Ebay Weber Big Sky looks suspicious

[Ken Olmstead]

No only is it "too good to be true" pricewise, the ad does not match the rest of "Harv's" advertising style. The ad also demands that you email first or the bid will be cancelled. Wierd.

I apologize if this has already been posted...I did a quick check...

http://cgi.ebay.com/Weber-F-Style-Big-Sky-Mandolin-Bluegrass-Mandolin_W0QQitemZ250329918923QQcmdZViewItemQQptZL H_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item250329918923&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1205%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C 240%3A1318

[MikeEdgerton]

It's a scam. This is a Hijacked account. Look at the items listed...cameras, drums, electronics, mandolin all for 108.00. All Harv seems to sell is currency normally. I've seen this guy before.

[MikeEdgerton]

Anyone that has a few hours to spare can report this to eBay's security through their Live Chat. Honestly they don't make this easy.

[TomTyrrell]

It only takes a minute to report.

Go to bottom of listing page, click on "Report this item"
Pick
"Listing Policy Violations"
"Circumvention of eBay fees"
"Offering merchandise for sale outside of eBay"
Put "Hijacked account" and click "Send Report"

Ebay hates losing money. The Circumvention of Fees reports get looked at first.

[Ken Olmstead]

Actually, come to think of it when I embedded the link here it was unusually long. If that is true, it would be a quick check to see if the account was hijacked.

Tom, might only take a minute thanks to your map but I doubt I would have ever followed that string on my own.

[MikeEdgerton]

That's because that string doesn't show up on all the eBay servers. They have about 3 different versions of their pages floating around now depending on which box you hit..

[Anglocelt]

This is by a regular scammer who I have reported to ebay several times. He always posts a jpeg image in the listing (evading ebay checks I suppose)demanding you pay him $1,300 and contact him via his gmail account, not pay through Paypal. The gmail account keeps changing and so does the ebay account he is illegally squatting at any given time. I have sometimes warned the account holder but they have never replied yet and ebay just send standardised emails, so I don't really know if they take it seriously.

Just avoid $1,300 gmail man!

Cheers,

Kevin

[Mike Bromley]

Watch that the hijacked account doesn't also phish you. Good idea to dump your temporary internet files after viewing a scammer. Sophisticated & sleazy are two words that come to mind....

[Bill Snyder]

I emailed the seller using the contact link on ebay to ask if the listing was his or if his account had been hijacked.
His reply was "Hacked and hijacked. The listing is bogus and gone now."
And so it is.

[markishandsome]

"Actually, come to think of it when I embedded the link here it was unusually long. If that is true, it would be a quick check to see if the account was hijacked."

Ebay assigns the URLs automatically and they're always long. Nothing whatsoever to do with the scammer stealing Harv's password.

It's not necessary to use TomT's exact selections to get ebay's attention. Just select "fraudulent listing" and it has a good a chance as any to get pulled. I have no knowledge of how/if ebay prioritizes fraud reports, but I'm sure they'd respond to all of them given infinite time and resources. In reality, they're playing whack-a-mole and can't get to every last report before the auction ends. IIRC, very nearly all the scams that get posted here at the cafe are pulled before the auction ends.

[TomTyrrell]

"Fraudulent listing" reports are lowest on the eBay scale of importance. That's why I stopped using that reason.

[markishandsome]

I've reported "Fraudulent listing"s before and the item was always quickly removed. Maybe other folks submitted higher-profile complaints, I don't know. I'm curious where you got your info on ebay's fraud priorities.

[TomTyrrell]

Ebay gets more "Fraudulent listings: You suspect that a listing is fraudulent you didn't bid." reports than any other kind.

They don't just cancel an auction because somebody doesn't like it. They have to actually have a reason to do so. That means someone has to investigate the listing to determine whether it is indeed fraudulent. That takes time and knowledge and that is the reason so many probably fraudulent listings don't ever get cancelled.

It takes almost no time for an eBay employee to see that a listing violates eBay listing policies and those listings are cancelled immediately. No expert knowledge required.

Reports of listing policy violations are queued ahead of fraudulent listing reports because that is the most efficient way to handle the reports. That's the way the system is programmed.

[markishandsome]

That all makes sense, but I was wondering if you had any source that told you this was actually how ebay does business, rather than just how you think you would do it if you were in charge. I agree that given limited resources that would be a smart way to organize things, but that doesn't make it reality.

I didn't get a chance to see the listing that inspired this thread before it was removed, so I don't know what specific policy violations were involved. If it was stuff like going outside ebay or other actual policy violations, then sure that's the appropriate thing to report. I sort of got the impression that you were recommending reporting listing violations for ALL fraudulent listings, including those which don't violate listing policies per se. Your last post suggests this is not the case and I apologize for making that assumption. The listings I've reported in the past have been other sorts of fraud, like scammers lifting pics and descriptions from elderly or frets.com or forged gibsons being sold as genuine etc, things that fall more under the fraudulent listing category. Listing violations are so common even in legit auctions that I've never bothered to report one.

[TomTyrrell]

This topic is specifically about the "Contact me directly. Don't bid or I'll cancel your bid. $1300 BIN" scam. The scammer typically lists a few hundred items under a hacked account hoping someone will send him the $1,300. The scammer has quite a collection of listings for mandolins, guitars, sousaphones, saddles and lots of other things and uses TurboLister to get them all up quickly. Once eBay becomes aware of one listing they kill them all but it takes a bit of time and effort.

BTW, eBay does not shoot programmers who leave their employ. Nor do they remove the vocal chords or frontal lobes.

[markishandsome]

"BTW, eBay does not shoot programmers who leave their employ. Nor do they remove the vocal chords or frontal lobes. "

"Yes I have a source, I didn't just make it up" would have been sufficient, but thanks for clearing up the programmer mutilation mystery. :)

One thing we agree on is that reporting fraud on ebay is quick'n'easy, and they do make some effort to stop some scams.

[TomTyrrell]

<< "Yes I have a source, I didn't just make it up" would have been sufficient, but thanks for clearing up the programmer mutilation mystery. >>

How could I have known that? You assumed I don't know what I'm talking about but you didn't quote your source.

[markishandsome]

I'm sorry if I upset you. I'm a scientist, and scientists always expect claims of fact to be backed up by some sort of citation of a source. Nothing personal.