eBay Scam?? What do you think

In My Humble Opinion
1

i’m pretty sure that this is a scam but wanted to know what everyone else thought.

i’m in the market for a Motorola s9 bluetooth headset. they sell for around $100 on ebay, but i’m hoping i can get one for $85 (probably not though). i bid on this one and lost. the next day i get this email sent not by ebay, but directly from the “seller”:

Dear delawaresace…You expressed interest on an item. I’m the owner of that item on which you’ve recently bided on through the eBay system… Item number: 230132811104 and I’ve contacted you because I need to know if you are still interested to buy it… E-mail me as soon as posible with your answer because I must to know if is necesarly to find another buyer or if you can buy the item for …If you accept this offer the eBay policy automatically proclaims you winner. The transaction will go strictly according to eBay’s RULES and POLICY and will be supervised by eBay Trust & Safety Department. If you are interested just contact me, with your best price… I am waiting a fast response!..Thank you!

now what caught my attention is that she (i’m just guessing it’s a she) knows my email address. ebay is pretty good at keeping it hidden. the only way i figure she found it was to look up one of my recent auctions where it is listed in the auction description. either that or getting really lucky in guessing that i have an account with gmail. anyway i respond back to her with this:

i am still interested in your item. my max bid is $80.00. let me know if this is acceptable. thank you.

she resopnded with this:

Hello,
In order to make the transaction legit so we can be able to exchange feedback once completed i will have to get in touch with eBay Department. I will need to confirm me the following details:

  • your complete name
  • your complete shipping address
    I’m located overseas for the moment, in Italy because my little sister is getting married and i couldn’t miss this once in a life time moment. She found her true love over here in Italy. I have to stay here for at least two weeks.
    Must inform you that I have the item in the custody of the shipping company who helps mee very time to ship the goods to the buyers addresses. A 100% serious company and i have acontract with them. Regarding the shipping insurance,who protects my items from any damages on the way to the buyer, i can inform you that they are already paid.Shipping is covered by me so don’t have to be worried to pay extra charges for delivery.So the final price will be US $80.00
    Once you will provide me the requested details (full name, address) i will contact the eBay Department and they will do the rest. They will send you the rest of the instructions and info regarding this process. You need to follow the instructions exactly so we can be both protected by their Purchase Protection and Refund program. Positive feedback is assured once everything is fixed up.
    Thank You and along with the requested details email me with any other questions you may have!

i’m thinking of giving her my name and address and see where this leads. i see a couple possibilities.

1: she sends me a link to a fake eBay page to try to get my personal info
2: she strings me along to try to gain my trust and then get me to pay using a non secured method.
3: it’s really Opal cat and she’s just pissed at me because i registered at her web site three years ago and have never been back since.

what does every one else think? is there any chance that this is legit?

2

I would say not. I specifically have been told that to avoid a scam, it is best to avoid those that want responses “as soon as possible” but are “currently out of the country.” Also, the “Must inform you that I have the item in the custody of the shipping company who helps mee very time to ship the goods to the buyers addresses. A 100% serious company and i have acontract with them.”

Wow. That seems kind of ridiculous. I will admit that I got scammed once on an internet sale, so it’s not hard for me to remember how I never saw it coming. This one sounds a little obvious, like you said, and I am assuming it is that they will have you send the money through non-secure means and then never deliver the product…

I would avoid it altogether, unless they might start it as a buy it now auction. I don’t think you should buy something from an ebay person who isn’t working through the site. That’s only IMHO, but it seems way too shady.

Brendon Small

3

Take a look at this. Someone else has a little sister who is getting married. Yeah, right. :rolleyes:

4

I think that any time something stinks even a little bit, you should walk away from it.

This stinks more than a little bit.

Don’t look back.

5

A few things make me think this is a scam
1)She had good english in the first email, but the second sound like she’s from Nigeria
2)She (without being asked) gave a reason for being out of the country. I always get weary when people explain themselves too much. I don’t care WHY you can’t ship the item now, or WHY you are out of the country or WHY you are selling them item (it’s in perfect condition never been used I’m only selling it becuase…) It’s like they’re already on the defense.

Besides why doesn’t she just relist the item. If she puts it up for three days, she’s likely to make more on it and this side deal will likely take just as long to close.

Oh, and while I haven’t used ebay in a while, I’ve never heard of ebay overseeing sales that don’t happen on the auction block as she seems to be implying will happen.

My advice, don’t reply and move on.

6

Scam. Never deal with people outside of eBay-regulated transactions, especially people in other countries, especially people who deal with third-party “shipping companies.”

7

new plan. i’m going to see how long i can f!@k with her just to waist her time.

8

Couple of things:
-The email you got is definitely a scam (I’ve seen it word for word before) - it might be that the email isn’t even from the seller, but from someone else who masquerading as the seller

-The seller has no feedback at all anyway - a really big danger sign when high-value items are in the listing. What were you thinking when you bid on this item?

9

And this is worth your time?

10

call it a distraction from the daily grind. plus it feels good messing with someone who just tried to screw you.

11

I think the odds of this being legit are zero. I hope you don’t fall into the trap.

12

It’s been a while since I eBayed regularly, but don’t their Terms of Service specifically prohibit this type of outside-the-auction transaction? Or, at the very least, their security policies don’t apply to these transactions.

Joe

13

Yes, eBay is very hot on off-site sales, but I’m pretty sure that what was being set up here wasn’t an off-site sale, but a simple fleece job - take the money (which would probably be requested in some hard-to-revoke form such as money order or bank transfer) and run, without supplying any goods at all.

14

BTW, here is another thread about a similar incident - even down to the wording of the email.

They’re trying to pass it off as a Second Chance Offer, but those don’t require verbose emails from the seller and don’t demand personal details moving about outside of the ebay transaction system.

15

so i mailed off a fake name and address and here is what i got back:

she’s really laying it on thick here trying to use lots of words to convince me that she’s not ripping me off. of course i know that paypal and western union dont work together and that if i ever sent her money, i’d never see anything in return. i also suspect that the above email is a pretyped form letter that is sent out.

this is what i wrote back:

i wonder how long i can string her along?

16

Again, as was the case in the original contact, this person is using cut-and-paste scam language. See this post in the eBay forums.