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 Ebay scammers.....I hate them
Author: YCL-450 
Date:   2006-04-23 21:38

I think someone is trying to scam me with one of those "second chance offer" scams. Anyone ever get one of these. If you do you better be real careful. I bid on a clarinet and my highest bid was $300. I lost the bid but then got a second chance offer. It looked real and legit but I am a very very suspicious person by nature so I started digging into it. I emailed the seller from the second chance page and asked for a photo of the serial number and of the clarinet. I haven't gotten a response. Hmmm! Then I emailed the seller from the original auction page that is now closed. I am betting that the response will be "no I did not send you a second chance offer".

 
 Re: Ebay scammers.....I hate them
Author: Stephane 
Date:   2006-04-23 22:12

Is the seller one of these people who seels a lot of things on ebay for a living or an ordinary person who is selling their old clarinet? If it is the former, I wouldn't be suspicious. Also, second chance isn't a thing invented by the seller but an ebay function like buy it now.

 
 Re: Ebay scammers.....I hate them
Author: ohsuzan 
Date:   2006-04-23 23:05

<<Also, second chance isn't a thing invented by the seller but an ebay function like buy it now.>>


Yeah, but . . .

Scammers have gotten very good at either hijacking or knocking-off legitimate looking pages that appear to have been sent from some well-known source (Ebay, PayPal, Chase Bank, WellsFargo, just to name the ones I know I have gotten). A casual observer would have difficulty spotting the differences between the scam and the real thing.

Good for you, YCL, for taking precautions.

Susan

 
 Re: Ebay scammers.....I hate them
Author: Mark Charette 
Date:   2006-04-23 23:07

ohsuzan wrote:

> Scammers have gotten very good at either hijacking or
> knocking-off legitimate looking pages that appear to have been
> sent from some well-known source

Known as Phishing.

 
 Re: Ebay scammers.....I hate them
Author: hartt 
Date:   2006-04-24 00:01

forget emails.......legit 2sd chance offers are received in My Messages in your My Ebay.

The offer can easily be verified by contacting eBAY's LIVE HELP. They can ascertain whether or not they (eBAY) sent the offer.

A friend recently received a 2sd chance offer via email for their bid . The email sender was 'EBAY'. It was a bogus offer.......value; $2,200.

 
 Re: Ebay scammers.....I hate them
Author: susieray 
Date:   2006-04-24 01:02


Dennis is correct; any legit offer that has been sent through the ebay forwarding system will also show up in your message box on My Ebay.
If a copy is not in your ebay inbox, it's a fake. Any emails you are unsure about should be forwarded to spoof@ebay.com.

Sue

 
 Re: Ebay scammers.....I hate them
Author: Chris P 
Date:   2006-04-24 12:04

I had this after a sale completed (a load of sax repair tools) - I was contacted (only by email) after the sale by two different people offering the repair tools as a 'second chance offer', though I contacted the legit seller about this, as well as notified eBay that some buggers are up to no good.

 
 Re: Ebay scammers.....I hate them
Author: Brenda Siewert 
Date:   2006-04-24 13:07

There are several frequent eBay sellers (including Dennis, Susieray and myself) on this bboard--so don't forget the category of serious clarinetists who either sell on eBay for a hobby or for extra cash. HOWEVER, as Dennis mentioned, if it's a legit second chance offer it will be in your message box on eBay. If you haven't set up a My eBay page, you need to do so. That's where the message box will be.

And, it's always ok to send a note to the seller concerning this. If you don't want to go to the message board on your My eBay page, you can just go to the eBay auction page (as you did) and click on "ask the seller a question."

I never send second chance offers because of that very thing...some people are uncomfortable with them. I usually just relist the item.

 
 Re: Ebay scammers.....I hate them
Author: johnsonfromwisconsin 
Date:   2006-04-24 19:08

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
forget emails.......legit 2sd chance offers are received in My Messages in your My Ebay.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A good suggestion. The alternative being to send an inquiry to Ebay and waiting, or examining email headers yourself.

-JfW

 
 Re: Ebay scammers.....I hate them
Author: stevensfo 
Date:   2006-04-24 22:41

-- "I lost the bid but then got a second chance offer. It looked real and legit but I am a very very suspicious person by nature so I started digging into it." --


Yes, you generally get these when you have a low feedback number, indicating that you're a newbie. Ebay is a great place - as long as you do everything via the official website.

I've had those emails as well, but the worst are the Paypal scams that can potentially lose you thousands. The emails look very genuine...possible problems with scam emails...fraud etc... please log in and check your account. Of course, people click on the link given and are taken to a site that looks like the Paypal site. They enter their details and voila! Someone then has access to their credit card or bank account.

I'm suspicious and paranoid about security - perhaps too much. I once bought a sax mouthpiece and became very suspicious about the emails I was receiving. I warned the seller about this. Then I became suspicious about the seller as well. Something weird was happening.
Turned out the poor girl selling the MP was clueless about Ebay and emails in general. She was a young student and only had access to the internet for a short time each day. We sorted everything out in the end.

Steve

PS She still hasn't returned my credit card though. ;-)

 
 Re: Ebay scammers.....I hate them
Author: YCL-450 
Date:   2006-04-24 23:28

Dennis is correct; any legit offer that has been sent through the ebay forwarding system will also show up in your message box on My Ebay.
If a copy is not in your ebay inbox, it's a fake. Any emails you are unsure about should be forwarded to spoof@ebay.com.

Sue


Yeah the offer was in my ebay inbox so I think it's ok.

