Ebay Scams!!!!

[gherman]

I used E-Bay for the first time and I almost got scammed. This 3rd party was watching me place my bids(>$800.00) and I lost my bid in the last seconds. The 3rd party emailed me saying that the item was up again for a second chance because the winning bidder couldn't uphold the contract. Then went on to ask me for my info and if I still wanted to buy the item. I then called the person who was selling the item because I have met him before and said it was a big scam. Have you guys run into this before or run into other scams on E-Bay? I could have been out a lot of money

 

[U2democrat]

I've heard of such scams, but never experienced any in my use of it. Sorry you had to deal with that.

 

[BonoIsMyMuse]

Close call

Make sure with ebay that you never pay for anything or accept any offers except through the site. ebay won't refund you for any scams unless something goes wrong with a sale they have record of.

 

[gherman]

Thanks, you know the scary part is that I keep getting eamils from these people even after I reorted them.

 

[Mr. BAW]

10/08/71..."Caveat emptor" - Let the buyer beware! (Mike to Greg Brady)

 

[nbcrusader]

Kids these days just don't get those pearls of wisdom like we had.

 

[Dismantled]

Thanks, you know the scary part is that I keep getting eamils from these people even after I reorted them.

this happened to my husband once...friggen people

 

[Sicy]

So are you saying that someone other than the seller of the item you were bidding on, contacted you to ask you if you wanted to buy their item instead? That is clearly against ebay rules and you could report them for that. (which it sounds like you did)

But actual second chance offers can be perfectly valid, I have received them before and I have sent them before, say if I have 2 of the same item and I want to offer my extra item to the next highest bidder, that is perfectly legal. As long as you actually send a second chance offer through ebay, and not just emailing people outside of ebay asking if they want to send you money for the item, then there is no protection.

 

[phanan]

Was the "3rd party" the seller? Or the winning bidder?

Like Sicy said, if the seller contacted you and had another of the same item for sale, that's perfectly fine.

It's also perfectly fine for someone to outbid you in the last seconds of an auction...

 

[Bonochick]

My mom got ripped off buying a Barbie for me on eBay. I had posted about it in my journal. The doll she received wasn't the one in the picture...there was quite a visible mark on her face. If the proper picture had been displayed on the auction, I'm sure the bidding would have been much lower. I kept the doll anyway, but having my mom cry because she was so disappointed that she spent that money and didn't end up getting me a perfect doll was heartbreaking and rage-inducing.

 

[gherman]

So are you saying that someone other than the seller of the item you were bidding on, contacted you to ask you if you wanted to buy their item instead? That is clearly against ebay rules and you could report them for that. (which it sounds like you did)

But actual second chance offers can be perfectly valid, I have received them before and I have sent them before, say if I have 2 of the same item and I want to offer my extra item to the next highest bidder, that is perfectly legal. As long as you actually send a second chance offer through ebay, and not just emailing people outside of ebay asking if they want to send you money for the item, then there is no protection.

Close... what they did was contact me to buy THE item for sale. In other words, they don't have ANY item. They were posing as the seller by emailing me for a second chance. The only reason that I know they were faking and not the seller was that I had met the seller because he lives in my home city. I went to his house to check out the item and I got to know him over that time. The email I got was from someone with a Russian name posing as the actual seller.

 

[Sicy]

And the ebay names were different? That's a crazy scam.

 

[wizard2c]

reply

Had a Russian name......are you sure {or perhaps Russian-sounding name}