Last night I won auction item #230397039833 by the Ebay seller "mtra4171" for $3700.00. The ONLY reason why I bid on a seller with 1 rating was because he was local and the auction noted that the buyer could pay at pick up. After winning the auction, I found that the pictures and text on the auction I won were the same exact as another. Then I found that the item I won was a relist due to a non-paying buyer. I emailed the seller and asked if we could meet locally. He asked that I pay him first via Paymate and then he would meet me. I explained that we could meet at Starbucks, I would bring my laptop, and would make payment upon receipt of the camera. He then said payment through Paymate took 24hrs to clear because it was a "merchant account" and I needed to pay this way for his tax purposes. I then offered to bring cash and he could bring a receipt that I would sign for tax purposes. He provided a local cell # that went to voicemail and shortly thereafter I received a transaction cancellation request from Ebay due to the seller and buyer not agreeing on the terms of the transaction. WATCH WHO YOU BUY FROM AND IF IT SOUNDS TO GOOD TO BE TRUE... IT PROBABLY IS!
Walk away from this deal, the seller is hiding something.
If it's a face to face transaction cash is the best way. I found my 1ds2 on Craigslist, I requested the seller to meet me inside the bank and he said OK. After inspected the camera I walk up to the teller and got the cash, he counted the cash and deposited in his account. I'm happy and he is happy. I got my camera and he got his cash, a very safe transaction.
carlsbadbum wrote:
Walk away from this deal, the seller is hiding something.
If it's a face to face transaction cash is the best way. I found my 1ds2 on Craigslist, I requested the seller to meet me inside the bank and he said OK. After inspected the camera I walk up to the teller and got the cash, he counted the cash and deposited in his account. I'm happy and he is happy. I got my camera and he got his cash, a very safe transaction.
Yakim Peled wrote:
It seems that some things never change. I wonder why......
Happy shooting,
Yakim.
It is my belief that eBay must modify its basic security model in order to create a safer sales environment. The seller feedback system is just not sufficient to ensure buyer safety. Until they do more, it will remain a scammers paradise.
They need to establish a screening process that requires some type of positive identification of people wishing to sell expensive items. If www.confirmid.com can do it for the online dating industry, it can be done for the online sales/auction industry too. eBay then has to be willing to prosecute or at least ban those that do not operate in good faith...or outright illegally.
I would also like to see the use of an escrow account be mandatory when requested by the buyer. Sellers refusing to do that would also be banned.
These two simple actions would cut down considerably on the fraud that takes place on eBay.
When Ebay+Paypal started providing buyer protection, I decided to try getting a great deal on a 1DsIII. What the heck, right, maybe I'd get lucky. I bid on and won *3* different 1Ds III's, *none* of which worked out. In each case, I had $4500+ in Paypal's hands for something like a month. In one case -- a guy simply failed to ship the camera, and kept putting it off. I actually filed a police report in both my and his jurisdiction. Of course the police are completely uninterested in pursuing this sort of thing. In one case they did call the seller, and that got him moving on a refund.
My conclusion: There are almost *always* fraudulent high-end camera sales going on on ebay. It's just too easy for scammers to get away with it. In the case above in which I reported to the police, the buyer ended up getting a free $4500 loan from me for a period well in excess of a month.
I did eventually purchase my 1Ds III from a seller on ebay, at a good but not wildly great price. It was quite clear that I was not dealing with a scammer.
If you're buying on ebay, you have to use your "nose." Bad smell? Walk away. It's probably rotten.
Hi guys,
I too bid and won an auction for a Canon 500D, 7 days ago here in Australia.
The guy had zero rating, but was local and same deal applied. After winning the auction for a dirt cheap price, I thought, let me contact the seller to arrange to collect the camera and pay him "cash".
7 Days and 7 emails, "ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT"...no response..HOAX!
if its too good to be true..then it not. Time wasters...
Cameras are a prime target for eBay scammers as they are high value, compact items with a relatively high demand - especially when priced below market rate (thus tempting bargain hunters).
gheller wrote:
they would also cut down considerably on the *revenue* generated by eBay...
greg
True, but to me irrelevant. I will not buy anything expensive on eBay except from the few vendors that are established businesses (Adorama, etc). If more people would take that approach, their revenue would go down too. Then eBay would implement the security I suggest and revenue would go back up.
Craigslist requires their posters to have a phone number before they're allow to post for sell items, this may help cut down on to the scams like item is at Liverpool England.
Darryl,
Now i know why you didn't follow up with my 1d III after you said you would.
And no PM to tell me so so that i can go on with other potential buyers
You were chasing some virtual deals in ebay
Good luck with your bargain hunting.
Definitely have to give it the smell test on ebay. Makes it more difficult for us honest folks to sell things sometimes
Rating, where it's from etc. I had a guy buy my 1D Mark II from Russia... Sent me money via PayPal, they confirmed it, but I still backed out because of the oversees thing. Turns out he was legit... You just have to be careful.
nathanlake wrote:
True, but to me irrelevant. I will not buy anything expensive on eBay except from the few vendors that are established businesses (Adorama, etc). If more people would take that approach, their revenue would go down too. Then eBay would implement the security I suggest and revenue would go back up.
You've just proven that you're not Ebay's target consumer.
Trust me, they have a ton of data to work with. If they could reap gains by overhauling their security system, they'd do it. Otherwise, the static nature of their current model is pretty indicative of its "success."
When i buy camera gear on eBay, I go for high rated sellers only. Never had a problem. My 1Ds II was an eBay purchase, for $1700...thought I might get taken on that one, but the camera was in even better shape than described, and is still going strong after another 10K clicks. He had 988 rating with 99% positive, so I felt pretty safe.
I'll get lower priced stuff ($400 and less) from less active sellers (say, between 15-40 rating), but only if they're 100% positive.
