Defeating the ebay scammers (long!)

[len_scanlan]

Some observations and cautions for those who like to upgrade..

Like many people I love it when I find a bargain, and frequently find myself searching the ebay listings looking for 'missed' or 'forgotten' listings - like where the seller puts the listing in slightly the wrong category and consequently the item sells for well under the going price.

For example, about 6 months ago I picked up a pair of TAD1602 drivers for £100ea, which is probably well under what they'd go for if the seller had listed them in hifi -> speakers, rather than professional audio -> audio. When I collected them the bloke said to me 'I expected they'd sell for much more than that'

But recently there seems to be a swathe of newly registered sellers appearing out of nowhere (no previous feedback etc), offering top-end brands like Krell, Wadia, Chord, etc.

Last week I saw a listing for a Crown Studio Reference amplifier, with the bidding only up to £100. This is a huge monster of an amplifier which would normally go into large recording studios, and it costs something like £3000 new.

However the seller had no previous feedback, and the seller's details were private, as well as the bidders. He was asking bidders not to ask him questions thru the listing, rather thru his own personal email.

To say the least I was suspicious! However I did bid out of curiosity, and won the item for £275, still a fraction of what it was worth. What the heck? If it was real, then I just got myself a bargain!

I sent a note asking when I could collect the item, as I live in the same city as the seller's supposed location. Next day, no response. Day after that, still no response. I was getting curious about this item, so I did a few google searches to try and find out more about this goliath of an amplifier and get an idea of it's sonic qualities...

Guess what I found! An older ebay listing with IDENTICAL photos, and text! This seller had simply copied an older listing, made a few slight edits, and was passing it off as his own!!

I contacted the seller of the original item (in the USA), and reported the whole affair to ebay. Next day the seller of the original amp got back to me, apologised proffusely, and said this was the SECOND time someone had ripped off his advert!

Ebay got back to me also, and said they'd suspended the seller and deleted the offending listing.

So now I'm aware of this type of scam. What is funny is that I have the scammer's work email - I got the end-of-sale note from ebay, and checked the raw text view of the email (I use Pegasus Mail which lets you see HTML emails in raw-text). Embedded in the body of the email was his ebay identity, and an email address to a UK catering firm! I wonder if I should contact his employer and let them know one of their employees is conducting fraud.

My suggestion if you suspect a seller is not for real is to do a quick google search. Don't search on the item description, as they may have changed this slightly. Rather, select some unique text from the body of the listing, with the brand name in it, and see what turns up.

Here is an example of a listing I've reported yesterday (24th Feb).

ebay listing number is: 4616346870 , the original sale was: 5829594675 (compare the text in the two listings...)

And.. another fakie ebay listing number is: 4615856461
Look at how it's listed in wholesale & job lots -> automotive, rather than an audio category - hmmm. surely the seller of such an expensive item would correctly list it??

and you can find the original advert here: http://www.ioffer.com/i/KRELL-KMA-40...WESOME-9012170


What's worse is when you look at the number of new sellers in China who are offering similar brands, but have no sales history - this is getting chronic, and I can only urge anyone to do their homework before sending money to an unproven seller. I guess all it takes is one scam and they've made a few thousand quid, not bad for an evening's work trolling around the old auction websites..

Be careful everyone, and I hope you find some true bargains!

Len.

[Ron E]

Ebay is very vulnerable to scammers and thieves know it. Caveat Emptor

It is a seller's market in the best of circumstances, because millions of people can see and bid on the same items. This competition drives up prices on ebay and in second hand shops of every variety, who typically use ebay as a guide in pricing. I am always amused by used items that go for at or near their retail price when new. Recently an orion short tube 80 telescope went for something like $130. It had been modified and didn't come with all of the accessories a new one does (to the count of $50+), yet it sold for about $30-50 less than retail for a new, warranted, returnable item.

