Ebay dilema

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Nick De Marco

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I'd like to think of myself as a quite shrewd user of ebay. I have bought over 40 cameras on ebay and never been ripped off. I even got a very nice M3 for £225. But now I have a dilema and wonder if anyone can advise.

The other day I beid on a very nice Leica 21mm Super Angulon f/3.4 Lens and finder. Looked in goon condition and I went up to £400 but was out bid. Then I receievd a second chance offer from the seller, saying the winning bidder pulled out and I could hve it for £400. I noticed he had zero feedback do I was a bit worried and told him. Then he said he could not accept paypal but needed a bank transfer. Naturally I pulled out - I could not see any protection.

The very next day I received a secod offer on a Laica M6 ttl .85mm. Pics make it look in good condition. The offer was for £545. Not exectly a bargain but well below the price they usually go for. I can't really jistifyu buying it as I have an M6 (non TTL) and enough otehr cameras. But I was tempted. I noticed again that the sellar had a zero feedback rating. If he acepts paypal should I take the risk or should you always avoid zero raters on ebay?
 
Nick, Don't even respond to these scammers, it only gives them more information they can use against you. The other day I received an Email seemingly from Ebay asking me to write a review of the Bessa R that I had won on Ebay a Couple of months ago. I realised that I would have to enter my password to do so. And so I deleted the email and went into MY EBAY figuring that if the email was lagitimate it would be in MY Ebay. It wasn't there which tells me that the scammers will try every trick in the book to rob you.
 
Many thanks for the replies. You have confirmed my hunch. People offering good qulity Leica stuff, in a hurry, with no feedback rating and one even saying I should make a bank transfer instead of paypal - it'a a no brainer really and I should not even have to ask... it's just the idea of having an M6 ttl for less than £500 etc - whereas I should be thinking about the idea of osing £550 for nothing.

I shall ignore these people from now on.
 
Nick De Marco said:
... it's just the idea of having an M6 ttl for less than £500 etc - whereas I should be thinking about the idea of osing £550 for nothing.

I shall ignore these people from now on.
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Nick,
That's what these creeps are counting on. They prey on people's greed. It's amazing how many folks fall for it. I had a friend who auctioned a car on eBay Autos and got a call from some poor shnuck who had paid $7500 on a fraudulent 2nd chance offer. Lost his money, he did. Unbelievable how people get carried away at the prospect of a deal that is too good to be true and then rue the day. It's one of the main things that almost caused me to stop using eBay entirely. I just couldn't stomach all of the fraudulent offers I started getting.

/T
 
I wouldn't say all second-chance offers are scams. I've actually had a couple second chance offers that were completely fine. But you have to be careful when accepting them:

1) Make sure the buyer has a significant positive feedback history. Actually, this should be a given when bidding on any items, especially highly valued items.

2) Make sure the second chance offer appears in your My eBay panel.


Some people don't even put up listings to offer fake second chance offers. They watch real auctions and after they end, they contact non-winning bidders posing as the auction owner.

My eBay username is the same as my hotmail account and one time I bidded on, but didn't win, a Hasselblad 150mm f/4 lens. No big deal, I didn't really want it anyways, I just wanted to see if I could get it at a lower than market price. After the auction ended, I was almost immediately contacted by the auction owner via email. He said the winner of the auction decided not to get the lens because his daughter was sick and needed the money that would've otherwise gone to the lens and since I had the second highest offer, he'd sell it to me at that price. I said, okay, let me send you a message through the eBay listing to confirm if you really are the owner of this auction. I sent him a message and the next day I got a reply from the REAL owner: "What are you talking about? I never sent any second chance offer."

First flag: why would someone bid on something only to bail out immediately (literally minutes) after the auction?
Second flag: The second chance offer, while it did appear to look legitimate, only showed up in my email inbox, not my My eBay panel.
Third flag: The person who contacted me wouldn't accept Paypal (even though the auction stated the owner accepted Paypal).
 
Fourth flag: Why even have to think about it? Since almost all second chance offers are fraudulent a good policy (and it is my policy) is to NEVER accept any. You'll never get scammed that way. As for missing out on the item, I've never seen one so unique or rare that it didn't become avilable again within 3-4 weeks.

