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chipchen · Dec 9, 2002, 02:18 PM

Check this out:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...category=14909

Can this be too good to be true? The guy has over 2000 positive ratings. (a lot of recent ones from sports cards though). Yea.. so.. just thought I'd post this and see what you guys thought.

gorickey · Dec 9, 2002, 02:22 PM

Whoa, very interesting....

seanyepez · Dec 9, 2002, 02:24 PM

I think it's too good to be true. If he's sold cards on eBay for so long, it's strange that he would all of a sudden start selling PowerBooks for over 30% off.

Bluebomber21XX · Dec 9, 2002, 02:33 PM

Originally posted by seanyepez:
I think it's too good to be true. If he's sold cards on eBay for so long, it's strange that he would all of a sudden start selling PowerBooks for over 30% off.

Here was my experience, and this seems to be a very common scam according to eBay.

There is a person on eBay with lots of good feedback (1000+). He is listing tons of auctions all at once. I buy windshield wipers for my car for $30 and send him the money. I never hear from him, or receive a package. It also looks like no one else at the time I bought my wipers did either.

This scammer worked up his profile, then took about 100 or so people for various prices, and vanished without a trace. He's now $3K richer, by not doing much. It also sucks because it's not worth pursuing him because the amount was so little.

Bid at your own peril, though, I say.

jokell82 · Dec 9, 2002, 02:34 PM

Scams like this go on all the time. What he'll probably do is get 100 orders, then ship out the first 25 or so. As more people say what a great deal they got, he'll get more orders and ship another handful...

There was a website not too long ago that sold every Apple product like this...

milf · Dec 9, 2002, 02:47 PM

I'm always suspicious about buying off of ebay, especially when a typically $3k system is being sold for $1k.

I almost gave in to buying a Powerbook through ebay, but wisely went ahead and bought it through Apple. My logic: I'd rather spend $3k and be certain to get a wonderful machine, then take the chance of spending $1-2k and ending up with nothing.

It's a risk that you have to decide if you want to take of not. It is tempting.

gorickey · Dec 9, 2002, 03:53 PM

I sent an e-mail with a ton of questions that only a real "Apple Certified Reseller" should know, we'll see how this person responds and if they pass the "test" of sorts...

jmp998 · Dec 9, 2002, 06:37 PM

There was a recent news item on a seller-calvinsauctions-which had been in business on ebay for years with good feedback. Then they decided to just stop shipping items for a few months, and eventually got banned. Their take was something like $500,000 before they were stopped, because they had such a long previous history.

This does happen. People decide to get out of the business and want to make a bundle before they do. Always check a seller's other auctions, to make sure they're not suddenly selling many more or more expensive items than normal. A seller who suddenly changes from selling used low cost items to many brand new, expensive items should arouse your suspicions.

Another useful strategy-ask whether you pick the item up instead of having it shipped (even if you're not local-the seller won't know where you're from or if you'll be travelling). If the seller says you can pick it up and pay with a money order, that's a good sign. If they refuse, consider very carefully. Some legitimate businesses don't want to deal with pickups, though, so this isn't 100% reliable. Also most sellers won't take COD even if they are completely legitimate, because buyers often change their minds and refuse to pay for the item.

tonywriter · Dec 9, 2002, 06:38 PM

When I bought my powerbook on eBay I used escrow.com as a safeguard. I sent them a check up front, once it cleared they authorized the seller to send me the powerbook. I had the powerbook to look over and check it was as described and then I authorized escrow.com to release the cash. I think eBay owns escrow.com now and there are other escrow services out there too. A bit time consuming but the piece of mind was worth it.

murbot · Dec 9, 2002, 06:51 PM

I think I'll shoot an email to a contact I have in eBay's fraud department. I've been pretty active in shutting fraudulent sellers down lately. What I'm wondering is if this seller had their account hacked. Happens all the time.

In fact, I caught one crook doing this a couple of weeks ago. The auction looked way too good to be true, and the seller had gone from selling knick-knacks for years to suddenly selling high end PowerBooks. I won the auction with a new user ID, then was able to get her contact info... crook hadn't bothered to change that. I got her phone number, called her up, and she was able to get the account back. Buddy had hacked an unprotected mail server and got into her account that way.

