Edward Babbitt (providencerhodeisland.ri) - NOT RECOMMENDED

I sent it through business.

Yes, PayPal offers buyer protection when payment is made through "Pay for goods or services".

You can file a dispute in the Resolution Center, I believe. I have not needed to do this thus far so I, personally, cannot provide any more information on it.

Best of luck.

Thank you. I will look into it and contact them. Much appreciated!

If you sent the money as a payment and not friends and family paypal usually refunds your money if you file a claim and the item hasn't been shipped. They will ask the seller to provide a tracking number for proof of shipment and when he can't do that they refund your money.

Thank you, Julia. After reading you comment I filed a dispute/claim with PayPal and will see how it goes.

Hopefully people looking to purchase future animals from him through Fauna (and Kingsnake.com where he also places ads) will search his name through this BOI forum first and discover it's best to avoid doing business with him.

Thought I'd post an update on this. Wait until you see this!!!

I filed a dispute through PayPal on May 13, 2016 and never heard anything (from PayPal or Edward Babbitt). I "escalated" the dispute to a claim through Paypal on May 24, 2016 which I assume means PayPal will step in to hopefully help resolve the issue.

On Friday, May 27, 2016 I received the below texts from Edward Babbitt. Basically this guy tells me he found the snake and after I say I'm only interested in him refunding me the remaining $200.00 he owes me, he says he will AFTER he sells the snake at a reduced price! So in order for him to ever pay me back, he has to sell the snake!?!?! Mind boggling!

So perhaps I'm shooting myself in the foot by posting this in case his ad pops up soon and someone searches his name on this BOI forum. Obviously I want my money back but not if he's gonna rip off someone else in order to pay me back. Seems pretty shady, especially due to the timing of me escalating the PayPal claim and him telling me he suddenly found the snake 3 days later.

Here are the texts between us...

Originally Posted by sbreeden

Here is my experience with Edward Babbitt (providencerhodeisland.ri) who posted an ad selling a Carlson Snow Rosy Boa on Feb 29, 2016. The ad is here:

http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/foru...d.php?t=566874

I contacted him via PM on March 2nd to inquire about the animal. He gave me some background info about it, how he would ship it and how to work out the payment ($350) over the course of a few back and forth emails, all on March 3rd. I decided to purchase the snake and Paypal'd the money to him on March 3rd.

He removed his ad for this snake from Kingsnake.com and revised his Fauna ad to say SOLD. He even mentioned in one of the comments below his ad that the snake was sold and shipping to California (where I live) on Monday, March 7th. I emailed him on March 7th to confirm shipment. As I'm sure you predicted, this is where it all goes wrong...

He writes back on March 8th saying the rosy boa (a full-grown adult, by the way) "escaped during my girlfriend doing water bowls" while he was at work. We all know how SLOW rosy boas are so while I was skeptical I gave him the benefit of doubt. He offered to "put the money back into the Paypal account in the morning" (March 9th) for which I thanked him.

March 10th - there is no money. I call him and to he tells me he was still hoping to find the snake and I'll have the money soon.

March 12th - there's money in my Paypal! But it's only $100. But why? In his notes he states "sending the other $250 now, just used the $100 balance in the paypal account"

So basically he spent some of the Paypal money before sending me the snake that escaped and can't be found. And now he owes me $250.

I have a couple phone conversations with him and basically he says he's strapped for cash and needs more time to pay me back. Sounds like he's being honest (otherwise why answer my phone calls?) so I give him more time. And more time.

On March 28th he's able to send me $50 more through Paypal. Now we're down to $200 he owes me.

I call him once each week to find out what's up with the money. He either tells me he'll send it soon or needs more time, it changes with each phone call.

On April 12th he tells me to send him another Paypal request for $50 so he'll see it in his email and be reminded of it. I do. He doesn't send it.

On April 18th I text him for the latest update. He responds saying "Payroll is put in, I'll send money tomorrow after work". He doesn't.

I called him early last week. He answered saying his boss was arrested and if I was there I'd understand why he can't pay me back. He assures me he will though (with interest even!).

I call him again on April 29th and he says he will send the money in 15 MINUTES!!! Could it be true? Nope!

I last emailed him on May 2nd asking what happened and saying I didn't appreciate him brushing me off with the 15 minutes line. He hasn't responded.

On March 25th I told him (via text) I was going to post a BOI thread about him ripping me off and he asked for more time but understood if I did. I gave him more time and didn't post anything... actually I tried to in the comments under the original ad on March 24th but the administrator removed it since it was more for this BOI forum. So here we are now and I will alert him about this thread.

The whole point of this is to just tread with caution if you see him posting ads in the near future and are interested in the animal he's selling. All this makes one wonder if the rosy boa ever escaped in the first place since he clearly needs money to pay bills. Like I said, I called him out for ripping me off but after talking to him on the phone multiple times it seems like he's having a difficult time in life. Most of us have been there at some point or another so we'll see how it all plays out.

I did view his previous ads/posts and comments dating back a few years before agreeing to buy the snake and he seemed like a decent guy. Kinda funny how things change over such a short period of time. Hopefully he'll end up being a man of his word and refund the remaining $200 he still owes me.

I tried to give the benefit of the doubt as you did, until April 12th. Wonder if he has to tell the landlord or mortgage company to "remind" him to pay his bill.

I have had to dispute items with Paypal before. Do not back down on the claim; if he cannot prove that he shipped anything (he didn't, so he can't) Paypal will go after him for the funds and deduct them from his account automatically. I think if he has no money in his paypal and no bank account linked to it, it can get tricky, but usually Paypal gets your money back.

Also, did you send the Paypal funds using a credit card? If so, you can tell your credit card company what happened and they will get your money back. Credit card companies tend to be quicker than Paypal in my experience.

Regardless of what he says, do not cancel the PayPal claim. They are your best chance of getting your money back.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yeah, I don't intend to cancel the claim. PayPal has given him a June 3rd deadline to respond. I'm not sure what the next step(s) will be if he doesn't respond, but I have a feeling I'm gonna find out soon!