Monday, January 02, 2006

eBay Warning

Ever wonder why someone always bids higher than you on eBay? Well, if you're contacted by the seller the next day, the seller probably bid against you.
Unscupulous sellers on eBay often bid against you and themselves, guaranteeing that your bid will never be high enough.

The next day they contact you with some concocted story. It could be that the winning bidder backed out, or that they have an identical item that they could sell to you for a special price. Since you already know how much the item went for, you might be tricked into thinking that the item really went for that much, which makes you think that you're getting a good deal.

If you go for this side-deal offer, you'll either get a highly overpriced item, or nothing. Either way, you lose.

Never make side deals with eBay sellers. You have some amount of protection if you make your transactions through eBay.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

This concerns me alot after reading it. Seems like everyone you talk to today is into doing the E-Bay site..I for one have never ventured into it much...and with this articleI just read....I will probably not ...in the future...certainly an issue to be concerned about..Thanks for the insight.

Anonymous said...

I have to say, as a Police Officer for thirty years, and now a Private Investigator, I find this posting to show a lack of responsibility, and...in fact...to be incorrect.
E-Bay has a "Second Cnahce Offer" program that is utilized by many responsible and honest sellers (some of whom I know personally).
It is legitimate and often useful.

I really suggest you know your facts before posting incorrect information. I would hope your clients receive better information.
If you don't believe me....feel free to ask E-Bay for some stats.
Take care.

Skipp Porteous said...

I don't usually respond to anyone who posts anonymously, because there is no way of knowing who or what they claim to be.
However, in the interest of safe-buying on eBay, I'll say this, you can have a safe-buying experience on eBay if you follow the rules and are careful. If you look at the rules for buyers, under "Offers to buy and sell outside of eBay," it says that they prohibit sellers from "Offering to sell duplicate or additional items outside of eBay."
This is exactly where the scams begin.
(Skipp Porteous)

Anonymous said...

I cannot thank you enough skipp for posting this vital peice of information as I am guessing there are thousands of others who get swindled on ebay everyday. I had bid for a motor cycle Honda CBR f4i (Item#: 4605455884) that just kept going up in price. Eventually, I gave up at $3,800.00, only to have the seller contact me the next day saying, and I quote “The ex winner had some problems and couldn't handle the situation (he told me something about his daughter being sick), so following eBay's suggestion, I've contacted you this way.” I proceeded to give him my “eBay ID and full name and address” as he had requested, and since he offered to handle shipping (total distance of 117miles). I then started to notice little red flags like different names used John Martin in private email and Denis Martin in listing. The main red flag was a pseudo ebay web page he sent to me with a link confirm@ebay-safety-deals.com to give him all payment information including credit card number. I never heard from him again when I requested he should have someone contact me by phone, either the shippers (from the bike location) or someone from ebay. BE CAREFUL OUT THERE!!!

Anonymous said...

It's not just the buyers, but the sellers who get ripped off. A friend sold an expensive item on eBay, and was paid in full. The buyer then contacted the seller, and requested a refund within the allotted time frame. The seller agreed to this, and after receiving the item back, sent a refund. Only later to find that the item had been replaced with a fake copy of the original sold. So both side need to be careful. Scams run in both directions.

Anonymous said...

Well thanks for the helpful advice, however as an e-bay user I recommend to anybody using it to check the seller out first; by reading feedback comments that have been left by other e-bay members this will tell you as the potential buyer how trusted they are, also be sure to check what percentage they have(making close Note to any Negative feedback, if they have any).
Also you should do some further research on the item and know what the rrp of it would be otherwise u could get ripped off that way..But bottom-line is Never bid higher than you are willing to pay, then you can't go wrong.

Anonymous said...

Have you had a bad experience with ebay urself?

Skipp Porteous said...

I bid on a certain radio from Radio Shack on eBay a couple of years ago. I was willing to pay $45, but ended up getting it for$14. I was willing to lose $45, but being a private investigator, I investigated the seller first, and called him on the phone and questioned him. A con artist still could have conned me, though.
My rule on eBay is, "Never spend more than you're willing to lose."

Anonymous said...

