PlayerAuctions - Resolution Committee

I am posting this here to see what experiences other people have had with a bad trade on PA that was escalated to the Final Resolution Committee.


Here are the details:

I attempted to purchase 550m gold from PA today, and the seller claimed delivery without actually delivering any gold. I was at the prearranged meeting spot the entire time, and no other players even showed up, so I know this isn't a case of him accidentally trading the wrong user. I messaged him about this, gave him an additional 30 minutes to respond, and then disputed his delivery claim. He responded with a lie stating that he traded me the gold without hassle, and accused me of lying. I disputed this as well, and the claim has now been escalated to the Final Resolution Committee.

Has anyone had a similar experience to this one, and, if so, how did it turn out? Does the committee actually rigorously examine these cases, or does it seem more like a crap-shoot as to whether I will get my money properly refunded?

To date, I have completed 20 trades and spent over $5,900 purchasing RS items on the site (all with positive feedback), and this is the first time I've experienced a scam attempt there. I know that their decision is final, so nothing I say from here on out will affect the outcome, but the estimated wait time is 3 days for a decision, so I thought I'd see what experiences other people have had while I wait.

 

Im in a dispute myself at the moment over $400. The seller claimed full delivery without handing me the gold, and sent in fake photos of the trade. PA sent me the photos and they were totally false. The only thing that was right was the person he was trading actually had my name. However, it was obvious to tell that he was using a rsps because the new lumbridge teleport ring wasn't on his photo. Also, he told me to meet him world 7 lumbridge (f2p) and in his picture, there was a green star (task star) in lumbridge, which doesnt show up in f2p worlds. I disputed this yesterday, so I'll let you know what the final outcome actually is.

 

Thanks for the response. I am hopeful that they will be able to recognize falsified evidence, such as inconsistent screenshots like you mentioned, but it has me worried that they forwarded them to you as evidence without first catching those discrepancies.

Best of luck getting your case straightened, please do post back with the outcome.

 

Good luck explaining any of this stuff to PlayerAuctions. You'd be much better off finding someone who speaks Chinese to deal with them, as that is their native language. They have no idea what a Private Server is / means.

 

Lmfao playeruactions. Never use that crap, ever.

 

Thanks for the insight R2Pleasant. I guess I had never given it much thought as to how they actually protect a buyer from situations such as this, and I simply bought into the hype that PA is the safest way to trade (seems that is mostly for the seller). If the person scamming is exceptionally skilled with Photoshop, then I don't see a way to prove your case as a buyer.

 

Unfortunately PA is ignorant in some areas.

 

I was the seller before and I sold this guy 2 Habbo Thrones for $40 and the buyer claimed I didn't deliver to try scam me, but I had recorded the whole trade with Hypercam so I sent it to PA and I won my case 3 days later.

 

Yeah, basically you can't do anything if he has "legit" proof about trade, best scenario is to find "fake" details at the picture and then redispute like amlyle0099 did.

Next time don't buy large amounts of GP from new members/low feedback sellers.

 

Thanks again everyone for the input/advice.

Update:

I have received two emails so far from the "Manual Arbitrators".

I won't go into too many details until they have resolved the case, but so far the seller has not provided any video or screenshot evidence of the transaction that he is claiming took place, and instead simply insists that I am lying and that he will "take this case a lot further if I have to". I am pretty surprised that he is attempting a scam like this without the ability to fake any evidence, and I am even more surprised that PA is still taking him seriously. He even mixed up his lies by first claiming that he sold and delivered 550m to me, and then that he sold and delivered 400m to me, yet PA forwards me this ridiculous mess of an argument from him as if they think he has a legitimate case.

I was left with no further instructions on what I should do next or what the next step in their process will be. The state of the case remains at "Dispute Pending Seller Evidence", as it has for over 2.5 days now.

 

I am yet to see a case where the Seller has not provided screenshot/video proof, and yet still wins the case. The only instance I could ever see this happening would be if PlayerAuctions already sent the disbursement to the Seller, and realized they had no way of recovering the funds. In this specific circumstance, I could see PA doing what they always do, and covering their own asses by denying you the dispute.

However, by the way you've described this trade, and through my knowledge of the PA system, there is no way they already sent the disbursement to the seller. Right now they have the full amount of $ in their hands. They will be upset about losing the commission on this order, and in the case of a PowerSeller, they would debit them the commission fees. This being a new seller, they likely have no collateral with them, and will not be able to recover the commission fee. This means that they have incentive for the deal to go through, but I still don't see the Seller winning without evidence.

 

After sending in my pictures proving he was using a private server, they contacted the seller and asked for more proof. Im guessing that he didn't try to lie anymore, because today I was refunded back my $400.

Just to show that PA do try to settle each case fairly and accurately. I, myself, was quite impressed.

 

That is a good point R2P, as they "strongly urged" me in both emails to try to contact the seller and work out the deal, despite his insistence that he already delivered the gold. The money hasn't been disbursed to the seller yet either. They probably have realized that he hasn't given me the gold, but they are waiting as long as possible to refund me in the hopes that the seller will eventually honor his end of the deal.

I'm glad to hear that your case was successfully resolved amylyle, and that they do handle these cases with some prudence when possible. Hopefully I will have similar results here shortly.

 

Update:

Thankfully, the dispute has been settled in my favor and I will be receiving a refund soon with $3.00 deducted as a penalty fee. It's a little hard to feel grateful when they held my money for nearly 7 days without receiving any proof of delivery from the seller, and then made me pick up the fee, but it's better than being completely scammed.

Lesson learned. Thanks everyone for your input.