Urgent eBay question - DPChallenge Forums

Voigtlander Ultron 35mm f/1.7 Aspherical MF Wide Angle - Black

01/26/2013 12:28:45 PM · #1

Hi guys

There are many of you here more experienced in the use of eBay than me, so some advice please.

I've found an item that I want and there was a notice to contact seller by email prior to bidding to see if it could be shipped to my country and for terms and conditions to be posted. It also mentions a (cheap) buy now price.

The seller has lots of items and good ratings.

I make the email and ask about the buy now price - it remains more than good (although the option is not available directly on eBay).

He now asks for my eBay account name to set the Buy now option up and my shipping address. I have received reassurance that maoney will only be passed through eBay to protect us both.

Am I missing something scammish?

Thanks

Paul

Bear_Music

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra

Sony 24-70mm F4 Vario-Tessar T* FE OSS

01/26/2013 12:32:12 PM · #2

It's a red flag for me...

Voigtlander Ultron 35mm f/1.7 Aspherical MF Wide Angle - Black

01/26/2013 12:39:01 PM · #3

Robert - yes I'm very cautious at this point.

I have sent my eBay id, name and postal address - I don't think that can do much harm can it? I'm slightly wary of identity theft, but those details are already in the public domain...

Voigtlander Ultron 35mm f/1.7 Aspherical MF Wide Angle - Black

01/26/2013 12:41:42 PM · #4

OK - I think it's a hijacked account.

As long as I don't share any financial details then I think I will be fine...

Bear_Music

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra

Sony 24-70mm F4 Vario-Tessar T* FE OSS

01/26/2013 12:42:51 PM · #5

It sounds to me as if he's at the least trying to use eBay to drum up business and then bypass eBay to sell without commission. When he talks about "routing all payment through eBay", remember that eBay now owns PayPal...

Bear_Music

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra

Sony 24-70mm F4 Vario-Tessar T* FE OSS

01/26/2013 12:43:48 PM · #6

Originally posted by Paul:

OK - I think it's a hijacked account.

I was thinking that also. Whatever, it's not "normal"; steer clear.

Voigtlander Ultron 35mm f/1.7 Aspherical MF Wide Angle - Black

01/26/2013 12:49:11 PM · #7

The auction price now approaches the going price for such an item (Leica M9). My quoted 'buy it now' price is much cheaper. Positive feedback relates to jewellery items, not camera items, though the seller is selling a bunch of (aligned) camera items.

Hijacking looks likely - I'll see what request for payment I get...

Basta

Nikon D4

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED

01/26/2013 01:08:50 PM · #8

if that auction looks anything like this scam auction

don't waste your time

Voigtlander Ultron 35mm f/1.7 Aspherical MF Wide Angle - Black

01/26/2013 01:17:11 PM · #9

Ha! It looks a lot like that one.

01/26/2013 04:03:31 PM · #10

The scam auctions are still there (there are many more in his shop - musical equipment etc). They all finish at the same time. I tried to notify eBay but there does not seem to be a way to do it. I always buy via Buy It Now and check the feedback very carefully. I would never contact a seller outside eBay to an email address shown on an image as is the case with this scam. I am still confused how the scammers are going to get their money and why the clever eBay algorithms have not picked these up.

Voigtlander Ultron 35mm f/1.7 Aspherical MF Wide Angle - Black

01/26/2013 04:14:00 PM · #11

I've received the scam email now - its quite impressively constructed, appears to come from eBay with a decent reply to address. However I gave the scammer a different email address from the one held by eBay, so the actual source is quite clear.

Interestingly he has given me [b]his[/b] bank details - he shares the same bank as me (albeit a different branch). I may report him to my Bank.

yanko

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

Carl Zeiss 50mm ZE f/1.4 Planar T for Canon

01/26/2013 04:22:09 PM · #12

Originally posted by Paul:

That makes sense, but you're not following DPC comedic procedure. Hire

strikeslip. He'll know what to do.

Ann

Olympus OM-D E-M1

Olympus 12-40mm f/2.8 Pro

01/26/2013 06:14:53 PM · #13

Ken Rockwell, for all his faults, actually has a pretty good (if not surprisintly, a bit self promoting, but still useful) writeup on how to bid and buy on ebay. It's well worth a read, especially if you get into unusual territory like this. I don't know specifically what auction you're looking at, but the link

basta sent has at least 3 problems:

* 99.5% positive feedback is actually pretty bad. Most of the negative feedback is about buyers receiving fake crap, so that's probably the scam.
* If the seller wants to use some sort of payment method besides paypal, it's probably a scam.
* A legitimate too good to be true "buy it now" price will usually get snapped up within the first hour after it's listed. If it's still available for that price, there's shenanigans...

