eBay/Craigslist Another Ebay Scam - same tractor, 4th listing!

markie61 · Jun 9, 2004

Just tried the link in the first posting - it's been pulled. I feel bad for the guy who appears to be legitimate in Michigan.

Mark

PS I have a friend who sells ALOT of stuff on ebay and had a very expensive auction "cloned" (high-end guitar.) Even though he did nothing wrong, he felt very bad for the victim and was worried about his reputation. He started editing all of his pictures to include a "watermark" of his phone number or email address (or something unique) across the center of the image.

KiotiJohn · Jun 9, 2004

( He started editing all of his pictures to include a "watermark" of his phone number or email address (or something unique) across the center of the image. )
That will work ok if someone is simply linking to his images on the site and using them on theirs, but is of little use if the person downloads his images and uses photo software to edit out the watermark. It's really very easy to do. It's SO difficult to combat these thieves. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif John

markie61 · Jun 10, 2004

I didnt know you could edit the watermarks out cleanly.
Mark

CVHoss · Jun 10, 2004

Mark,
It's pretty amazing what even an amateur like me can do with decent photo editing software. Here are three that I did for a friend of mine. Photos of his parents (as kids) and grand parents.

Hoss

Photo 1 -- Original

Photo 1 -- Edited

Photo 2 -- Original

Photo 2 -- Edited

Photo 3 -- Original

Photo 3 -- Edited

imported_TommyLee · Jun 16, 2004

I'm wondering if that guy you're referring to in Michigan is me! I was just involved in a scam and BARELY got out of it in time. I sent my money to France but ebay confirmed that it was a fraudulent deal at the last minute and I cancelled my money transfer. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

KiotiJohn · Jun 16, 2004

( I didnt know you could edit the watermarks out cleanly. )
Yep, as CVHoss has demonstrated, you can do just about anything with good editing. Nice work Hoss BTW. A watermark is really not much to deal with. John

GeneD14 · Jun 16, 2004

A few days ago I saw a nice JD 5220 with cab and FEL on ebay. I was ready to bid. It was a 3 day auction, wire transfer of money only, no reserve, 62 hours on it, located nearBathNY. So I started looking for other JD 5220's on ironsearch.com to compare pricing and I found the same tractor in Canada at a dealer! So I emailed the ebay seller and asked a few questions about the tractor and for his phone number. As you might have guessed he wrote back saying that he had no phone.
So I emailed ebay and they pulled the auction. As it turns out the real seller's identity was stolen. I have been seeing this type of thing alot lately on ebay, they really need to crack down and stop this.

Bob_Skurka · Jun 16, 2004

Ebay does not police this stuff.

There are 3 scam auctions running right now that I have emailed Ebay about several times. They shut down several I notified them about, but the 3 auctions they won't shut down all have bidders bidding on the tractors. One has 16 bids!

I guess Ebay's security people think is is reasonable to sell a $10,000 BX Kubota for $4,000 and ship it across the world to a buyer?

KENSFM · Jun 16, 2004

"Ebay does not police this stuff."

Bob, some of the problems are that just about anyone can register to sell on eBay and once they are shut down for scam type auctions they just register under another name or steal some ones identity and the scamers are back. Most of these auctions originate from out of the country so that makes them even harder to police.
As I type this there are well over 1,000,000 active auctions on eBay so I do not think the percentage of scams is too bad.
To be honest with you I do not think eBay's security people even know what a BX Kubota even looks like or what it should sell for. With over 1 million auctions going at any one time this would be an impossible task.
If you think tractor fraud is bad you should see the problems with exotic cars, boats, and even planes.
I think we should continue to notify eBay when something doesn't "look right" and hopefully they will pull the auction.
Remember if it looks too good to be true it probably is.
Ken, eBay member and very happy stockholder /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

yonahforge · Jul 4, 2004

Here seems to be another scam:
Yanmar 1510 series compact tractor

If you go to hoye tractor's website, you find the exact same pictures, except they call it a 1610 /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif.

Hoye Tractor's 1610

How do you report it as a scam? Who wants to own this one?