwhile i am the biggest stranger things Fan and would have traded a kidney for it

[YeetGrimes]

To my Knowledge there are only 39 because, i saw someone make a video smahing him to bits, i almost cried and threw up !! i was so upset !! meanwhile i am the biggest stranger things Fan and would have traded a kidney for it

NO WAY! Oh my goodness, I hope that was fake!

[A-Okay]

Some people are just predatory and opportunistic. I was so troubled to hear about this gold hopper ebay fiasco. Definitely a cautionary tale. I don't know how these people sleep at night.

[Pop_A_Razzi]

To my Knowledge there are only 39 because, i saw someone make a video smahing him to bits, i almost cried and threw up !! i was so upset !! meanwhile i am the biggest stranger things Fan and would have traded a kidney for it

NO WAY! Oh my goodness, I hope that was fake!

Nope It was really !!! and it was so sad !! i might have shed a tear

[Fugly16]

To my Knowledge there are only 39 because, i saw someone make a video smahing him to bits, i almost cried and threw up !! i was so upset !! meanwhile i am the biggest stranger things Fan and would have traded a kidney for it

NO WAY! Oh my goodness, I hope that was fake!

Nope It was really !!! and it was so sad !! i might have shed a tear

[Pop_A_Razzi]

NO WAY! Oh my goodness, I hope that was fake!

Nope It was really !!! and it was so sad !! i might have shed a tear

im not sure i may have PTSD all i rmeber is the guy stepping on it like 50 times and everyone laughing like crazy ... it was on a loop and i couldnt stop watching ............