eBay

buyselljack2016 · ‎03-27-2021

Really strange to get this message. Have the bots been put to sleep?

"Interested in the xxxxxx xxxxxx xxxx for xxxx for 39.99. Email me at xxxxxxxxx12xx53@yahoo.com or text at ( xxx-xxx-4405 )"

(x's are by me to replace the actual message info)

This person has not purchased from me, and was messaging about a currently "out of stock" item. Possibly they had viewed it, or were watching when the listing had stock, and was searchable.

I did not think the contact info was allowed. In the not too distant past such info could not be sent. A warning would pop up when attempting such actions.

toysaver · ‎03-27-2021

I'm amazed eBay hasn't prgrammed how to put those Xs in themselves.

jonathankirkland · ‎03-28-2021

Hope it goes without saying that this is a scammer and to block immediately.

He probably sent the same message to hundreds of others.

fashunu4eeuh · ‎03-28-2021

Yes, you are right, it is still a violation to share contact info prior to a purchase. Sometimes one will slip thru unnoticed.

ittybitnot · ‎03-28-2021

I did not think the contact info was allowed.

@buyselljack2016

It is ok so long as it is the usual "text me" scammer is sending the message. At least ebay seems to have cut down on the nastygrams they used to send the SELLER who received one of these in their ebay message inbox.

When ebay dispensed with the "report this message" feature, they said it had become unnecessary since their fraud detecting bots would prevent these sorts of messages from even showing up in your inbox. If ebay paid for a program to do as they proclaim, they should file a c.card chargeback for SNAD.

buyselljack2016 · ‎03-28-2021

@jonathankirkland wrote:
Hope it goes without saying that this is a scammer and to block immediately.

He probably sent the same message to hundreds of others.

Thanks for the reminder.

The scammer though did pop right into my feeble old brain, but with this one it seemed a bit different. Got the email address as well. ID, name, email ID all tie together.

ID has some feedback. (I know, all buyer feedback is + 🙂 ) 9 in the past year, but has never left any feedback. Purchases based on what the sellers sell is not consistent with a scammer profile. Nobody from Wyoming would be a scammer anyway😄

Also, as I posted, the item is currently out of stock, so it isn't searchable. Seems that the person messaging would have to have been watching it before it recently sold. There is a history of it being sold, so they would know it was not a one-off selling occurrence. Also, not really the type of item that would be high on a scammers list. Used auto part.

And again it is just that "message not being blocked" to start with that struck me as being odd. I haven't attempted to send any info in quite some time, but do remember always getting the block when even attempting to give harmless info, and also remember the sender/recipient "off eBay warning messages" that would be sent.

buyselljack2016 · ‎03-28-2021

Time was.................... anything that even remotely resembled an email, or phone # prompted the bots to get out of sorts🤣

eburtonlab · ‎03-28-2021

@buyselljack2016

it is just that "message not being blocked" to start with that struck me as being odd

The algorithms are useful for catching casual users sending phone numbers or email addresses, or the occasional part number that looks like a phone number, but dedicated scammers may have various techniques to make their messages difficult to scan. Or perhaps eBay has given up trying to block such messages under certain circumstances, I do not know.

Purchases based on what the sellers sell is not consistent with a scammer profile

Scammers often use hijacked accounts, so past feedback may not necessarily be relevant, though admittedly it would be rare for a scammer go to the trouble to make sure that name, username and email address match. Even though it is not that hard to set that up by changing a username or opening a new throwaway email address, most scammers would not bother making the effort.

jbigtree_toys-and-things · ‎03-28-2021

Why would they they have no regard for the sellers . SO ebay has no incentive to stop scammers because now they still get paid no matter how obvious the scam is, they side with buyers 99% of the time ,they will take money out of your bank account ,100% of sale but will keep the selling fee plus charge the seller a extra 20 fee then take their share out of the refund they give scammers so they get paid no matter what ,!! when they know it was bull**bleep** scam

luckythewinner · ‎03-28-2021

@buyselljack2016 wrote:
I did not think the contact info was allowed. In the not too distant past such info could not be sent. A warning would pop up when attempting such actions.

ebay policy enforcement has never been accurate, complete, or timely.

That being said ...

Perhaps eBay is waiting to see if you suddenly end that listing 🙂

buyselljack2016 · ‎03-29-2021

@luckythewinner wrote:
@buyselljack2016 wrote:
I did not think the contact info was allowed. In the not too distant past such info could not be sent. A warning would pop up when attempting such actions.
ebay policy enforcement has never been accurate, complete, or timely.

That being said ...

Perhaps eBay is waiting to see if you suddenly end that listing 🙂

That was one of the actions that would prompt a "you owe us money for selling off eBay" message, but in this instance there was/is "0" of the item available with the OOS option, and was that way before the interested individual messaged😄 Just another day of eBay keeping us in the "guess what today's policy is" mode.