It's a jungle out there, man. It's fine for selling, but I'm sure as hell in no hurry to buy anything from eBay.

jmp998 · Dec 9, 2002, 06:52 PM

Originally posted by gorickey:
I sent an e-mail with a ton of questions that only a real "Apple Certified Reseller" should know, we'll see how this person responds and if they pass the "test" of sorts...

A good suggestion-I ebay quite a bit, and the vast majority of sellers which claim to be Apple Certified Technicians and to have completely checked out the machine have absolutely no knowledge of Apple products whatsoever and blow even the easiest questions. If they try to tell you about the great pentium processor inside or give ridiculous specs, I always worry that the item may be stolen or completely fictitious.

There are some that really do know what they're doing though, and dealing with a real tech who can provide troubleshooting has its advantages. Most of the small mac repair shops actually have an ebay presence if you can just figure out what username/email they use, even one of the major upgrade manufacturers (though they mostly are buying parts for testing etc).

iDORK · Dec 9, 2002, 06:55 PM

Originally posted by seanyepez:
I think it's too good to be true. If he's sold cards on eBay for so long, it's strange that he would all of a sudden start selling PowerBooks for over 30% off.

You're absolutely correct. I wouldn't send that guy $1500-$2000.

iDORK · Dec 9, 2002, 06:57 PM

Originally posted by jmp998:
There was a recent news item on a seller-calvinsauctions-which had been in business on ebay for years with good feedback. Then they decided to just stop shipping items for a few months, and eventually got banned. Their take was something like $500,000 before they were stopped, because they had such a long previous history.

This does happen. People decide to get out of the business and want to make a bundle before they do. Always check a seller's other auctions, to make sure they're not suddenly selling many more or more expensive items than normal. A seller who suddenly changes from selling used low cost items to many brand new, expensive items should arouse your suspicions.

Another useful strategy-ask whether you pick the item up instead of having it shipped (even if you're not local-the seller won't know where you're from or if you'll be travelling). If the seller says you can pick it up and pay with a money order, that's a good sign. If they refuse, consider very carefully. Some legitimate businesses don't want to deal with pickups, though, so this isn't 100% reliable. Also most sellers won't take COD even if they are completely legitimate, because buyers often change their minds and refuse to pay for the item.

I have seen calvinsauctions listing laptops on eBay before and you're right, he did have good feedback until he stopped shipping out the laptops. Do you know if they ever caught this guy?

murbot · 07:27 PM

Whoa, look here. He's got 4 auctions going, with 99 PowerBook for sale in each. That's 396 PowerBooks for sale, for a grand total of $593,604. Me thinks it's time to shut this boy down.

Thanks for heads up, chipchen.

satchmo · Dec 9, 2002, 07:08 PM

Originally posted by murbot:
I think I'll shoot an email to a contact I have in eBay's fraud department. I've been pretty active in shutting fraudulent sellers down lately.

You're a great service to this community. Thanks again for your diligence.

issa · Dec 9, 2002, 08:13 PM

Go get 'em murbot. That auction smells all the way to Tokyo.

jmp998 · Dec 9, 2002, 09:30 PM

Originally posted by iDORK:

I have seen calvinsauctions listing laptops on eBay before and you're right, he did have good feedback until he stopped shipping out the laptops. Do you know if they ever caught this guy?

Here's the link. Yes he has been caught.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...pcworld/107741

I actually almost bought something from him myself several months ago-his feedback was so good and the price was great. Then I saw that he was selling about 10 high priced items at a time, all at very low prices, and fortunately decided to pass. I'm sure I've missed out on some great deals from my caution, but as they say if it seems too good to be true...

sproutsie · Dec 9, 2002, 10:27 PM

on a related note- i recently got an email from ebay confirming that i had successfully changed my password. well, i didn't do anything of the kind, so i emailed them back and two days later got a message saying someone had taken over my account and had been selling things through it. i didn't get any more info than that, other than that all charges had been refunded to my account, and that the person had been caught! i am glad ebay sent me that notice, but it weirds me out that someone did that in the first place...i would *never* spend more than a hundred or so on ebay without extensive contact with the seller- it simply isn't worth the agony one would go through if the deal turned out to be bad.

murbot · Dec 9, 2002, 11:04 PM

Oooohhhh yeah.

