# Scammed on ebay?



## barryd (May 9, 2008)

I just sold a laptop on ebay and it was going well. Seems the final bid at 6:30pm was won by a bidder with zero feedback. Must have been automatic as Ive been watching the bidders and they all looked legit. I clicked on their name at the side of the biddings listing and it looks like they have bid on loads of items within the last hour, all computer related. (See below).

I presume its some kind of scam but where do I go from here? Whats the point of the scam (if it is a scam) presumably they wont pay me, I actually hope they dont but if they do I presume I have to send it out? I appreciate that everyone has to start with zero feedback but there is something dodgy going on here I reckon.

It only ended 15 min ago but thought I would ask the question so I am prepared.


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

Just checked and the buyer joined today. Defo dodgy surely.


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## Matchlock (Jun 26, 2010)

barryd said:


> Just checked and the buyer joined today. Defo dodgy surely.


We all have to start somewhere, didn't you do that once?


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

Or like a lot of sellers who accumulate lots of bad feedback, they start again.

Ray.


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## caulkhead (Jul 25, 2007)

As long as you are paid what does it matter. Obviously you only send to the address they have registered with eBay and you will send it tracked and with signature. Once the money is in your account you don't have any worries.......


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## listerdiesel (Aug 3, 2012)

Get paid by PayPal and ship by tracked carrier.

Peter


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

Matchlock said:


> We all have to start somewhere, didn't you do that once?


Yes but I didnt join and on day one manage to know how to spike an auction at the last second and during that first hour bid on 100 different other IT related items. Ive contacted ebay and the closest buyer telling him to watch for a second chance offer. Of course its a scam.


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

Monies can show on your account only to be debited again up to six weeks later.!! 
Some scammers pass funds via several banks and it can take a while for it to bounce back.

Ray.


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

They havent paid and I hope it stays that way. There is an option in my account to cancel the transaction but ive not pressed it yet. Not sure what it does or what it entails.


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## caulkhead (Jul 25, 2007)

barryd said:


> Yes but I didnt join and on day one manage to know how to spike an auction at the last second and during that first hour bid on 100 different other IT related items. Ive contacted ebay and the closest buyer telling him to watch for a second chance offer. Of course its a scam.


Serious question! How does the scam work? If you get paid, presumably it's not a scam, unless as Ray says you get paid but the money is then removed from your account at a later date. If they don't pay you then it's hassle for you but what's in it for the scammer?


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

caulkhead said:


> Serious question! How does the scam work? If you get paid, presumably it's not a scam, unless as Ray says you get paid but the money is then removed from your account at a later date. If they don't pay you then it's hassle for you but what's in it for the scammer?


This was one of the reasons for the thread. There used to be some ebay savvy members on here. Thought they might know. I dunno. Maybe if they win enough items the odd person may just send it out not realising they havent paid or like Ray says they may pay and then somehow request the money back. Its just a PIA! Ill ask on the ebay community thing maybe.


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

The other famous one was get a larger amount than is required and after you have deposited the cheque or money order get a request for the difference to be refunded.
Then find out the original deposit was bogus.

There is a 'scam' forum I used to belong to years ago. Not sure it's still operating.

Ray.


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## powerplus (Oct 6, 2014)

if you are not happy 

as a last resort

just cancel the sale saying you have found a fault with the item


barry


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## TheSlug (Jan 2, 2018)

they pay, then once they receive item, they contact paypal saying you never sent it and demand a refund


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

powerplus said:


> if you are not happy
> 
> as a last resort
> 
> ...


According to someone on the ebay community site they have withdrawn 24 bids on their first day on ebay as well.  Not sure how they found that info.

There is no way I am sending it out to them now regardless of if they pay or not. Just such a faff on and apparently if you just cancel without valid reason then it can go against you and I have an above average seller rating at the moment. The idea about saying its knackered is a good one though.


