Beware for Ebay scam!

Marines

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Talk about the ultimate scam. People should be more aware of what they are bidding on especially when it concerns Ebay. When I first joined Ebay I became a victim of my own stupidity when bidding on certain items.
 

Aries

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Buyer beware eh, you know, he is not really guilty of a crime either.

Listed it as a box, and never once said it was something else.

The 1lb weight is a good give away.

eBay won't be able to get the guys money back either.
 

trauth116

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I agree with the above - I fail to see how this is a scam; the guy started bidding on his box (clearly listed as a box) at 99 cents.

Now if a group of buyers bid it up, whose fault is that? To me it is the bidders that got into a bidding war.

A fair bet is that the seller won't be getting paid once the buyer figures it out.

-No I have no idea who would want to buy a box like that (nor do I have any idea why anyone would sell it)
 

Siberian HEAT

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This is actually an old scam. I remember when the Playstation 2 came out, there were several people that sold the empty box.

It is clear this guy was trying to entrap his victims, and IMO he should not get a dime for this. Granted it is buyer beware, but someone who is not selling in good faith has no right to claim $162.00 for an empty box. Let's face it, the type of person that sells an empty box knows what he is doing, and knows his description will fool plenty of people. As honest consumers, I'm sure most of us have bought something at the store and realized only after we got it home that it wasn't what we thought it was.
 

Aries

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Well sure, no argument the guy is a f**king dickhead.

Not illegal to be one though.

Good way to get beat up though :)
 

trauth116

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Frankly I doubt that anyone short of a complete moron would actually pay - for an item like that once they realized it was a box.

Now scams come in a lot of forms I understand - I did sell - clearly labelled Dragon figure boxes in lots of 10 - or rather I listed them - in fact people sell these things on E-comerce sites -so I figured what the hey -I was just going to toss them -and if someone wanted to buy my trash from me -why not? Turns out one guy bought 3 lots of the things - and he lived in France -- it would have cost a fortune to ship them - and to be honest I felt he did not understand what I had - I had 'empty boxes in the listing title- and in the 1st line of my listing in bold.

Now 30 boxes and inserts are fairly heavy - and I never expected to get paid for them -and since I know Ebay words their reminders halfway harshly --- and you had to do it to get back the final listing value fee - I told the guy what I was going to do -and that I had no intention of posting negative feedback over this - just wanted to not get charged a value fee on something I did not actually sell.

I don't think that makes me a scam artist - and I did end up tossing all those empty boxes as I decided it was a dumb idea that was not worth the hassle.

-> I have seen a guy sell loads of 1/6th scale weapons - for more than the price of the figure it came with - he claims he lovingly painted them or some other garbage - you can't tell from the photos -I think I have seen the guy get like $60 for a MG-42 and some ammo cans - and stuff like his -- it is uteerly ridiculous - as he targets people unfamiliar with 1/6th scale figures.

I got more...
 

trauth116

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I once ran across a guy that started every figure off at $9.99 - these were usually $30.00 figures or so --- and none of these figures ever sold at the opening price. I had a bid on a BBI Japanese pilot --- and someone comes and bids me up - ok fine, but I sorta like to check these guys out -and this guy had llike a feedback rating of like 100 - but off of 4000 transactions all with this same place - - and this account holder -was never the opening bidder -ever... I contacted Ebay - told them I suspected this guy of shill bidding -got the stock answer - about they will look into it and people being loyal etc -- well before that item I had a bid on ended - - - I get this email telling me that I do not have to honor my bid ( it was a form email) -as he was no longer a registered Ebay user - they suspended or killed his account.

-Now that is a scam - not some people that over bid on a 99 cent box.

Sometimes bidders do literally go nuts - like bidding up a $10.00 used book to over $400.00.
 

mr_clark

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Well, what all people shopping on e-bay should definately do is read the stuff presented and so these guys don't even have a chance...
 

trauth116

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I guess the 5 or 6 times that I got scammed by buyers allow me to see things a little differently.
 

Carl

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trauth116 said:
I fail to see how this is a scam; the guy started bidding on his box (clearly listed as a box) at 99 cents.
Deceptive advertising tactics can be considered a scam and can be illegal. Also, in this case it could be fraud since the description area on Item Specifics says that it's a car audio receiver of Alpine brand, model CDA-9807, etc.

Carl
 

Siberian HEAT

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Carl said:
Deceptive advertising tactics can be considered a scam and can be illegal. Also, in this case it could be fraud since the description area on Item Specifics says that it's a car audio receiver of Alpine brand, model CDA-9807, etc.

Carl
Thats a good point. If you only read the description there, it seems clear this is actually the receiver. How else could you put it in this category? Otherwise, the category would be Junk > Trash > Empty Boxes instead of...

Consumer Electronics > Car Electronics > Car Audio In-Dash Units > Car CD/MP3 Receivers > Alpine
 

Palantir

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I JUST got scamed on EBAY. :mad:

I bid on & won a used CD of the PC shooter game- "Call of Duty" (so I can "interact" with my son away in college no less :halo: )

The pict was of the game, etc.

What did I get sent? :hmmm:

The "PCGamer" magazine demo of the game!

The guy replied in an email that it was an "error" :rolleyes:
At least he replied.

Yes, and I'm still waiting for my refund even as I type. :(
 

trauth116

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Alpine CDA-9807 brand new BOX

Doesn't look too deceptive in the listing. I will go so far is - that 1) when you do something like this - you ought to be doing something like:

**NOTE - the is a -box- only*** No components are included.

If you plan on doing it at all.
 
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Reepicheep

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Moral of the story: Always pay for eBay purchases with a credit card funded payment, so that when you get scammed, you can initiate a chargeback with your credit card company and get every cent you paid back.
 

GJK

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trauth116 said:
Alpine CDA-9807 brand new BOX

Doesn't look too deceptive in the listing. I will go so far is - that 1) when you do something like this - you ought to be doing something like:

**NOTE - the is a -box- only*** No components are included.

If you plan on doing it at all.
That could easily be misinterpreted to read:
"Alpine CDA-9807 brand new in BOX"
 

trauth116

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Reepicheep said:
Moral of the story: Always pay for eBay purchases with a credit card funded payment, so that when you get scammed, you can initiate a chargeback with your credit card company and get every cent you paid back.

Or as a seller - never accept personal checks - as there are scumbags that send you ones that bounce.

Mind you Reepicheep - I am not saying you are wrong -as I buy my fair share of stuff there too -and have been lucky enough to avoid being ripped off - although sometimes it did take some doing.

GJK: edited: originally I could not figure it out - but yeh the title might say that - which is why you would have to make sure the first line in your listing was what I put below. Listings on Ebay have a finite amount of characters you could use. But I appreciate the feedback - in that case probably add only to the end of the master listing.


Personally although I did try to sell Dragon Action Figure boxes once (and mind you other retailers sell the things too -- I found it was entirely unworth the hassle -and decided it was a pretty dumb idea. It is not worth the listing fees really.
 
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