E-Bay: What a crock

[fabsroman]

Got a "second chance" e-mail from the seller of those wheels I lost the bidding on. Here it is:

"eBay Second Chance System sent you this eBay item

I am the eBay seller of this item. You expressed interest in my item by bidding, however the auction has ended with another eBay member as the high bidder. Because the winner of my auction didn't respond to my emails after winning the auction and I want to make a second chance offer to you. There are a lot of bidders who bid on the auction for fun and I hope you are serious buyer and we can make a clear deal. I whant you to know that price will be your last bid, transaction will be register at eBay Square Trade dept and also be made through them. If you accept my second chance offer please contact me at my personal email address : joelsamuels0923@aol.com Thank you! "

Looks like a scam to me. Plus, why would I have to pay $1,150 for them since the idiot that bid me up that high wasn't even willing to pay for the wheels? I should only have to pay somewhere around $900 for them since that was my last winning bid before the other guy started bidding against me.

[skeet]

Fabs that second chance offer is a scam for certain. Email and tell the guy the winners bids should all be cancelled as he wasn't willing to buy at all. That way your highest bid of 900 bucks is what you are willing to pay...otherwise you will report him to ebay for scamming. Also seems as though he had a shill bidder and let him know ebay will be contacted.

As Rocky said..I sell quite a few items on ebay and buy a few myself...but I am very careful about emailing people. I only do it through their(ebay's) ask seller a question link. No info is passed to them that way. Most of the items for sale on ebay are legit but you still have to be careful. When I sell items I always charge exact shipping charges as some will charge more than necessary to make back their ebay and paypal fees....which is a kind of ebay legal scam....although a small one.

[fabsroman]

Skeet,

I ended up getting four 2nd Chance offers from clowns. I am wondering how the hell they get my personal e-mail address. Of course, not one of them was actually from e-bay because I did not have a copy of them on "My E-Bay." I forwarded all of them to spoof@ebay.com and e-bay responded that none of them were from e-bay. Plus, I sent questions to the seller and the winning bidder on e-bay and I never got responses from either of them.

What I really do not understand is why the seller never responded to any of my questions regarding the wheels. In looking at his previous transactions, it seemed like he answered buyer questions often and his feedback score was 99.8% for close to 1,000 transactions.

Personally, I think e-bay is great if you are a seller because it is rather tough to get scammed. However, if you happen to be a buyer, you have to worry about all kinds of scams.

I am surprised the jails are not full of people that commit e-bay scams. I am also surprised that these guys can figure out my personal e-mail address when I have not provided it to them, and I am really surprised that e-bay has not done something to prevent all this crap.

Last but not least, I am flabbergasted (sp.) that so many people have nothing better to do than sit in front of a computer and scam people all day long.

Anyway, I ended up using the "Buy It Now" function for two sets of rims, the total of which will cost me $240 for both sets (i.e., $160 for one and $50 for the other, plus $35 in shipping). Now, I'll buy some new hubs and spokes and build my own wheels.

[skeet]

Fabs... I am at the present time bidding on a tractor on ebay. Small diesel tractor for using on the ranch here. There are so many scams on the tractor pages it is not funny. They even have warnings on the auction pages. Somehow the scammers find a way to get feedback posted for them that just can't be real. And a lot use private sales so you can't see who is bidding. Be careful who you buy from and check on the feedback pages and see if they have been selling any of the items you are bidding on in the past. The real sellers quite often will post their phone number which can be checked with the phone companies...or they will give you their number if you ask and they are legitimate. Luck with the future stuff you buy. ebay can be addicting.

Shot the Wyoming State Skeet Championshinps this last weekend. Some tough shooters out here too. Did shoot a 99 in the 410 though. Happy with that ...except for the one I missed. Low 1 doubles in the 3rd round. Say hi to your dad and get in touch with delduck about shooting when I get back.

[fabsroman]

I saw Rubicon over the weekend, and besides being a great guy, he is also interested in shooting with us in October. I'll try to plan something as the time gets closer, because I am sure nobody knows what is going on in October with their schedules (i.e., hunting season will be here).

I am probably going to renig on paying for these rims because according to the ad they are located in Belgium, but when I sent the guy an e-mail to reduce the shipping charges, the copy sent to my e-mail address was in Chinese, except for what I had written. Plus, he hasn't gotten back to me yet. I am literally sick and tired of this e-bay crap.

I wonder if they have e-bay scamming classes in Africa and Asia.

[fabsroman]

Well, the seller of these rims sent me an e-mail with an invoice attached asking for payment. Problem is that he did not reduce the shipping charges as he stated in his ad. I sent him another message and will wait to see what happens. Again, the copy of the second message that I sent to my e-mail address is in Chinese.

It is really sad because I really like these rims. However, I have found another seller with an E-Bay store that has some rims I could live with. E-bay is a pain in the you know what!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[DaMadman]

Fabs when you start dealing with the high $$$ items on ebay you have to watch your back front and every side angle, very, very carefully.


I have purchased quite a few things from ebays up to a couple hundred $$$ per item and as cheap as 50 cents. I don't think I would purchase much of anything off ebay that was in the $1500 - several thousand $$$ range unless the seller was local and would take cash and carry.

I even purchased my ATV off ebay for under $1000, but the guy was in Maryland and I paid him the night I picked the ATV up through PAypal. I had several telephone conversations with him and had directions to his house before I made the Payment.

I certainly feel pretty safe paying through paypal most of the time because if somehting does go wrong I have had paypal ready to refund my money and take it out of the sellers account.

Anyway it really sound to me like Ebay isn't for you. I know quite a few people that haven't done well on Ebay, they don't like it at all and have had one problem after another. I personally have had 99% great luck and even the 1% turned out ok in the end, it was just a headache for a week or so but all came clean in the wash.

Take care and leave that Ebay stuff along....

[fabsroman]

DaMadman,

I think I agree with you completely. E-bay has a program that guarantees a sale if it is less than $1,000, if the seller decides to provide that assurance. It probably costs the seller a little more, but it makes buyers feel a lot better.

The rims I bid on were $50 for one pair and $160 for the other. The seller finally fixed the invoice to reduce it by $35, so I went ahead and paid him. He also had the e-bay guarantee on his ad, so I feel pretty good about this purchase, and I really liked the rims anyway. Now, I'll just have to wait and see how long it takes to get them and what condition they are in (i.e., the ad said NIB).

I think I'll continue to use e-bay for the smaller purchase items, but I am going to leave the high dollar stuff (i.e., anything above $1,000) alone unless I can meet with the seller in person and look over the goods before handing him a cashier's check.

One of the guys on here got one heck of a deal on a vintage mustang through e-bay, but I forget who his screen name right now. I think he is a mod. That is an awesome car.