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## powerplus (Oct 6, 2014)

hi barryd

unfortunately i have had to do this in the past
as long as you list a valid reason you wont loose your above average rating, found a key not working what a bugger then you found it was a crumb 
later you could re list it saying just serviced 

barry


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

powerplus said:


> hi barryd
> 
> unfortunately i have had to do this in the past
> as long as you list a valid reason you wont loose your above average rating, found a key not working what a bugger then you found it was a crumb
> ...


Thanks. Ill give ebay a day or two to respond. They may just agree to cancel it, then I can relist straight away or offer a second chance.


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## bazzy (Sep 22, 2010)

hi barryd

Same happened to me twice by same guy with a different name but same postcode. An utter time waster. Zero feedback and never paid:


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

According to another poster on the ebay community forum its not a scam but just trolling. Whats the point? What a complete sad and pathetic thing to do if it is. Its not like you even get to see the end result either.

Bazzy, I hope its random and not targeted as I will need to relist it and I have another one to sell. This guy on the community sites say they target IT equipment. Ive never had a problem before but then I always check the bidders but this one came out of nowhere right at the last second. In fact his bid was 18:30 and 40 seconds which is odd as the auction was set to end at 18:30 dead.

There used to be a way you could delete zero feedback bids but Im not sure if you can still do that but its pointless if someone can bid and you cannot see it as its somehow spiked in at the last second.


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## erneboy (Feb 8, 2007)

Sorry if this is a stupid question but how can Ebay allow a bid which was recorded after the auction ended?


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## KeithChesterfield (Mar 12, 2010)

24 Bid Retractions ?


What's that all about?


I cancelled a sale after the final bid because the Buyer wanted it sent to a different address, his address was abroad but he wanted it sent to a UK address, because it would have cost more to post abroad than he paid for the item - he must have known that when he bid and I thought, and still think, it was some sort of scam.


Be cautious - be very cautious.


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

erneboy said:


> Sorry if this is a stupid question but how can Ebay allow a bid which was recorded after the auction ended?


I have no idea. The thread I Started on ebay is here. https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Sel...e-as-I-believe-its-a-scam/m-p/5766457#M392854

Some say its automatic bots wrecking the auctions and it seems to be mainly tech auctions. The last couple of posts suggest ending the auction early to the highest bidder and cancelling zero feedback bids but thats impossible if its a bot bidding right at the very end. Doesnt look like ebay are doing anything or even think there is a problem.

I do not know what to do next now as I do not want to go through the dispute thing as it will presumably mean contacting the buyer and I dont want to do that. Will see if ebay respond to my request from yesterday to have it cancelled but I dont hold out much hope for that.


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## erneboy (Feb 8, 2007)

As I said I know nothing about it, but in your place I'd try to insist that in any auction no bid can be considered valid unless it is recorded before bidding is closed.

Surely admitting late bids makes the whole thing nonsense?


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## Lesleykh (Apr 13, 2009)

This is why we've taken to only selling on local selling sites where people have to come over to collect an item and pay for it. It either all goes ahead, or sometimes they change their mind, but we're ok with that. I really distrust ebay these days as there are a lot of dishonest folk about who seem a lot cleverer than me on these matters.


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

Trouble is I live in the middle of nowhere. I have sold stuff to our villagers in the past though on the parish email list but I live in the second least populated region in England so people probably wont drive 50 miles from York or Newcastle to buy a hundred quid laptop. What are the alternative sites anyway?

Alan I suspect the time clock was maybe slightly wrong or something and the bid was somehow the last second. There is another three page thread here about the same thing. https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Sel...-WINNING-MY-AUCTIONS-EARLY-DAY-0/td-p/5633298

I haven't got the time or patience for this crap to be honest, I only sell the odd few tech items I pick up from clients for beer money. I have a laptop and an i5 desktop to sell which I thought would raise about £250 but I may as well stick em in the paper like you used to do in the 80s now. 

People are saying either end the auction early or use a buy it now or make an offer. Both options I suspect though will result in you making less money. Worra carry on!

