Current eBay scam?

[defektive]

Just a heads up for anyone buying on eBay. I have recently been perusing the bay and found several Leica items for sale with a starting bid of less than $1 but when you look at the description the item is offered at a buy it now of $1800. The items advertised are worth well over $1800 so I sent an email on a 35 'lux and received an email back asking for my registered address so the seller could register the sale with eBay for 'both party's protection'. I sent a follow up email (without giving any of my details) asking the seller why they didn't use the normal buy it now procedure and haven't heard anything since - that was several days ago.

I thought I would let you people know as I have noticed more items listed in a similar way since. The items seem to be listed by a different seller each time so I think their eBay identities are being stolen and used by the scammer. The contact email address given in the description by the scammer changes too but the wording and font seem to always be the same and the price is always $1800. The deal always looks too good to be true.

I apologise if I am wrong and it is all legit but it looks dodgy to
me.

Sam

 

[randolph45]

so did you notify Ebay of your suspicions?

 

[Pastor Chris]

Ihave seen this kind of thing several times, always by a different seller. These are frequently listed with a single stock photo. A few months ago there were multiple listings exactly like this for white Leica M8s. I have also seen images pirated from legitimate listings for this purpose. Just report it to eBay as someone offering to sell outside of eBay and they have always removed the listings. You have to keep on top of it though because they will just try it again under another username. I wonder how many times this is sucessful. Caveat emptor.

 

[Rogier]

Here is what I have learned the hard way :bang:

1. Alway's use the Ebay system as designed
2. Only communicate via the email feature within ebay
3. Use Paypal
4. Wait 24 hours before shipping 😱
5. Create shipping labels via Paypal or register the tracking number in the transaction!
6. Only ship with tracking and adult signature required.
7. Take lots of pictures of the goods while packing how its packaged and of the box from all sides with the label. I prefer to take the final shots on the counter of the shipping agent with my iPhone with the barcode visible.

• Extra caution if the buyer / seller doesn't communicate promptly.
• Back-off from any one who doesn't want to play by the rules (even if the rules suck..).
• Never accept a shipping label send by the buyer, you have no say over where and how the item is shipped 🙁

 

[Rogier]

Reason for waiting at least 24 hours after receiving the payment is that it takes at least overnight for banks to report to Paypall that the transaction was made with a stolen credit card!
Paypall will immediately reverse the transaction, taking the money out off your account :-(

 

[Brian Puccio]

I start many items for sale at $1 since the insertion fees are less. I often don't bother with a reserve since I know bidding will get it up to fair market value. However, I do offer a BiN price in the event someone is willing to give me a bit more money for the convenience of not having to bid and have a guaranteed sale. How is this a scam?

 

[deerstalkr]

I start many items for sale at $1 since the insertion fees are less. I often don't bother with a reserve since I know bidding will get it up to fair market value. However, I do offer a BiN price in the event someone is willing to give me a bit more money for the convenience of not having to bid and have a guaranteed sale. How is this a scam?

I believe there is a misunderstanding. Nobody is accusing you of scamming anybody, however there are people who list expensive items such as an M9 with a starting bid of below $1. Within the item description they mention the item is available for a buy it now price of $1500, however you must contact them via email and send the money via wire transfer. Since this occurs outside of eBay's system both parties are no longer protected by eBay.

I've seen the scam that defective mentioned, however the price was different but it is essentially the same scam.

 

[Todd Frederick]

After much searching I found an actual eBay Customer Service telephone number and called them about an issue yesterday. They were fast to respond and very helpful. The number is 866-540-3229. Hope this saves some time searching if you need to contact them quickly.

 

[sparrow6224]

There's currently a black Nikon SP with large version Nikkor 50/1.4 advertised this way -- under $1 start up with a stated $1800 price only in the narrative description-- a weirdly belligerent tone to the thing too.

 

[kshapero]

After much searching I found an actual eBay Customer Service telephone number and called them about an issue yesterday. They were fast to respond and very helpful. The number is 866-540-3229. Hope this saves some time searching if you need to contact them quickly.

Thanks on that one.

 

[defektive]

I believe there is a misunderstanding. Nobody is accusing you of scamming anybody, however there are people who list expensive items such as an M9 with a starting bid of below $1. Within the item description they mention the item is available for a buy it now price of $1500, however you must contact them via email and send the money via wire transfer. Since this occurs outside of eBay's system both parties are no longer protected by eBay.

I've seen the scam that defective mentioned, however the price was different but it is essentially the same scam.

Yes, this is correct. The listings I am talking about do not
use ebay's buy it now feature but invite the prospective purchaser to contact the seller outside of eBay. I didn't get as far as finding out how they were planning on relieving me of my hard earned.

