Ebay - Word of Caution PSA!, Long.

[Sparkalicious]

Hi PSers!

I think that I dodged a serious bullet on this one.

I just wanted to check in with a little story about something that happened to me on Ebay and I wanted to share this online selling experience with you, my virtual friends who might be interested so that we can all be just a little bit wiser.

I am selling a bigger ticket item on Ebay and am quite anxious to sell so I was ecstatic when I received the following message from a prospective buyer:

"Hey there I''m X ,me and my husband where just looking at your auction just have some questions.
Do you have a paypal account?
How much would FedEx overnight by noon cost to new york?
What is the minimum amount you are looking to get?
Please reply to [email protected] Due to account settings I am unable to view messages in my ebay (option messages) . However I am on my GMAIL ( [email protected]) most of the time at work so send me a message there. Would appreciate a prompt reply because I''m willing send funds trough paypal today or early AM tomorrow."
While excited, given my lack of experience with Ebay, something just didn''t "feel" right. I was suspicious that this person wanted me to correspond with them outside of Ebay messaging. I figured that I was being paranoid but better safe than sorry.

I responded to via Ebay messaging, even though they requested that I do not and I followed up by emailing their stated gmail address as well and went to bed feeling a little uneasy. I don''t know what it was ... the seeming rush that they were in to get the earrings or the secret secret type preference to avoid correspondence within the mainstream Ebay channels or maybe the fact that they seemed to not want to bid but to "Buy it Now" even though I wasn''t offering that option ... Just something. I checked their feedback and it was 100% positive with 48 reviews etc so I really felt as though I was being dramatic but still didn''t feel * right * about it.

This morning I received the following email ...

"Hi there must be a mistake on your email first
of all I''m not X and I didn''t ask about this
jewelry I don''t why you''ve emailed me or maybe
somebody tried to steal my info your info.... I
will contact eBay first thing in the morning coz
We might be a victim of fraud
Just to let you know"

Apparently the prospective buyer wasn''t a prospective buyer at all. Their account had been compromised and the fraudster was sending me messages from their account to make it look legitimate. I reported it to Ebay and they said that my account was fine, however, the account that they messages were coming from was not and they would be taking care of that.

I thought that this was the end of it ... No .... It could never be that easy, huh?

I received the following email from the apparent fraudster shortly after ... She got my Email address from the initial correspondence where she asked me to Email her personal email instead of her Ebay messages account. I''m so thankful that I edited my name before sending the email to this account. ...


"I''ll take it! To be 100% my zip code is 11230 you may confirm the shipping rate at FedEx.com for overnight Shipping by 10:30AM.
I''m buying it for sure. So please login into your paypal and go to Request Money , Request to this email so I can buy the item now my husband are buying it as a birthday gift for my cousin therefore time is limited. I will make the payment asap as you see my feedback I make my payments on time please send me the money request from your paypal account so i can send you the money

Thanks I await for the paypal invoice with total amount so that I can pay you

PS. try your best to request under ebay if that doesn''t work then just do request as a service and please be sure to put item number on subject that there''s proof that the transaction was ebay."

Super shady. I responded by telling her to go ahead and bid on the item and if she was the winner of the auction then I would go ahead and await payment and ship them out as per standard procedure.

I''m SO glad that I trusted my gut on this one and didn''t get too ahead of myself with my excitement to sell my item. I guess the point of my long blather is that everything is not always as it seems on Ebay so please try to protect yourself and stay vigilant ... If something doesn''t feel right, it likely isn''t.

While some of you more experience Ebayers are likely already well versed in this ... I thought that it would not do any harm to share this just in case it might help someone else like me.

Does anyone have any advice on how to stay safe on Ebay? I really want to sell my item and would like to ensure that I do not sell them to the wrong person.

 

[Skippy123]

gosh that is awful I am glad you trusted your gut. people are awful

 

[Sparkalicious]

Thanks Skip. I know it.
It just feels worse actually encountering awful people ... I''m still reeling thinking about how I could have possibly lost my item and not received payment for it. Ugh. So scary.

 

[princessplease]

Wow, I''m glad you didn''t get scammed. People are ridiculous sometimes. It just sucks that legitimate sellers and buyers have to deal with this garbage.

 

[Julianna]

Hey Spark.

As a long looooooong time seller and buyer (circa 199 on Ebay I can tell you that the way to stay "safe" on Ebay is to follow procedures. Not only is it a shady thing to end an auction early for a buyer, it''s also against policy (the original intent was to keep things fair, but that rule ends up weeding out a lot of fraud). I am glad you have such good instincts, who knows what they''d have tried to make you do once you sent a Paypal invoice. Someone close to me got caught in a Paypal money-laundering scheme by being greedy; if you conduct yourself in an honest and straightforward manner (ie: you want it? bid on it!), you''ll be ok. I can certainly tell you that those people had no intention of buying your earrings. There is no such thing as an Ebay account setting that would disallow people to use Ebay''s messaging system. Not that communicating outside of Ebay is a cardinal sin, but the pains they went through to explain away their shadiness are very suspect...not to mention all the "now here''s what you''re gonna do...".

ANYHOO... don''t let this experience chase you off, most people are friendly, prompt, and honest. Selling on Ebay ain''t what it used to be, but it can still be accomplished in a way that doesn''t end up making you want to cry.

Plus, think of how well-versed you''ll feel when this happens again and you can confidently and politely tell them to piss off.