In the meantime I need to speak to someone at ebay and get this current debacle cancelled. Is that possible or am I better just following Baz's advice and saying its knackered? I dont really want to do that though as I hate going down the path of telling porkies.


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## Lesleykh (Apr 13, 2009)

We live near Cambridge - so a very populated area. We have local Facebook pages for selling and we use Gumtree.


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## Pudsey_Bear (Sep 25, 2008)

Just looked at completed sale and your laptop isn't in there Barry.

One scam I nearly got caught out on is they pay with Paypal then collect, I refused to do the deal, and refunded them, the scam is they just have to say none delivery, I can;t prove different even if I have a signed note, they just say they didn't collect it, Ebay disregards any messages, and yes they do read them, so they can see if you arranged to be paid off Ebay and then cancel it as not sold.


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

Kev_n_Liz said:


> Just looked at completed sale and your laptop isn't in there Barry.
> 
> One scam I nearly got caught out on is they pay with Paypal then collect, I refused to do the deal, and refunded them, the scam is they just have to say none delivery, I can;t prove different even if I have a signed note, they just say they didn't collect it, Ebay disregards any messages, and yes they do read them, so they can see if you arranged to be paid off Ebay and then cancel it as not sold.


Its probably not shown as completed as its just sat there in limbo and it will remain that way until Ebay do something about it. 24 hours nearly now and no response. All I Want them to do is cancel the sale but I just bet they say I have to open up a dispute and contact the buyer. Well I aint contacting this twerp as I clearly wont get an answer and the less they know about me the better.

Is there a number you can actually call them on?


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

I Found this in my Clutter folder (should check it more often)

Hello 
*We had to cancel bids for the buyer, normankgrovek0, because they aren't registered on eBay:
222786201451 - Lenovo B50-45 Laptop 15.6" AMD E1-6010, 4GB RAM, 320GB HD, Windows 10

We've also made it easy to relist your item if it was removed. Although the item is no longer available in search listings, you will find it in the Sold section of My eBay. For more information, please visit:
http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/sell/relist.html

To help you avoid this situation in the future, consider setting a Buy It Now price and requiring buyers to make an immediate payment. For more information on immediate payments, visit:
http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/pay/require-immediate-payment.html

We recommend you take the following actions if this buyer won the item:
- If you haven't received payment, don't complete the sale or send the item to the buyer.
- Don't communicate with the buyer directly.
- Verify any payments you've been notified of by logging into your PayPal account (or other online payment service).
- If the buyer requests a refund or additional payments, don't send any money without contacting eBay first.
- If you've already sent the item, try contacting the shipping carrier to find out if you can stop shipment.

In these types of situations, we may, at our sole discretion, decide whether to credit the fees for removed listings.
- We have credited all associated fees except for the final value fee for your listing(s).

If you have any concerns or questions, click "Help & Contact" at the top of most eBay pages.

We're sorry for this inconvenience, and thanks for continuing to work with us.
Regards,

eBay Customer Service*

Dont look like I can do a second chance offer now either as its says item no longer available or something. Thats a pity as I had a buyer just a couple of pounds under the fake bid.

Worra carry on. Looks like it will have to be buy it now from now on unless they sort out this mess.


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

If only everything was as easily solved as this Barry.

Ray.


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## Revise (May 13, 2012)

I have a business selling on Bay, Amazon and my own websites. 
There are several scams going through ebay and Amazon at the moment. It might be a laptop of electrical item. What is doing the rounds now is.

Buy a laptop, strip it of parts and send the empty laptop back.
Buy a laptop and say to ebay you did not send the correct item. 
Buy a laptop and several months later say to the credit card company their card was stolen, hoping you have thrown away any tracking details. (This is mainly a Paypal)
Register a different address on Paypal to ebay and you send it to the ebay address, when they claim of Paypal it was not sent to the register Paypal address then they have won the Paypal claim. 

