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Thread: Huge number of eBay Scam Listings

  1. #26
    Orrig Onion HonketyHank's Avatar
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    Default Re: Huge number of eBay Scam Listings

    We have seen this scammer's stuff over and over and over. Always the same listings (and mandolins is only a small fraction of what he/she/they/whoever list), always with a 24 hr auction but with the warning not to bid but rather do a buy it now but buy it now is not enabled, usually on a weekend.

    But I don't really understand how they get their money out of the scam, nor how they seem to hijack account after account so easily. And I should think, for them to get their money they have to have hijacked the original account owner's PayPal account as well.

    It makes me wonder. I mean how easy would it be to hijack MY ebay account and my paypal account, both? And you'd think that eBay itself could have some means of recognizing something so easily recognizable. I mean, I can recognize them just from any one or two of the following: the title, the thumbnail, the starting bid, the auction duration, the item description. Not to mention the photos.
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  2. #27
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: Huge number of eBay Scam Listings

    He has another account out there already.

    https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Unk....c100005.m1851
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
    --M. Stillion

    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
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  3. #28
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: Huge number of eBay Scam Listings

    I've also found out that eBay jumps a little faster when you report it as an offer to sell outside eBay than they do when you say it's a fraudulent listing.
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
    --M. Stillion

    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
    --J. Garber

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  5. #29
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: Huge number of eBay Scam Listings

    A quick scan this morning pops up one mandolin but the listing has been removed. I'm sure they will be back
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
    --M. Stillion

    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
    --J. Garber

  6. #30
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    Default Re: Huge number of eBay Scam Listings

    Quote Originally Posted by MikeZito View Post
    My other hobby is collecting game used sports jerseys - and I have reported a couple of crooked listings to eBay, but they never seemed to do anything about them.

    I just hate to think of how may people get taken by these crooks and give legitimate eBay sellers a bad name.
    Wait a minute. We're allowed to have other hobbies besides mandolin?

  7. #31
    FIDDLES with STRADOLINS your_diamond's Avatar
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    Default Re: Huge number of eBay Scam Listings

    Quote Originally Posted by colorado_al View Post
    Wait a minute. We're allowed to have other hobbies besides mandolin?

    Well if we are allowed other hobbies, I want this SCAM 22 ft long Shuffleboard because it has FREE SHIPPING! http://r.ebay.com/wgoub7 Free shipping?!?!? It's gotta weigh 1000lbs.

  8. #32

    Default Re: Huge number of eBay Scam Listings

    Quote Originally Posted by MikeEdgerton View Post
    If you have time go here and report the listing as being fraudulent.

    https://www.ebay.com/itm/THE-GIBSON-...AAAOSw-o9ambsk
    Hi Mike I am trying to figure out how to spot a fraudulent post on ebay

  9. #33

    Default Re: Huge number of eBay Scam Listings

    1. Usually a popular or rare item is priced Waaaaay too cheap.
    2. The seller asks you to go off of eBay to complete the sale.

  10. #34
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    Default Re: Huge number of eBay Scam Listings

    I keep reporting the Gibson mandolins for a couple dollars and when you hit description it goes to a buy it now instead of the bid it is supposed to be. He puts them (about 6) up every few days or so.
    THE WORLD IS A BETTER PLACE JUST FOR YOUR SMILE!

  11. #35
    Orrig Onion HonketyHank's Avatar
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    Default Re: Huge number of eBay Scam Listings

    Before I start thinking about a bid, I check as much as I can about the listing and the seller to see if I see warning signs.
    Check "other items" listed by the seller. Does the item kinda go with the others? Check the seller's feedback. Does he show a record of inactivity, then all of a sudden he has stuff for sale but no recent feedback? Does he have feedback as a buyer? Is it at all related to what he is trying to sell? Does the seller respond intelligently to a question about the item? Are the pictures decent? I won't bid on a mandolin if the pictures are fuzzy. Fuzzy pictures could be on purpose or they could be just because the seller doesn't know how to take a decent picture. In either case, they could be covering up significant problems regardless of whether the seller knows they are problems. These are all different kinds of "yellow flags" to me. If I see several yellow flags, or if they are so yellow that they are almost red, I back out.