I am not an experienced ebayer. I use it to buy inexpensive items that are hard to find elsewhere, and my belief from countless searches is that that is the only appropriate use for it. I would never bid on something that had a price I could not afford to throw the money away on. For my frugal nature, that limits my purchases to about $50.

I have bought 4 items on ebay. two were as described and a reasonable deal. One was not described adequately, but a reasonable deal at the price I paid anyway. The last was not described adequately, and I paid about 2-3X what it was worth. In the last two I asked questions of the seller, but was not specific enough to nail down the actual item due to inexperience with the item and ebay, and also due to a genuinely honest person's naive belief that people would not be intentionally misleading...

So my advice is ask lots of pointed questions, do your research and don't risk more than you can afford to lose....

[cocolino]

originally posted by Ron E
I am always amused by used items that go for at or near their retail price when new.

I was amused too as recently I sold a camera which achieved Euro 140.
I bought the camera 14 years ago for DM 199.- (1Euro=2DM).

originally posted by len_scanlan
My suggestion if you suspect a seller is not for real is to do a quick google search. Don't search on the item description, as they may have changed this slightly. Rather, select some unique text from the body of the listing, with the brand name in it, and see what turns up.

A google search can indeed uncover unexpected things sometimes, even when You don`t suspect anything.

Once I bought a laptop CD-drive on ebay and wanted to find more technical information about that rare drive. Guess what, accidentially I landend on an ebay site of exactly that seller, where HE BOUGHT tons of that type of drives and lots of other PC hardware (mainly harddrives) CLEARLY LABELLED as DEFECTIVE in the description.
He sold that stuff later and claimed not to know anything about the items technical condition.....

I reported the case to ebay and explained and proved it in detail.
As expected from previous experience in such cases, nothing happened (besides the usual blablabaa email "Thank You very much for Your......") INSTEAD of, I got issued a warning not having payed for that item!
The biggest scammer is the one who has the power (at least to some extend) to take measures preventing members scamming so easily or at least to take action when an obvious fraud happend already but who`s not willing to do anything about it.
So much about ebay and scammers....

[peace brainerd]

Not exactly on topic, but there's another thing about ebay that has been ******* me off lately. I wish search engines would put ebay buttons on their opening pages. I'm tired of doing a search for something and having to wade through the first five pages cluttered with ebay listings related to the item. Can't they separate out all this chaff? Google, for instance, should separate and channel all of its ebay listings onto its FROOGLE pages. No?

Yeah Yeah - tilting at windmills.

[dnsey]

As I understand it (perhaps incorrectly) eBay prohibits search engines from linking directly to their auction listings. Doesn't stop them, of course, but it might provide some leverage if you were to report the infringement.

[hooha]

Originally posted by len_scanlan


However the seller had no previous feedback, and the seller's details were private, as well as the bidders....

Be careful everyone, and I hope you find some true bargains!

Len.

Yup. Another method some of them use which is even trickier, is they would "sell" a few piddely items to get positive feedback. Then, WHAM! They nail someone on a high priced product they post up, and then disappear. The buyer is out a wad of cash and has received nothing for it.

Its getting more and more difficult to deal on EBay these days.

Mark

[karma]

i only buy junk from e-bay that way im not disappointed

[mantisory]

i would always just check the identity of the seller, and his feedback. also, look for paypal protection...that's always a fairly good indication that they're okay...i have bought several dozen items and have NEVER had a problem.
However, there are high end items that they seem to gravitate to: x-box 360 is one of the latest, but also audiophile gear and mountain bikes for some reason...
as always, buyer beware i suppose...
mantisory

[hooha]

Originally posted by karma
i only buy junk from e-bay that way im not disappointed

LOL! Yeah, that's one way to beat the system.

Like your website btw...

Mark

[karma]

heh heres my ebay stuff. buy something


http://search.ebay.ca/_W0QQsassZaudi...QfsooZ1QQrdZ0?


or not