eBay

greatmidwestcoin · ‎11-06-2023

So, this seller has a rare coin up for sale. It has a few bids on it already but at the bottom of the listing, it shows a link to their eBaystore with what they will take for the coin. When you go to the link it takes you to the second page where you can make the offer they want for the coin. You fill out the info, name, and address stuff, click and it comes back with they will let you know if your offer was accepted. (Photo.) The seller has almost 10,000 100% FB. Any thoughts?

eburtonlab · ‎11-06-2023

Sounds very similar to the "pawnshop" scam that involves hijacking an existing eBay account, listing hundreds of auctions for luxury items starting at 99 cents to attract attention, and including within each auction an image directing users to contact the seller off of eBay via email to make a purchase.

eBay eventually pulls the listings before the auctions end, but by then the scammer has collected many email addresses of potential victims so the scam can be continued via email. The scammer will typically contact the victim and either request payment via an untraceable/irreversible payment method or direct the user to another scam site.

No idea whether this seller is following the same script, but obviously if the transaction takes place off of eBay, there is no protection via eBay, and a minimum the seller is violating eBay policy and avoiding eBay fees, and encouraging buyers to get involved in risky off-eBay transactions.

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mtgraves7984 · ‎11-06-2023

Is this Legit?

Well, it's mighty dicey at the very least. Dang.

12345jamesstamps · ‎11-06-2023

Not legit per eBay rules and regulations.

klhmdg · ‎11-06-2023

Looks to me like they are cutting eBay out of the FVFs.

klhmdg • Volunteer Community Mentor

lacemaker3 · ‎11-06-2023

@klhmdg wrote:
Looks to me like they are cutting eBay out of the FVFs.

And also doing an end run around the eBay Money Back Guarantee.

No buyer protection in that case.

wastingtime101 · ‎11-06-2023

@greatmidwestcoin wrote:
at the bottom of the listing, it shows a link to their eBaystore with what they will take for the coin. When you go to the link it takes you to the second page where you can make the offer they want for the coin. You fill out the info, name, and address stuff, click and it comes back with they will let you know if your offer was accepted.

Did you check every URL along the way and are you sure they were all eBay.com domains?

I'm not in the market for coins. If you want to PM the item number to me I'm happy to take a look at the listing and let you know what I think. At face value it sounds like an off eBay transaction, possibly even a scam.

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eburtonlab · ‎11-06-2023

Sounds very similar to the "pawnshop" scam that involves hijacking an existing eBay account, listing hundreds of auctions for luxury items starting at 99 cents to attract attention, and including within each auction an image directing users to contact the seller off of eBay via email to make a purchase.

eBay eventually pulls the listings before the auctions end, but by then the scammer has collected many email addresses of potential victims so the scam can be continued via email. The scammer will typically contact the victim and either request payment via an untraceable/irreversible payment method or direct the user to another scam site.

No idea whether this seller is following the same script, but obviously if the transaction takes place off of eBay, there is no protection via eBay, and a minimum the seller is violating eBay policy and avoiding eBay fees, and encouraging buyers to get involved in risky off-eBay transactions.

greatmidwestcoin · ‎11-06-2023

After further checking, I found the seller shows a California location but on their ABOUT page, they show the United Kingdom. Most of their listings show this same bottom BIN verbiage. Yet in the listing, I was interested in shows a business card in the lower right-hand corner of the two photos as THE BOSTON COIN which after checking is a valid name of a coin show in Boston, Ma.

I got off the phone with eBay support and she concurred that they cannot list like that. She did notice that only the NEW listings show the BIN link on the bottom. Looks like this seller got hijacked.

itsjustasprain · ‎11-06-2023

@greatmidwestcoin wrote:
The seller has almost 10,000 100% FB. Any thoughts?

Scam - as others have described (and that style of ebay logo in the 'ebay store' banner has not been used since 2012). Probably a hacked selling account. Look at the other listings by that seller and you will probably find a big hodgepodge of other completely different items with the same description. That text you showed is probably an image (in the listing) to hinder description text searches for other listings with the same scam wording.

They want to cast a wide net and lure as many bidders offsite as possible before Ebay shuts them down.

safetyfirst5-91 · ‎11-06-2023

There is a similar story here.

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Buying/Is-this-a-valid-posting-method/td-p/34088632/jump-to/first-unre...

toomuchstuffagain35 · ‎11-06-2023

Check out the Buying board. There's a thread about another similar one going, as eburton said the "pawnshop" scenario.

"If a product doesn't sell, raise the price" - Reese Palley
"If it sold FAST, it was priced too low" - also Reese Palley

greatmidwestcoin · ‎11-06-2023

Yep, same scam. Thanks

dbfolks166mt · ‎11-06-2023

As others explained it's a scam. Report the listing to eBay.

udoittwo · ‎11-09-2023

I honestly did try to buy this lot of coins. Fortunately, the way they are set up, they could not receive my payment so they got nothing from me.

They are contacting me now wondering about the payment and yes, they had a long list of "auctions" and they wouldn't accept any bids and all started at $.99 with FREE shipping. One that got me was 2500 vintage estate t-shirts. Starting at $.99 with FREE shipping. Wonder what it would cost just to ship them?

I've been buying on eBay for years so I trust it all. This "PAWNSHOP" has 4300 feedbacks and at 100%. Is that even real?

How they do remove every previous email as soon as I got a new one? The old ones were gone. Not deleted, not anywhere in any of my folders, just gone?

Can't eBay get in front of this?

dbfolks166mt · ‎11-09-2023

I honestly did try to buy this lot of coins. Fortunately, the way they are set up, they could not receive my payment so they got nothing from me. Even more evidence this is a scam. Every seller is setup under MP to receive payments.

They are contacting me now wondering about the payment and yes, they had a long list of "auctions" and they wouldn't accept any bids and all started at $.99 with FREE shipping. One that got me was 2500 vintage estate t-shirts. Starting at $.99 with FREE shipping. Wonder what it would cost just to ship them? Not only are they a scammer they are a few fries short of a Happy Meal.

I've been buying on eBay for years so I trust it all. This "PAWNSHOP" has 4300 feedbacks and at 100%. Is that even real? Possibly if in fact the actual account has been hijacked.

How they do remove every previous email as soon as I got a new one? The old ones were gone. Not deleted, not anywhere in any of my folders, just gone? That's a new one will have to defer to others on that one.

Can't eBay get in front of this? Surprised eBay has not suspended the account. I searched but could not find one of their listings.