FRAUDS COMMITTED ON ETSY AND PAYPAL

Hello;
I noticed that ThePeppermintTree is one of EE team members and I wanted to warn you about this buyer and seller. I do not want for her to take advantage of other Etsy buyers and sellers on your team.
This particular individual used to be a buyer on Etsy by the name of BrenBooneDesigns. She is now operating under a new username: ThePeppermintTree.

On February 13, she purchased one of my items for almost $50. On February 2011, she wrote positive feedback for me that she had received this item and was very happy with it. Soon afterwards, I wrote positive feedback for her because she had paid for this item in a timely manner and had written what seemed to be genuine positive feedback. I strongly regret giving her positive feedback now, but unfortunately it is too late.

On April 2011, I received an email from PayPal saying that this buyer claimed that she had never made this purchase and that someone was using her credit card in fraud for this item. Soon afterwards, I received an email from PayPal saying that the buyer's credit card company had reversed the charges and that I was being withheld the $50.I tried contacting her 3 different times regarding this problem and never got a reply. I noticed shortly after receiving the PayPal emails that she no longer had a shop under the user name of BrenBooneDesigns. I have 3 pieces of evidence against her:
1. I have a copy of the original transaction
2. I have a copy of the postal receipt
3. I have her positive feedback as part of my feedback history in my store.

PayPal said that it could take up to 75 days for the buyer's credit card company to make a final decision whether to rule in her or my favor.
Today, May 20, I received an email from PayPal saying that the credit card company decided to rule in her favor, despite all the evidence that I had produced against her.

She has a Facebook page under Bren Boone Designs:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bren-Boone-Designs/108984765808666
on this page, she has linked it to her new Etsy shop that she just opened on May 13, 2011: ThePeppermintTree.

I can't help but wonder why her original account, BrenBooneDesigns, was suddenly removed from Etsy. I have now noticed that her new shop, ThePeppermintTree, is "on vacation." It seems suspect to me that if she just opened this shop on May 13, that she would be putting her shop on hold this soon afterwards. It also makes me wonder because her last sold item was on May 19, 9 days ago.

I would be happy to send you copies of the transaction, the original positive feedback, etc as evidence. I also have the various PayPal emails saved.
If she did this to me, I'm pretty sure that she has probably tried doing this to other Etsy sellers as well.

Beware of this person!
Please contact me with any questions or additional information that you might have regarding this individual.

I simply feel like this person has probably gotten away with her unethical practices too many times.

I actually did call PayPal and spoke to someone very nice. But he told me that PP was not the one to make the final decision...it is up to the buyer's credit card company. They said they didn't want to become "involved" in this incident, yet was going to charge me a $20 fee just for intervening. Fortunately the guy must have felt somewhat sorry for me because he waived that fee (since the total amount was only about $50). But I was less than happy with the way PP dealt with this.

I have tried contacting Etsy several times about this buyer but never get a reply other than their generic email saying that a "real person" will contact me asap. Not so!

I have a feeling that she is a real con artist. Often times people who suddenly disappear from Etsy and then come back with a different user name are suspect. And that is exactly what she did.

I have not mentioned her name in any of my FB pages, blog, etc. And I don't want to get in trouble with Etsy for "calling out" and possible retaliation from this particular individual.

But I'm very glad to hear that you have taken this seriously, because Etsy and PayPal certainly have not.

I've tried contacting Etsy several times regarding this person but have not gotten anywhere with them. My first email to them was over a week ago. I sent them another one a few days ago and absolutely nothing.
I find that all these comment on her FB page about welcoming her to the EE team were strange and suspect.

Interestingly enough, when I search for her under "seller search" on Etsy, nothing comes up. I've only been able to link to her Etsy site via her FB fan page. Something very fishy is going on here.

This is VERY strange. Because earlier tonight she was a part of your team. Now she isn't. This is really bizarre.

Now this is really strange ...I found just about all of the comments from other EE team members welcoming her have just been deleted! We both saw all the comments, but now they are gone (at least I can't see them).

Something very strange is going on here.

Yes, she used to have another shop on Etsy by the name of BrenBooneDesigns. That one is no longer in existence. I noticed that she quit that shop soon after she filed that false claim to me via PayPal.

