Since I am an neive or however you spell it when it comes to dealing with people does this sound like some type of scam?
Dear manny
Congratulations you are the winner of my auction:
Toshiba Portege UltraThin P300/96MB/6.4GB
As you can see i am new on the auctions but i know
there it is a lot of fraud so i have tried to find a
way for a good deal for both.I do not trust electronic
payment sistems(paypal,bidpay,paydirect …) and i
won’t accept it,so please send
me your name and
shipping address and i will send the item to you with
UPS two days .
After that i will give you the UPS tracking number and
you
will
have to send the money($400-moneygram fees) with
Moneygram in 24 hours ,after you will receive the
tracking number from UPS,and send me back the
Moneygram
tracking number.If i won’t receive it in 24 hours i
will have to cancel the shipment .
Thank you again for your interest and i wait for your
response so we can close the deal.
PS
I am sorry for late response but i was out of town
I’d be pretty suspicious, especially since there is no way to get a MoneyGram refunded. Unless he’s willing to accept some sort of payment that can be revoked if he doesn’t come through, I’d pass.
A few years ago a guy was running a big digital camera scam on eBay and Yahoo auctions that sounds a lot like this…he sends camera, you pay him after you get it…turns out all the cameras were stolen goods. It was a big scam, I remember reading about it in the news.
The only reason he wants you to send a money gram is so HE CAN SCAM YOU.
PayPal, BidPay, and all the others require that he submits his own Visa card number to prevent this exact type of sh*t. If he were to not send you the laptop and you were using PayPal, it would be charged to HIS credit card and you could file a report with your credit card company. His name would then be sent to the FBI and he would be prosecuted against accordingly.
This happens to ignorant sorry suckers all the time. And in every case they have nobody to bitch and complain to. At least if you use PayPal you can bitch to the FBI and have a much better chance at getting compensated for your losses.
If I were you I would report him to Ebay immediately for even trying to pull that stunt. Believe me, they know exactly what he is doing and they hear about and deal with similar cases all the time. Get his username banned before he actually dupes someone.
On the other hand if someone is actually dumb enough to do it(no offense if you had considered it, but you did the right thing by asking the teeming millions) it serves them right for being so naive. Good thing is it usually only happens once to the same person.
If you’re using PayPal or BillPoint, you can also get a chargeback to your credit card within 60 or 90 days.
This sounds too complicated and raises a lot of questions.
For example, why not just accept your check, then he sends you the item? All reputable sellers work this way. They even say they’ll hang onto the check until it clears, then send you the item.
Note: this is what I did when I was selling stuff on ebay (my id was planetpeschel if you wish to view my feedback; no, I don’t have anything up for auction now).
Second, what’s to stop him from shipping a box of newspapers? You get the tracking number, fire him the money, you get scammed.
Third, the ignorance he claims about the system is no excuse. This isn’t rocket science. There’s plenty of help to get and everything is above board and out in the open. (Go to the message board and post your initial message and see what the other buyers and sellers on ebay have to say about this).
Let me guess, he either has no feeback responses, or very few.
This reeks of a scam. I would suggest going to the Safe Harbor section and turn this guy in. Don’t accuse him of anything, just pass along his e-mail and ask if this is the way things should be done on ebay. I’ll bet you’ll get the same answer we are giving you, and it will alert them to this guy.
My coworker had a similar situation last week. He won an auction online for a laptop for only $1000 - and the laptop would normally sell for $3000. The seller wanted the money wired to him in Romania, and then he would provide the UPS number. My coworker refused, suggested using an escrow service, and the seller balked, asking for $500 now and then $500 upon receipt.
So, the things that immediately passed through my mind:[ul][]Eastern Europe is a hotbed of fraud. Almost all (read- 90% or more) online orders from eastern Europe are fradulent. Your seller may not be from there, but it’s always something to keep in mind.[]Getting a laptop for $1000 that’s worth $3000 screams ‘stolen property’. Maybe he bought it online using someone else’s credit card, and wants to sell it to get hard currency - or maybe he doesn’t even have a laptop at all, and is just trying to get some cash.Any legitimate seller will want to make the buyer happy and comfortable. There’s no excuse to wire money directly to someone without any guarantees.[/ul]I’d wager a pizza that even if you followed all of his instructions, you wouldn’t get your laptop and you’d be out all of the money. Say “Thanks but no thanks” and go on your way.
I sent him the following mail. I’m waiting for a response
I’m sorry but I cam not accept your conditions of
payment. I have never had a problem when I use an
electronc payment system. I can not take the risk that
what I send payment for is not a laptop. However I am
willing to use an escrow service such as tradeenable http://www.tradenable.com/forms_of_payment.html How
they work is as follows. I send them payment for the
unit PLUS the escrow fees. You ship me the laptop and
prodide THEM with the tracking number. When it arrives
I am given ONE day to say Yep this is the item I
ordered then they send you a check. If I fail to tell
them that I recieved the item, they still send you a
check after the one day checkout peroid because they
know from the tracking number that it has been
delivered.
