Bob,
You will notice that it follows the same basic outline I wrote about in my post on ebay scams last month.
eBay Tractor Scams
#576006 - 01/31/05 08:49 PM
<font color="red"> How to recognize a scam.
1. If the price seems to good to be true, it is.
2. New ebay members with no sales and therefore no track record, (see below)
3. Sellers posting and/or asking you to email them to a posted email box in the listing.
4. Listings from the UK, (I can't explain it, just reporting it).
5. Classic one owner, it was garaged and only used to take my elderly Irish mother to Mass every other Sunday, tractors. See #1 again.
6. Bad or broken English, and typos,(sorry guys, I know that hurts), this is especially evident in the reply to an email inquiry.
7. FREE WORLDWIDE SHIPPING, One day listings, Buyer PreApproval Required, and pink highlighted listings, all seem to be part of the pattern too.
8. Failure of the eBay member to respond in a timely manner to a request for info,(this is sent by eBay straight to their real email address and not to the scammers email and often results in a rapid delisting and disappearance of the listing from ebay when the true owner catches on and reports it). Often the owner of the ID also is then listed as NO LONGER AN ACTIVE USER.
9.. Yahoo email addresses,(they're free).
My advice is to deal locally when you can, read the fine print, use a credit card, and always test drive the iron you are buying.
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I guess we need to add to the modus operandi,
1.Visible palm trees in nontropical locations
2.Impossible shipping methods,(Fedex for tractors??)
3.Sob stories, bad memories, sudden deaths in the family.
Bill
