Paypal Orders Buyer of Violin To Destroy It For a Refund 362
An anonymous reader writes "Erica was once the owner of an old violin that had survived through WWII, and decided to sell it on Ebay for $2500. The person who bought it decided it was a counterfeit and wanted his money back. Paypal decided to honor the request for a refund on the condition that the buyer destroy the violin and provided photographic evidence of the destruction. Couldn't he have just returned it?" Sounds like a hoax to me, but I guess it's possible.
Re:"Photographic Evidence"? (Score:5, Funny)
They'd be able to tell from the pixels.
Re:Sounds Like a Hoax Right Up Until You Read the (Score:5, Funny)
You know what this is? (Score:5, Funny)
It's the world's smallest violin, playing just for... DAMMIT, PAYPAL!
Re:Sounds Like a Hoax Right Up Until You Read the (Score:5, Funny)
Smashing idea! Simply smashing!
Re:News? (Score:1, Funny)
destroy an irreplaceable piece of history
Well, it is quite replaceable, just buy a violin and wait. Voila, an old violin. Personally I don't really see why anything old has an excessive value beyond its use.
this Stradivarius is fake! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Sounds Like a Hoax Right Up Until You Read the (Score:3, Funny)
Sounds more like a fiddle to me.
Re:Sounds Like a Hoax Right Up Until You Read the (Score:2, Funny)
PayPal may also require you to destroy the item and to provide evidence of its destruction.
This sounds like a job for Pete Townsend.
Happened here too. Careful with the batteries. (Score:4, Funny)
Same thing happened here. I bought a "used" iPod Nano off eBay for a good price, which had normal looking pictures of a genuine model taken out of the box. When it came in the mail... it was a different color, quite a bit larger, and when I turned it on a horribly pixelated screen showed the Apple logo and the text "HELLO" below it. Right.
I disputed the payment and got my refund from Paypal, and they asked that I destroy the iPod clone and take pictures. I proceeded to clamp it in my bench vise and saw it in half with a hacksaw, while my girlfriend took pictures of the process. Well, I struck the battery with the hacksaw - smoke and fire ensued. Once it died down and I had aired the smoke out of my basement, I finished sawing the now burnt and discolored iPod clone in half.
I'm pretty sure those pictures are thumbtacked to someone's cubicle wall at Paypal now.
Playing the furniture (Score:5, Funny)
Yet somehow they can identify antique furniture without playing it. It is more than just sound to prove provenance.
Ah, the fools! I always play the sofa and end cushions before making a purchase. Always, I tell you!
Re:Sounds Like a Hoax Right Up Until You Read the (Score:4, Funny)
Zombieland, the girls did it with a ring in the gas station.
Two girls, one ring?
Re:News? (Score:5, Funny)
The people in the Chrysler don't need to climb out of the car. The car is perfectly fine, and is ready to drive away with minor cosmetic damage.
It's true, the people that were in the Chrysler have flown out through the windshield, leaving you free to drive their car away.
Re:Sounds Like a Hoax Right Up Until You Read the (Score:4, Funny)
1. But $100 violin, then claim it's a fake
2. Buy $5 violin, smash it up, send photo to PayPal
3. Profit!
Pfft, 95 bucks profit. That's chicken feed. Here's a better business plan
1. Buy $5 violin. Smash it up
2. Exhibit the debris at an art gallery, under a fancy name like "Postmodern deconstruction 7"
3. Buy drinks to an art critic until he writes an article about "the latest development in modern art" and quotes you as a founder of the new movement
4. Sell the debris for one million bucks
Yes, I just visited the local modern art museum, why do you ask?