Possible Ebay Scams

[Zubbie]

I am looking to purchase a double din size screen and a gps/nav combo and decided to check ebay... after seeing some good deals go through I decided to keep watching. I was watching last night when some guy posted 5 Pioneer Avic-Z2s with a starting bid of $20.00... In the payment terms it says to contact the seller before bidding as the item may not be in stock.

So I decide to contact the seller, and he tells me he is able to do a buy it now for $700 USD and is negotiable depending on the demand. I offer him $600 CAD and he accepts my offer and says he will close the auction and I win the item for my price... I'm thinking, AWESOME!! I just got an amazing deal... Then things start to get weird.

First, he tells me Western Union would be the only form of payment that he would accept as he has just moved and opened up a store, so I agree to do that. He asks me for my shipping address and full name and says as soon as I send that to him he will send it through Ebay and Ebay will send me an invoice.

I send him my info and I don't get an invoice in my mail folder, but I get one in my junk email folder, which is weird because all the messages I get from Ebay never go to my junk folder, and it has Ebay's logo all over it with only the info I gave him on it. At first I think nothing of it and head to bed.

I wake up this morning and go on to my email write down all of his info and was going to send it through Western Union at my work, but I forget to bring the info.

So, after work I get home and I decide to look at the item again before I send the money... and when I type in the Ebay item number, it shows as if it never existed. Then I decide to check the invoice that Ebay supposedly sent me and noticed that the "TM" that is supposed to be after the Ebay logo was not there, but instead just a little circle.

Searching around the Ebay site, as Im getting really suspicious, I see a link where Ebay encourages people to forward emails that they think are fake... So I forward the email to Ebay security and within 10 minutes I get a message from Ebay saying that the invoice was NOT from Ebay.

Then I decide to let the seller tell me whats going on, I email him asking whats going on (with the "spoof" email, no "TM", and no history of the item) and he tells me Ebay made all of these mistakes and the Email was not forged, then he tells me he's an honest seller and has too much to risk.

I email him back telling him that he's whats wrong with the world today and that if my personal information that I sent to him is used inappropriately I will take legal actions against him... 2 minutes later I get an email saying "the following message could not be sent to the following address." He canceled that email address.

I know this was kinda long, but if you use ebay I suggest you start paying extra attention as it seems to be going down hill.

One thing I think is a dead sign is they will ask you to email them and their email address will be "...@gmail.com"

[spyder]

Don't buy stuff from ebay that way. A lot of scams take place where they entice you...you get so excited to say yes but the catch is you must use Western Union and they are not protected. I have seen many scams that way and I have seen others put up fake escrow websites to pretend it is legit. If I were you I would contact ebay about this seller as they may have hacked into someones account to sell their items or they have fake info so you can't find them...the safest way to buy/sell is with paypal.

I hope this helps.

Cheers!

Spyder

[eqlso]

It just seems too dangerous and untrustworthy to send money via Western Union, cheques, or any other external sources. I stay strictly with paypal and don't take any outside eBay offers that ppl send. I dont even buy stuff from eBay that expensive. Like $600 is still a lot of money to risk.

[Zubbie]

I also should add that I cannot confirm that this is a scam because I told the seller that I would not be purchasing the item from him, so it may have been legit, but it just seemed too suspicious for me.



Don't buy stuff from ebay that way. A lot of scams take place where they entice you...you get so excited to say yes but the catch is you must use Western Union and they are not protected. I have seen many scams that way and I have seen others put up fake escrow websites to pretend it is legit. If I were you I would contact ebay about this seller as they may have hacked into someones account to sell their items or they have fake info so you can't find them...the safest way to buy/sell is with paypal.

I hope this helps.

Cheers!

Spyder

I was looking for an address in which I could report him to Ebay, but the only thing I could find was the Determining a scam area.

[MattC]

First off, ebay isnt that bad, its stupid/careless buyers that provide a haven for these kind of con artists.

Just do the following as a best practice:

1. Only deal with sellers that have their own stores/100+ sales, and have a positive feedback of over 95%
(look through their feedback if its around the 90's, as sometimes negative feedback is claimed for fales reasons, and ebay never rectified them)

2. Only agree to pay people who are VERIFIED PAY PAL users. You should never pay directly through ebay, money order, check, etc... Paypal is your best friend with online auctions. Make extra sure they are a verified paypal user, which means Paypal has their bank account/personal information.

