Bought an item that I suspect was scam. How do I make sure that the seller doesn't get the money?

[stevecvash]

Bought a newly listed Leica M6 for what I figured was either a great deal (like the seller needed to make a quick buck) or it was scam as the price was high enough to maybe be a true deal. The account was newly made so I was suspicious. I did a reverse image search and a few results down was a gumtree ad for the same item but much more expensive. ( The eBay listing was in Manchester UK but gumtree is in AU)   https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/canada-bay/non-digital-cameras/leica-m6-classic-leitz-early-model-ca...

I've requested a return but I doubt that'll go through. PayPal won't let me dispute unless I contact eBay but how do I do that?

How do I make sure that the seller doesn't get the money?

[nobody*s_perfect]

---

@stevecvash wrote:

Bought a newly listed Leica M6 ... I've requested a return but I doubt that'll go through. ...

---

Did you receive the item? If not, then why did you request to return it?  IIRC, requesting a return voids your coverage for "Item not received," which is logical.  You need to read eBay's buyer protection policy, which they call the Money Back Guarantee:

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy...

[stevecvash]

Sorry I mis-spoke, not a return but a payment cancelation as it only took me a few minutes after the rush of possibly getting a good deal to understand it was probably too good of a deal. I understand that they can ignore the request. I've messaged the seller but no response as of yet.

How do I tell what category the item was placed under? It seems if I can get my money back is determined by that. https://www.ebay.com/itm/384814035644

[eburtonlab]

There is little point in asking for a cancellation if you suspect the seller is a scammer.

Cancellation is at the seller's discretion, and if the seller is a scammer the scammer will not cooperate. If the seller is not a scammer and does cancel, you will have lost a good deal and will have probably gotten yourself blocked by the seller.

A good way to avoid many scams is to examine your seller's feedback prior to making a purchase and by steering clear of any too-good-to-be-true deals.

Once you have actually committed to a purchase and have paid, you have to wait for the item to arrive, for the tracking to show delivery, for the last estimated shipping date to pass, or for the listing or seller's account to be removed before you can take any further steps.

General advice:

If a listing is too good to be true -- such as a new item that is selling for a fraction of its retail cost -- that is certainly a warning sign. And if a relatively new seller is suddenly selling thousands of dollars worth of multiple quantity listings at fire sale prices with free shipping from overseas with extended handling times and very long shipping estimates, you should be very concerned, particularly if the items are expensive electronics, cameras, musical instruments, tools or outboard motors.

In general, you can avoid a lot of headaches by choosing to purchase only from established sellers that have recent and past positive feedback as a seller for selling items in the same category that you intend to buy. If someone is selling a dozen apple watches, but has no feedback, or only has feedback as a buyer, or only has feedback for selling dress patterns or fishing lures (actual examples I have seen), perhaps wait until they have a track record of positive feedback for selling electronics before you buy from them.

You might miss out on a good deal from a new seller once in a while, and nothing can guarantee that you won't still run into a scammer anyway, but you can avoid a lot of potential problems by choosing to do business with established sellers. Anyone can put together a listing that looks nice -- it is not hard at all to simply copy an existing listing -- but it is much harder to create a history of consistent sales and positive feedback.

If you have made a purchase from a listing that you think may be suspicious:

Typically you have to wait until the last estimated delivery date has passed to start an Item Not Received claim on eBay; if the seller is removed and eBay does not send you a message about that, and if you can no longer find the item in your Purchase History or the Help page, you can start a similar process through your PayPal account (if you used PayPal) or through your credit card or other payment source. There are various deadlines that have to be met at each stage, and you must take care not to make more than one claim about a single transaction through eBay or PayPal or your funding source at a time or your claim may be dismissed.

If the seller actually ships something (but not your item) and can provide a tracking number that shows delivery, you must file a Significantly Not As Described claim (and typically return the item), as a valid tracking number that shows delivery would cause you to lose an Item Not Received claim. There are other scams that involve shipping an item to another location in your zip code which can complicate matters further.

If possible bookmark the seller's feedback page so that you can monitor that to see if the seller's account has been removed from eBay, just in case the item listing disappears.