She also has a personal FB page:
http://www.facebook.com/btaylorboone

I didn't find much info here (unless you become a friend, I think most of it is hidden). But that is her personal site and she also has a blog.

**Anonymous** The victim have asked not to have her name or etsy id exposed due to fear of retaliation from the con artist.
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Online Scams- Protect Yourself

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TEAM CHALLENGE 3: 10 MINUTE TREASURY CHALLENGE

10 minute treasury challenge:

Create an EE Team treasury within ten minutes using EE team members products! In this challenge you will choose whatever products your eyes are drawn to first to include in your treasury.

1. In a new tab, search for the words "eeteam" and/or "etsy entrepreneurs" for our team members items.

2. Select one or two items per page that your eyes are naturally drawn to. Feel free to skip pages, go back and forth, start from the end, etc. because there are tons of items! Since there is only 10 minutes there is little time to choose a theme, but if one happens that's amazing!

3. It's fine if it takes longer than 10 minutes; just try to do it as fast as you can.

4. Tag your treasury with 10 minute challenge, and ee team/etsy entrepreneur team.

5. Send a message to all members with your featured items to let them know they should check it out, share, and comment.

6. Post your treasury to the 10 minute challenge discussion as well as your twitter, facebook, and blogs for all to see!

Good luck!
When you are done, please post your finished treasury in this thread for other members to see, share, and click. Thank you for your participation!
http://www.etsy.com/teams/7978/etsy-entrepreneurs/discuss/7604729/

MARKETING OPPORTUNITIES FOR EXPOSURE, GETTING FEATURED, ETC...

Hello EE Team Members!

Did you know that we have a wonderful Team Blog filled with so many AMAZING and helpful information?!!!

Well, here is your chance to get increase exposure for your shop!

WHAT IS IT? Are you an expert on a topic or field of practice or craft? Well, here is your chance to get noticed! Share your wisdom, knowledge, and experiences with your fellow EE Team Members. We are always looking for members who wants to write articles for our blog. We read all articles and info before posting it, and combing through all of the not so important details. Our featured articles are well written, have a nice flow to it, easy to follow, informative, and packed full of knowledge.

WHAT'S IN IT FOR YOU? Just so you know, our team blog gets on average 100-200 views a day and on peak days, 600+ views a day. With people from all over the world viewing and reading our blog. In addition, with the majority of our traffic coming from Google, other websites, Social Networking sites, and numerous other blogs and search engines. That means that being on our blog will get your shop exposed much further than just in the realm of Etsy alone.
We always credit the author of the article. And if an article is written from an EE Team Member, we always attach your shop avatar with a link to your shop with the article. This is a great opportunity for those of you that don't have a blog to still get blog exposure!

HOW CAN YOU GET INVOLVED? Have a great topic that you want to share? Please let me know of your topic. Write your article within 1-2 weeks of getting the stamp of approval. Once you are done with your article, send me an email with the article to proof. I will also share the article proof with another leader/s on our team. Once everything looks good, it will get posted and you will be notified when it does get published. We are looking for many many good articles and contents. So there will be many features! Each author and article will be featured on different days. Our goal is to have at least 1 featured article each week.

WHAT DO WE LOOK FOR IN AN ARTICLE AND AUTHOR?
1. No noticeable grammatical errors. Hence we need to proof the article before posting. Nothing is perfect, so every now and then, a few small errors might slip by.
2. A good topic. One that is helpful and practical. Or one that is encouraging and uplifting. Anything to benefit our team, our members, and their businesses and/or life.
3. Please include pictures (if you can and if you have any pertaining to the topic written). Pictures are great because they tell a thousand words.
4. Please make sure that article submissions are topics that our members relate to. And we want to keep our current theme cohesive: business topics, business related, anything to save money and time, craft room decorations etc... Anything to make our lives more simple. Not sure about an idea or article?, feel free to convo or email us and discuss it with us Thanks.
5. A nice flow to the article. You don't have to be a professional writer. Just write from the heart.

Any other questions, please feel free to ask. Thanks and hopefully we will get many of you excited and willing to participate.
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