good grief so many scam sales!
started with Ebay around 20 years ago specifically to buy and sell high end camera and video gear, we used to get big jobs and needed certain things for a few months to a couple years. worked great far less costly than renting. Anyway today I was considering a couple gigs that would require higher end video cameras and spotted 7-8 Sony FX6 listings with the same pictures from zero feedback new accounts (probably 20 scam Sonys in total) and 4 or 5 RED Komodo listings again with the same pictures and text from brand new accounts with zero feedback.
In just the Ebay suggested listings 6 out of 10 are scams 😮 (see pic, same Sony pics used in 2 listing and also 1/6th what a real price would be, the RED was all the same pics and the real used price would be around $10-14k for the kit of that size)
I looked up and down the listing pages but cant find a way to report them, obviously I will not be buying or selling on Ebay anymore (absolutely no way I do anything over a few hundred bucks ever again) but would still like to report the ones I found before leaving. If someone was daft enough to bid/buy one of these are they protected by Ebay or just out of luck? do these scams work for the thieves, assume they must or there would not be so many of them.
soh.maryl
·5 months agoYou asked about protection for eBay buyers should they fall for one of these scams. The Money Back Guarantee for buyers is pretty good. The catch is that buyers need to read it, understand it and use it in a timely fashion.
When buying anything online, a buyer needs to arm himself with knowledge about that particular item, especially when getting into the higher dollar listings.
Sadly, can't make buyers use the MBG, can't make them utilize the MBG and can't force them to resist taking chances on items where they don't have knowledge about it.
raylee1972
OP5 months ago"When buying anything online, a buyer needs to arm himself with knowledge about that particular item"
Getting scammed has very little to do with product knowledge and more about knowing how the scams/scammers operate and how to spot a scam.
mudshark61369
·5 months ago@raylee1972 ,
"I looked up and down the listing pages but cant find a way to report them".
On a listing page in the lower right you will see a circled (?)
Clicking on that will open a popup you can report the listing from. However, one report, especially from a member who has sold items in that category, will be ignored by ebay. It takes several reports of a particular listing, from different users before ebay will take notice. Even if you file a report, unfortunately ebay is now using A.I. to check listings, and it is programmed to look for inappropriate listing, and payment terms. It can't tell if the item is described properly or if the photos are real or stock ones, or not. The use of photos culled from other listings or sites, is not prohibited by ebay.
Buyer's do have to educate themselves when buying high end item. Use the tools ebay gives them (Seller feed back profile) and The U.S. only filter, and their own COMMON SENSE.
Granted I'm only very occasionally buying any photographic equipment on ebay any more. But I have bought a few items in the last couple of years after checking the long time NYC based new/used photo/video equipment houses pricing, and Mfr. product sites & reviews.
I would take a chance on the Red $13K listing even though they only have (1) selling feedback, but I also would message them first to ask if they know about eBay's 21-30 day payment hold, which causes a lot of new sellers problems.
raylee1972
OP5 months agothank you, also buy archery gear both vintage wood bows ($125-$300) and modern compound target bows ($500-$1000) the scams don't seem to be as prevalent in this or many other categories. Sad because I have a a fair amount of Fuji still photography gear to sell but that seems to be rally "in" right now and would assume loads and loads of buyer scammers here so think I will stick to local sales with that and all photo/video.
COMMON SENSE will help avoid some of the more obvious ones but if a scammer had a bit of feedback and did even a few hours of research on the thing they were selling it would be all but impossible to know. Will do more research and specifically on the 21-30 day hold, and decide what I can and cant buy/sell here. thank you.
mudshark61369
·5 months ago@raylee1972 ,
" Sad because I have a a fair amount of Fuji still photography gear to sell but that seems to be rally "in" right now and would assume loads and loads of buyer scammers here so think I will stick to local sales with that and all photo/video".
I've been selling on this site for over 20 years and only had attempted buyer scams a couple of times. You have been selling recently, and will not run into the payment hold unless you list something for say $2K. The buyer scams usually involve scammers trying to take advantage or new or very inexperienced sellers, often by taking payment off ebay.
One way to avoid buyer scams is to use the unwritten listing rule for selling on ebay:
"Describe all items like there are no photographs, and photograph them as if there is no description".
Also do not list items as worked the last time I used it. Always test items to make sure they work. If you can't test something, list it as not working for parts.
powell-collectibles
·5 months agosome might tell you that reporting doesn’t work, but it does. To some degree. If anyone recalls the mass reporting exercise we had with those Trump inauguration shoes a couple of years ago, they know that reporting can work. It just takes enough reports. Sometimes, one is all that does it. Other times, you need a lot more.
bonanza125
·5 months agoLets save you some time chances are Ebay will not remove those listings. It is up to you the buyer to review feedback and location of item through profile to make sure you feel comfortable purchasing from the seller. High end items have a high scam rate which cameras you are looking for do. Ebay does protect buyers with a 30 day moneyback guarantee so if you do not receive the item then you can file for a refund. If the item isn't as described you can return for refund.
raylee1972
OP5 months agoI don't know with so many obvious scam listings I have to assume they must be making money somehow, doesn't seem worth the risk (Ebay wont loose, either you get your money back or your beat). over 60% of the Sony FX6 listings are scams, and even more with the RED KAMODO.
soh.maryl
·5 months agoNot sure I'm exactly understanding your message, but you are aware that sellers are allowed to use stock photos, right? Buyers don't like that, but it's not against the rules.
Are the pictures what you want to report? Save your time.
As far as anything else that you feel should be reported, also save your time. eBay disregards most reports. One of their reasons is that such reports can be from competing sellers.
raylee1972
OP5 months agoNot stock photos, they are exact copy and past from the real listings, 100% scams. searching for the Sony fx6 I was after over 60% of them are scam listings. This seems like really bad odds, thats just the super obvious ones I assume several more well written, priced, and with older pics not freshly stolen from real current listings are posted as well... safe guess close to 75% of the Sony FX6 listings are scams, thats insane to be.
last few years I have only been selling old and oddball things that are not super popular, with these more popular expensive things its ludicrous that well over half the listings are scams would be scared there are buying scams as well. Ebay sure wasn't like this years ago.
soh.maryl
·5 months agoHow have you determined that over half the listings are scams?
Not disputing your claim at all, just wondering how you arrived at that conclusion.
raylee1972
OP5 months agoIts a very unique group of parts on the RED camera kit, same exact pictures in the same kitchen and same copy and paste wording in all 5-6 listings one listing is for $13K with some real feedback and pretty close to real price and about what I would expect to pay and the other 5-6 for $1,400-$1,500 and have zero or one feedback. Searching RED Komodo or Sony FX6 will bring them up, also messaged one so called seller and he seemed very eager to discuss the "ITEM" without having any detail whatsoever "the ITEM" not RED, not CAMERA, but "item" is an obvious red flag. Just so many fake listings I would be far too uncomfortable buying/selling something expensive on Ebay anymore. This post was really about the volume of scams I found and wanted to see about having them removed but everyone here (And Ebay) seem fine with them so I guess thats that.
soh.maryl
·5 months agoEveryone here is NOT fine with scams. For one thing, they tend to decrease the buying public's confidence in eBay as a selling venue.
If you can think of a way that eBay could decrease scams significantly, or even eliminate them altogether, eBay might be interested.