I haven't seen this one in my 23 yrs of being here.
Okay, this may be legit, but I find it somewhat strange. A seller in Denmark shows all of their listings like this - high-priced items. All start as .01 AUCTION style listings NO BIN. Yet one of the listing photos state that they will refuse all auction bids and to go to the description to see the BIN price. Then you MUST contact them via the email shown. I have never seen this and have bought tons of items on eBay. Did I miss the memo on this one or ? I would post the photo stating this that the seller shows, but not sure if that would violate any rules on the community board. Message me and I can send it to you. Thanks.
13 comments
luckythewinner
·2 years agoOkay, this may be legit
It violates policy.
I have never seen this
Because it violates policy, and is probably an attempt to take the sale off eBay and avoid fees.
itsjustasprain
·2 years agoIt is a common scam - a bot uploads thousands of listings to a hacked seller account. The listings cover all topics. Buyers will be lured offsite to pay through other channels. If the buyer is fooled into sending payment no item will ever appear.
I troll some collector categories looking for new listings to buy so I see these scams pretty frequently. The tipoff is some high-value item with a $.01 starting bid - I have seen the same images used over and over - and a quick click on the listing will show the usual scam text in Photo 2.
kensgiftshop
·2 years agoSeen it a few times and it's usually a hacked account and the images usually mention some Pawn Shop in Cali, I think it is.
oldwestgold
OP2 years agoGood grief, this seller has all of their listings showing to contact them outside of eBay for BIN purchase. They have over 42,000 listings! They have over 3,000 FB. And eBay doesn't see this?!? Slap in the face to sellers like myself who try to follow all of their rules. It will be interesting to see if eBay does anything after I pointed it out to a CS person.
Unavailable member
·2 years agoHijacked account
wastingtime101
·2 years agoI swore I was experiencing deja vu, but perhaps we all are.
You posted about this same thing back in Nov with your other ID, right? 🙂
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Is-this-Legit-Something-I-haven-t-seen-yet-in-my-23-years-of/td-p/34088765
Listing back then was probably a little different as it had you fill out an off eBay form through a link in the listing description that looked like it could be from eBay but wasn't.
If this one says to go through an email and not a link then it's slightly different, but at face value sounds the same in concept.
It's a scam / phishing scheme.
oldwestgold
OP2 years agoI don't know this seller. And besides it is not the same issue.
ittybitnot
·2 years agoone of the listing photos state that they will refuse all auction bids and to go to the description to see the BIN price. Then you MUST contact them via the email shown.
@oldwestgold
Lots of them. They use the jpg to avoid keyword bots. You can report the listing, but try to use an appropriate choice where you can type a message. Perhaps a human will view it, but maybe not and why it is still prevalent here.
oldwestgold
OP2 years agoI just did that. Strange as the seller location below their selling ID at the top right shows California. Down at the bottom of the listing it gives a location address of Denmark. Here's the title of one of the listings - 1853 ASSAY OFFICE $20 DOUBLE EAGLE SF ASSAY 900 THOUS CALIFORNIA GOLD PCGS-AU DE.
wastingtime101
·2 years agoFound the listings. That seller's account was hacked and it's the same as what happened to the other seller in the Fall. They put an email in the second photo of each listing instead of putting the off eBay link in the description, but the same thing is happening. They put up tens of thousands of fraudulent listings at penny auctions with images and titles they scraped from legit listings and keep reusing every time they run this scam.
oldwestgold
OP2 years agoI wondered if this was an account hack. Interesting. Thanks for your observations. I didn't know this problem was still going around. It happened to me but 15 years ago or so. Thanks again!
wastingtime101
·2 years agoNo prob. The issue has been around for years, comes and goes in waves. Never really goes away. Hackers use software to brute force these attacks and get tens of thousands of listings up in no time at all.
Details change (last time it was links in description), but it's all the same. They trick shoppers and harvest their data off eBay, and they convince a lot of them to send wire transfers.
The email in the second image slot is the most common way this scam is presented.
I sent a message to eBay CS to report the hacked account, but I don't know if my third party report will go anywhere in time to save people from the scam. I tried, at least.
ittybitnot
·2 years ago@oldwestgold
Well, isn't that special......I don't think eBay likes it when you "try to take the sales off eBay" even if you do use various emails. . Maybe it is a perk for being a TRS. What do I know, though, way above my paygrade.