I agree with

yanko. Get slippy involved.

BrennanOB

Canon EOS-1D Mark II

Tamron SP AF 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di for Canon

01/26/2013 07:33:15 PM · #14

Originally posted by Basta:

if that auction looks anything like this scam auction

don't waste your time

Why would you not trust a guy who sells a 3 Ct. diamond 18kt gold ring for $15.00 or a Hasselblad 503CWD for $305.00 his feedback is so positive, he must just like giving good deals to people.

Voigtlander Ultron 35mm f/1.7 Aspherical MF Wide Angle - Black

01/27/2013 03:14:37 AM · #15

Originally posted by BrennanOB:

Originally posted by Basta:
if that auction looks anything like this scam auction

don't waste your time

Why would you not trust a guy who sells a 3 Ct. diamond 18kt gold ring for $15.00 or a Hasselblad 503CWD for $305.00 his feedback is so positive, he must just like giving good deals to people.

Sure - but when you're looking at an auction price of $4000+ for a Leica M9 and it's one of four you are following it's easy to get confused :-)

01/28/2013 09:27:09 AM · #16

I have reported this case to eBay, here is a reply:
"Thanks for contacting eBay and letting us know about australia-33samsam33.
I have reviewed your case and rest assured that we took appropriate action on the account. Privacy is important to us, so we're not able to share the details of the actions we took. You may not immediately notice or be able to see these actions, but they can include removing a listing, sending the member a warning, limiting buying and selling privileges, or even suspending the account."
A bit confused about this. It does not help me with my confidence with eBay.

Years ago when I first joined Paypal I received a phishing message within the first hour sent to the email address I used for Paypal. I just created that alias solely for the purpose of using withy Paypal, it was not used anywhere else.

Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II

01/28/2013 09:53:18 AM · #17

I just checked again. Amazingly all the scam auctions are still there and people are still bidding and presumably, sending real money in response to fake emails. One can draw only one conclusion from this. I am shocked.

Venser

Olympus 40-150mm f/2.8 PRO M.Zuiko

01/28/2013 10:08:12 AM · #18

Originally posted by MNet:

Amazingly all the scam auctions are still there and people are still bidding and presumably, sending real money in response to fake emails. One can draw only one conclusion from this. I am shocked.

How do you know they're scam auctions?
You're simply jealous I'm getting a new Nikon D4 for $2400. Maybe he just wants to dump it and there's no camera stores anywhere in his vicinity.

Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II

01/28/2013 10:31:01 AM · #19

Originally posted by Venser:

Originally posted by MNet:
Amazingly all the scam auctions are still there and people are still bidding and presumably, sending real money in response to fake emails. One can draw only one conclusion from this. I am shocked.
How do you know they're scam auctions?
You're simply jealous I'm getting a new Nikon D4 for $2400. Maybe he just wants to dump it and there's no camera stores anywhere in his vicinity.

I think you haven't checked his "store".

Venser

Olympus 40-150mm f/2.8 PRO M.Zuiko

01/28/2013 10:35:43 AM · #20

Originally posted by MNet:

I think you haven't checked his "store".

It was meant as sarcasm. I was agreeing with you.

Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II

01/28/2013 10:44:08 AM · #21

Originally posted by Venser:

Originally posted by MNet:
I think you haven't checked his "store".
It was meant as sarcasm. I was agreeing with you.

So aren't you shocked that he (or his account highjacker) is still selling about 100 expensive musical, industrial and photographic equipment all finishing at 8pm on Thursday, with email address displayed on an image located outside eBay inviting to contact outside eBay? Why hasn't this been removed? Is this some twisted way of eBay trying to teach people a lesson of not contacting the "owners" outside eBay??

Venser

Olympus 40-150mm f/2.8 PRO M.Zuiko

01/28/2013 11:00:12 AM · #22

Originally posted by MNet:

I just read all of eBay's policies, and so far he doesn't break any of them. His post only mentions that he wants to talk about the terms of sale via email, and nothing else. He never mentions bypassing eBay fees or any other commission owed. Even though this has scam written all over it, it's well within the policy rules.

Spork99

OM System OM-1

Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro

01/28/2013 01:22:11 PM · #23

If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is.

I remember when the online places with the best deals would call you and try to sell you hugely overpriced "accessory" kits for whatever you bought and if you didn't, suddenly the camera you thought you were buying was "out of stock"