Looking over the auction info below he says he will take a personal check but I don’t think I can trust him
Seller (rating): dandovici4u (new)
Payment Types Accepted
• Accepts Personal Checks
Shipping Info
• Buyer Pays Shipping
• Seller Ships on Payment
Buyer Protection Info
• Standard Protection Coverage
Yahoo! Buyer Protection Program
Toshiba 3020CT P-300MHz Slim Notebook (less than 1") Toshiba 3020 CT Ultra Thin SlimLine Laptop Toshiba External Floppy Drive Toshiba Port Replicator Specifications : CPU : Intel Pentium 300MHz MMX Cache : 512KB SRAM RAM : 96MB Memory Hard Drive : 6.4GB UltraDMA CD-ROM : PCMCIA (Optional) 10.4" TFT LCD Active Matrix Display up to 800x600 16.7 Millions Colors up to 1024x768 64K Colors on Ext.Monitor Video : 128bit NeoMagic (2160) 2MB FDD: External (included) Keyboard : 84 keys + Cursor + F1-F12 Mouse : AccuPoint (TrackPoint) Sound : YAMAHA Stereo Sound Built-in Stereo Speakers Built-in Microphone PCMCIA : Dual 32bit CardBus (backward compatible with 16bit) USB connector for Digital Camera, Scanner etc Height : 0.78" only! Power Supply : 110V/220V included Battery : Li-Ion High-Capacity. Good and Working Weight : 2.9 lbs with battery Condition : Used, has some scratches, which does not affect performance
Tell him you are not satisfied with his terms and insist on COD. That way no one gets taken. Since he states you are responsible for shipping, you’d have to pick up the COD chrage, too, but I think that UPS still only charges $6-8 for COD. Give the driver cash, sign and keep your copy of the delivery receipt, and notify the seller immediately of your receipt. I used to take care of all the mail orders for a computer store I managed and that was how we insisted that every non-credit card transaction take place. Anyone who denied a COD shipment was barred from using it in the future. It worked out great for us.
IMO, anyone selling on eBay that will not accept credit cards should allow COD, particularly on items over $100. The UPS tracking number only verifies that a box was shipped but says nothing of the contents. It could be full of Vanilla Ice CDs for all you know.
COD has the same problems as the tracking number does. You’re not allowed to open a COD package until you’ve forked over the cash. So you could still get the box of Vanilla Ice CDs even using COD.
I got an email recently from an army officer in Nigeria saying that he needed help moving his family’s cash out of Nigeria. He said I could have a percentage of the millions involved.
Well I received a response from him regarding the letter I sent. With his attitude I do not feel safe dealing with him. I’ve given him poor feedback and am waiting for his retiliation.
— “daniel a. andonovici” <dandovici4u@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> For $400 escrow service?
> Good BYE
> — Emanuel Levy <manny_l@yahoo.com> wrote:
> > I’m sorry but I cam not accept your conditions of
> > payment. I have never had a problem when I use an
> > electronc payment system. I can not take the risk
> > that
> > what I send payment for is not a laptop. However I
> > am
> > willing to use an escrow service such as
> tradeenable
> > http://www.tradenable.com/forms_of_payment.html
> How
> > they work is as follows. I send them payment for
> the
> > unit PLUS the escrow fees. You ship me the laptop
> > and
> > prodide THEM with the tracking number. When it
> > arrives
> > I am given ONE day to say Yep this is the item I
> > ordered then they send you a check. If I fail to
> > tell
> > them that I recieved the item, they still send you
> a
> > check after the one day checkout peroid because
> they
> > know from the tracking number that it has been
> > delivered.
> >
> > – “daniel a. andonovici” <dandovici4u@yahoo.com>
> > wrote:
> > > Dear manny
> > > Congratulations you are the winner of my
> auction:
> > > Toshiba Portege UltraThin P300/96MB/6.4GB
> > > Winning Bid Range: $375.00+25shipping.
> > > As you can see i am new on the auctions but i
> know
> > > there it is a lot of fraud so i have tried to
> find
> > a
> > > way for a good deal for both.I do not trust
> > > electronic
> > > payment sistems(paypal,bidpay,paydirect …) and
> i
> > > won’t accept it,so please send
> > > me your name and
> > > shipping address and i will send the item to you
> > > with
> > > UPS two days .
> > > After that i will give you the UPS tracking
> number
> > > and
> > > you
> > > will
> > > have to send the money($400-moneygram fees) with
> > > Moneygram in 24 hours ,after you will receive
> the
> > > tracking number from UPS,and send me back the
> > > Moneygram
> > > tracking number.If i won’t receive it in 24
> hours
> > i
> > > will have to cancel the shipment .
> > > Thank you again for your interest and i wait for
> > > your
> > > response so we can close the deal.
> > >
> > > PS
> > > I am sorry for late response but i was out of
> town
> > >
> > > Sincerely Daniel A. Andonovici
> > >
> > >
Manny, I read your link. You did the right thing, so far. You definitely need to bring this to the attention of the Yahoo auction admins, though, as suggested by other posters. This guy’s eventually gonna take SOMEONE in. I see he has a Yahoo mail address, too. I imagine Yahoo would want to protect its reputation and investigate (possibly educate) this guy on how auctions SHOULD work.
Good luck, and let us know if you get any response.