Fishy stuff happening on e-Bay

[rcarlton]

Last night I used E-snipe to bid on a McIntosh MA-6100. Generally these go for $400-450+. I am notified I won for $281...wow. Looked at the bidding pattern and 8 bids were withdrawn. Seemed a little fishy, but the sellers feedback was good. This morning I got the following e-mail:

Dear Ron Carlton,

You are the winner of my auction for Mcintosh MA 6100

Intergrated amplifier (290043194361).

Price: $281.00

Free

shipping.

This is new in sealed box and with 1 year warranty.

Shipping

method: eBay Courier.

Time delivery: 3 days.

I'm from Romania and in

my country PayPal service is not available yet.

We can use eBay Exchange

Packet(through eBay Shipping - www.exchange-packet.net).

I'll send the

product via eBay Courier 3 days Air.

After that you will receive the

innstructions for payment via email and you will send the money via Western

Union to an eBay agent.

eBay will inspect the goods and will confirm the

payment and will make the exchange.

This method is ok for you?

I'll

wait for your reply asap!

Best regards!

I forwarded this message to the seller. He promptly called and agreed something was wrong. He couldn't believe the bidding pattern...all the cancellations, plus he could no longer log on to e-Bay because they changed his password. Long story short...I get the McIntosh. But watch out, there are some very clever folks out there.

[Duke Spinner]

flea-bay ....

what a cesspool ......[:@]

[jackpod]

I very recently had something similar happen to me. I listed my Mac MC150, winning bidder someone in Texas. 2 days after the auction ends the winning bidder calls me to tell me he received a second chance offer on the piece he won instructing him to send payment to a different email address.

The net has turned into a scam tool. Always someone out there to screw up a good thing.

And then on my Anthem, listed as ship to lower 48, guy from Canada emails me, says he will buy it now if I would ship to him, reluctantly I agreed. I didn't hear back from him for 2 days, and he wins the auction at $150 less than the buy it now price, ok he met my reserve. Sends an email that payment will be made in the next couple hours, next day I emailed him and said I hadn't received payment, he says well I will send payment but that he has a question... he wanted me to devalue the unit on the customs paperwork from a $600.00 purchase to a $100 gift. I told him to jump in a lake. I am not going to forge govt paperwork to save someone I don't know a few bucks on import taxes. he backed out of the sale. I tried a couple second chance offers but I am sure the poor guys thought I was trying to scam them. The unit is now relisted

I remember when Ebay was good and fun. no more Ebay for me

Jack

[woodsman]

Ebay is a fantastic place, I personally love it. You have to know what you are doing of course and watch out for the warning signs. I have had hundreds of transactions and they all have been problem free. With millions of transactions, there is bound to be some negatives. In this world where is there not any negatives, it's not a perfect world. I would bet that ebays negatives are less than 1 percent.

Jeff

[George Roland]

I agree with the previous posting. I like e-Bay a lot and have found it very useful. I bought my k-horns on e-Bay and would never have been able to score a pair at a good price where I live otherwise. Sure there are a LOT of scammers on e-Bay. I'm sure I will get stung at some point, but so far, things have worked out well for me as a buyer and seller.

Always check second chance offers to see if they appear in your "My e-Bay" messages. If not, it's likely a scammer. I NEVER bid on an item from a seller with no feedback. I sell only in the contiguous 48 states. Before I bid on an item that's costly, I read the seller's feedback very carefully. Also, ask sellers a LOT of questions or talk with them on the phone. Anything seems fishy...don't bid.

Best,

George

[Daddy Dee]

That's pretty brazen. I think most forum members are savvy enough to navigate around the scammers on Ebay. What I wonder is how many of these scammers actually make money.

[rcarlton]

Whoever this scammer is, he is hurting the seller in this case. The poor seller was happy when he saw the last bid on Oct-27-06 07:47:52 PDT was $452.85, that bid and all the others were cancelled on Oct-27-06 17:55:18 PDT[]. That was a reasonable price, 1 hour before the end of the auction. At 17:56 he had no bids, they were all cancelled. The auction was to end at 18:52. Somehow I got my bid in with E-snipe (BTW my bid was no where near $452.00). So the auction only ran for less than an hour...I would have let him relist because something/someone had messed with the auction, but he insisted on going through with the deal[H] (I didn't push too hard). I saw barrynsue from this forum got a bid in.

[Lostinozz]

That's pretty brazen. I think most forum members are savvy enough to navigate around the scammers on Ebay. What I wonder is how many of these scammers actually make money.

