Re: Another eBay cautionary tale

I have found eBay and PayPal completely and utterly useless on a small fraud I experienced. I've got + 95 transactions from high end guitars to a car. If you can't get a telephone number from the seller so you can decide whether you need to ask him questions, I would be more than careful. A 'history' of auctions and feedback means a lot but they need to be spaced over a period of months, not weeks with $2-3 auctions and 'great feedback' (usually from pals).

Bruce from Baltimore wrote:

John Youngblood <jyoungblood_95448etc@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in
news:080820051312481075%jyoungblood_95448etc@xxxxxxxxx: 



In article <1123499918.971306.279480@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Hamish <donotusethis@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:



Hi:

Just browsing eBay the other week and was attracted by the BRAND NEW
MARTIN ERIC CLAPTON ACOUSTIC GUITAR as per
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7336611347

Looks nice. But: hold on, there's something not quite right about the
advert. I decided against even thinking about bidding. I sent my
concerns to the winner who has just replied:

"Hi, Thank for your help, you were right the 00028EC Guitar auction
was a hoax and he was a fraudster, he was also bidding on the item as
well which was not picked up by ebay either. I think I've got sorted
it but he got away with some money using his paypal account and by
using funds in other auctions which I find so strange. I paid with
credit card through paypal which means I was fully insured so I'm not
at loss. Paypal were so slow to act when I contacted them, they
wouldnt do anything until 10 days elasped which was plenty of time
for him use his credit on ebay and then to do a runner. But no matter
it's between Visa and Paypal as to who's at loss. Anyway thank you so
much for your email it was very much appreciated. Regards"

So there y'go. Here are a couple of the aspects which didn't feel
right:

* new seller - no track record
* high value item
* photos were lifter from another website (i.e. not the actual
owner's own pictures)
* spoof "questions" from interested bidders. Note the similar style
of bad grammar, spelling, etc. Also the questions which were designed
to demonstrate the seller's honesty.

Of course the seller is now no longer listed. But the man behind the
scam and others like him are still out there.

--
Hamish



Good post Hamish. Very useful information. I would add one more
"rule" to apply before bidding which I like and that is to email the
seller before bidding on anything of value. I've found that you can
tell a huge amount about the seller from the grammer and spelling, not
to mention the story itself. If its a real human being you will know
that after reading 3 sentences, surprisingly enough. Additionally, I have a good record, and I know that I would be
ready to absorb some charges to maintain that. So a seller with a %100
positive record is likewise going to be anxious to keep that clean
record. Its a very powerful motivation as the feedback translates
directly to future auction income, in my opinion. So I would advise to
not only look for a track record, but also to bear in mind that a %100
positive record for more than 20 transactions indicates a pretty high
level of responsibility. Not fool proof, of course, but that person
will have had to make some accommodations to keep that record for that
number of auctions. I've had very good luck with the system bearing
these considerations in mind.

John Youngblood

John Youngblood




I just had a similar thing happen on Ebay. I have been looking for an
amplifier, so I thought I would check on Ebay for amps within 100 miles
of my home; in that way, I figured, I would have an advantage because I
could pick it up in person and save on shipping, allowing me to possibly
bid higher than the next guy (who may have to pay 45 - 50 dollars US to
ship).

So, I win an auction; contact the seller and propose to pick it up in
person and pay with cash (actual green stuff). No, he replies, he will
only accept PayPal and ship the amp.

Thanks, but no thanks. I suspected the seller was running some kind of
scam using PayPal, and it sounds like he may have been doing the same
thing you describe. Glad I walked away from the transaction.

-Bruce from Baltimore


.

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