 

[D&T]

So glad you listened to your instinct too!.. having been a seller and buyer for about 7 years, I have learned quite a bit on both ends. when I sell high ticketed Items, I usually have a disclaimer, even though per ebay, buyer has 7 days to complete a transaction, unless you specifically as a seller request payment to be made within 24 hours and that was on your listing, or at least contact you once you win on the expected time frame of payment. If not, then I will give a second chance offer to the next highest bidder. If a buyer sincerely wants the item and are genuine, they usually will pay immediately or at least contact you. Good luck

 

[InLuv101]

Wow, so glad you didn''t get scammed. I''ve been almost scammed before also and it just makes you angry. It''s always good to pass these stories along so people know that there are a ton of crooks out there.

 

[VRBeauty]

Glad you had your radar on! I recently got a "second chance" offer that seemed too good to be true -- and indeed it was. I reported it to both EBay and the real seller, but haven''t heard whether anyone has taken action on it.

 

[Indylady]

So happy you didn''t get scammed!

 

[Sparkalicious]

Thank you for reading and for the great informative responses. I was really thrown for a loop by it all and am finally just getting my head around it.
I''m glad that I trusted my instinct as well and that I am that much the wiser for the next time.

Julianna - I totally agree. Having integrity is essential. In this case, it came in quite handy. While I wanted a quick sale, I was not willing to risk my earrings for the possibility of getting more money. I really thought the the additional explanation was a bit much and that''s likely what set off my spidey senses.

D&T - That is fantastic advice. Thank you ... I will be adding that to my auction.

VR - It''s so scary, huh? Wow ... interesting that you haven''t heard anything back. Hmm.

 

[cushioncutdiamondring]

Sparkalicious,
I was recently defrauded by someone in Brooklyn with the same exact emails and zipcode. I sent a 1.38 ct cushioncut diamond solitare to someone at the address provided. Can you please tell me the names you were contacted by...ebay member name and emails. I want to know if its the same person. They ripped me off for $6250.00. I really needed this money and never received payment. They created fake paypal emails and made me beleive the item was paid for.
Thanks

 

[Snicklefritz]

Phew! Close call! I haven''t tried the Ebay thing yet, and I found your post very helpful. I''ll be sure to educated myself on all procedures if/when I ever do join ebay. Thanks!

 

[Dreamgirl]

This is why I''m always so leery of eBay. There are so many problems on there! My boyfriend uses ebay a lot so I let him go on there if I want someting because I''m honestly affraid of eBay.

I agree with Julianna, stick with their procedures and not what someone tells you to do. Good thing you went with that gut feeling!

 

[makemepretty]

YES! That''s what happened to me. The person paid vial paypal, contacted me through ebay, asked for fedex and then after the weekend, the real owner of the account disputed the payment. Sooo glad you didn''t get scammed. Ebay and paypal need to step up their security. Paypal is NOT secure, people remember that if you have it hooked up to your bank accounts.

 

[AprilBaby]

No more ebay for me. I was scammed twice and you can''t leave negative feedback. Then the scammer charged me back and I was banned instead of them! Totally sucks.

 

[princessplease]

This actually happened to another poster on here a few weeks ago, but they were unlucky and sent out the package and got scammed.

 

[NakedFinger]

Didnt that just happen to someone else? That whole "send email to gmail not ebay email cause I'm at work" etc etc thing sounds very familiar

ETA: Yeah here it is: https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/realized-paypal-emails-were-fake-after-i-shipped-the-diamond-ring-to-brooklyn.119584/

 

[gemgirl]

Date: 5/27/2009 1:32:39 AM
Author: Sparkalicious
Thank you for reading and for the great informative responses. I was really thrown for a loop by it all and am finally just getting my head around it.
I''m glad that I trusted my instinct as well and that I am that much the wiser for the next time.

Julianna - I totally agree. Having integrity is essential. In this case, it came in quite handy. While I wanted a quick sale, I was not willing to risk my earrings for the possibility of getting more money. I really thought the the additional explanation was a bit much and that''s likely what set off my spidey senses.

D&T - That is fantastic advice. Thank you ... I will be adding that to my auction.

VR - It''s so scary, huh? Wow ... interesting that you haven''t heard anything back. Hmm.

My husband and I have been selling all kinds of things on EBay for the past year and if there''s one thing you need to remember it''s this. Don''t send any correspondence from your private email address or to someone''s private email address ever. The way that EBay and PayPal protects us as both buyers or sellers is to conduct your business by the rules and within the structure of both EBay and PayPal. That''s the only way EBay or PayPal will stand behind people if something does go wrong. Once you step outside of the EBay/PayPal box, you''re on your own and they can''t help no matter how badly anyone is scammed. Also, never end an auction early. There''s really no reason for that and it''s against EBay''s policies. And there''s no truth in a person telling you that they can''t access their Ebay messages at work. You can access your Ebay messages from anywhere any time.

We had a couple of close calls in the beginning. I even had to file a police report once because the thiefs scared us so much. For the most part though, we''ve met some very nice, very appreciative people through Ebay.

 

[luckystar112]

Yes, this did happen to someone else.
If you look closely you''ll see that sparkalicious created this thread in May.
It was bumbed by cushioncutdiamondring (the recent victim) because the stories are similar.

 

[Rock_of_Love]

Wow! So glad you caught it, Sparkalicious! Good thing you trusted your gut feeling.

I recently had my ebay account hijacked, probably like that lady. I hadn''t been on in about a month or so, but tried to log in and couldn''t. Then I was thinking, maybe I forgot my password, so I had it sent to my email on file...the email never came! I called ebay and sure enough, someone had somehow gotten into my account, changed the email on record and changed the password. Thankfully no damage was done, and ebay helped me set everything right again - changed my password like five times just in case to something really difficult!!