I think some of them do all right......wanna buy a watch?[6]

[oscarsear]

I recently had my E-bay ID invaded. Someone posted about 30 designer purses for sale on a 24 hour auction using my name. I don't know how they intended to capture funds as it was caught. I had to redo my E-bay and my PC security top to bottom. E-bay shut this down seconds after it was e-mailed to them and that was impressive. Had no problems before or since.

[Duke Spinner]

the Seller cancelled those bids

[J M O N]

eBay transactions sure are being attacked by scammers. I received an e-mail a while back that almost fooled me, making me think it was really from eBay. The e-mail was simply stating that because of my "outstanding" history, I was being offered the opportunity to become a "Power Seller" or something like that. I simply had to just accept the rating. Initially no warning signs went off, but when I thought about it a little more I wondered why they would do this when I've only used eBay to buy stuff, hadn't sold anything yet. Sure enough, it was a fake. These scammers are getting much more clever (they have to), so be very careful out there.

Take a look at this auction: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=&item=160036632274

I was watching it out of curiosity to see how high it would go. It did end above $2600, but it was strange how after the auction ended, all of the bids were cancelled with explanations of "wrong bid" by several different accounts all within seconds of each other. Very strange indeed.

I'll say this again: eBay needs to be very concerned with this. They simply can't do nothing even though they keep making money. The scammers are eventually going to stop people from using eBay (and the other Internet avenues) and then we can say bye bye to eBay...

[barrynsue]

I did bid on the auction as I saw it with no bids with an hour or so to go. I figured at worse case, it would be a parts unit.

After reading the description, I saw nothing wrong so I went for it. I did however check the bidding history and saw the canceled bids. At that juncture, I knew the poor seller had his account taken over! He probably responded to one of those "Ask seller a question" which has a link and states "Is this the same item as the one you have listed?". when you click on the link, a screen opens asking for your eBay name and password. If you answer, you have just given away your account!

This seller in this case was really screwed and he could have canceled any purchase but looks like he was happy with the price. It is such a shame that these guys pull such BS! Why do they do it? I bet the other bidders all got 2nd Chance offers stating someone took over my account (as you did) so I am now offering you the 2nd chance offer. Usually, it is for much higher priced items but I guess enough suckers BITE to make it profitable since it costs the scammers nothing anyway.

Glad you are getting the unit but I still feel for the seller who was innocent in the transaction and got screwed because of these A..HOLES!

[picky]

Ron: I sympathize with you and the others who have gotten screwed or near-screwed while using eBay. I have made numerous bids and successfully purchased many wonderful bargains over the last few years. I am fortunate, as are many others, and some day, it could be my turn "in-the-barrel", too. I hope not.

It's one thing for someone to warn, "as long as you are careful", or "as long as you know what you are doing", but I don't believe that is enough anymore. The reason I believe this is because the scammers are becoming increasingly deceptive in their ways: It's getting more difficult to "be careful" or "know what you are doing". That's because it's difficult to know what THEY'RE doing or how. Things that are wrong are not as obvious to most of us as they were early on. A perfect example of this is mentioned above in barrynsue's post: "If you answer, you have just given away your account!"

So, how does one really know for sure? How does one stay 100% safe? I would imagine the only real answer to that would be to avoid using eBay altogether. But, those of us who relish owning the various "treasures" which can be found there and enjoy the convenience of it all, may find it difficult to stay away completely. I'm not speaking in terms of addition. I certainly am not "addicted" to eBay. Perhaps, if there IS any "addiction", it is to the things that are for sale. [] But, I think for many folks, it is human nature to initially trust people and have faith that they are honorable. And, I think this is why eBay survives. Those who have been burned are probably gone for good, and I do not blame them, as I may have to join them some day. But, until then, I think the majority of the people interacting on eBay are probably honorable. And, for that reason, I am willing to risk the possibility of being scammed by some A-hole. This is a great thread and there is a lot of good advice here. Each of us must make the decision to use eBay or not on our own. Best of luck! -Glenn

[barrynsue]

I too have gotten many fantastic treasures on eBay and will continue to use it both for selling and buying purposes. One must learn the various ways that others are trying to take advantage however in order not to burned.

Most of the time it is common sense but to those who do not use it all of the time, there are potholes in the road that one must learn to avoid. Everyone is looking for a deal (including me) and that can sometimes blind you into what you are doing if not familiar with the workings of the scammers that permeate higher end products throughout the site.

I still believe eBay is a great place to find those items you have been searching for but as I post in many of my auctions, if it sounds too good to be true, it normally is. This statement basically pertains to 2nd chance offers as why would I make a 2nd chance offer for a $4000.00 amp to a bidder who only bid $1,200.00. If anyone was thinking clearly, you certainly would question that and would hopefully get lots of confirmation to back it up. Ask for the Sellers ph. # and location and if local pick-up is an option. A legit seller would certainly not hesitate to give a #, location and answer your questions. If not, RUN!!!

