A warning: eBay scammer

[DVEous]

... Obsolete ...

[Antsl]

I had the same thing happen to me a couple of weeks ago with a Nikon F100 body I was selling .... I put it in as a "Buy Now" and I got a buyer in Sydney who then sent me something about buying a camera for his son in Nigeria .... what ever .... Ebay actually pulled the deal off line for me and advised that it was a scam. The fun thing is that I have re-listed the camera at a lower price without the Buy Now function and it sold for roughly what I wanted (which is still just a fraction of what the camera was worth new! Murphy's bloody law!

[matt-chops]

It happens all the time. Electronic products of any description are the most targeted too. That and cars, they are quite common to be scammed. It took me 6 attempts to sell a mobile phone on ebay. From scammers to people that simply bid and don't pay, it is a pain in the butt.

Then there was also the time my brother got scammed into thinking an item (another mobile phone) had been paid for (through a fake paypal payment confirmation email) and packaged it up and sent it off. The only thing stopping him from losing the phone was Aus Post who sent it back to him due to some kind of filters they have. Apparently, at the time they had stopped packages containing electronic goods from being sent to certain countries, so he got very very lucky that time.

Then there was the time I tried selling a car online. I received more scamming emails than I did legit emails about the sale. I gave up and removed all the ads. There was one email I replied to a couple of times just to see where it was going... Bottom line, Why would I want to give all my banking details to someone in the Bahamas so they could transfer the money to me so I could put the car into a box and on a boat and send it half way around the world. The car was a classic, but it was AMERICAN. Why would anyone in the Bahamas look in Australia for a Classic American car when quite clearly, finding one in Florida would be much much easier. Idiots.

Then there was the time I thought about buying a car online (on ebay). Another classic, located in Aus, the ad looked legit, it really did. I emailed the seller who sent me more photos of the car at which point I made the observation that the car had Texas number plates (okay plausible, I thought), so I emailed back and the seller asked me to send the payment to the UK. FAIL. NO.

Then there was the time I decided to stop writing this because its making me to angry. That time is NOW.

If you really hate scammers as much as I do and want to see them get whats coming, have at look at 'The Scam Baiter' (http://thescambaiter.com/). It's a forum where people post about the scams they pull on the scammers and the ridiculous things they get them to do to 'Make the business deal'. Funny, funny, funny.

[ks04]

maybe try listing as an auction? they seem to be less targeted then the buy it now listings.

[Onyx]

I feel your pain. I very rarely use ebay to sell - in fact it's my last resort when I've exhausted all avenues, but on the past 2 occasions when I listed something for sale on ebay I've had bloody Nigerian scammers come to spoil the party. Having to go to the trouble of relisting, and the ebay fees involved... but that's soothed in time, as there are a stream of ebay idiots who are willing to pay too much for 2nd hand gear. A week or two after a genuine sale - you'll have long forgotten the nasty and remembered (hopefully) what a great price your item fetched even nett of fees.