will I be able to protect myself from a scammer?

PCFetish

Senior member
Aug 30, 2002
500
0
0
I have chance to get a good deal from egay because top bidder is not on the list of "ship to conturies".
seller contacted me if I wanted to buy for my top bid...
the problem is that since I'm not the winner, there wont be anything on egay side that we made a deal. What do you guys think?
if something goes wrong, he could easily say i'm not the winner, he didn't sell it to me...
 

nsafreak

Diamond Member
Oct 16, 2001
7,093
3
81
This smells heavily of scam all over it. Stay far far far away, don't even ATTEMPT to take him up on this 'deal'.
 

Deeko

Lifer
Jun 16, 2000
30,213
12
81
He can refuse the bidder officially on ebay, making you the official top bidder, can he not?
 

Rumpltzer

Diamond Member
Jun 7, 2003
4,815
33
91
If you're not comfortable with any deal in life, then you need to walk away.

If it makes you feel better to have an "official" Ebay transaction, then ask him to extend a Second Chance Offer to you through Ebay.
 

Battleangel3222

Senior member
Jan 29, 2004
622
0
0
LMAO speaking of "scammers" I read the other day some dude who was too scared to give ebay his cc info for the adult section his reasoning was "I dont wanna get caught up with all the hacking that happends at that place" lmao. Computer n00bs are funnay.
 

Battleangel3222

Senior member
Jan 29, 2004
622
0
0
Originally posted by: PCFetish
I have chance to get a good deal from egay because top bidder is not on the list of "ship to conturies".
seller contacted me if I wanted to buy for my top bid...
the problem is that since I'm not the winner, there wont be anything on egay side that we made a deal. What do you guys think?
if something goes wrong, he could easily say i'm not the winner, he didn't sell it to me...

All I can say is GO THROUGH EBAY It could be something very simple, tell him to make another auction with xxx buyout that you had. If you send the money out of the blue you have NO COVER. This is actual very technical and I have a story to go with it.....

Back in the day when I was just starting with the whole ebay thing and selling stuff, a guy came to asking to sell these personal hand computers that double as a cell phone (Forgot the name). Anyhow, they were worth ~$400 a pop, and he had 4 i think to sell. So i sell 1 or 2 just fine, but on one, this tard sends me a check. Now me being a newbie to the whole ebay thing (this was waaaay long ago, atleast 3 years), I only waited ~2 weeks to send the phone/hand-held computer.

Now heres where it gets REALLY bad, he says he didnt receive the item, saying it got lost (we shipped it airborne insured). The stupid moron delievering the package DIDNT get a signature but he was supposed to because of its high insured value. And since we coudnt do much, we just sent another one and got our insurance money from airborne for the first one. OF course though, we know he stole it. So we send the 2nd one, as a replacment......about a month and half later out of the blue we get a statement saying the fu<ker stopped payment on the check! They even charged the stopping fee to our account!. I was PISSED but there was nothing I can do....Heres where it gets REALLY TECHNICAL. I was unable to get covered from ebay becuase the 2nd one was not "though ebay" it was a replacment for the first one, and I was screwed :( Ahhh well....learn from the past....

And to all you bastards on my FS / FT thread.....no i dont accept checks har har
 

Dangerer

Golden Member
Mar 15, 2005
1,128
0
0
I actually have a similar problem. Currently Selling an item on ebay and had a buyer offer me an out of ebay offer. After exchanging info, I seemed to have received an e-mail from western union money order (bidpay) payment confirmation of xxx dollars, but i checked my bidpay account and saw no pending transaction posted. fishy or what?
 

Jeff7181

Lifer
Aug 21, 2002
18,368
11
81
Originally posted by: PCFetish
I have chance to get a good deal from egay because top bidder is not on the list of "ship to conturies".
seller contacted me if I wanted to buy for my top bid...
the problem is that since I'm not the winner, there wont be anything on egay side that we made a deal. What do you guys think?
if something goes wrong, he could easily say i'm not the winner, he didn't sell it to me...

Tell him to relist the item and put a But it Now price of whatever you two agree on, and right after he lists it, send the link to you, and you'll Buy it Now.

That way eBay is back in the transaction so you'll be able to get help from them if he decides to try and screw you.
 
Apr 15, 2004
4,143
0
0
How's his feedback? If you pay via PayPal you do have some form of protection against the package never arriving. But if it arrives DOA or sum shyt, I don't think PayPal will do much to get your $ back.
 

kami333

Diamond Member
Dec 12, 2001
5,110
2
76
Use Second Chance.

I'm always suprised by the lack of people's knowledge concerning how eBay works.
 

kranky

Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
21,019
156
106
Originally posted by: kami333
Use Second Chance.

I'm always suprised by the lack of people's knowledge concerning how eBay works.

There are so many scams based on the Second Chance feature I wouldn't be surprised if ebay kills it off. A lot of sellers are saying in their auctions "I don't send Second Chance offers. If you get one it's a scam." I even saw a magazine article last month telling people to just ignore all Second Chance offers because there's a 95+% chance it's a scam.

The coordinated relist with BIN, while extra work for the seller, is a lot more secure for the buyer.
 

kami333

Diamond Member
Dec 12, 2001
5,110
2
76
Originally posted by: kranky
Originally posted by: kami333
Use Second Chance.

I'm always suprised by the lack of people's knowledge concerning how eBay works.

There are so many scams based on the Second Chance feature I wouldn't be surprised if ebay kills it off. A lot of sellers are saying in their auctions "I don't send Second Chance offers. If you get one it's a scam." I even saw a magazine article last month telling people to just ignore all Second Chance offers because there's a 95+% chance it's a scam.

The coordinated relist with BIN, while extra work for the seller, is a lot more secure for the buyer.

I use it all the time, both for selling and buying and haven't encountered a problem yet. What do people do, recieve a email from an address that is not the sellers and respond to that? People like that will end up getting scammed one way or another.

 

Lorn

Banned
Nov 28, 2004
2,143
0
0
I still don't understand why you people call it "eGay" when you actually use the service...
 

trinketsummoner

Senior member
Aug 24, 2004
695
1
81
Originally posted by: Lorn
I still don't understand why you people call it "eGay" when you actually use the service...

Its because they think they are "kewl" when in fact they are a clueless n00b.