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Accidentally bought stolen camera off Ebay/Paypal

So I bought an expensive camera off Ebay. I recently saw a facebook post online about some stolen items and the serial number matches my camera that I bought.

The camera was listed on Ebay, I made the seller a cheaper offer if he let me pay outside of Ebay to bypass the ebay fee. I met with him in person and paid £4000 directly to him via PAYPAL using my credit card. I also paid £900 via bank transfer. The seller seems legit and going by his feedback does a lot of buying and selling of cameras. He must have bought it off the thief.

Obviously I had no idea it was stolen. I'm very angry as this was the biggest investment of my career so far.

I'm going to contact the original owner of course to return the camera, but I need some advice on how to proceed.

How would I get my money back? I can contact Paypal to get a refund for my £4000, it's still within 45 days since I got it, so hopefully I won't have any issues. The £900 via bank transfer, will I ever get back?

The guy who sold it to me gave me a receipt of the Ebay transaction saying how much I paid in full. I also have the email from Paypal saying I paid £4k to him.

Or do I get the police involved straight away?

Any idea how long it will take me to get my money back? I will struggle to pay my bills without the camera.....the sooner I get my cash back the sooner I can get a replacement camera that isn't stolen!!

Advice will be appreciated. Thanks!

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Well, by posting this online, you'd now be incriminating yourself for knowingly handling stolen goods by not reporting it to the police.
Reply 2
Original post by Anonymous
So I bought an expensive camera off Ebay. I recently saw a facebook post online about some stolen items and the serial number matches my camera that I bought.

The camera was listed on Ebay, I made the seller a cheaper offer if he let me pay outside of Ebay to bypass the ebay fee. I met with him in person and paid £4000 directly to him via PAYPAL using my credit card. I also paid £900 via bank transfer. The seller seems legit and going by his feedback does a lot of buying and selling of cameras. He must have bought it off the thief.

Obviously I had no idea it was stolen. I'm very angry as this was the biggest investment of my career so far.

I'm going to contact the original owner of course to return the camera, but I need some advice on how to proceed.

How would I get my money back? I can contact Paypal to get a refund for my £4000, it's still within 45 days since I got it, so hopefully I won't have any issues. The £900 via bank transfer, will I ever get back?

The guy who sold it to me gave me a receipt of the Ebay transaction saying how much I paid in full. I also have the email from Paypal saying I paid £4k to him.

Or do I get the police involved straight away?

Any idea how long it will take me to get my money back? I will struggle to pay my bills without the camera.....the sooner I get my cash back the sooner I can get a replacement camera that isn't stolen!!

Advice will be appreciated. Thanks!
Contact the police, and also eBay and PayPal. See if you can get the police in contact with them as well. I'm not sure what the bank would say, but with a bit of luck the police might be able to get your money back anyway. Well, a lot of luck. But still, if you want to do the right thing that's what you should do.
Reply 3
Original post by WoodyMKC
Well, by posting this online, you'd now be incriminating yourself for knowingly handling stolen goods by not reporting it to the police.



I've explained my situation and that I will be contacting the original owner/police, I'm just looking for advice on how to proceed.
A camera for £4000??????!!!

Why is it so expensive? Does that camera wash your dishes and do your homework for you too?
Original post by Anonymous
A camera for £4000??????!!!

Why is it so expensive? Does that camera wash your dishes and do your homework for you too?


That's what professional level equipment costs. This is the price you have to pay to never be able to say "this image would be better if my camera was better". Although it does seem strange that an illegitimate source is as expensive as a legitimate one.

Canon's 1 dx mk ii is one of the more expensive cameras on the market and you can get that for £3,800 or so. Obviously that aint cheap, but it's designed for professional photographers rather than hobbyists. Mine cost about 10% that amount and is pretty much fine for everything you can throw at it.
(edited 6 years ago)
Reply 6
£4900. It's a professional grade camera.

Anyways I have the receipt that the seller gave me, plus my paypal receipt. It's just the £900 that I bank transfered to the seller that is up to him to be honest. I know where he lives so if he doesn't refund it I can always threaten him lol.

I will contact the original owner, I'm sure they already have a police report open which should speed up me getting my refund I hope.

Cheers
I suspect the camera will now belong to the original owner's insurance company (assuming he or she had insurance). I think you will have to hope the seller was honest and will return the money without you having to get PayPal involved.