If you sell high value item, Always. Take a photo and serial number if possible. Send it signed for, make sure the weight is on the post office receipt and take a photo of it. check the address on Paypal and ebay are the same. Upload the tracking details to ebay.

If you do offer a buy it now price you can exclude people with zero feedback or people who have disputes against them from buying the item. (I think, bit I am not sure if you can stop a person with zero feedback bidding on an item)


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## Devonboy (Nov 19, 2009)

Do not understand eBay's response: How can someone bid on an item if they are not registered with eBay?

*We had to cancel bids for the buyer, normankgrovek0, because they aren't registered on eBay:
222786201451 - Lenovo B50-45 Laptop 15.6" AMD E1-6010, 4GB RAM, 320GB HD, Windows 10*


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## Kaytutt (Feb 5, 2013)

You can ring eBay, I had to ring them last weekend as someone hacked my account, changed my email address to prevent me going in and trying to change the password and then ordered an Anime figurine from Japan for $89 

I have no idea how my account would have been hacked, I'm quite savvy, have interesting password combinations and not a prolific eBay user either. Ebay secured my account very quickly but because I had paypal automatically linked to eBay the payment was made and I've had to raise a dispute with PayPal to try and get the funds back

I found eBay helpful and didnt have to wait ages to get through to someone


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## Kaytutt (Feb 5, 2013)

talking of scams, I've just typed paypal into google as the lazy way to log into paypal to check the progress on my dispute and the very first result from google is a scam website


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

Revise said:


> I have a business selling on Bay, Amazon and my own websites.
> There are several scams going through ebay and Amazon at the moment. It might be a laptop of electrical item. What is doing the rounds now is.
> 
> Buy a laptop, strip it of parts and send the empty laptop back.
> ...


Thanks and good advice but as far as I can tell from the various threads on the ebay forum this is not a scam its just malicious online vandalism. There are various theories as to why its happening from disgruntled employees to more complex theories about trying to steer people away from ebay to other sites (Which sites?)

Whatever the reason its working. Im reluctant to try again as some have said once they have you in their sights they just keep at it. I only do it for a bit of fun and to make a few quid but it adds up over the year, probably a couple of grand. I guess ill have to try buy it now. It seems crazy though that Ebay cannot do something about it. Unless they prefer people to list buy it now. My auctions always do well though and I will probably end up losing out by pricing stuff too low plus wheres the fun in that?


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## emjaiuk (Jun 3, 2005)

Kaytutt said:


> talking of scams, I've just typed paypal into google as the lazy way to log into paypal to check the progress on my dispute and the very first result from google is a scam website


And people wonder why I don't trust Google! The first one up is an obvious (if you look) PayPal scam site and Google accept it as a paid advertisement.!

Malcolm


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## fatbuddha (Aug 7, 2006)

emjaiuk said:


> And people wonder why I don't trust Google! The first one up is an obvious (if you look) PayPal scam site and Google accept it as a paid advertisement.!
> 
> Malcolm


but have you put "paypal" into Google and see what comes up?? I have just now - I don't know what settings Kay has on her PC and browser but I have various ad blockers (uBlock Origin, Ghostery and Privacy Badger) and I see no scam sites in the 1st 5 pages of results. so maybe try it yourself and see what happens.

and people - make sure you use adblockers


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## Drew (May 30, 2005)

fatbuddha said:


> but have you put "paypal" into Google and see what comes up?? I have just now - I don't know what settings Kay has on her PC and browser but I have various ad blockers (uBlock Origin, Ghostery and Privacy Badger) and I see no scam sites in the 1st 5 pages of results. so maybe try it yourself and see what happens.
> 
> and people - make sure you use adblockers


No problem when I searched in Google, all ok.


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## redkite93 (Dec 29, 2010)

barryd said:


> They havent paid and I hope it stays that way. There is an option in my account to cancel the transaction but ive not pressed it yet. Not sure what it does or what it entails.


We had to press this button once and got lots of negative feedback.