I just got scamed through looking at 2'nd hand cars on ebay..I found a bargain,all is ok,dut seller says must contact a email name,click,comes the story,only asks for full name & address ,I do this,then some days later I am congratulated on winner etc,etc, square trade send me stuff etc,etc,..I send cash W.U.8000AU$ to ireland,all looks ok,I'then receve mail claiming to be FBI ????I'm buggered mate,,because I am a novice & a lot to learn you would think with all their teco,they could have done something sooner as this scam was on local ebay for 3 days

Timothy A. Logsdon said...

I have recieved items that did not match the description in the auction. A "titanium" part was actually a steel/titanium alloy, and what was advertised as new hardwood grips were actually used plastic grips. A "instruction manual" turned out to be a couple photocopied pages. Fortunately, I didn't pay very much for the items, so they weren't worth sending back. The only bad feedback that I've gotten was in response to when I left feedback with a more accurate description of one of the items that the seller was selling a bunch of. If you use paypal, you should be very careful about the words that you use, and if you or your business deals in products that may not be acceptable to paypal's acceptable use policy (which changes all the time), then they may decide to freeze your account and seize all of the money in your account. My friend Rick Celata, the owner of KT Ordnance, who produces parts and tools that make it easier for people to build their own firearms, but does not sell firearms themselves, was the target of paypal because he deals in firearms related products that paypal decided were unacceptable to them. Paypal seized all $2000 that were in his paypal account, and have refused to work with him or let him have any of his money back, which has harmed his business.

Anonymous said...

eBay are losing the war against fraud. Spoof emails, shill bidding, hijacked accounts, hijacked listings. The list is endless and they appear to have lost control. Then we have the pending law suits all contributing to falling share prices. They are in huge trouble with only more to follow. My advice as a former Banker and Financial consultant: If you have shares sell NOW.
Just an opinion.

Anonymous said...

As an Ebay customer for several years who has been watching the decline I can say:
Yes--there are honest people
However, since the rise of Ebay so many people are using these, for lack of a better word, "Scam" techniques to boost their business.

Ebay definately has sellers who:
Bid for their own items
Won't give you feedback until you leave positive feedback for them first, even though you the buyer paid in advance for an item you did not see!
Use Ebay Policy to hide behind their bad practices
Since Ebay gives mostly canned response e-mail, it's nearly impossible to make a complaint.
The resolution--it's really not.
I got ripped off and Ebay protected the seller.
It opened my eyes and I'm very disappointed and looking for a new venue to shop--Amazon.com has excellent ethics as far as I'm concerned.

Anonymous said...

I have been cheated on ebay as well. Here is my story:

First of all, please excuse if I make some mistakes, I'm from Holland.

Please read this and you will see it's not only in America or Asia cheaters make money! This cheater from France does know how it works very well!
I got cheated by ebay seller marie.amelie. She cheated on me for about $1000. Because she was lying all the time I have send her an email and told her I would listen this item with pictures etc to show other ebayers how she cheats.
This I wrote in my eBay ad and to the cheating seller:

AS A TOY COLLECTOR, A TOSCHI FERRARI TOY CAR WAS OFFERED TO ME BY SELLER MARIE.AMELIE, AUCTION NUMBER 320000438315. I COULD BUY IT FROM HER IF I WANTED WITH THE BUY IT NOW OPTION. WE AGREED A PRICE ON IT AND I PAID HER (STUPID MISTAKE), BUT SHE DID NOT END THE AUCTION OR MADE IT A BUY IT NOW AUCTION. SHE LET THE AUCTION RUN IT'S FULL COURSE AND SOLD THE CAR TO HIGH BIDDER. IN THE MEAN TIME SHE DID NOT RESPOND MY E-MAIL'S. I HAVE SEND HER SEVERAL E-MAIL'S ASKING FOR MY CAR AND FINALLY SHE REPLIED WITH A TRACKING #. WHEN I FINALLY GOT THE CAR IT WAS COMPLETELY DIFFERENT FROM THE CAR SHE HAD FOR AUCTION. IT WAS REPAINTED AND IN VERY BAD CONDITION WITH PARTS MISSING. AS I CONTACTED HER ABOUT THIS SHE SAYS: THE CAR IS NOT REPAINTED AND IT'S THE CAR FROM EBAY. I CONFRONTED HER WITH THE PHOTO'S BUT SHE STILL TOLD ME IT'S THE ONE FROM EBAY. SO I CONTACTED THIS PERSON WHO WAS HIGH BIDDER AND WHEN HE FINALLY GOT THE CAR HE HAS BID ON, HE WROTE ME, HE GOT A REPAINTED CAR IN BAD CONDITION WITH MISSING PARTS! AS I CONTACTED HER AGAIN ABOUT THIS SEVERAL TIMES SHE NO LONGER RESPONDS ON ALL MY E-MAIL'S. THAT'S HOW CHEATING ON EBAY WORKS! I HAVE MARKED THE CAR SHE HAD ON EBAY WITH AN "EBAY" IN MY PHOTO'S AND THE ONE SHE SEND ME WITH A "B". ON THE LAST PART FROM THE PHOTO'S YOU SEE THE CAR THIS GERMAN BUYER GOT. ALTHOUGH I HAVE CONFRONTED HER WITH ALL THESE PHOTO'S SHE STILL TELLS ME: NO, IT'S ALL ORIGINAL, NO REPAINT! WELL MARIE.AMELIE, LET ME TELL YOU ONE THING:
A) AN ORIGINAL CAR HAS THE DECALS FROM FERRARI ON THE HOOD AND BOTH SIDES OF THE CAR
B) AN ORIGINAL CAR HAS NO PAINT DUST ON THE CHROME PARTS
C) AN ORIGINAL CAR HAS NO PAINT DROPS ALL OVER THE CAR
D) AN ORIGINAL CAR HAS THE DECALS ON THE RIGHT PLACE ON THE DASHBOARD
E) AN ORIGINAL CAR CAME WITH THE WIND UP MOTOR
F) AN ORIGINAL CAR DOES NOT HAVE REMAKE WINDSHIELD SUPPORTS
G) AN ORIGINAL CAR HAS THE EXHAUST PIPES ON THE RIGHT PLACE
H) AN ORIGINAL CAR HAS NO DUST IN THE PAINT
I) AN ORIGINAL CAR HAS THE CHROME PARTS ORIGINAL RIVETTED AND NOT HAMMERED
In this link you can see the pictures: (((ROR REDACTED LINK FOR SECURITY PURPOSES))) For those interested, I have a lot of close-up pictures from it.

As I wrote before, I wrote this cheater I would list the car with the auction # and her eBay name marie.amelie and all the pictures to prove what I say is true but she is very ignorant and did not respond. So I listed it and what a surprise, after 1 day eBay cancelled my auction. I have noticed it many times on eBay, they only protect the seller. But eBay forgets one thing, what's the use of a seller if there is no buyer? Even after I wrote eBay, this seller uses shill bidding in all her auctions that don't have a buy it now option, she still can deal on eBay. Just check out the bidding records from her (past) auctions, almost every time the same name with 0 or a few feedbacks!

THIS IS A WARNING TO ALL EBAY BUYERS AND SELLERS, PLEASE BE CAREFULL WITH THIS SELLER marie.amelie AND OTHER CHEATING SELLERS!!

For those who want to write her and tell her your thoughts about cheating (she understands English) please go ahead!

Btw, I can't help it if someone out there bids on all her (buy it now) items so she feels how I got cheated for $1.000 and leave her negative feedback..... On the other hand marie.amelie, payback time!
MARIE.AMELIE
Address:
75 CH. COLLETTE,
CAGNES SUR MER France 06800
France
Phone Number:
0033-610471269

Anonymous said...

I Got Scamed SECOND CHANCE OFFER--
after I got out bid, the next day I got a second chance offer, looked like from ebay. I agreed to take the deal, and followed the fake e bay deal word for word.It had me wire cash to a ebay rep.gave his name and address so I did this to the tune of 7,000.00. (so stupid)
Come to find out the e-mails were fake along with the second chance.
The email invoices that were from
the crooks looked absolutely real.
Beware of second chance offers and never wire western union to anyone on e bay, use paypal or wire transfer BEWARE!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Gday,

I am a volunteer worker for Scaminators. A group which tracks down and destroys scammers, normally using unconventional methods to stop the scammer ripping ppl off because the authorities dont really care.

just post your scam to the website, you might get lucky and get some money back.

Yes this is an ad i suppose(sorry!), but its for a not-for-profit group which just wants to kill scammers and cheaters....

www.scaminators.org