I knew it. Here's the email I just got from eBay (damn, I'm not going to get my 10 cheap PowerBooks!):

Dear Mack Buddy ([email protected]),

Please be aware that auction:2079907301 -G4 POWERBOOK 1GHz with SuperDrive has been ended early and your bid has been cancelled. Please note that we have recently ended all listings for the sellermaysmentas it appears the account has been compromised and used by an unauthorized third party. The seller's privileges to trade on eBay may be temporarily suspended while we investigate this matter further.

If this seller contacts you to complete a transaction outside of eBay, we strongly recommend that you do not because it will not be covered under eBay's Fraud Protection Program. If you have already sent payment, we advise you to take steps to protect yourself depending on the nature of your payment. For example, if you paid by personal check, you may stop payment on the check. If you paid for this item with a credit card, you should contact your credit card company's security department right away to inform them of the potential problem with this payment -- most companies provide full protection from loss for online purchases in these circumstances. If you have made a payment by money order or wire transfer, you may contact that company for further information at 1-800-325-6000 (Western Union), or at 1-800-926-9400 (Money Gram).

We emphasize that there is no definitive information regarding the seller or their items at this time, and our difficulties in confirming information about the seller may be the result of a mistake or misunderstanding.

There are many tips on how to protect yourself with any Internet transaction on our help page located at:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/buyerguide/bidding-tips.html

If you have any questions, please reply directly to this email.

Regards,
Customer Support (Trust and Safety Department)
eBay Inc

Score one for the good guys.

iThink · Dec 9, 2002, 11:28 PM

When buying something on eBay request the person's phone number and call them. Thoroughly check their feedback. Pay through Paypal, though that isn't a guarantee that your purchase is protected. But, paying with a credit card affords some protection. Also, request the serial number of the Powerbook or Apple item and call Apple and simply check to see if everything checks out. I did that once with an iBook for a friend.

CheesePuff · Dec 9, 2002, 11:47 PM

I was so damn tempted to bid for a few and sell them back on eBay!

davidflas · 11:26 AM

Speaking of fraund on Ebay, check out this e-mail that I got recently... Check out the "link to Ebay" at the bottom

Sure, I'll just go to this person's private site and give them my password

Below is the result of your feedback form. It was submitted by
[email protected] ([email protected]) on Thursday, November 14,
2002 at 05:31:17
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

p4h:

Dear eBay User,

It has become very noticeable that another party has
been corrupting your eBay account and has violated our User Agreement
policy listed:

4. Bidding and Buying

You are obligated to complete the transaction with the
seller if you purchase an item through one of our fixed price formats or
are the highest bidder as described below. If you are the highest
bidder at the end of an auction (meeting the applicable minimum bid or
reserve requirements) and your bid is accepted by the seller, you are
obligated to complete the transaction with the seller, or the transaction is
prohibited by law or by this Agreement.

You received this notice from eBay because it has come
to our attention that your current account has caused interruptions with
other eBay members and eBay requires immediate verification for your
account. Please verify your account or the account may become disabled.
Click Here To Verify Your Account - http://ebaylogin.tripod.com

**********************************************

Designated trademarks and brands are the property of
their respective owners. eBay and the eBay logo are trademarks of eBay Inc.

32

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

sproutsie · Dec 10, 2002, 12:21 PM

is it just me or do all of the people who try to commit fraud of some sort have no notion of proper grammar? this one is not as bad as most, but do these people think that by being stuffy they'll seem more legitimate??

"it has become very noticeable"???

etc....

sorry, i've been grading undergraduate papers (poli sci) for what seems like centuries now, and i have this urge to correct everything...but i'm right, aren't i?

dreilly1 · Dec 10, 2002, 12:57 PM

Originally posted by sproutsie:
is it just me or do all of the people who try to commit fraud of some sort have no notion of proper grammar? this one is not as bad as most, but do these people think that by being stuffy they'll seem more legitimate??

"it has become very noticeable"???

etc....

sorry, i've been grading undergraduate papers (poli sci) for what seems like centuries now, and i have this urge to correct everything...but i'm right, aren't i?

Yes, you're right. Anyone who can write a complete sentence has the credentials to become a crook the easy way -- get elected.