Same item photos on multiple listings with different sellers

Question

I'm looking for a specific model watch and I found at least 4 different sellers with the exact same photos for the model I want. All are Japanese based, since this model was apparently only available there. Is there no review?

eburtonlab · Answer

@autodude

It is very common for brokers in Japan to list thousands of items that are actually being sold by a third party. If a purchase is made on eBay through one of those brokers, the broker arranges to purchase the actual item and have it shipped to the eBay purchaser. This is very common for things like guitars and cameras listed in Japan, where you will see the same unique item being offered for sale by several sellers.

There are also scammers that follow a very similar pattern, except that the scammers do not actually ship anything.

It is usually possible to tell the difference between the two by examining feedback. The brokers tend to have lots of feedback for similar transactions, and perhaps a few complaints about cancelled transactions (where the item was sold to someone else by a competing broker before the eBay listing could be ended). Scammers tend to have little or no feedback for selling similar sorts of items, at least until many negatives start to roll in.

Although eBay rules do not permit sellers to list items not in their possession or directly under contract, in practice many sellers do so anyway and eBay does little regarding such listings unless there is a problem with a transaction.