    These listings we have been talking about are easy to spot if you have been watching ebay. They are familiar, the same items, the same pictures, almost the same words, fonts, colors, instructions.

    I have refrained from participating in several auctions based solely on a nagging suspicion about a yellow flag. Maybe I lost out. But I didn't lose any money on them, nor did I have the inconvenience of making a claim through ebay and a return.
    New to mando? Click this link -->Newbies to join us at the Newbies Social Group.

    Just send an email to rob.meldrum@gmail.com with "mandolin setup" in the subject line and he will email you a copy of his ebook for free (free to all mandolincafe members).

    My website and blog: honketyhank.com

  12. #36
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: Huge number of eBay Scam Listings

    Quote Originally Posted by Kevypel View Post
    Hi Mike I am trying to figure out how to spot a fraudulent post on ebay
    I'm sure you're not the guy posting these things Kev but if you were and you wanted to know what was tipping everyone off you could then change your way of doing things so rather than tell you it's probably best that you just hang around and tell us about your interest in the mandolin.

    If I recall you're into woodworking, right?
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
    --M. Stillion

    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
    --J. Garber

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  14. #37
    Registered User tonydxn's Avatar
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    Default Re: Huge number of eBay Scam Listings

    Been seeing these posts for months and felt sure it must be a swindle. Thank you guys for confirming it. I'll try to report any more I see.

  15. #38
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    Default Re: Huge number of eBay Scam Listings

    and it starts again

    - GIBSON MANDOLIN STYLE F-4 W CASE INSTRUMENT

    - Vintage Unknown Mandolin With Case b904

    - 1927 Gibson Style H1 Mandolin
    Kentucky km900
    Yamaha piano, clarinet, violin; generic cello;
    a pedal steel (highly recommended); banjo, dobro don't get played much cause i'm considerate ;}

    Shopping/monitoring prices: vibraphone/marimbas, rhodes, synths, Yamaha brass and double reeds

  16. #39
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    Default Re: Huge number of eBay Scam Listings

    Mike, you're not getting paid enough. Great info as always from you. Thanks.

  17. #40
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: Huge number of eBay Scam Listings

    Quote Originally Posted by gtani7 View Post
    and it starts again

    - GIBSON MANDOLIN STYLE F-4 W CASE INSTRUMENT

    - Vintage Unknown Mandolin With Case b904

    - 1927 Gibson Style H1 Mandolin
    I predict those will be gone soon
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
    --M. Stillion

    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
    --J. Garber

  18. #41
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: Huge number of eBay Scam Listings

    Amazingly enough when the auctions were reported eBay only took down the items reported instead of looking at the entire account. Pretty silly but then again somebody would have had to work.
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
    --M. Stillion

    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
    --J. Garber

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  20. #42
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    Default Re: Huge number of eBay Scam Listings

    Found one today, instrument listed for $10.00. clicked on "more information" for a description, and it was listed as "buy it now only, for $1500.00" And I was to click on the link to be taken to where to pay. I don't think so.....

  21. #43
    MandolaViola bratsche's Avatar
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    Default Re: Huge number of eBay Scam Listings

    I once saw a scam similar to these on Amazon, of all places. Was looking for a particular discontinued ukulele, got sent from the search engine to Amazon, where it was still listed, but it said "this item is currently unavailable". I noticed that at the bottom of the description, there was a link to other seller/s selling this same item, "new from $xxx.xx", which was a dollar amount significantly lower than what I had seen them for previously (when you could find them).

