Buyer beware!!!

fenerb said:

EBAY is where criminals find a nice play ground. I'd buy NOTHING
from that site!!!

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This whole thread discussion has become idiotic. If you don't want to use ebay, then don't. No one is telling you that you must. I am amazed, however, at the ignorance of people who profess they know everything there is to know about ebay but then never use the site. (i.e. Malcolm Martin comes to mind.)

I have sold and bought many items on ebay that have ranged from a few dollars to a few thousand dollars. Of course there are scams on ebay, but it doesn't take a genius to figure out which ones those are. The example given from the original thread clearly illustrates one type of scam and you'd have to be an idiot to send that person any money period.

todds said:

I bid on something, lost and then received a second chance offer
that didn't look right. I contacted the seller and he said it
wasn't from him. I reported it to ebay.

It happened to a friend also.

I really wonder how the crook got me ebay email address.

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The "crook" doesn't have your email address. Anyone can send a bidder a message via the ebay website. That message is then sent to your email. The person sending that message is not shown your actual address so you don't have to worry about them having it. If you reply to their message via your regular email software, then they will find out your email address. It's best to use the My Ebay portion of the site to reply to messages.

Iamdaniel123 said:

I reported it to Ebay. Thanks

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Reporting the scam is the best thing to do.

AlbieSky said:

I put my D70 on eBay and I got an email/eBay message:
My son in Africa needs D70 right away. I will pay $1000 for your
camera. Please send me your PayPal name/email/...

I wrote back: Sorry, your offer is generouse but you can get a new
D70s for $700.

Anyways, others posted to my listing saying that that guy was a scam.

My D70 'sold' for $430, but the 'winner', who had ZERO
(buy/sell/feedback), emailed me in 3rd grade English:
I went to store and they say I pay too much. I don't want camera.

Being nice about it, I just did the 'dispute': buyer/seller agree
not to complete transaction thing.

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AlbieSky said:

Now, I got to decide to relist the camera or just keep it.
--
D 8 0, D 7 0, 1 8 - 2 0 0 v r, 1 8 - 7 0, 1 0 5 v r,
5 0 f 1 . 4, S B 6 0 0, N V, N C, P P, P S E 4

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I wouldn't hesitate relisting it. You may want to include a disclosure in your listing that you reserve the right to cancel bids for those with zero feedback.

Kim Letkeman said:

I use eBay regularly. I have bought items on there that I cannot
find anywhere else, at least not at reasonable prices.

There are some classic email attacks that eBay has thwarted by
creating an internal secure messaging system. So everyone can now
safely ignore email that purports to be from eBay.

As for being worried about being ripped off ... that happens every
day in brick and mortor stores too ... the people who stumble
blindly through life get ripped off all the time, the rest
critically examine every deal and make their decisions.

I have several hundred transactions on eBay and have never felt
ripped off. Well ... once felt that I had paid too much for
shipping, but when I went back to the listing, I found that the
shipping had been clearly stated and I simply missed it and made an
assumption. It was an excellent reminder and well worth a few extra
bucks.

--
http://letkeman.net/Photos

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I have had the same experience. One time I was upset about the shipping charge but then realized that it was clearly stated on the item listing. I have never made that mistake again.

If you're smart about how you shop, ebay can be a great experience.

I wouldn't hesitate to relist either and would go a step farther and state that bids from anyone with less than 10 positives or recent negatives will be canceled outright. Specify US only to weed out the Nigerian scammers too. =)

Geoff

Taylormade said:

AlbieSky said:

I put my D70 on eBay and I got an email/eBay message:
My son in Africa needs D70 right away. I will pay $1000 for your
camera. Please send me your PayPal name/email/...

I wrote back: Sorry, your offer is generouse but you can get a new
D70s for $700.

Anyways, others posted to my listing saying that that guy was a scam.

My D70 'sold' for $430, but the 'winner', who had ZERO
(buy/sell/feedback), emailed me in 3rd grade English:
I went to store and they say I pay too much. I don't want camera.