3. Always get the extra insurance from paypal on items over 300$, it is a few dollars, but if ANYTHING is wrong its very easy to get a refund, it is pretty easy regardless, but if you got the insurance they make every effort to hook you up, as you basically gave them dough for nothing.

4. Always try to deal with local sellers if at all possible, just to avoid shipping. If all else fails just try to deal in North America, as the laws of other countries are easier to bend and get around, and sometimes if you get ripped there is nothing you can do.



I know a bunch of people who have been ripped off, never been ripped myself, so I don't have any bad experiences. I usually try to not purchase big ticket items off ebay just to save myself the extra headache. You have to ask yourself, is it worth all this to save a couple hundred bucks sometimes.

[yellow 3]

you can get that unit in stores for $2200 tax in and btw you can also bypass the Z2 now

[iconicrocket]

you can get that unit in stores for $2200 tax in and btw you can also bypass the Z2 now

The seller is offering it for $600, looks like a steal to me. :wink:

[iconicrocket]

Haven't had too many problems, I mainly sell stuff instead of buying things on ebay.

[chinsterr]

I actually sold 2 PS3s when they just came out on Ebay, both going over 2000USD. I received the payment via paypal and shipped the items out accordingly --- one went to alberta and the other South Korea for a US Naval officer. Both ppl recieved their items but F*(&ing paypal put a hold on my account because of "a sudden influx of money" or whatever. It took me over 1 month to be able to withdraw my money -- i had to fax paypal all my information and paypal still waited until my buyers left positive feedback before the hold was taken off.

If you ask me, ebay is not flawed ... PAYPAL IS !

Besides ... 99.97% of all items sold on ebay are fake/knockoffs or made in china crap.

If you want the real deal, just buy it in stores ... if you want designer clothing and dont care whether its real/fake then buy on ebay. Although i have sold electronics via ebay, i would not recommend buying them on ebay.

Oh ya , and if you want the "cube" from transformers you can buy that on ebay too ... for a mere 40 000 USD + .

[dr1ft3r]

NEVER pay through western union! I leraned it the hard way. I'm out 3 bills cause i got ripped tryin to buy cell phone from ebay. Only pay through ebay paypal if you have to. At least ebay has record of transaction if something goes wrong. My advice is to stay away from any electronic purchases from ebay. especially if they are asking you to pay through western union!

[Seliina]

[QUOTE=chinsterr;204241]If you ask me, ebay is not flawed ... PAYPAL IS !QUOTE]

FYI...Paypal is owned by e-Bay.

[dr1ft3r]

yep go through paypal if buying from ebay...never western union or money order

[Zubbie]

http://cgi.ebay.ca/PIONEER-AVIC-Z2-DVD-NAVIGATION-IPOD-BLUETOOTH-AVICZ2_W0QQitemZ180142793097QQihZ008QQcategoryZ798 34QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Here is the guy! same item, same "...@gmail", different starting price, different location and different Ebay moniker.

I tried emailing him asking how's he's in the U.S now because he was in London before, but I cannot send emails to him.

It says he accepts paypal, but I guarantee you he doesn't.

[Zubbie]

I created a new email and emailed him check this out...

Hi there, I would like to get some information about the buy it now option.
I could buy it now for $700?

Thank you.


Hello
The product is brand new in the box (unopened) with full US warranty (2 years) accepted by all pioneer service representatives from your zip code area. If you want it the buy now price is $700 and i will sell it only at buy now price!!
You can have this at your door in 36-48 hours after you confirm the payment because the shipment will be made via Ups 1Day Air or Fedex overnighted from europe
For the payment we accepts only Banking Services like Western Union (international money transfer service) because it is the only one who can satisfy both us and our clients by their Banking BackGround.
If you decide to buy it please send me your full name and shipping address and eBay will contact you about payment and shipment details.Shipping cost and all taxes are included in the price.Please feel free to ask me anything you want!
Best Regards,
Valentin

Hi there, Do you accept paypal?

Thank You.


I'm really sorry but I cannot use my paypal account because I'm in a middle of a divorce with my wife and I cannot use any of my accounts until the end of the divorce.That's why I used to make this deal through eBay under their protection and that's why eBay used for the payment WesternUnion

So...Like I already told you all this deal will be done safe and legal through eBay.Just give me your full name and address.I will send this infos to eBay and they will contact you with an invoice.you will see there in the invoice step by step how to complete this purchase

Im reporting it to Ebay.

[Nextmod]

only paypal