    I clicked the link, and there were pictures of the instrument, and a short blurb by the "seller", who had no feedback, saying that if you're interested in buying the instrument, to contact him directly at an email address, rather than through the Amazon link. I was very suspicious, knowing this stank on ice, but contacted him at the email address and played dumb. After a couple exchanges, I said I would be interested in buying it, but planned to put the item in my Amazon shopping cart and purchase it like any other purchase, because I wanted a record of the transaction. Within 10 minutes, the ad vanished into thin air, and I could find no trace of the seller's name on Amazon! He probably changed it, and was busy laying the same trap with a different rare and nonexistent item for "sale". So not even Amazon is safe from these lowlifes, it seems...

    bratsche
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  22. #44
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: Huge number of eBay Scam Listings

    It's actually pretty interesting what we as a community can teach a scammer when they ask the right questions of us
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
    --M. Stillion

    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
    --J. Garber

  23. #45

    Default Re: Huge number of eBay Scam Listings

    It goes without saying that they are playing on our greed. That is, everybody likes a bargain and most of us have a "wish list" greater than our disposable income.

    20 years ago, the internet and eBay was in its infancy. I was working at a vintage guitar shop. When custom color strats were $25K, my boss found one online that looked real nice in Yugoslavia (or some such place) for $3,000. He almost ordered it. He "wanted" to believe that their economy was so different than ours that $3,000 was a lot of money to them. (it was, but that is beside the point) Anyway, it took a lot of convincing to talk him out of buying it. Keep in mind, back then there was no Paypal. Online deals were done with Western Union or bank wire transfers, having no recourse if something goes wrong.

    Another collector I knew was crazy about Zemaitis guitars and owned four of them. At the time they were going for $35K-50K. One guy had one in London for $5,000 looking for a USA buyer. Insisted on Western Union. My friend says, "I'll take it" if my buddy can meet you at the Western Union and examine the guitar when you pick up the money. Never heard back from him.............

    I'll probably butcher his quote, but Ed Roman from Roman Guitars said something to the effect of "there are two ways to know if a vintage guitar is real -- if it is dirt cheap at a yard sale or it is super expensive (at a vintage shop) -- otherwise, if it is just a little too cheap, it is probably a fake...."

  24. #46
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: Huge number of eBay Scam Listings

    In the early eBay days I was buying lots of real vintage instruments cheap. I just don't see those deals anymore.

    I remember my friend Tony buying a late 60's Gibson Hummingbird for $450.00 bucks. The original receipt was in the pick pocket of the case for $450.00. The seller thought they were cutting a fat hog by selling it for what they paid for it so many years before.
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
    --M. Stillion

    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
    --J. Garber

  25. #47
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    Default Re: Huge number of eBay Scam Listings

    They seemed to be taking a weekend off but now

    GIBSON MANDOLIN STYLE F-4 W CASE INSTRUMENT
    Kentucky km900
    Yamaha piano, clarinet, violin; generic cello;
    a pedal steel (highly recommended); banjo, dobro don't get played much cause i'm considerate ;}

    Shopping/monitoring prices: vibraphone/marimbas, rhodes, synths, Yamaha brass and double reeds

  26. #48
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: Huge number of eBay Scam Listings

    Apparently today eBay doesn't care how many people are scammed. Reported and they are ignoring it. He had to put a credit card number down that worked when he put the auctions up. I can gurantee it's a stolen card but as long as eBay gets paid they really don't care.
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
    --M. Stillion

    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
    --J. Garber

  27. #49

    Default Re: Huge number of eBay Scam Listings

    Quote Originally Posted by Kevypel View Post
    Hi Mike I am trying to figure out how to spot a fraudulent post on ebay
    Quote Originally Posted by MikeEdgerton View Post
    I'm sure you're not the guy posting these things Kev but if you were and you wanted to know what was tipping everyone off you could then change your way of doing things so rather than tell you it's probably best that you just hang around and tell us about your interest in the mandolin.

    If I recall you're into woodworking, right?
    Totally not suspicious....
    ----

    Playing a funky oval-hole scroll-body mandolin, several mandolins retuned to CGDA, three CGDA-tuned Flatiron mandolas, two Flatiron mandolas tuned as octave mandolins,and a six-course 25.5" scale CGDAEB-tuned Ovation Mandophone.

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  28. #50
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: Huge number of eBay Scam Listings

    Quote Originally Posted by Explorer View Post
    Totally not suspicious....
    Indeed
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
    --M. Stillion

    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
    --J. Garber

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