Scammed for Thousands

Cagey75 said:
He didn't give any details, he hasn't done anything to hurt his case. His first post says it all, he merely warns to be careful when buying on the likes of ebay. I see nothing wrong with that, and he has also said he will give more details once it is sorted. Won't you be that little bit extra careful when you hit ebay next after reading this? Especially when reading descriptions and checking seller feedback scores? Of course we've heard horror stories before, but this serves as a reminder.
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You hit the nail on the head there.

The ONLY reason I posted this was to ensure all members stay extra vigilant [which I am sure they are].

No other reason than that.
 
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Sorry to hear your predicament, hope you get it sorted. PP have refunded me before when an item failed to arrive.

Dave1 said:
Found the one I remembered. £4750 for pictures of a Rolex.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/330780810...rksid=p4340.l2557&orig_cvip=true#ht_500wt_922

Description
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I think with some things like this link for pictures of a watch people choose only to read what they want. I sold a battery grip recently on fleebayHERE and it clearly said in bold and underlined that i dont have the AA battery tray yet within 10 minutes of the buyer taking delivery I get an email saying where is the battery tray as it's not in the box :bang: :bang:
 
I buy and sell loads of stuff on ebay and have never had a problem. There's nothing wrong with buying and selling on the internet so long as you use your common sense.

Whilst scams on the internet are rife you really should be clever enough to spot the more obvious ones like the pictures of the rolex, no wonder the scam market is as massive as it is, the guy even added information 6 days before the auction ended saying that they were pictures and yet people still bidded that high, come on now!
 
I put my D90 up for sale on here and as it has a view finder display issue I highlighted this in red, bold, within the description. That way, along with the time stamp, I was covered if a buyer later complained. It goes both ways, whether you're buyer or seller , protect yourself from the off. When selling, be clear and honest and highlight any issues. When buying, read the description, over and over, to make sure you're not missing anything important.

And that's when people are actually trying to be honest ^^ When a scammer is at play, they are usually extremely clever in how they word descriptions. If it goes into thousands, I would read and re-read and research the seller and read up on their feedback, see if there are any suspect ones [same date and time, similar names etc ..]

The watch guy, still has 100% feedback!! How?
 
Cagey75 said:
The watch guy, still has 100% feedback!! How?
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A feedback of 50 people is relatively low for such a high valued item, especially when the other feedback isn't for high valued items. The percentage score is only calculated over the last 12 months, he has bad feedback further back than that.

He's built up his feedback by buying and selling cheap items, then gone in for the kill. there's no feedback for the 'watch' yet as there will be a dispute open on it.
 
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Ah, like I said, scammers will be extremely clever. I suppose all he had to do was buy or sell a bunch of paper clips to get the score up.
 
It's very simple skip a word when you're reading a description from a monitor though. I wouldn't say people are stupid for it, just a little quick to jump at a deal.
 
I bid on a fraudulent auction last week. I had my suspicions but on the advice of eBay I paid for the item. It was a fraud and all got sorted very quickly.

In my case I absolutely spelled it out to eBay and got it in writing from them I was covered before I paid.

Phil
 
I use eBay a lot (buy and sell) but it is the last place I would but a £5,000 Rolex.
 
jimmyb said:
There's nothing of any genius there really, he/she is just preying on other peoples stupidity.
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We are criticised on forums for correcting spelling, grammar and poor sentence construction. The first sentence of that ebay auction reads like someone has typed the words slightly out of order.

Hello here are pictures im selling of a 100% genuine used gents rolex sea dweller deepsea116660

vs

Hello here are pictures of a 100% genuine used gents rolex sea dweller deepsea116660 im selling


Now if someone had accidentally done that here and I'd pulled them up on it, I'd expect to get castigated by the "This isn't a school", "you are a grammar nazi", "it's obvious what I meant so I don't need to type it correctly" crowd that revel in their own inability to use English. If someone does it on ebay to perpetrate a fraud, then it is apparently the buyer who is stupid.

The auction was in Jewellery and watches / watches / wristwatches, not a place where one would expect to find photographs. A potential buyer would reasonably expect an item in the category to be an actual watch, ebay has entirely separate categories for photographs.
 
onomatopoeia said:
We are criticised on forums for correcting spelling, grammar and poor sentence construction. The first sentence of that ebay auction reads like someone has typed the words slightly out of order.

Hello here are pictures im selling of a 100% genuine used gents rolex sea dweller deepsea116660

vs

Hello here are pictures of a 100% genuine used gents rolex sea dweller deepsea116660 im selling


Now if someone had accidentally done that here and I'd pulled them up on it, I'd expect to get castigated by the "This isn't a school", "you are a grammar nazi", "it's obvious what I meant so I don't need to type it correctly" crowd that revel in their own inability to use English. If someone does it on ebay to perpetrate a fraud, then it is apparently the buyer who is stupid.

