Styleforum › Forums › Archives › Buying and Selling (Archive) › B&S Archive › Fraudulent ‘second chance offers’ supposedly from ebay sellers
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Fraudulent ‘second chance offers’ supposedly from ebay sellers

post #1 of 6
12/17/07 at 2:48pm
Thread Starter 
Dear Folks: Over the weekend, one forum member emailed me and said he had received a second chance offer from someone using my ebay (and forum) name, mack11211. The member did not respond, and forwarded the email to me. When I examined it, I determined that it had not come from my account. My own account security has not been breached. The email had my user name but the seller’s name and email were different. Plus he only accepted payment via Western Union and had recently changed his location from the USA to Milan, Italy. Both I and the forum member have reported this to ebay. But since this fraudulent offer originated outside of ebay, I am not sure what they will do about it. If you get an email claiming to be a second chance offer from an ebay seller, first check to see if the message is in your ebay inbox. Then confirm with the seller *by sending an email through the ebay system* to determine that the offer is legitimate. I post this to inform you and to try to prevent anyone from being victimized. As a legitimate seller, I will continue to try to give you the best products and service that I can. Yours truly, Mack11211
Reply
Reply
post #2 of 6
12/17/07 at 2:51pm
yeah, this is the scam du jour
Reply
Reply
post #3 of 6
12/17/07 at 2:59pm
One of the things that you can do, depending upon your browser's capabilities, is examine the hyperlink. You will usually be able to determine that the link goes to some site other than ebay. Sorry for your scam. Whenever I receive a dubious eBay communication such as a second chance offer, I just go to my eBay account and read messages. If it is a legit eBay message, it will show under My Messages. eBay is definitely the equivalent of the wild west at its wildest-- unbridled commerce with only token law enforcement. Very scary yet full of opportunities for buyers and sellers.
Reply
Reply
post #4 of 6
12/17/07 at 3:00pm
I just saw that you posted this over at AAAC as well. This is why ebay should move to the full anonymous system.
Reply
Reply
post #5 of 6
12/17/07 at 3:23pm
Sorry to hear about this hassle, Mack. You might take it as a compliment that someone thinks highly enough of your reputation and your goods that they think it'd be profitable to pretend to be you.

More generally, I'd caution folks against the eBay Second Chance Offers. Here's why (please indulge the auction theory geek for a moment): In a normal eBay auction, if you're high bidder you don't actually pay what you bid -- you pay what the second highest bidder bids (plus the bid increment). In the trade, this is called a second price auction, because the second highest bid price determines the price of the transaction. The auction seller's dream, though, is to charge the high bidder a price equal to the highest bidder's bid -- full extraction of surplus. So he does this by submitting a very high shill bid at the last moment, then offering the second-highest bidder (the highest actual bidder, other than the shill) a Second Chance Offer at that bidder's bid price after the 'original deal fell through'.

Be careful out there.
Reply
Reply
post #6 of 6
12/17/07 at 4:41pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by NoVaguy View Post
yeah, this is the scam du jour

Agreed; I've had this scam tried on one of my buyers too.

Reposting from AAAC:

Thanks for posting this mack. These remain a nuisance for both buyers and sellers on eBay.

I wholeheartedly echo your encouragement to buyers who be sceptical of any eBay second chance offer that does not come via eBay's system. Always check your eBay inbox itself - if it's not there, it's fake.

Reporting the messages to eBay may or may not help, but can't do harm.
Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: B&S Archive
Styleforum › Forums › Archives › Buying and Selling (Archive) › B&S Archive › Fraudulent ‘second chance offers’ supposedly from ebay sellers