Check this scam out

[marc]

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Nikon-D3-12-1-Me ... .m63.l1177

Here's the reply I got when I contacted the seller:

Greetings

Thank you for your interest in purchasing my items .
Right now you can buy it for only $1000 . price is included the shipping . 14 days return policy
My item is brand new sealed in original box and will come with all accessories and 1year warranty .
You can have this at your door in 3 days maximum after you confirm the payment because the shipment will be made via Ups 2Day Air or Fedex overnighted from europe .
So that's why we use as a payment method Western Union money transfer, the fastest and
also very secure way of sending money because we will close this deal ONLY under eBay,with their protection. The transaction will go strictly according to eBay's RULES and POLICY and will be supervised by eBay Trust & Safety Department..
If you have any question don't hesitate to contact me .bidding is restricted because I want to carefully chose my buyers. is not necessary to bid .for me is not important who bid or what amount bid,if i receive a good offer i will sell my items. it is a private listing and i can negociate with buyers.the price is not fix.
If you agree with my terms, Let me know asap because the items is ready to be shipped
Kind Regards

As soon as you see Western Union....run a mile!!

[aim54x]

How is any of that within the rules of ebay???

RUN!!!

[Murray Foote]

It seems you could pay with PayPal and then EBay's "potential Guarantee" would kick in. If you read the details of that it says that if you pay and don't receive the item and then complain, EBay may (not will) ask the buyer and if that doesn't work (or they don't try it), EBay may or may not pay you some money (according to whether they feel like it). I suppose it is an American institution after all.

[gstark]

I want to carefully chose my buyers.

for me is not important who bid

And not to forget

i can negociate with buyers.

If you agree with my terms

Just a couple of minor contradictions there ...

Who wants to report this one to Fleabay?

[marc]

Already done Gary.

The bottom line is, a D3 for US$1000....................."if it sound to good to be true......

[chrisk]

the scary part is that they have very good feedback so if they weren't so colossally stupid to offer it so cheap i'd be inclined to buy it. tis a dangerous place 'ol ebay.

[sirhc55]

I know that Western Union has a bad reputation (from whom?) but a major agent for them in this country is Aus Post. This makes me wonder if their bad reputation is part of some conspiracy by Ebay

[Grev]

*Buys it now*

Suckers don't know about my $1000 D3.

[Murray Foote]

the scary part is that they have very good feedback so if they weren't so colossally stupid to offer it so cheap i'd be inclined to buy it. tis a dangerous place 'ol ebay.

I had a look at their detailed feedback and there are only two recent items, for $10 and $12. I guess if you wanted to run a scam like that you could sell 100 items at cost for $5 first...

[tommyg]

I saw that exact same email address last year on some items on EBay. At that stage it was a D700 with 14-24 and 24-70 SB900 and other stuff. All on a 24 hour sale over a weekend.

Checked the feedback, and noticed that while the account had 100s of feedback .. it was all for selling printer cartridges. So just for fun I made sure I won all of his items .. 4 top level cameras for a total of $10k

I then sent an email to him stating I would be quite prepared to fly and pick them up COD. he said he had to get the money first as he had to pay his 'supplier'. For some reason he declined my offer to pay in cash on delivery ..

For some reason EBay then cancelled all of the sales, and contacted me telling me that it was a hacked account. btw.. western union has a bad reputation because you can put the money in here, and they can withdraw it in Nigeria .. or anywhere they like in the world, with no trace of where it went.

[chrisk]

the scary part is that they have very good feedback so if they weren't so colossally stupid to offer it so cheap i'd be inclined to buy it. tis a dangerous place 'ol ebay.

I had a look at their detailed feedback and there are only two recent items, for $10 and $12. I guess if you wanted to run a scam like that you could sell 100 items at cost for $5 first...

true, but in that case, why $1000 ? if you're willing to "sacrifice" the account then why not sell for $4000. i reckon theres a far better chance of selling at $4k than there is for $1k.

[gstark]

true, but in that case, why $1000 ?

Because they're morons?

Which makes you wonder about those who are even more gullible and fall for these scams.

But to some extent, I have little sympathy for those people, too. After all, in trying to grab some sort of "bargain" (and this also applies to the sob-stories we see where people have lost money to Nigerian scams and the like) all we're really seeing is a manifestation of their greed.

I note that eBay have now pulled the item, and on the page I also noted the following warning.

Marketplace Safety Tip
Never pay for your eBay item using instant cash transfer services such as Western Union or MoneyGram or by recharging somebody's prepaid credit card. These methods are not safe to pay people you do not know personally.

In addition, these payment methods are not eligible for the eBay buyer protection programs.

They should probably be adding that warning to every page that contains a listing.

[marc]

I note that eBay have now pulled the item, and on the page I also noted the following warning.

The thing that really gets me about ebay, is that it took myself having to report this BEFORE they took any notice!
Happens all too often.

[MATT]

The thing that really gets me about ebay, is that it took myself having to report this BEFORE they took any notice!
Happens all too often.

BUt ebay has millions of items across multiple countries.. How could they possibly keep up?

Give them a little credit for doing something as soon as it was reported.

MATT

[chrisk]

yeah, they cant possibly keep track i agree. it needs people to report it. like gary said though, if you honestly think you can pick up a brand new d3 for $1k then you deserve whatever the scammers put you thru.

[marc]

yeah, they cant possibly keep track i agree. it needs people to report it. like gary said though, if you honestly think you can pick up a brand new d3 for $1k then you deserve whatever the scammers put you thru.

Fair comment Matt & Rooz

However, the same guy had been previously caught before!!
And was still allowed to trade.................go figure!!
As long as they get their sale fees.

[tntman]

In recent times, Ebay is more like Scambay. You gotta be careful of who you deal with, the best indicator I find is of their seller ratings... I would never trust buying expensive gear with a trader of anything less than 100 positives!