The auction was in Jewellery and watches / watches / wristwatches, not a place where one would expect to find photographs. A potential buyer would reasonably expect an item in the category to be an actual watch, ebay has entirely separate categories for photographs.
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I've seen many with good and bad English. It doesn't matter - the 'image of' is a complete give away it's 100% scam and it's rather obvious one
 
I was scammed when selling my d800. Everything about the buyer seemed legit - his purchase history was Nikon centric. He had good communication etc

PayPal investigated and thankfully I got my money. Somewhere out there though someone is using a stolen camera with a serial number the police have on file.
 
How can you get scammed when selling? You wait until they have paid and payment has cleared in Paypal. You then have your money and send out the item.

Why did you send the item before the payment was cleared?
 
Good question ^ Paypal even tell you not to send good until payment is cleared.
 
I got scammed many years ago when selling a graphics card. The person asked first if I wouldn't mind sending it to a work address, I checked their feedback (100% with a couple of hundred score). Agreed, they won the auction and paid straight away. The next day I posted the item off only to get home and a dispute had been raised in the meantime. Turns out the Ebay and Paypal accounts were both hacked. I went back to the post office and saw the parcel sat on the shelf, nothing they could do. I went to the police, nothing they could do apart from file it for their records (so they said).

End result, I was out of pocket for a £300 graphics card and a massive lesson was learnt.
 
Another common trick;
You purchase item and pay via paypal. A few days later postie knows at your door with a letter requiring a signature. You or someone in the house signs for it. The envelope is empty.
The item doesn't turn up so you file an 'item not received' claim.
The sender has a signature, for the empty envelope, so you're struggling to get the dosh back.
 
Toggerman said:
I got scammed many years ago when selling a graphics card. The person asked first if I wouldn't mind sending it to a work address, I checked their feedback (100% with a couple of hundred score). Agreed, they won the auction and paid straight away. The next day I posted the item off only to get home and a dispute had been raised in the meantime. Turns out the Ebay and Paypal accounts were both hacked. I went back to the post office and saw the parcel sat on the shelf, nothing they could do. I went to the police, nothing they could do apart from file it for their records (so they said).

End result, I was out of pocket for a £300 graphics card and a massive lesson was learnt.
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But, if it had been confirmed that the account had been hacked e-bay or PayPal would have refunded you?
 
admirable said:
Another common trick;
You purchase item and pay via paypal. A few days later postie knows at your door with a letter requiring a signature. You or someone in the house signs for it. The envelope is empty.
The item doesn't turn up so you file an 'item not received' claim.
The sender has a signature, for the empty envelope, so you're struggling to get the dosh back.
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That's so devious!
 
onomatopoeia said:
We are criticised on forums for correcting spelling, grammar and poor sentence construction. The first sentence of that ebay auction reads like someone has typed the words slightly out of order.

Hello here are pictures im selling of a 100% genuine used gents rolex sea dweller deepsea116660

vs

Hello here are pictures of a 100% genuine used gents rolex sea dweller deepsea116660 im selling

Now if someone had accidentally done that here and I'd pulled them up on it, I'd expect to get castigated by the "This isn't a school", "you are a grammar nazi", "it's obvious what I meant so I don't need to type it correctly" crowd that revel in their own inability to use English. If someone does it on ebay to perpetrate a fraud, then it is apparently the buyer who is stupid.

The auction was in Jewellery and watches / watches / wristwatches, not a place where one would expect to find photographs. A potential buyer would reasonably expect an item in the category to be an actual watch, ebay has entirely separate categories for photographs.
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In both of those sentences you could be selling either the photos or the item itself. Without the use of commas the grammar is inaccurate any way ( not to mention apostrophes)!
 
Zoomboxer said:
But, if it had been confirmed that the account had been hacked e-bay or PayPal would have refunded you?
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The problem was that I sent it to an address that didn't match the Paypal address, so both Ebay and Paypal weren't interested.
 
admirable said:
Another common trick;
You purchase item and pay via paypal. A few days later postie knows at your door with a letter requiring a signature. You or someone in the house signs for it. The envelope is empty.
The item doesn't turn up so you file an 'item not received' claim.
The sender has a signature, for the empty envelope, so you're struggling to get the dosh back.
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you should have an envelope with the big orange recorded sticker and reference on though, that should help?
 
neil_g said:
you should have an envelope with the big orange recorded sticker and reference on though, that should help?
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Engage brain Neil! :-)

Whilst you've got proof of existence of the delivery, unless you open it in front of the postie, you have no proof that it was empty on arrival!!! :lol:
 
DemiLion said:
Engage brain Neil! :-)

Whilst you've got proof of existence of the delivery, unless you open it in front of the postie, you have no proof that it was empty on arrival!!! :lol:
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I think he means if you have a standard envelope with the RMRD or SD sticker on, and you ordered a D800, its obvious the D800 wasnt sent in an envelope.
 
Ah, that is where the best scammers send a D800 box with 2kg of packing in it.
 
TCR4x4 said:
I think he means if you have a standard envelope with the RMRD or SD sticker on, and you ordered a D800, its obvious the D800 wasnt sent in an envelope.
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Quite right, but I have heard of people being sent through a box of rocks that adds up to a similar weight. That way the sender has got the correct postage for a box that most likely was carrying the correct item. The buyer then looks like the dodgy one saying that it was just bricks.

