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Scams

Hello fellow eBay sellers,

          It seems that every time I try to sell something on this platform, I come across someone trying to trick me into shipping an item before I am paid. I just had someone send me a fake email from payments.safetycentre@gmail.com with a generic message telling me a payment was made and to supply proof of shipping. I find it hard to believe that eBay wouldn't have its own email server with @ebay.com email addresses. I'm in cybersecurity currently, and am always following the straight and narrow path. This incident has me thinking otherwise though and that someone should give the scammer a taste of his/her own medicine. Comment your thoughts below. Maybe you have experienced similar situations. I would like to hear about it.

 

 

 

Message 1 of 22
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Scams

It's a scam. Buyers can only pay via eBay's managed payment.

You are a -0- feedback seller, so you are a scam magnet.

You need to get a few feedback under your belt. Buy a few cheap items to help get it started.

Never take a sell off eBay. If they contact you to message them or anything like that, that's your first red flag.

Don't do auctions, do buy it now with immediate payment required.

This will take care of the non payers and a lot of the scammers.

If they don't pay, your listing stays active until someone does purchase and pay.

Good luck to you

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Message 3 of 22
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Scams

I just sold a camera and received five messages from five different scammers claiming they just paid and can I mail the camera to a different address. I reported this to Ebay. How would they know I just sold an item? I did change my Ebay password and security questions but this is very concerning. Of course, trying to get through to anyone in Ebay is impossible. I wonder what other actions I should take, other than just giving up on Ebay altogether?

Message 2 of 22
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Scams

It's a scam. Buyers can only pay via eBay's managed payment.

You are a -0- feedback seller, so you are a scam magnet.

You need to get a few feedback under your belt. Buy a few cheap items to help get it started.

Never take a sell off eBay. If they contact you to message them or anything like that, that's your first red flag.

Don't do auctions, do buy it now with immediate payment required.

This will take care of the non payers and a lot of the scammers.

If they don't pay, your listing stays active until someone does purchase and pay.

Good luck to you

Message 3 of 22
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Scams

There are soo much more scammers almost everywhere. Trying to steal anything they can. They don't have any limitations. You can remember the common email scammers sending emails on "transfering some money through my bank account" thing. We skip each and every scammer because we do not know how to take action against them. No point in reporting them to the "police". So I think that its better to just forget it and delete them and move forward.

 

Because I believe a scammer could be best tackled by a scammer himself.

 

Happy Holidays and Stay Safe 

Message 4 of 22
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Scams

Scammers are everywhere. They hone in on certain items and new sellers with low feedback thinking you don't know how things should work. Good thing you are being diligent about not being scammed. 

 

Buyers Buy, then they pay (especially if you list things 'Buy It Now' (only), don't do 'offers' and click the box for Immediate Payment Required) then you ship.

 

Buy

Pay

Ship

 

No other way. 

Message 5 of 22
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Scams

eBay info in email comes from an eBay domain albeit my provider doesn't let me get right at the header info.

 

You could perhaps get the data to eBay trust and safety not quite sure how but unlikely anything happen as he could just claim you spoofed it.  You could bait him in eBay internal email and get em' to spit up that he did that but... Worth you're while?

On the other end of things if you're thinking along the lines of ummm...  Causing him issues shall we say if you have the talents dont do it, just not worth ramifications.

Message 6 of 22
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Scams

OP says he received an email.     How do the scammers get a sellers email?

Message 7 of 22
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Scams

     I don't see any current or sold listings on this account so hard to tell what you are selling and how you are selling it. As a new seller, as others have mentioned, you are a target for every scammer out there and they tend to go after higher value and higher target items like electronics, precious metals, etc. 

     Simply ignore the emails and add the buyer to your BBL. Unless you receive notification in your seller hub that the buyer has paid and it is time to ship, do nothing. Also be aware that as a new seller eBay will likely hold your funds for up to 30 days. 

     Never change or alter the shipping address from what the buyer had associated with their account at the time of the purchase. 

