Camera scammers on eBay

[JDArt]

There are a lot of scams on eBay, auctions from folks who won't deal directly with you, insist on western union, are apparently selling an item for much less than others, etc.

One person on eBay has identified some of these scammers. Bravo to him/her.

Here's the link:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...tem=7566745237

Which scamming techniques have you seen on eBay that folks should beware of?

[Neil]

I've had only good experiences on ebay. There were a couple of items which never arrived, but they were all low-cost items (perhaps a scam, as the amounts weren't worth chasing). All the high-cost items I bought arrived in good order. Perhaps I am naturally careful, but I never have bid on any "too good to be true" items!

[Mr. Pickles]

I know eBay has its place, and there are some deals there, and lots of folks have had nothing but successful dealings there. But the scamming is out of hand to me. Too many "too good to be true" dealings, and what you mentioned. I know you run the risk of a bad experience with anybody, including the B&H's or KEH's, or the FredMiranda's, but I just trust them a lot more these days.

[mikej]

I wish e-bay would get investigated just as hard as Enron did. They make lots of noise about protecting the people that use it (both buyer and seller) but they don't. There have been a number of news items about how they are the internet equivelent of the hock shop for stolen goods. They have continued to raise prices for those selling so that it's almost gotten to the point where it isn't worth it for the individual or small time seller. And their pay-pal is a whole nother story.

I do buy from there on occasion, but I am very careful and it has to be something I can't find anywhere else. I make sure the checking account I use only for pay-pal has only a few dollars in it except for when I'm making a transaction.

Mike

[JDArt]

I agree, Mike. I don't even THINK of turning to eBay in the event of a problem with a buyer or seller. I just know I'll never get the issue resolved that way.

[Michele]

There was this one time I wanted to buy an item and I emailed the seller some kind of question. I dont remember what all the things were and how it got to the point of buying it one way (western union or bank transfer). He sent me this "real" ebay form, email info and said lets do it as a bank transfer. He sent me all of his info and something in that email was "funny", so I emailed ebay and I sent ebay all the emails from him and come to find out, he was a scam using ebay's logos, letterheads basically through email and a lot of there rules, but modified them to suit his needs. He was good though, till he brought up the bank transfer and western union and sent all his bank info to me in one email. I thought that was weird and a little scary, but he had me till then.

Its scary out there. I do a lot on ebay, but man... Its so hard to know. I have learned some protection ways since that incident, but still.

[hartcons]

I've had good luck with eBay but I think you have to make sure the risk you're taking is factored into the price (i.e., why pay retail on eBay when you can just buy from b&h)? So far I haven't purchased anything over $750 and I might feel nervous about going much higher than that (unless there was some sort of escrow procedure in place). I think eBay could do more to protect buyers and it wouldn't surprise me if at least some of the merchandise is stolen (or at least something that's not supposed to be sold like not-for-resale copies of software or educational software being sold without requiring a student id).

I have a friend who worked for a while at paypal and he feels that the wild, wild west days are behind them (but I've heard the horror stories and would definitely not give them access to a bank account with much money in it).