Fraudulent eBay sellers...PLEASE BEWARE

[joeman]

My fellow pipers, I have a bit of a disturbing report for you. 99%of us (well...maybe 99.5%) buy estate pipes on eBay...or at least we sniff around. I'm guessing that in your regular eBay searches of late, you might be seeing the same thing I am...I've seen this no less than 7 or 8 times over the last 3 days. There is someone in China who is copying "completed/sold" items from other sellers (some who I recognize)...and then creating a 'new' item for themselves. So essentially...the 'real' seller sold the item (pipe/pipes), this fake seller creates a NEW account, lists ONE item...which is exactly the same information, description, and images taken from a real seller item...puts a VERY low price on it...always a buy-it-now...and free shipping...and they are selling the doors off of eBay...because pipers like you and me are grabbing them left and right. The reason this is going to be tough on eBay is the fact that they can't track it to a seller...because he/she is creating a new seller account ID with EACH item. They'll have to identify IP info.
So...if you see a pipe or pipe lot which has these elements:

- China seller

- 0 feedback

- Only one item listed

- Price is extremely good
...run for your life. And after you run, be sure to "report this item" as fraudulent! True, MOST of us would look closely at the seller info...but this scammer has done this several times in the few days I've seen the listings...and that's based only on my limited searches!
Buy smart, peace!

 

[lightmybriar]

A kind warning! I believe this was discussed on another thread as well. I've seen them on eBay myself, thinking it was a glitch at first...and then realized it must be foul play. Sad behavior!

 

[tuold]

I haven't run across this yet so please clarify for me. The seller never ships anything because the entire listing is fake? In this case do the buyers get their money back from Ebay? I've never sold anything on Ebay so I'm not sure what sellers have to put up to ensure their good faith, if anything. Sure seems like they would want to actively prevent this kind of fraud from happening since they are the ones who have the most to lose.

 

[joeman]

Steve, I looked for a thread title which could be related to this...didn't see one, so I thought it was worth posting.
Mark...yes. They simply copy a sellers images and item description...from an item on eBay which is already sold...they then create a new listing which looks like they're selling the very same item. So if you're mulling around on eBay...consider the bullet-pointed criteria above...and you'll avoid it. Conversely, to help protect yourself when considering a listing that you really like...check to see how long they've been a seller, look at their feedback score and some recent comments from buyers, and it doesn't hurt to see what else they're selling.
For those new to eBay buying...it's still simply the best place to buy...despite these few bad apples. If you ever need help in making a first-time eBay purchase...just ask a fellow piper whose done it a few times...or a few thousand! (not that I'd know anyone like that...LOL)

 

[jpmcwjr]

Just one of the reasons I don't do the Bay.
But are these crooks able to get the payment? Does it not go through eBay in some way? Don't the buyers get their bread back?

 

[inquisitor3]

Do you mean "doesn't Paypal protect you?" Um, no.

 

[bluegrasspipe]

I have had paypal get a refund for a fraudulent ebay seller two times. They have yet to let me down in that department.

 

[nevadablue]

Yes, paypal will refund on bad deals.
I buy all my estate pipes on ebay. Knock wood... so far, so good. And, I am a poet.
Thanks for the heads up joeman.

 

[tschiraldi]

Actually, I think PayPal does protect you somewhat. I know when I sell on EBay, the money that is sent to me from a buyer is held "In reserve" for a time. I can speed up the release of the funds a bit by entering a tracking number showing that the item was shipped. Once the tracking shows the item has been delivered, the funds are released and I get paid. Still, be wary. There are probably ways around the system, but I always use PayPal for this reason.

 

[balkisobrains]

This has been popping up on lighters as well, started seeing them a few days ago. Paypal should protect you if you get scammed. Sometimes you have to fight with them, but usually this is when you are the seller, and a buyer is trying to scam you. =)

 

[flmason]

No need to waste any of your valuable time reporting an item as fraudulent as EBay is LAME. I have reported many pipe and other items as fraudulent and EBay does nothing to cancel the listing or sanction the seller in any way.
EBay is only concerned with sales revenue regardless of the validity of the product sold.
My opinion only.

 

[cosmicbobo]

Disclaimer: I still use PayPal
PayPal has taken care of me on all of the issues I have had with sellers.
Beware: At one time I was buying and selling on eBay and would use their pay in two weeks option. They decided to freeze my account (will explain at end), but not freeze taking money out of my bank when those two weeks were due. They did this twice in a couple month period, costing me five or six thousand in fees and funds to be made up. It was a rolling effect that one bad fee begat another.
What was their reason? I was spending money, but had never defaulted on a damned thing. However, my activity caused them to do a search. I changed my legal name some years ago so that turned up, though when I had it changed I testified in court that my reasons had nothing to do with dodging bills. That was ten years prior.
The other glitch was I had two birthdays. No, not really. I only had one. Back in the Wild West Days of the Internet when signing up for Yahoo I gave a different BDay. No one was truthful back then. One of my friends had a BDay of 1.1.1899,

So, I screamed at PayPal to find one incident of where I gave a false birthday to any company that F-ing mattered. They restored my account after several days and said loss of funds.
Though it's not quite revenge, I went from a few thousand a month in purchases to maybe two to fifty a month. Some months nothing

 

[ssjones]

There has been a spat, knocking off Rob Coopers ads (see my thread $24 Comoy's 499). I've reported each one that I've seen (most recent was an Ashton Straight Grain Prince, still active) and they've been pulled down within the hour. The scary thing is Ebay will seemingly pull down any ad that is reported and I suspect they don't vet the reports very thoroughly (how could they?). Perhaps they just go after sellers with zero ratings more aggresively.

 

[balkisobrains]

Now that I think about it, there was an ad for a $30 sealed bag of 'zance from a zero-feedbacker from China a couple days ago. Can't say if the pic was stolen or not, and not seeing it listed or as sold now, so it probably got pulled. But yeah, I would never buy from an ad like that from anywhere.

 

[alan73]

I started a similar thread in the general area . eBay does remove the listings after being reported . It's a sport for me now, I do 5 or so reports a day , fun stuff. I send the seller nice messages too, which i won't repeat here due to either inflammatory, derogatory, or otherwise hilarious things about sucking things . I have a lot of saved searches, this persons listings show up every day, clogging my email with notifications. They need to bring back listing charges, to avoid thus stuff. I can report 5 listings within a couple of minutes, just takes a few clicks .

 

[fishnbanjo]

For the cost it may be to me I’m going to nab one and if it doesn’t pan out I’ll slam both eBay and PayPal since I’ll be using a Credit Card

banjo