[nobody*s_perfect]

The category(ies) is shown at the top of the listing. I hope that the seller cross-posting this in Warrantees doesn't void the MBG.

[stevecvash]

"There are various deadlines that have to be met at each stage, and you must take care not to make more than one claim about a single transaction through eBay or PayPal or your funding source at a time or your claim may be dismissed."

Let's say, hypothetically, that I freaked out and went directly to PayPal just before getting this response and requested a cancellation for this transaction. Would that hurt my chances of getting a refund?

[stevecvash]

As soon as a saw that my heart sank. I figured that they may be trying to get around the MBG by doing that. Especially after I was sure it was scam.

[maxine*j]

Just because you found someone somewhere in the world asking "X" price does not mean that is the current market value of the camera.   The asking price is not relevant, because people often have terribly unrealistic ideas about pricing.   The price(s) such cameras have actually sold for recently is what matters.  Check eBay Completed Listings and Sold Listings to get an idea of what you might expect to pay for the camera.

Hope it works out for you and you get a nice camera at a nice price.

-

[eburtonlab]

Let's say, hypothetically, that I freaked out and went directly to PayPal just before getting this response and requested a cancellation for this transaction. Would that hurt my chances of getting a refund?

Once you go to PayPal to start a claim, you can no longer use eBay's money back guarantee. You have to complete the claim process through PayPal.

If PayPal can not help, you may still have recourse through your bank if you paid via credit card.

The "Warranties & Insurance" category may be an attempt to bypass the eBay money back guarantee, which does not appear in the original listing. Not sure if that has any effect on a PayPal claim, though.

If you had not started the PayPal claim you might have been able to contact eBay customer service directly or through social media -- they may have a process for dealing with this new "wrong category" scam.

[stevecvash]

I appreciate the positivity but I've done some research and found 4 ads with the same description and photos from that Gumtree ad from different newly added sellers within the last month doing a completed listing search. Thanks for the help, I won't get scammed again from lack of research.

Here is one that is still accessible at the moment. The rest seem to have been deleted

https://www.ebay.com/itm/175222049365?hash=item28cc0c4a55%3Ag%3AfYQAAOSwPPViRWza&nma=true&si=KG9WPFP...

[soh.maryl]

When this is all settled, please return and let us know how it worked out for you.  

[ittybitnot]

 Check eBay Completed Listings and Sold Listings to get an idea of what you might expect to pay for the camera.

@maxine*j 

Generally that advice would be good.  However, there is a problem with that now since a great percentage of the sold/completed listings are now FAKE in the first place. 

[maxine*j]

---

@ittybitnot wrote:

 Check eBay Completed Listings and Sold Listings to get an idea of what you might expect to pay for the camera.

@maxine*j 

Generally that advice would be good.  However, there is a problem with that now since a great percentage of the sold/completed listings are now FAKE in the first place. 

---

Yes, I see that now.  I was slow on the uptake about this newest scam, where items are deliberately listed in the wrong category to void the MBG, etc., and in understanding just what OP was questioning with the link to another purported sale.  Dunce cap time for me on this one. 

-

-

[d-k_treasures]

Well, the MBG isn't as prominent on the page as it was before. Used to be under the price/bid. Now it's above the seller - so if anyone looks at these, it just doesn't have anything there. 

It should have that this is NOT covered by the MBG, but since it's listed in both cameras and specialty services, why wouldn't it be covered by the camera category?

[valueaddedresource]

This is now the 4th report I've seen of fraudulent listings in the Services>Insurance Warranties categories being used to void buyer protection. 😮

2 more here in the community and one on Twitter.

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Buying/I-fell-into-a-scam-but-item-isn-t-covered-by-money-back/td-p/32...

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Buying/Misclassified-items-to-avoid-Ebay-buyer-protection/td-p/3282553...

Just a brief search of that category, I'm seeing Steam Decks, Omega Moonswatches, Pokemon cards, crypto miners, Leica & Sony cameras, computers and more. 

Searching solds shows a lot from mid Feb - early March up to now, so I would guess buyers are just now starting to try to file claims after ~ 30 days.

tyler@ebay  velvet@ebay  - tagging you in here because this looks like it could be a serious issue.