Depending on how you sent the seller the money via PayPal, they (PayPal) may be able to wriggle out of refunding you. I can't recall exactly the categories for sending money on PayPal, but I think there's an option you select when you're paying for goods, and one where you're simply sending money. If you go for the latter you may not benefit from PayPal buyer protection.
Original post by Sweyn Forkbeard
I suspect the camera will now belong to the original owner's insurance company (assuming he or she had insurance). I think you will have to hope the seller was honest and will return the money without you having to get PayPal involved.

Depending on how you sent the seller the money via PayPal, they (PayPal) may be able to wriggle out of refunding you. I can't recall exactly the categories for sending money on PayPal, but I think there's an option you select when you're paying for goods, and one where you're simply sending money. If you go for the latter you may not benefit from PayPal buyer protection.


This. You may have been better taking the Ebay fees given they tend to side with the buyer in disputes. Providing you sent the money as a purchase Paypal should hopefully side with you. The 900 is another matter. I think that will be up to him so talk to him and see what he says but I guess he'll be reluctant to put himself out a few ££££ given he's not getting the camera back.
I'd definitely contact ebay first. They usually handle these kinds of issues pretty well if given the proof.
By bypassing Ebay when purchasing the camera, I would assume you're denied any insurance/protection they can offer.

Paypal and the police my friend!
Reply 11
Original post by Anonymous
So I bought an expensive camera off Ebay. I recently saw a facebook post online about some stolen items and the serial number matches my camera that I bought.

The camera was listed on Ebay, I made the seller a cheaper offer if he let me pay outside of Ebay to bypass the ebay fee. I met with him in person and paid £4000 directly to him via PAYPAL using my credit card. I also paid £900 via bank transfer. The seller seems legit and going by his feedback does a lot of buying and selling of cameras. He must have bought it off the thief.

Obviously I had no idea it was stolen. I'm very angry as this was the biggest investment of my career so far.

I'm going to contact the original owner of course to return the camera, but I need some advice on how to proceed.

How would I get my money back? I can contact Paypal to get a refund for my £4000, it's still within 45 days since I got it, so hopefully I won't have any issues. The £900 via bank transfer, will I ever get back?

The guy who sold it to me gave me a receipt of the Ebay transaction saying how much I paid in full. I also have the email from Paypal saying I paid £4k to him.

Or do I get the police involved straight away?

Any idea how long it will take me to get my money back? I will struggle to pay my bills without the camera.....the sooner I get my cash back the sooner I can get a replacement camera that isn't stolen!!

Advice will be appreciated. Thanks!




it's extremely debatable if you'll get your money back, in many cases of stolen goods it just gets returned to the owner and the person who bought it is left out of pocket.

you've probably circumvented ebay's protection policy too by not doing things by the book.

why are they going to help you ..or even reimburse you if they are not obligated?


if we are talking about potentially being 4 or 5 grand out of pocket then I would pretend I hadn't seen the facebook post and just enjoy enjoy the camera that I had paid for. Too risky to risk "doing the right thing" imo, but if you go through with it, I admire your honesty.......
Original post by ANM775
it's extremely debatable if you'll get your money back, in many cases of stolen goods it just gets returned to the owner and the person who bought it is left out of pocket.

you've probably circumvented ebay's protection policy too by not doing things by the book.

why are they going to help you ..or even reimburse you if they are not obligated?


if we are talking about potentially being 4 or 5 grand out of pocket then I would pretend I hadn't seen the facebook post and just enjoy enjoy the camera that I had paid for. Too risky to risk "doing the right thing" imo, but if you go through with it, I admire your honesty.......

Too late, feds are probably on the way to OP's house right now.

LOL you done goofed.
Reply 13
Original post by King Leonidas
Too late, feds are probably on the way to OP's house right now.

LOL you done goofed.




only if the person who has had his camera stolen has somehow stumbled upon this anonymous post, and contacted the police to contact TSR to force it to release the posters IP address.
Original post by ANM775
only if the person who has had his camera stolen has somehow stumbled upon this anonymous post, and contacted the police to contact TSR to force it to release the posters IP address.

Very likely:holmes:

I was joking :getmecoat:
stop being a ***** just stfu and use the camera mind your own business don't worry if its stolen or not its not your problem
who gives a ****
(edited 6 years ago)
Original post by joseph aduli
stop being a ***** just stfu and use the camera mind your own business don't worry if its stolen or not its not your problem

Kind of is though....
Original post by Sweyn Forkbeard
I think you will have to hope the seller was honest


Unfortunately, by selling a stolen camera, he has given us a pretty good idea of whether that is true or not, but the Op should certainly as him for a refund. It may be his best hope, though a confiscation order by the courts seems a possibility.
you could have got that camera for free if he was stupid enough to do it away from ebay.

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