Being nice about it, I just did the 'dispute': buyer/seller agree
not to complete transaction thing.

Click to expand...

Taylormade said:

Now, I got to decide to relist the camera or just keep it.
--
D 8 0, D 7 0, 1 8 - 2 0 0 v r, 1 8 - 7 0, 1 0 5 v r,
5 0 f 1 . 4, S B 6 0 0, N V, N C, P P, P S E 4

Click to expand...

I wouldn't hesitate relisting it. You may want to include a
disclosure in your listing that you reserve the right to cancel
bids for those with zero feedback.

Click to expand...

Good point Geoff. I always state that my items are for U.S. sale only.

I did have one exception but I still followed my own rules. I sold a Contax G1 outfit on ebay and an interested buyer from Indonesia wanted to buy it. Rather than being the typical scammer, she was a legit buyer who had relatives in California. I required the relative in California to make the purchase via PayPal and would only ship to California. It was then that person's responsibility to ship overseas. Worked out beautifully and she even emailed me her 1st photos from the camera.

The same way they get conned offline, time and time again.

Malcolm Martin said:

simple fact that people do get ripped of, conned and over pay

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And this never happens outside eBay? In day-to-day life?

This whole discussion makes me wonder if the anti-ebay folks have ever been to a "real" auction. I used to attend auctions all the time, and I can tell you that most of them are "fixed" also. Although the scams are not as blatant as the ones people run on ebay, I have seen the following things at "real" auctions:
1) Items that were gutted, but sold as working.
2) Shill bidding.
3) Preferred bidders getting first-crack at items, and cherry-picking them.
4) "Buyers Premium" - basically a tax on any purchased item.
5) Clueless bidders paying more than new prices.

I have bought and sold on ebay for almost 8 years. The overwhelming majority of my transactions have been perfect, and I have bought things that are essentially impossible to find anywhere else. When I bought my D70, I sold my Canon 35mm gear on ebay, and paid for most of the D70. As with any marketplace (just ask the folks who have used some of the cut-rate internet camera stores), one must always be careful, and take "Caveat Emptor" to heart.

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1030&message=20211024
--
Malcolm Martin

Taylormade said:

The "crook" doesn't have your email address. Anyone can send a
bidder a message via the ebay website. That message is then sent
to your email. The person sending that message is not shown your
actual address so you don't have to worry about them having it. If
you reply to their message via your regular email software, then
they will find out your email address. It's best to use the My
Ebay portion of the site to reply to messages.

Click to expand...

The email I received did not come via ebay's message service. When I went to ebay messages I did not see it. They saw I bid on something, lost, got my email address and sent me a fake second chance offer. This happened to a friend of mine also.

phydx2 said:

I wouldn't hesitate to relist either and would go a step farther
and state that bids from anyone with less than 10 positives or
recent negatives will be canceled outright. Specify US only to
weed out the Nigerian scammers too. =)

Geoff

Click to expand...

as if there only scammers outside of the US

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True, but the scammers in the US are generally easier to deal with from a law enforcement point of view if you protect yourself adequately... I wasn't suggesting that if you're foreign to the US (which I am also... Canadian), you're a crook...

Erik Van den Broeck said:

phydx2 said:

I wouldn't hesitate to relist either and would go a step farther
and state that bids from anyone with less than 10 positives or
recent negatives will be canceled outright. Specify US only to
weed out the Nigerian scammers too. =)

Geoff

Click to expand...

as if there only scammers outside of the US

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As much as said in this thread! As someone who listed millions of dollars of goods for its' company in the past.

1. People who list items on ebay thinks others "who bid" are stupid.

2. People who bid on items think listers are stupid.

Ebay is financially going down to drain and can't make any decent money therefore some other big guy (yahoo, google...) will buy this one out and eventually it will be gone. There is more scams than reality on ebay today.

You can get the same items that are listed on ebay at same price at your neighborhood shops anytime of the day.