E Bay sellers beware!

[Digger61]

Hi Folks.
Just a tip most of you are aware, but just in case.
I do a lot of buying/ selling on ebay and came across a very funny client.
He bought a ring of me and offered, after winning it to pay with a American Cheque, 1000 times the amount he owed me. He offered me 30% of the sum and when I refused started threatening and all kinds of tricks. Even threatened me with police and court, due to the ring was not his expectation as a wedding presy.
To cut it short, I contacted the local police about it and handed all correspondence over.
It was a fraudster, please, all of you. be aware that if you except a cheque like this, you are relyable for the outcome! Also, if you give ANY personal information away to this people, you are again relyable.
These guys are highly organized gangs and have no scruples, stay on guard!

[seylectric]

I wish I had the time, I could post a hundred variations on this sort of scam that I have seen personally. There are thousands more.

If you are buying or selling on ebay, forget "worldwide" until you get some experience, and read up on the "help" sections (because believe me if thing's go t*ts up you will get little help from ebay). Take your time, buy and/or sell small to start with and build it from there; there is a lot to learn and it's a mixture of experience over time and taking the time to read up as much as you can about how ebay operates. Have a look at the forums on ebay, you can pick up a lot.

[nathal]

i also had bad experience on ebay, due to a nigeria scam. In my experience dont agree to post anything of value to nigeria.

[Digger61]

Hi Nathal.
Funny you mentioned Nigeria, thats where I got my threads from, offered a cheque for $ 7000 for a plated ring worth £ 2! A bit obvious for my taste and after I refused, threads with police and personal harm and then the smooth act that the prophet spoke to him and he pays if I give him my bank details.
BALLS!

[nathal]

yeah, i made mistake of offering to post world wide. Received fake paypal notification of payment received.Bout a week later ebay contacted me to confirm scam, but by this time it could have been to late. Only thing that rose suspicion was the buyer was offering in excess of sale price.
Nearly got caught!!!!!!!!

[Niklowe]

variation on the Nigerian 419 scam.

[007coot]

There are thousands of ebay scams, the most dangerous ones are the e-mails that look like they come from ebay and tell you to sign in for your chance to win a plasma TV or you might get a message from an ebayer asking a question about an item that you are not even selling. once you have replied they have got info they need. My advice is to download ebay toolbar and have account guard on. I never reply to e-mails through my normal e-mail, I always go into my eBay to check if a message is genuine.

[blackrain]

Not selling worldwide doesn't help one bit. A lot of scammers register here so they can buy and then ask you to post abroad after they have paid by a dubious method.

My account has 600+ feedback and I've seen all sorts!

[007coot]

it's unfair isn't it... I had a paypal chargeback done for a £400 watch in december. Paypal sided with a crook rather than me. My feedback is 1200 and his was 44 yet they decided I was the one in the wrong. A tracking number means stuff all if they live abroad and you aren't covered from chargebacks. All they have to do is say they haven't had the item and your stuffed. Paypal even threatened to send the bailiffs in because I didn't have the money in my paypal account to pay the crook back (i'd already spent it on xmas pressies which was why I sold the watch in the first place). I had a letter from NCO demanding payment or the bailiffs would turn up in 7 days.

The crooks always get away with it. Watchdog gets 50+ complaints each week regarding paypal and ebay.

I don't sell anything valuable on there anymore and I refuse to ship abroad.

[Lariele]

When posting auctions always note that you only ship to the UK & Eire. Don't let anyone tell you to ship it to another address outside of that and if they don't have a shipping address inside UK & E report them as a non paying bidder.

I've also seen all sorts with ebay. Paypal stiffed me on one refund by taking too long to investigate - they paid back 6 other people who had submitted AFTER I had before they paid me back and then they only gave me a fiver back - the thing had cost £30. They said there were insufficient funds in the persons paypal account to cover it. Grrr

[seylectric]

It doesn't make any difference where you post to. All you need to do is make sure the payment is showing as cleared in your Paypal account or bank account, depending on the payment method. DO CHECK your paypal account, don't just rely on notifications - I sold £180 worth of goods to an American registered buyer a few weeks ago, it showed as paid in "My Ebay" but when I checked paypal the money had in fact been put on hold by paypal - paid using unauthorised funds!

Your best protection by far is simply to make sure the postage service you use covers the value of the goods. Up to £32 is covered by standard post as long as you get a certificate of posting (you don't need recorded delivery, you don't get any more compo! )

Over £32 use Special Delivery - compensation is up to £500 but extra cover is available for a little more for up to £2500. Same applies with International postage. The point is the recipient is unlikely to sign for the item in his own name therefore the Royal Mail gives you a possible way of getting your money back.

[Lariele]

Originally Posted by blackrain

Not selling worldwide doesn't help one bit. A lot of scammers register here so they can buy and then ask you to post abroad after they have paid by a dubious method.

My account has 600+ feedback and I've seen all sorts!

I should have been clearer - this is what I was responding to when relating to not posting abroad.

[seylectric]

The thing is you are missing out on a potentially huge customer base, and although I stick by my earlier recommendation of not selling worldwide until you have more experience, there really is no need not to. There are as many scams and dodgy buyers in this country as there are in the rest of the world in my experience (and I have sold over 3000 items on ebay)

Last year I sold over a hundred second hand items for between £5-£12, something which many of you probably have several of in your homes, never use and think nothing of, and by chance I found out that there is a niche market in Europe - they sold like hot cakes, over 95% of them to EU countries. I can only assume that these items were unique to the UK and never available in Europe! Hardly any sold to buyers in the UK.

.....and no, I'm not going to tell you what they are

[JonCris]

Originally Posted by Lariele

When posting auctions always note that you only ship to the UK & Eire. Don't let anyone tell you to ship it to another address outside of that and if they don't have a shipping address inside UK & E report them as a non paying bidder.

I've also seen all sorts with ebay. Paypal stiffed me on one refund by taking too long to investigate - they paid back 6 other people who had submitted AFTER I had before they paid me back and then they only gave me a fiver back - the thing had cost £30. They said there were insufficient funds in the persons paypal account to cover it. Grrr

I refuse to deal with anyone (usualy sellers) who will not supply an address & contact tel number. (they could, not for the 1st time on ebay, be selling hooky gear)

After getting their details I only pay COD. That way the seller knows I have it as do I of course

I reported one seller who refused point blank & ebay backed them & tried to get me to pay until I threatened ebay with legal action

[seylectric]

It's very wise not to deal with sellers who will not provide their details, however there is another angle to this. For instance there was a raft of reports a couple of years ago of sellers who did publish their names and addresses, especially sellers of cameras, mobile phones that sort of thing etc, being burgled.

There are many scams on ebay but by the the majority of these are from "buyers" who try to get the seller to part with the goods before paying. You will be hard pressed to find many major companies that do this these days too.

On no account would I, or 99.9% of other sellers, send out any goods until I had cleared payment. Ebay will back this but will not get involved in any legal action simply using their number one get-out clause, "We are just a venue".

COD is a nice idea in theory but very impractical to most "part-time" sellers, mostly because they would have to sit around all day waiting for the carriers. If they work for a living, it's completely unfeasable and is also very expensive - and most buyers choose the cheapest possible postage option, even when insured delivery is offered.

[JonCris]

If I'm going to give my name address & telephone number to someone than I expect the same from them. period.

Its practical for me & if they cant accept COD then tuff I don't buy. As ebay is now rife with conmen (& some women) my approach has saved me from being conned on a number of occasions.