eBay

sin-n-dex · ‎06-10-2020

Every day I come in here and see questions people are asking if they are being scammed. I thought I'd start a thread on how to spot a scammer and we can add what we know from our experiences in selling. (I'm also adding based on things I read in the forum too).

I'll start..

1. They want to take communications off the site

2. They offer you more money than your listing

3. They want it shipped somewhere other than the confirmed address on check out

4. They have a long period of inactivity and suddenly take up an interest in buying certain items (my last scam attempt was an account that liked gardening and stuff for his pool, it got hacked, and the hacker took up buying very expensive coins over a few weeks, many transactions)

5. They offer money to compensate for things like "gas and stress"

6. They want a gift card to be added to the purchase

7. They tell you they're buying it as a gift (this usually happens along with the gift card request, not all "gifts" are scams)

8. They file their chargebacks in Paypal (because they don't have MBG on eBay anymore)

9. They tell you how long the mail is supposed to take (and I quote, "the mail from your city to mine is only 2 days") as their reason for the INR - this kind of thing happens on small items that are best shipped without tracking (or in my case, mail traveling within Canada)

10. They ask for an email address to send payment (this goes along with "I have problems checking out on eBay")

11. They try to get you to sell it to them directly instead of through the system (I had one person attempt to scam me by offering me more money to sell directly, and he refused to purchase through the site... I smelt a scam)

12. They try to get you to ship without tracking or to a country that doesn't have tracking (this is a concern for more valuable items, not all inexpensive shipping requests are scams)

Anyone else?

C.

magsmg101 · ‎06-13-2020

@sin-n-dex

Apologies this thread is about spotting a scammer NOT dealing with them.

Sorry ignore me😎

reallynicestamps · ‎06-13-2020

@magsmg101

OK, so pottery most likely does not fall into a high scam category like bullion.
I do still wonder how sellers of high $$$$ items manage the transaction on eBay. Insurance, signature on delivery (over $750.00), registered mail, and if all else fails, law enforcement?

Insurance.

On high value items, and I do sell some here as well a lot through our public auction*, we have an insurance policy through Hugh Wood Insurance, of London New York and Toronto, which specializes in collectibles both collectors and dealers.

They are the insurers for the American Philatelic Society. An APS convention might have several millions of dollars worth of material on public display and more at dealer booths. They also cover water and fire damage as well as shoptheft and damage or loss in transit.

They don't do one off contracts, just annual, but for the cost the coverage is excellent. And unlike most insurers they understand that a collection/dealer stock may be different every day.

*https://sparks-auctions.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Sparks33Outaouais.pdf

sin-n-dex · ‎06-13-2020

@magsmg101 wrote:
@sin-n-dex wrote:
@magsmg101 wrote:
@reallynicestamps
And you are 9 of 8??? glitch

I realize sellers/buyers taking their own videos at the post office can be doctored.

But independent library...or even the CCTV areas of most (my PA area) police stations for online transactions?
I ask because I have some heavy pottery items that would hit size and weight limitations.

Do you think any of these independent sources are concerned with eBay transactions?
No I don’t.
But… the fact that they are an impartial “witness”? to a sales transaction, should lend some weight to an eBay local pick up dispute.

I think we have to accept that some amount of fraud is going to happen. How much might depend a whole lot on what it is you sell. Coins are high scam - but only some coins are high scam. Silver dollars would be at the top of the list, just under any kind of "bullion".
OK, so pottery most likely does not fall into a high scam category like bullion.
I do still wonder how sellers of high $$$$ items manage the transaction on eBay. Insurance, signature on delivery (over $750.00), registered mail, and if all else fails, law enforcement?

The odd ball tokens I sell are very low scam (even if the token is worth $50). They come into the store en masse for a very low price, and I search the bins to find ones I think will sell. Usually the person buying wants it for a specific reason, like the guy who bought the token I had from his town so he could donate it to the library. Or the British guy that was making a presentation on a specific subject and wanted one of the 1700's half pennies. These transactions don't concern me.
Ditto that last bit ^^^^^^
C.
So having figured out that you have a potential problem on your hands, how do you protect yourself from the problem and eBay?

I'm gambling that most transactions will go well. I do run across problems, but they are usually associated with specific types of items.

If you have a high priced item, you can be a victim of buyer fraud, but for expensive items, you might actually have law enforcement's interest, and people who lose high value items often go after the person who took their item.

Whereas a $20 item will not get any attention from law enforcement, Judge Judy, probably get put off for postal inspection authorities. Therefore a person can steal many $20 items while being under the radar. The guy who stole the $6000 embroidery machine a few years ago got tons of attention because the seller wasn't going to give up on prosecuting the guy who stole from him (and he had an address of where it was shipped).

I will say, I've lost thousands of dollars worth of items in the past 7 years of selling here, and all except maybe a couple, were due to post office/shipping related issues. (Like the item I was promised tracking on by my courier ended up not being tracked all the way there and the buyer filed a claim. I don't know if he got the coin or not. I blocked him as a precaution. My courier compensated me $100 for my loss because they misrepresented their services on their website).

And then there was the time that $220 USD in coins were stolen from a mail bag at the airport in Toronto. My contact in Poland told me what happened, and as soon as I pressured Canada Post, I was paid a claim (it was not adequate for what I lost, but better than zero). So my biggest complaint is not about buyers, but rather then unreliability of shipping whenever the item is expensive (as if the powers to be just know that this particular package should get lost).

C.

sin-n-dex · ‎06-13-2020

@magsmg101 wrote:
@sin-n-dex
Apologies this thread is about spotting a scammer NOT dealing with them.
Sorry ignore me😎

Nah, don't worry. I started a thread about how to spot a scammer, if you want to talk about dealing with them I consider it to be relevant. 🙂

C.

magsmg101 · ‎06-14-2020

@sin-n-dex wrote:
@magsmg101 wrote:
@sin-n-dex
Apologies this thread is about spotting a scammer NOT dealing with them.
Sorry ignore me😎
Nah, don't worry. I started a thread about how to spot a scammer, if you want to talk about dealing with them I consider it to be relevant. 🙂

C.

@sin-n-dex

Thank you for the insight you and @reallynicestamps have already provided, I have a lot to mull over.

I might wander over to see if the pottery group are still active and post over there.
Thanks again much appreciated. 😍

reallynicestamps · ‎06-18-2020

Do you think any of these independent sources are concerned with eBay transactions?

No I don’t.
But… the fact that they are an impartial “witness”? to a sales transaction, should lend some weight to an eBay local pick up dispute.

EBay is not a court of law. Not even Small Claims.

You might be able to present witness statements in a Small Claims court but eBay is just a venue and Paypal is just a payment processor. They may mediate but they can't enforce beyond moving money around

Here in BC the minimum wage is 23cents a minute. At that rate how much have you spent on this situation? Ten hours would be $123. at minimum wage. .