Cancelled Bids

[Trius]

Recently I've put marker bids on two auctions (M bodies) that have had all bids cancelled (I wasn't the high bidder on either items) ... one was relisted or had the bidding restarted, the other simply cancelled. The curious thing is, both auctions are from the same seller; I don't notice any change in the item description, but of course I didn't keep copies of the original.

Other than changing the description for accuracy, what other "valid" reasons would there be to re-list an item? The seller has a 98.7% feedback rating with 229 feedback comments. Not the best, I admit, but no negative feedback in the last 12 months, and the one negative feedback listed was pretty forcefully refuted by the seller.

 

[Trius]

OK, this gets curiouser and curiouser. Tonight in my email I get this, from the same seller:

If you are interested in my offer please reply me at my work email address: moco@the-power-seller.com I have a Leica Leitz M3 Camera body (#220039431734) for sale. The price is US$350 fixed price including all shipping fees. If you are interested in my offer please reply me at my work email address: moco@the-power-seller.com


Leica Leitz M3 Camera body - Working- Good cond. N/R
Current bid: US $0.01 (0 bids) (Approximately C $0.01)
Shipping: US $12.00
End date: Oct-29-06 09:30:15 PST

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I've included the seller/email because I can't help but think this is some sort of scam. "Fixed price" of $350 but the auction ended at $384 for an M3? And all bids for the relisting on the same day?

 

[tmessenger]

Ask the sell for his address and that you want to pick it up in person, smoke him out.

Tim

 

[colyn]

Smells like a scam to me... 😱

Any transaction outside of ebay or paypal (if payment used) is a loss since they won't be able to help you if you get scammed.

 

[aad]

My theory-they put up an auction (maybe with a hijacked I.D.) and collect bidders who have interest-cancel the auction-then see who bites on a direct off-line offer.

 

[physiognomy]

I'd stay well away... I recently got numerous emails (inc. one that looked like an ebay 2nd chance offer) from a seller (or someone pretending to be that seller) stating that the high bidder of an item I put a low bid on pulled out & I could purchase it. My bid was mentioned, but it wasn't explicitly stated that it would be the purchase price... No matter how good the deal seems it would just not be worth the headache if you were sold a dud or nothing turned up.

Peter

 

[JohnM]

As someone who has had some auctions blown up lately, I can tell you it is most likely a scam one way or another.

I tried to auction a Canon 35/1.4L - a pretty pricey lens. I had to abandon the idea because every winning bid was from a hacked account. Ebay was usually about a week behind the hijacker, cancelling their bids long after the auction was over. I had to give up.

My wife and I auctioned off an expensive baby stroller that we no longer needed - someone won and she came and picked it up. (About $500.) For two weeks afterwards, I was getting emails from people who either thought they bought the stroller via a second-chance offer or who wanted to ask about my second-chance offer - I had made no offers, some scammer had just opened a hotmail account with a similar name and made off with at least $700 people had sent him.

I think any high-dollar auction is a target these days.

 

[jpbob100]

Yeah, I think I hear the scam alarm ringing.😱

 

[Trius]

I had no intention of winning this auction, and after the weird cancelled bids and email, absolutely no intention of placing any more bids, responding, etc.

Thanks guys!

 

[Flyfisher Tom]

OK, this gets curiouser and curiouser. Tonight in my email I get this, from the same seller:

If you are interested in my offer please reply me at my work email address: moco@the-power-seller.com I have a Leica Leitz M3 Camera body (#220039431734) for sale. The price is US$350 fixed price including all shipping fees. If you are interested in my offer please reply me at my work email address: moco@the-power-seller.com

I'm no fan of ebay, but this is a clear violation of ebay rules on his part. You might want to consider reporting him.

Overall, his record is relatively poor, his recent listing history is odd, and he wants to sell you something off-ebay so you can't have recourse to complain. I'd steer away if I were you 🙂

 

[Flyfisher Tom]

My wife and I auctioned off an expensive baby stroller that we no longer needed - someone won and she came and picked it up. (About $500.) For two weeks afterwards, I was getting emails from people who either thought they bought the stroller via a second-chance offer or who wanted to ask about my second-chance offer - I had made no offers, some scammer had just opened a hotmail account with a similar name and made off with at least $700 people had sent him.

I think any high-dollar auction is a target these days.

John, it is not an ideal solution, but you might want to consider keeping the bidders list private on your next listing. It is precisely to prevent fraudsters from lifting your bidders' names and offering them fake Second Chance Offers using your good name.

Like I said, not an ideal solution, as some bidders erroneously think that private bidders lists are suspect. But that is what it is there for, to protect the bidders' privacy .

Lesser of two evils I guess.

 

[mfunnell]

I received a very similar e-mail from the same guy. (I just trawled through my trash to check.) I just wrote it off along with all the other scam-spam I started receiving the moment I did something with e-bay.

...Mike