 
 Re: Ebay scammers.....I hate them
Author: JessKateDD 
Date:   2006-04-27 14:23

Here is my Ebay second chance horror story. I bid on a clarinet, and my max bid was $400, but I was winning the auction at about $100. At the last minute, someone outbid me, which revealed my max bid. The next day I got a second chance offer for my max bid and took it. Stupid me!

I got the clarinet and saw that it was a complete wreck, not at all as described. There were huge cracks going the entire length of the top joint. Also, it had to be completely replated. I then took a look at the bid that beat me. Searching the seller and the bidder, I found that they were both from the same town of 10,000 people in Long Island, New York - worldwide auction, and the seller and last minute bidder were from the same town. The seller, not satisfied with the way the auction was going, used a second account to force my highest bid.

I did some more research and discovered the seller was an undergrad at Penn, and his father was a partner in a major New York law firm. These people are millionaires, but were still scamming me! Since the seller would not answer my emails, I called the father at his law office and demanded a full refund, otherwise I was going to report them to the FBI for internet fraud. I got the refund finally, but it took a lot of effort.

My advice - never take a second chance offer. Bidding on any online auction is taking a risk, and with a second chance offer, you know that something already has gone wrong.

Incidentally, both of the accounts that were used to run up the bid against me are still in use on Ebay. Though I proved to Ebay what happened, and you are supposed to get suspended at a minimum for such actions, Ebay did nothing. It seems Ebay would rather have as many auctions as possible and allow scammers than police their system and lose business.



Post Edited (2006-04-27 14:27)

 
 Re: Ebay scammers.....I hate them
Author: Brenda Siewert 
Date:   2006-04-27 16:27

I went for several years without a single eBay horror story, but the last year I've been taken twice on mouthpieces that weren't anywhere NEAR what they were advertised to be. One was total garbage. Both sellers were knowledgeable players with numerous sales and good reputations. Both refused to accept the mouthpieces back and I got stuck with them--Kaspars, I might add. I bid on these two mouthpieces because I believed the ad--stupid me--because the sellers should have known what they were selling. I'm sure they did--and that's the maddening part. I guess I should add that most of the stuff I've gotten this year was great, and so were the sellers--including Dennis (above). So, overall, eBay has been a good experience. I just always hope people will treat me like I treat them and it is a shock when that doesn't happen.

Anyway, I also got the PayPal scam, but remembered that I shouldn't click the link. I went directly to my account via manually entered http and found everything in order. I reported the scam to PayPal and got an email back from them that they were working on shutting down the scammers who sent it.

Yeah! Watch for those PayPal scams as well as fraudulent eBay scammers.

And, if you buy something--communicate with the seller first about their refund policy. Check out their feedback! Most reputable sellers will offer your money back on stuff. And, remember to check your my eBay page for messages before you act on any second chance deals.

 
 Re: Ebay scammers.....I hate them
Author: susieray 
Date:   2006-04-27 17:10

Brenda,

The sure way to tell those Paypal scams are fake is the fact that they
NEVER know your real name. Paypal will always address you by your real name.

Sue

 
 Re: Ebay scammers.....I hate them
Author: Brenda Siewert 
Date:   2006-04-27 21:06

Nope. They addressed me by my real name. But, I never use the link on emails, so that saved me. Also, it was exactly like the PayPal website, but the margins were slightly narrower. So, watch out even if they use your real name. That was creepy.

 
 Re: Ebay scammers.....I hate them
Author: susieray 
Date:   2006-04-27 21:49



That's a new one; I have received dozens of those fake Paypal emails and not one of them has addressed me by name. I've been addressed by my email address, but it's normally something like, "Dear Paypal member".

 
 Re: Ebay scammers.....I hate them
Author: tictactux 2017
Date:   2006-04-27 22:04

That's not actually new. Paypal does *never ever* send you an email (unless you just registered. Nor do any other online banks I know of.
Usually it's early enough when they alert you when you log in into their web site, so why should they email you?

--
Ben

 
 Re: Ebay scammers.....I hate them
Author: Brenda Siewert 
Date:   2006-04-28 00:40

PayPal sends emails all the time to notify you of having money or having transfered money or making a payment, etc. This particular scam said I had sent money to a person in California purchasing a cell phone. They used my name and my ebay id. Easy enough to find those things. So, watch out...they're getting more sneaky every day.

 
 Re: Ebay scammers.....I hate them
Author: JessKateDD 
Date:   2006-05-01 19:17

This is a bit of a bump, but relevant. Just today, someone tried to pull another 2nd chance scam on me. I was outbid, then got the 2nd chance letter offering the clarinet at my highest price. I did a search on the seller's other auctions and saw that the same shill account bid his other auctions. Both seller and shill are from the same city. And shill has bid exclusively on seller's auctions as of late. Now, maybe it is just a coincidence that someone from the same town bids exclusively on one bidder on items as diverse as clarinets and buzz saws, but I think that is unlikely.

I emailed Ebay with my suspicions. But I come here to repeat my earlier advice - just say no to second chance auctions. If you think the second chance is legitimate, offer the price that would have won the auction had the suddenly non-paying bidder not entered the auction, rather than your highest bid.

 
 Re: Ebay scammers.....I hate them
Author: GBK 
Date:   2006-05-01 20:06

[ We all know to check and recheck any solicited and unsolicited offers from eBay. This thread is now closed. If you have anything new and relevant to add, we'd be happy to reopen it - GBK ]

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