how do you tell if something on ebay is a scam? I look at some of the offerings and am pretty confident they are not legit, but wonder if paypal, ebay or credit card companies protect the purchaser from fraud?
Posted 2005-11-01 2:53 PM (#32566 - in reply to #32565) Subject: RE: ebay
Expert
Posts: 1989
Location: South Central OK
If it looks too good to be true then it very well could be. Contact Ebay if you think an item is suspect and let them investigate further. They have legal recourse and they will use it!
Posted 2005-11-01 3:42 PM (#32567 - in reply to #32565) Subject: RE: ebay
Veteran
Posts: 225
Location: Kansas City
Yes, to the if it looks too good to be true. If you see a trailer for $5000 that you know is worth $15000 then that might be a clue. Second, many times the seller will list a seperate email and tell you NOT to email them at the listed seller's address because they won't be at work or home. That is because they STOLE the seller's account. You can email the seller's ebay email and most of the time you will find they don't know anything about the item for sale. They mention offsite warehouses which there are none. They start out nice and turn mean if you keep asking questions and will do like most people who are abusers - they always try to turn the table and make you feel like the one who is wrong or inconsiderate. If you are selling an item, they want to send you too much money and have you forward the difference to someone else. I read on one website posted by a woman who scams the scamers and agrees to their scheme. She has received fake checks and payments via FedEx that has totaled nearly $1000 in FedEx charges. She then tells them she had a gambling problem and lost the money etc.
Bottom line. Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered. Buyer beware.
Posted 2005-11-01 3:45 PM (#32568 - in reply to #32565) Subject: RE: ebay
Expert
Posts: 1723
Location: michigan
I have used ebay for several years both buying and selling. Unless its a big ticket item that being sold at a incredibly low price, most ebay offerings are legit. But there are ways to protect yourself. Using Paypal and your credit card gives you some insurance if the deal goes bad ( and they can even the legit ones). Get shipping insurance in case the item comes damaged, check out the sellers feedback, ask lots of questions, get more pictures. Trailers are a big scam right now- huge rigs that sell for 40- 50k for just 5 tho is a SCAM. But a nice saddle that sells for 2500 might not fetch more than 900 bucks since the resale on tack isn't very good.
Posted 2005-11-01 6:02 PM (#32575 - in reply to #32573) Subject: RE: ebay
Elite Veteran
Posts: 824
Location: Kansas
I have also seen a few listings that do NOT say don't reply through ebay, but when you hit "Ask seller a question" you are directed to a private email address. I generally find that after leaving a stern (ok, pissy) message/question, these invariable disappear quickly off ebay.
Posted 2005-11-02 7:45 PM (#32613 - in reply to #32565) Subject: RE: ebay
Regular
Posts: 52
Location: Loxahatchee, Fl.
If it really sounds to good to be true, but you have to try anyway. Ebay has an escrow service for items over I think 1000.00. The mention of escrow will really rain on a scam artist's parade.