• Hi, I am the owner and main administrator of Styleforum. If you find the forum useful and fun, please help support it by buying through the posted links on the forum. Our main, very popular sales thread, where the latest and best sales are listed, are posted HERE

    Purchases made through some of our links earns a commission for the forum and allows us to do the work of maintaining and improving it. Finally, thanks for being a part of this community. We realize that there are many choices today on the internet, and we have all of you to thank for making Styleforum the foremost destination for discussions of menswear.
  • This site contains affiliate links for which Styleforum may be compensated.
  • We would like to welcome House of Huntington as an official Affiliate Vendor. Shop past season Drake's, Nigel Cabourn, Private White V.C. and other menswear luxury brands at exceptional prices below retail. Please visit the Houise of Huntington thread and welcome them to the forum.

  • STYLE. COMMUNITY. GREAT CLOTHING.

    Bored of counting likes on social networks? At Styleforum, you’ll find rousing discussions that go beyond strings of emojis.

    Click Here to join Styleforum's thousands of style enthusiasts today!

    Styleforum is supported in part by commission earning affiliate links sitewide. Please support us by using them. You may learn more here.

Did just I get scammed on E(vil)bay?

NoVaguy

Distinguished Member
Joined
Oct 15, 2004
Messages
6,546
Reaction score
140
Here's an email I just got from a buyer of one of my auctions. What are the odds I'm being scammed? 99%? 99.5% 99.9%?:

***email***
Hi,
I accepted pay the price of your BUY IT NOW and any aditional money for handling.so this is to inform you that i am purchasing this item on behalf of my client. the item is going to africa.and my client will ISSUE a Money Order that is more than your item fees for you and include some money like handling fees and other.i don"t realy know the Exactamount it will be.So once you receive the payment.you must deduct ur own fees and WesternUnion the balance money to my client manager in africa for some clearance.

There will be no problem about the shipment.i will responsible for it with my DHL acc# so that is how the shipment will be done.I just want you to promise me and fulfil ur promise to WesternUnion the amount that is left after deducted your item fees to the
manager in africa for some clerance Immediately you get the payment.Here will go.i would have end the auction but i don"t know how to do that do to my new ebayer.so i want you to end the auction for me.to asure you that i am realy interested in ur item.i will add extra $5.00 in ur payment if you end the auction for me asap.and email me your full NAME ADDRESS AND YOUR MOBILE# asap today.

Below are the questions i have for you.
1)Is the item in good condition?

2)Is any westernunion location where you to send the
balance money arround you?

3)Did you have an ATM acc# where you can cash check instantly without any delay at ur bank the sameday?

4)Can you make sure you get the Check cash at ur bank
the sameday you receive it?

5)Can you allow me to send DHL for the pick up and
complete the transaction the day you receive the
Check ?

If yes too all my questions.kindly email me back asap today so that the payment can be Mailout asap.

Regards,
 

Britalian

Distinguished Member
Joined
Jul 2, 2006
Messages
2,538
Reaction score
45
did your sale welcome all methods of payment, or limit to paypal, for eg?
that capitalisation looks suspicious.
Have you brought the communication to the attn of the ebay people?
 

billiebob

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 14, 2005
Messages
705
Reaction score
4
Yeesh. I sure hope e-bay doesn't get screwed up with nonsense bidding like this. This would piss me off so much as a seller.

I'll bet this person has hundreds of glowing feedbacks eh?

I love the emphasis on statements saying in effect "Are you sure you'd be able to send me some amount of money the same day you receive my (bogus) check?"

The check would probably be written out for $1000 more than the ebay item as a little "mistake".

I would just say that payment is now due, and treat it as a non-paying bidder. Or you could just report it to ebay, who may end this nonsense by cancelling the transaction. You won't have been the first one to get an email like this.

I guess it's experiences like these which make sellers spell out payment and shipping details in excruciating detail.

Hope you can avoid negative feedback!
 

drizzt3117

Stylish Dinosaur
Joined
Aug 26, 2004
Messages
13,040
Reaction score
14
That's a scam for sure. It's a very common one, in which they send you a fake cashiers check/MO for more than the amount of the purchase and make money when you cash it and send them change.
 

minimal

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 7, 2004
Messages
312
Reaction score
1
Basically, if a) they say they are buying for "a client" or someone other than themselves, AND b) they are asking you to ship to Africa, then the chances that it is a scam are 100%.

Although theoretically it may not be the case, I have never heard of an instance where it is *not* a scam, and many many instances of it being so.

I've had absolutely terrible experiences as a seller with people trying to scam me. Thankfully, I've not fallen for it yet, but the scammers are getting very sophisticated (faked ebay email, fake end-of-auction ebay email, matching faked paypal notices, most with a bunch of valid links embedded but 1 or 2 phishing links). I also note that for my high-ticket items, the people who bid are all sent scams, purportedly from me, for "second chance offers".

I've spoke to an ebay security person by phone (yeah, try that! it's very hard to do...) to discuss some of these problems. As someone in the computer field, I'd put their skills at about 3 on a 1-10 scale. Not encouraging.

Good luck with your sale, I hope you have avoided it. At the top of all my auctions, I write that I never give second-chance offers, and will never ship outside the USA or canada, and that paypal users must have shipment to their verified address.
 

minimal

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 7, 2004
Messages
312
Reaction score
1
And that makes an even 1000 posts for you, NoVaGuy, congratulations! There should be special pocket squares for the "mille-post club".
 

grimslade

Stylish Dinosaur
Joined
Mar 31, 2006
Messages
10,806
Reaction score
82
Definite scam.
 

rgiesen

New Member
Joined
Mar 10, 2006
Messages
1
Reaction score
0
100% scam. I had recieved the same questions and I have never sold anything on E-Bay. Report it.
 

NoVaguy

Distinguished Member
Joined
Oct 15, 2004
Messages
6,546
Reaction score
140
yeah, number 1000. discussing an ebay scam. crap.

yeah, i figured from the get go that it was a scam. i was thinking of asking for the money order and not shipping the item or refund. just to see what happens.
 

well-kept

Senior Member
Joined
May 30, 2006
Messages
909
Reaction score
42
BTW... I've recently gotten a couple of phony "Response to Question from eBay Member" e-mails concerning 'transactions' having nothing to do with me. First impulse is to be helpful, e-mail them back with a 'you have the wrong person' message. But I stopped myself in time.
 

Featured Sponsor

How important is full vs half canvas to you for heavier sport jackets?

  • Definitely full canvas only

    Votes: 55 36.7%
  • Half canvas is fine

    Votes: 59 39.3%
  • Really don't care

    Votes: 15 10.0%
  • Depends on fabric

    Votes: 26 17.3%
  • Depends on price

    Votes: 26 17.3%

Forum statistics

Threads
505,149
Messages
10,578,764
Members
223,878
Latest member
anaforli
Top