My brother in law had something similar with a computer tower. He sent it out (it wasn't worth much, couple of hundred), that buyer then claimed it was full of stones and tried reclaiming all of his money through Paypal, don't think he succeeded though.
 
This is why I always film both wrapping up items to post, and opening items I've bought!

Not irrefutable evidence, but helps.
 
I was scammed in an auction last year for a £4300 camera and lens.

The perpetrator sent a disposable camera and bottle of men’s shampoo instead of the actual auction items. It was all reported to the police, eBay and PayPal and after a couple of fraught and sleepless weeks; a refund was forthcoming from PayPal after going through all their protocols for such circumstances.

Needless to say, I ended up buying the equipment from a UK retailer in the end. I still use eBay for big ticket items, but will now only do cash on collection.
 
Sorry to hear that, Chris. I'm sceptical of eBay as a seller, in fact, I won't use it at all now.

I sold an old film body a few months back. the advert had pics of it from various angles, I posted it in a load of bubble wrap, packed well, the lot.

The buyer got it and sent me some pics of it being smashed. I messaged him to resolve the issue, but never recieved a reply, only one from ebay to say I had to pay a refund without recieving my item back.

It wasn't a large amount of money, but that wasn't the point, I was furious at the time with their customer service. The buyer could have had a smashed body, and sent a pic of that and then effectivley got a free replacement body from myself.

I know it's rare, but eBay / PayPal doesn't do anything to solve an issue properly IMO, I won't be using eBay again.
 
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Surrey Sam said:
I was scammed in an auction last year for a £4300 camera and lens.

The perpetrator sent a disposable camera and bottle of men’s shampoo instead of the actual auction items. It was all reported to the police, eBay and PayPal and after a couple of fraught and sleepless weeks; a refund was forthcoming from PayPal after going through all their protocols for such circumstances.

Needless to say, I ended up buying the equipment from a UK retailer in the end. I still use eBay for big ticket items, but will now only do cash on collection.
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These sorts of scams have been going on for years, a guy walks into apub has a quiet word he has video players for sale. brings on in gets the cash tells buyer not to open till later as they are hot as hell then walks off only for the buyer to find a few brick in in said box later on.

I very very rarely sell on ebay now as its not worth the hassel of sending something off for the buyer to moan and get a refund for nothing.
only buy on there now
 
thats gutting mate :( you should name and shame the seller tho mate, as he is a waste of space! and needs outing to stop this from happening, indeed you should get your money back as long as you paid via paypal, which you should on this scale of money, look forward to hearing from you getting your money back and if it were only £300 under rrp maybe buy from a company with an all ready good rep like MPB or digital revs who's prices are great and you get warranty and peace of mind fella, good luck
 
onomatopoeia said:
We are criticised on forums for correcting spelling, grammar and poor sentence construction. The first sentence of that ebay auction reads like someone has typed the words slightly out of order.

Hello here are pictures im selling of a 100% genuine used gents rolex sea dweller deepsea116660

vs

Hello here are pictures of a 100% genuine used gents rolex sea dweller deepsea116660 im selling


Now if someone had accidentally done that here and I'd pulled them up on it, I'd expect to get castigated by the "This isn't a school", "you are a grammar nazi", "it's obvious what I meant so I don't need to type it correctly" crowd that revel in their own inability to use English. If someone does it on ebay to perpetrate a fraud, then it is apparently the buyer who is stupid.

The auction was in Jewellery and watches / watches / wristwatches, not a place where one would expect to find photographs. A potential buyer would reasonably expect an item in the category to be an actual watch, ebay has entirely separate categories for photographs.
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Have you seen the size of the pictures of the watch though, they're like a postage stamp, even if it was a genuine watch and not pictures of a watch would you seriously bid close to 5K for such a poor description of a watch and with pictures so small no detail of the condition of the watch can be seen???
 
Scamming is so easy - at one time Paypal refused to accept Royal Mail proof of delivery as being a confirmed method.

However do you realise that Royal Mail only undertake to deliver to the named address not a named person, so if a burglar opened the door of a house and signed Mickey Mouse for a parcel Royal Mail would accept no responsibility.

I got scammed by an address which was as it turned out occupied by students - the signature on the receipt literally was M Mouse.......
 
No update from decigallen on being scammed selling his D800?
 
boliston said:
Unless the paypal dispatch address is marked as "confirmed" I won't ship, no if's not but's - I always state this fact in my listings.
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So do I, now.
 
I've only ever been scammed on ebay once and that was for a phone I ordered and never received. The seller kept sending messages that it'd been sent and after I contacted Paypal he put in feedback something like 'U waz wurrid it tuk so long but i neva sent it' and needless to say I got a refund from Paypal promptly.

Hope the OP gets his money back as no one deserves to get scammed but there's so much of it going on. I've got a feedback of 100% from 928 transactions and have always been totally honest and fair with listings on ebay, here and other places (maybe over picky on my part when selling things by highlighting tiny paint marks as faults), but for me honesty is the only policy.
 
Toggerman said:
The problem was that I sent it to an address that didn't match the Paypal address, so both Ebay and Paypal weren't interested.
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Why on earth would you do that?
 
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