Message 8 of 22
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Scams

I would make sure the password includes special characters, numbers, capital and lower-case. Best practice is also to have the length of your password exceed 8 characters. Check to make sure your email password is strong as well, because if they have access to your email, they can reset all corresponding account passwords.

Message 9 of 22
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Scams


@dirk12955 wrote:

OP says he received an email.     How do the scammers get a sellers email?


@dirk12955 

Lots of ways:

 

a.) Many people call a 'message' on their 'My Ebay' an "email".

 

b.) Most all members also get 'messages' sent to an email.

 

c.) Some 'give' their email in a message to the buyer not knowing

 

d.) respond to the 'message' that came in the email which may also 'give' the 'buyer' the email address. 

Message 10 of 22
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Scams

Let me guess, you are selling pricey electronic items? Rare pokemon cards?  Expensive jewelry?  I don't understand why newbies start with expensive items. I started selling 5 dollar hot wheels and 5 dollar action figures.  Must be the bad economy.    To the poster and all fairly new sellers, immediately add this information to all of your listings.  Stop once you are experienced enough to not be a victim of a scammer.

 

"ALL payments MUST be done through the Ebay PAY NOW button.  All payments are due within 96 hours. ALL payments will be VERIFIED in MY Ebay.  ALL items will be shipped through Ebay shipping and ONLY to the address that ebay provides.  ASK all questions PRIOR to bidding and ONLY through Ebay messages."

 

Now to all of you newbies and folks that have not sold in a while, if you do NOT know what MY EBAY  or how to VERIFY a payment in MY Ebay, at least spend an hour or so reading so that you can learn before you list another item.

 

One last bit of advise, all buyers pay through Ebay and no seller knows how the buyer paid. If you see an email that says PAYPAL, it's a scam.  You did not get paid.  A real payment will ONLY come from EBAY MANAGED PAYMENTS.    A seller never knows exactly how the buyer paid.

 

Message 11 of 22
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Scams


@humeston1953 wrote:

How would they know I just sold an item? 


Thieves and ne’er do wells are always looking for inexperienced sellers with pricey items for sat sale. They may have been a watcher on the listing and as soon as it ended, they contacted you pretending to be the buyer. 

You can report the users who contacted you. After these reports pile up and they lose their eBay privileges, they just open a new account. 

It was not necessary to change your password. Sold listings are available for everyone to see. 

No one asked, but I am looking forward to the day when having feedback default sorted by relevance seems right.
Message 12 of 22
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Scams

Look, most folks have some sort of public profile out there.  Might sell at FB Marketplace, Craiglist, elsewhere whereby someone get some threads of information.   eBay doesn't expose mail headers to users.  In fact eBay goes through pains to place a security wall ahead of transactions and information exposures of both buyers and sellers.

 

Of notable concern in this legislation just come about happens to be sellers information requiring a public profile.  That essentially means every seller need be considering getting a paid PO Box of which I am 110% certain that not enough PO Boxes even exist to service that.

 

Once an individual has what amounts to really scant information it can open up an entire world of data in everything from "People Search" engines to even public records available online through county/state services.  Atop that there's International matters which I am sure in time be explained, some nations disallow that type of exposure either from or to citizens.

 

These days there are a variety of ways to get at data and I've told some local sellers even their phones.  People store passwords/auto logins on cellphones,  NEVER EVER EVER EVER do that if you're a seller, in fact its best to have a separate phone.  You loose you're phone and in minutes flat you're life can become very very changed in very very bad ways before you even knew you lost it.

Message 13 of 22
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Scams


@retro_entertainment_collectibles wrote:

 

You could perhaps get the data to eBay trust and safety not quite sure how


Simple, forward the message to spoof@ebay.com

 

 

Message 14 of 22
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Scams

I'm in the middle of a transaction and I have been requested to buy an apple pay card for five hundred dollars. The buyer says he is gonna pay for it when he pays for the merchandise he has bought....scam or no scam. This was my first eBay sale and I'm confused....help

Message 15 of 22
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