eBay/Craigslist an ebay RIP-OFF classic!

aardvark · Aug 19, 2004

I understand where you are coming from. I report scams pretty regularly, whenever I see them. Also, most people are smart enough to pick put scams, and therefore they never even bid or email. Does anyone really believe a $30k tractor is really for sale "buy it now" at $2500 with free shipping? LOL. In the beginning I got fooled by a few of them, but I never spent any money. The scam normally goes like this: You email to have your name put on the approved bidder list. They reply with a sales pitch "I lost my job at the tractor dealership when they went out of business, and I bought these tractors at the auction, and now I'm selling them. I need to sell them ASAP because I'm running short on my mortgage, etc, etc, blah, blah, blah." It only took me one email reply from them to tell it was a scam, and that was several months ago, when they were listing machines for reasonable prices. Machines like a B21 for $10k. That's cheap, but it's not ridiculously low either. Now thier prices are just stupid.

Anyway, I hope thier credibility never falls. I just made bronze level power seller, and I need to keep going up! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif Ebay is my hobby. Before the end of the month I'll have two, ebay and tractors.

JOELENAHAN · Aug 19, 2004

I am not a big E-BAY buyer, but when I do buy off E-BAY, I usually check the sellers feedback. If I see that most of their feedback is as a buyer, I become more skeptical of them of a seller. Most of the time I see that they buy several $3.00 items to get a good feedback rating, but havr never sold anything before.

nobull1 · Aug 19, 2004

Jared,
I think E-Bay is a great thing as well, and have bought a few things myself on there.I really hope that they do get a handle on the scams, if not we all lose /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif.Also good luck as a seller I think it is a great hobby/business

mwood · Aug 20, 2004

I think there are two sides to this. Having looked into a couple private auctions, I would never <font color="red"> NEVER </font> ask to be pre-approved. Mostly, what happens is that they list it really low to draw attention. When someone e-mails them with a request to be approved, they respond with what they really want. (Usually a reasonable asking price plus shipping). I believe there is some extra fee associated with setting the price high to start with, and since e-bay takes a percentage of the sale, these people are just trying to use it as cheap advertising for their product.

Just something else to think about.

aardvark · Aug 20, 2004

I agree there are people who do what you said to avoid fees, but the scammers typically use the line I put above (or similar). The maximum listing fee for anything that isn't a vehicle is $4.80. The reserve price fees can be higher, up to $100. It's based on 1% of the reserve price, with a max of $100. So, a $50k tractor would cost $100 reserve price fee, but so would a $10k tractor. Also, the reserve price fee is refunded if the item meets reserve, so really, if the seller puts a realistic reserve and it sells, the reserve price fee gets refunded and is zero. The final value fees are on a calculated schedule. All fees can be found here:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/questions/seller-fees.html

When the scammers use the pre approved bidder auction, it forces any potential buyers to email them, and then they begin the scam process and take the sale off ebay. If you really want to advertise and try to sell off ebay, what most people do is to list an item for a low price, no reserve, and then say "item is listed for sale locally, I reserve the right to cancel the auction at any time". Give you phone number in the auction description. People who are really serious and looking for that item will call you.

Jibber · Aug 20, 2004

Here's another one..

I did try to report this.. not sure if it went through.. I also e-mailed the listing ID.. a person who operates an ebay store tha specializes in women's handbags. Now it's women's handbags and extremely low priced tractors. I found there are SEVERAL kubota models listed.. real cheap.

Kubota listing

Inspector507 · Aug 20, 2004

Jibber,
It's gone.......good job

Jibber · Aug 21, 2004

I had e-mailed the woman who's ebay ID had been ripped off.. here's part of my note and her return note:

"Are you really selling handbags AND tractors at extremely low prices?
Or, did some scammer hijack your ebay ID?"

Hijacked!!!!!

================================================================================
Item # / Item Title End Date
================================================================================
6702576903 Aug-22-04
2003 KUBOTA L3410 -4X4- LOADER- HYDROSTATIC

Thank you,
moniquepeterson