Phase One listing SCAM - watch!

[felix5616]

The surest way to determine if someone is a scammer is to request a demo first for a face to face transaction. Any seller theat is selling an expensive item should be more than happy to meeet in person. I once sold a MF digital system and personally delivered it, the airline ticket cost nearly the same as insured shipping.

 

[colorspace]

When I went to sell something on eBay (and it seemed PP was the only method it would accept for payment) some of the fine print informed me that the money would go into a suspended state, for lack of a better term - ie the seller would not be able to move the money as they would not be granted immediate access to it. Like Escrow?

Is that not the case?

 

[jstaben]

I don't understand how you get scammed on ebay.
I bought and sold several backs and it always went well.
I just bought a back for $12000 and it went without a hitch.

You just need to heed some common sense rules.

For instance: a seller with 0 feedback on sales like this one, you don't buy a $25000 from them - $100 max.
You only consider high value items from seller with high and 100% feedback on sales - don't confuse feedback on buys with that of sales.
If there is bad grammar in the auction you walk away.

If on the face of it everything looks good, then you go do manual verification.
You converse with that person online, ask them all the questions you have, and then look at their answers and think.
If there is any red flag, then you walk away.
If it is someone selling a digital back, then verify he is a photographer.
Look at his website and google his name.
Call the number on his website to see the same person answers.
Make sure the same name is on all the accounts - ebay, paypal etc.

If you are very careful then there are a lot of great deals to be had on ebay, but of course there will always be scammers trying to take your money -- you should just make the effort and pay attention.

In my experience, whenever I bought something from a scammer and asked the money back from paypal, I always got it.
When sending an item to a buyer, you must wait 72 hours if it is a high value item. It can take 48 hours for paypal and credit card companies to notice a scam. If you ship too early then you have a problem. That also happened to me, so I went to the post sorting office and insisted on getting my package back before it left the country.

As a buyer, it is near impossible to get scammed if you know your product. As a seller, it is very easy to get scammed. eBay will always (ok 99.9%)side with buyer.

 

[shlomi]

When I went to sell something on eBay (and it seemed PP was the only method it would accept for payment) some of the fine print informed me that the money would go into a suspended state, for lack of a better term - ie the seller would not be able to move the money as they would not be granted immediate access to it. Like Escrow?

Is that not the case?

In some cases they do that, but normally if paid by credit card in paypal, and the seller is in good standing, then he can withdraw immediately. However, even after he withdraws, the transaction can be reversed and the money taken out of his bank account or credit card. If those are fake, then paypal will not reimburse you out of their own pocket.

BTW they just changed the name from eBay to ebay.

 

[shlomi]

As a buyer, it is near impossible to get scammed if you know your product. As a seller, it is very easy to get scammed. eBay will always (ok 99.9%)side with buyer.

It is true that the system is completely in favor of the buyer.
However - I will not be giving scammers instructions here, but it is possible to jam the system so that a buyer does not get his money back. Especially in large amounts, it is worthwhile to take your time and verify the identity and intentions of the seller.

As a seller, when selling a high value item, you should vet the buyer as well. If he seems suspicious, then refund him and don't ship the item. He can give you a negative feedback, but if the money is refunded then you can cancel this feedback. In any case wait 72 hours before shipping any high value item.

 

[vieri]

Just FYI, eBay finally took off the auction.