/T
 
Tuolumne said:
Fourth flag: Why even have to think about it? Since almost all second chance offers are fraudulent a good policy (and it is my policy) is to NEVER accept any. You'll never get scammed that way. As for missing out on the item, I've never seen one so unique or rare that it didn't become avilable again within 3-4 weeks.

/T
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There's nothing wrong with second chance offers as long as it comes through the proper channels, ie: directly from the buyer through your My eBay. Anything else is suspect. As I have said before, I've had a couple second chance offers that were quite legitimate. I've even offered a couple second chance offers without any problems. Why even think about it? Because it would've been a good deal had it been legitimate, so it was worth checking out (which I did successfully). Sure, a lot of things aren't so rare and unique that you can't wait for the next one, but sometimes somethings are more urgent to purchase than others.
 
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It depends on the look of the second offer. A real second offer is like an auction page that only you can see, and it runs for 24 hours so it is easy to identify, you can refresh the page and see the time left. Anyway the 0 feedback is the "golden rule" of ebay, don't buy from 0 feedback member, only if you can do the transaction hand by hand.
 
The advice to leave this offer is good IMHO.

Have you heard of fake bids? It's another scam run on Ebay. As an example, imagine a pristine camera going for a starting bid of $9.00

You decide to go for it and it's a nice camera so you set your maximum at (say) $99.00. If no genuine bidding war breaks out, the scammer will then log into ebay with a different account and then start bidding against you until he is the highest bidder so in this case, he would be number one with $100.00

Then the scammer either withdraws their highest bid or they contact you after bidding has ended asking if you want to have second refusal. Of course, if you accept, you will be paying the full $99.00 rather than the $9.00 that you would have paid had the scammer not pulled their fraud. Ever wondered why those enormously high bids sometimes disappear?

There is more information here: http://reviews.ebay.com/MYSTERY-AUCTION-BUYER-SCAMS-What-to-do-about-Fake-Bids_W0QQugidZ10000000000842833

The zero feedback and the second refusal is a big red flag.
 
edodo said:
It depends on the look of the second offer. A real second offer is like an auction page that only you can see, and it runs for 24 hours so it is easy to identify, you can refresh the page and see the time left. Anyway the 0 feedback is the "golden rule" of ebay, don't buy from 0 feedback member, only if you can do the transaction hand by hand.
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I think that is the key. I also had a couple of good buys on legitimate second chance offers.

The one you cited is one to stay away from.
 
foto_fool said:
Zero ratings AND "second-chance" offers? Don't walk - RUN away!

- John
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Run away and keep on running...don't look back....are you running???
And do not reply to any message asking you to "Sign in"...still running???
 
EBay Scammers

EBay Scammers

Maybe we should post the names of scammers on this forum

I have recognised 3 over the last week - all with zero EBay ratings
If you analyse their postings and google them and what they have for sale you can usually spot that they are crooks plus sometimes find what they are selling in a previous auction, by them, or a genuine buyer.

Some just "cut and paste" photos and details from a genuine auction

Look at everything carefully now on EBay especially from zero rated sellers as this practice is growing.

Be careful - ask to speak to a seller after you have won an item if you have any suspicions - always follow the system carefully - use PayPal always or meet the seller if you can.
Check all the facts surrounding a listing if you are suspicious

I have bought over 100 items on EBay and have only had ONE problem - but it could have cost me £500, (US$1000), if I had paid - the guy turned out to be a Russian, living in Russia, but gave a UK address, (which I checked out and someonelse lived there - I spoke to them), he even had a UK STD telephone number but you can get these now as internet VIOP numbers.

In the end he even asked me to meet him at the railway station were he purported to live in the UK, (unfortunately he had not checked that there was NO railway station in that town), presumably in an effeort to enhance his credability or to cause me as much ionconvenience as he could.

If you report any suspicious activity to EBay you tend to get a standard reply and they generally take no action against these people.

Running is not the option - these guys need sorting - they are criminals.
 
Just have a look at this

a scam which is running right now

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/LEICA-LEITZ-50MM-F2-SUMMICRON-PROTOTYPE-RARE-NR_W0QQitemZ110122523452QQihZ001QQcategoryZ15234QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Item 110122523452
s.gif


The original sold a few weeks ago

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7588116581&ru=http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.ebay.co.uk%3A80%2Fsearch%2Fsearch.dll%3Ffrom%3DR40%26satitle%3D%2B7588116581%26fvi%3D1

item 7588116581
 
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