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## Kaytutt (Feb 5, 2013)

emjaiuk said:


> And people wonder why I don't trust Google! The first one up is an obvious (if you look) PayPal scam site and Google accept it as a paid advertisement.!
> 
> Malcolm


Actually it was Yahoo not Google, I always use Google so not quite sure how Yahoo managed to kick in


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## Kaytutt (Feb 5, 2013)

I've just searched for paypal again using Yahoo and the genuine paypal link comes out on top now, no evidence of the scam as per my screenshot above. It just proves that you should always be vigilant


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## fatbuddha (Aug 7, 2006)

Kaytutt said:


> Actually* it was Yahoo* not Google, I always use Google so not quite sure how Yahoo managed to kick in


is Yahoo search still a thing?? wow - thought that died some time ago! I just tried it however and it didn't show any scam sites so maybe adblockers are keeping these links at bay.

EDIT: Cross post with Kay


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## emjaiuk (Jun 3, 2005)

I take back what I said about Google in this respect, I can't replicate it either using google or yahoo


Malcolm


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

Well it looks like the sale has been cancelled but its showing up in my ebay account as still active and awaiting payment. In the end I got to speak to someone at ebay who told me its been cancelled and the buyer blocked. Fees were taken off my account of £13.09 and then credited back the next day.

Is that the end of it? I havent got a clue. At least I think I have managed to do it all through the proper channels but what a performance and waste of time. Its a pity I Cant get hold of the scrote that ruined the auction and send them a bill for the faff and carry on. 

Ebay said that the seller is now blocked but my argument was if it was so easy for them to do it the first time they will just do it again under a different user name. It just seems like a totally compromised system to me. Its left me no choice really but to put a buy it now price in for the next two sales I have.  Anybody want a cheap laptop or an i5 desktop?  £120 each.


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

How much.???????
Is it an Apple.?

Ray.


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## Drew (May 30, 2005)

raynipper said:


> How much.???????
> Is it an Apple.?
> 
> Ray.


Don't be silly Ray, you would have to buy a new set of tools to open it to mess about with the inners. Then get your head round the new operating system, etc, etc, etc. Stick with what you have got.

Drew


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

raynipper said:


> How much.???????
> Is it an Apple.?
> 
> Ray.


No, but its £2K to you to cover all the tech support.


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

Typical online seller.

Ray.


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## dghr272 (Jun 14, 2012)

raynipper said:


> Typical online seller.
> 
> Ray.


Yeah Ray and before Brexit it was only £99.99.

Terry


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

More warnings about bogus motorhome adds on E-Bay.

https://www.facebook.com/oneeyed.jack.1291/

Ray.


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## Pudsey_Bear (Sep 25, 2008)

Mine is on Ebay right now and it has been scammed twice.


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## pagey (Sep 26, 2006)

this post is 2 years old


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

But the scamming is still going on today and needs highlighting.

Ray.


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## Pudsey_Bear (Sep 25, 2008)

pagey said:


> this post is 2 years old


I was aware of that


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## trek (May 1, 2005)

Oophs


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## patp (Apr 30, 2007)

We had a funny thing happen to us as buyers on ebay the other day. We bid for an item but were out bid. The next day we got a message saying "second chance" to buy it. We clicked ok and the payment went through PayPal. Next thing that happens is we get a message from the seller saying "sorry too late". A refund of the amount has appeared on PayPal but it all seems a bit strange. Is it possible that the item was offered to more than one person as a "second chance"? Surely that is not right it should be the under bidder?
I wonder if a deal was done by another buyer off ebay for more than our bid or if we are not going to get the refund?


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## patp (Apr 30, 2007)

The seller, in my case, was "Malgorsata Urbanik" trading as tradecell 2014. The PayPal nick name is Hotsicknice eba, All those weird names are making me nervous.


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## jiwawa (Jun 22, 2007)

Mmm, don't like the sound of that either Pat - I do hope all is well.


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