Beware MA-shops.com: Protect corrupt vendor but not scam victim
This company is a numismatic website that that represents a variety of different shops selling their coins. One particular vendor called Barakat Gallery (probably the Hong Kong location) has a storefront on this secondary website called ma-shops.com They sell a variety of antique items, but on this specific portal, they sell coins. I purchased an item at a value of nearly $500 in late April. This was via PayPal. I waited and attempted to contact them via the MA shops platform as they do not disclose the vendors contact information. Approximately two months later (late June), I received an email stating that they were having problems with accessing their shop, possibly due to war, but would ship out the purchased items a week later. This email was sent by Taher Barakat identified as manager of the Hong Kong Barakat Gallery. I waited three weeks and at the end of July I contacted them with zero response. I reached out to support at MA-shops.com. They could not contact the vendor despite continuously representing them on their website. Their only recommendation was to ask for a refund or file a dispute with PayPal. I did this, and PayPal said it was not eligible for either. They left me high and dry. Apparently the cash recipient was identified as Raed Shweki (different from listed seller Taher Barakat). I was left with no recourse despite attempts to contact both and MA-shops.com, despite hosting their shop, has failed to offer any realistic solutions or reimbursement despite clearly profiting from the transaction