 

[Brian Puccio]

I believe there is a misunderstanding. Nobody is accusing you of scamming anybody, however there are people who list expensive items such as an M9 with a starting bid of below $1. Within the item description they mention the item is available for a buy it now price of $1500, however you must contact them via email and send the money via wire transfer. Since this occurs outside of eBay's system both parties are no longer protected by eBay.

I've seen the scam that defective mentioned, however the price was different but it is essentially the same scam.

Ahhh, going outside the normal buying process, that's a scam, certainly. Thankfully, there's a "report item" link on every ebay page.

 

[huntjump]

I've been ebaying for 10 years. The scam is very obvious, but I suppose if you are new to ebay then it's not.

It basically goes like this, the scammer hacks a legitimate ebayers account and takes over their account. They list hundreds (or lets just say lots) of items, here we are talking leica at a low starting bid...mainly to gain the widest net of exposure. Often if you look at the hacked ebay account, they never even sold camera equipment but some other random item. In the description it tells you NOT TO BID. If that is ever the case, it is ALWAYS a scam. It directs you to an email address where a really great buy it now offer is presented. Leica M9s for $1800! wow! duh its a scam.

And just to clarify, I'm seeing scammers now actually place "BUY IT NOW" listings, but still direct you NOT to use that and go outside of ebay for a "5 minute response".

Ebay's pretty good about pulling them fast, the scammers though hope to sucker a few greedy Americans thinking that TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE deal is legit. Almost never is, stay inside ebay or dont buy.

 

[farlymac]

I actually won an auction that had a low opening bid, but an extremely high BIN. I even bid a fair amount, and was higher than a few others, but the kicker here is the seller removed the item for sale after the auction was over, saying it was no longer available. I complained to eBay, and got nowhere with them, so I decided to see what else the jerk had up for sale, and started tracking all his items. He did it three more times to other bidders. I never saw his moniker again, but I figure that he will most likely just sign-up again under a different name, and do it all over. Why eBay doesn't crack down on those types of deals I don't know.

But if you are leary of anything, just don't attempt to buy it. I look at the seller's ratings before I even think about putting an item on my watch list. Of course, at times, I'll watch an item just to see how badly someone gets taken.

PF

 

[colyn]

It basically goes like this, the scammer hacks a legitimate ebayers account and takes over their account.

Most accounts are not hacked. The user freely gives away his/her account information by answering phishing attack emails.. The scammer can then change the password to prevent the legitimate user from accessing the account..

 

[karlori]

Another one i saw was a Hasselblad SWC being sold for like 5$ but the shipping price was around 2000$... As I am searching for an xpan didn't really take too much time to document the auction for future reference.

 

[Richard C]

Nikon SP with large version Nikkor 50/1.4
Advert says the camera is from United States.
Seller info says he is located in China.
Can you do this?

 

[Steve M.]

Thanks for that phone number Todd. Once you get the folks on the phone they're USUALLY ok to deal with, but eBay definitely doesn't want people to call them, and they discourage any contact to customer service very efficiently. They are throughly coached to follow the company line though, so it can be very frustrating attempting to make them understand common sense things.

In over 10 years of eBaying I've seen and had a lot of issues there, mostly w/ buyers and ebay's rules. Sellers are usually better to deal w/ than eBay if you can go that route, but obviously on a scam that won't work. It's sad how the bean counters have ruined that auction site with all their ridiculous rules. The ebay check out process is just nuts, as it takes forever to get it done. If I go to amazon.com and buy something, it only takes a few mouse clicks. Once I get my gear sold I'm going to just occasionally buy there and do no more selling on their site.

 

[huntjump]

I mispoke saying hacked, but my point was was their account was taken over and some people look at the sellers feedback as the sole proof of legitimacy. Of course it is done by people giving away information, as it would be extremely difficult to hack an ebay account and with the number of accounts being taken over, it certainly is from phishing emails and such.

 

[Carterofmars]

If it looks too good to be true, rest assured, it is.

That scam has been going on for a while.

Another variation is asking the potential bidder to contact the seller via an email which is listed in the auction body. It goes on to say that any bids will be cancelled automatically; you are only to contact seller via eMail 'outside' the eBay system. Also, notice that these are almost always images of text and not actual text in the body of the auction. This is so eBay won't be able to detect the key phrases it usually searches for in order to catch these listings.

Try copying and pasting the test. You'll see it's an image and not actual text.

Never do anything outside the eBay system. Don't even do a 'reply to' in your personal ISP inbox. Make sure you replay to any remittances through eBay's message system. This way it can be tracked and can be used as proof of communications.