It is very difficult to keep up with the scam artists but it is a necessity if you want to trade safely. Quite a shame as I believe the REAL sellers ar mostly good people and for most, this is their main outlet for sales. Their are other sites also but none that give the exposure offered by ebay. Not a perfect place but with caution, a great place to find ANYTHING you have been searching for.

JUST BE CAREFUL and deal with honorable sellers through the proper channels. You may pay a little more but will normally get what you pay for.

My .02

[scott0527]

Ron: I sympathize with you and the others who have gotten screwed or near-screwed while using eBay. I have made numerous bids and successfully purchased many wonderful bargains over the last few years. I am fortunate, as are many others, and some day, it could be my turn "in-the-barrel", too. I hope not.

It's one thing for someone to warn, "as long as you are careful", or "as long as you know what you are doing", but I don't believe that is enough anymore. The reason I believe this is because the scammers are becoming increasingly deceptive in their ways: It's getting more difficult to "be careful" or "know what you are doing". That's because it's difficult to know what THEY'RE doing or how. Things that are wrong are not as obvious to most of us as they were early on. A perfect example of this is mentioned above in barrynsue's post: "If you answer, you have just given away your account!"

So, how does one really know for sure? How does one stay 100% safe? I would imagine the only real answer to that would be to avoid using eBay altogether. But, those of us who relish owning the various "treasures" which can be found there and enjoy the convenience of it all, may find it difficult to stay away completely. I'm not speaking in terms of addition. I certainly am not "addicted" to eBay. Perhaps, if there IS any "addiction", it is to the things that are for sale. [] But, I think for many folks, it is human nature to initially trust people and have faith that they are honorable. And, I think this is why eBay survives. Those who have been burned are probably gone for good, and I do not blame them, as I may have to join them some day. But, until then, I think the majority of the people interacting on eBay are probably honorable. And, for that reason, I am willing to risk the possibility of being scammed by some A-hole. This is a great thread and there is a lot of good advice here. Each of us must make the decision to use eBay or not on our own. Best of luck! -Glenn

One very good piece of adivce.... never respond to an Ebay inquiry or question directly from the email itself. If it was a legitimate question, it will show up in your "My Messages" section of "My Ebay". Most all of the IDs get stolen via fake Ebay looking emails, that, require you to respond, which opens up a fake Ebay looking page asking you for your usermane and password.

Anytime you are asked for your username or id, think very hard about where you are, who's asking for it, how did you get to this page?

[JBryan]

I've had good success through eBay and I can usually find what I'm looking for - even the more esoteric audio stuff shows up eventually. Early on, the scammers' methods were crude and obvious and only the truly naive buyers got screwed. There was a pretty steep learning curve for everyone - even eBay started off with a very "Hands Off" approach but eventually got a handle on security. Of course, back then eBay offered a national market to a relatively small group of bidders so it was a Buyers' market for the most part. Anyone remember when Audio Classics and the like was selling McIntosh MC240 amps for $1000-1600 but you could get them on eBay for $400-900 day-in/day-out? Those were the days!

Now, eBay is THE national market for many used items and collectables and is emerging as an international market which has never existed on this scale before. This has opened the door to great opportunities (and deals) for many folks who wouldn't otherwise have direct access to the goods they wanted. Unfortunately, its also been a boom market for scammers and they have become increasingly sophisticated in their approaches to running bogus auctions or worse yet, stealing IDs and passwords and diverting emails.

eBay is constantly working on security but its sheer size prevents 100% safety that there will always be someone coming up with new strategies any ploys to separate folks from their money. So it will always be "Buyer Beware". 2 things to remember - less feedback = more risk and if an email you didn't elicit doesn't use your name in its body, chances are good that its a scam.

[Kudret]

I just received the following email for an item I am selling
on eBay:



"Please comfirm if this is the same item with the one listed on

http://www.er-bayisapi.pisem.net/itemxxxx." (full link is deleted)



Of course the link takes you to a phony eBay login window.



Also, for almost every expensive item I bid on, I get a phony second chance
offer.

eBay has become a dangerous place.

Kudret

[sheltie dave]

The scammers are becoming programming savvy, and have realized they need to target big ticket listers and buyers. It is very easy to build a sort program that will generate the demographic/economic profile that allows direct targeting.

It is much easier to scam one $3000 buyer/seller than 300 smaller deals. There isn't a day that passes without a set of false KHorns, Paragon or Hartsfield, and multiple McIntosh auctions foisted on EBay.