Targeted for a Scam

[Sarah_Hillcrest]

While recently digging around in our basement for Halloween decorations my wife commented that my diaper stash was growing out of control.  I decided to put some diapers on ebay.  I made up a variety pack of ten ABDL diapers and used best offer.  The next day I found I had sold the pack with a best offer over twice what I was asking for.  Correspondence from the bidder asked about the shipping cost.  I said I'd give them a break, then it got weird.

"I want it shipped to my Sister in Ok, Oklahoma as a baby shower  Gift. I would like you to also get a Apple Gift Card, of $300 included in the package before shipment, I’m presently deployed out of town to Lack land AFB because I work with the Military, I will add $300 to your payment for the Apple Gift Card, $30 for gas and stress & $50 for the shipping cost.

The next message was full of details about their military posting.

Of course I cancelled the sale and reported the buyer, whose account had already been terminated.  When  I looked it up it's a common scam performed on ebayers, and many of the examples seemed to be women selling items that would seem legit for a brother or husband  away on duty might buy and send home.

Or maybe his sister was having a really wild baby shower?

[DailyDi]

ebay is getting hard to use because of these scammers. Having to constantly cancel transactions and relist things.

[Firefly 35]

I wonder how many of those scams amazon has been responsible for. 

[MegaChar]

I hope you don't mind that I screenshot this. I plan in a few months to start selling some old stuff online. Probly even going even as far as a LLC to protect myself from cruel people. Will deffonally keep this in mind

[Sarah_Hillcrest]

19 hours ago, MegaChar said:

I hope you don't mind that I screenshot this. I plan in a few months to start selling some old stuff online. Probly even going even as far as a LLC to protect myself from cruel people. Will deffonally keep this in mind

Don't mind at all.  Hope you have good luck, this was my first ever scam attempt and I've been selling on ebay for years.  The problem with ebay is that was designed for a different time, my wife can list an item on Mecari using just her phone in fraction of the time it takes me.  

[rusty pins]

Tip if you are a seller.  Get a separate bank account from a different banking institution than you usually use and have it only for EBAY.  Keep the balance in it really low, because when you sell an item and someone takes the parts they need for their own item and claims yours was missing parts, EBAY will refund their money from your account!  If it was, say a $300 item you sold, you will lose all that money if the buyer scams you or has any complaint at all, even if it's bogas.  If you have only $30 in that EBAY/PayPal account they can't go in and drain your regular bank account at a different banking institution for anything.  All they will get is that $30.  When you remove funds from that account you use for EBAY, do it in person, not an electronic transfer to another account.  You do not want anything at all to link that EBAY account to anything else you have.

[~Brian~]

2 minutes ago, rusty pins said:

Tip if you are a seller.  Get a separate bank account from a different banking institution than you usually use and have it only for EBAY.  Keep the balance in it really low, because when you sell an item and someone takes the parts they need for their own item and claims yours was missing parts, EBAY will refund their money from your account!  If it was, say a $300 item you sold, you will lose all that money if the buyer scams you or has any complaint at all, even if it's bogas.  If you have $30 in that EBAY/PayPal account they can't go in and drain your regular bank account at a different banking institution. When you remove funds from that account you use for EBAY, do it in person, not an electronic transfer to another account.  You do not want anything at all to link that EBAY account to anything else you have.

@Sarah_Hillcrest 

I would agree with @rusty pins here: I know that there are a lot of people who do business on eBay, and I have done that in one of my former positions. The problem with eBay is, that someone tries to take money from you when they think there is an issue, and sometimes this can result in more problems than solutions. If you are dealing with people who are scammers, and they end up getting access to your bank account, this can be a problem. I agree with Rusty that you should probably take money that you use for eBay purposes and make a separate account that is not connected in anyway with your bank account that you use for private sale or private business. In my case, I have one bank account, but I also am very very careful what I purchased on eBay, and I’ve only purchased one thing on eBay in the last six years or more. The last thing I purchased on eBay was a $600 low serial number Nintendo switch that I modified for other purposes so I could have one for my Nintendo games and one for other. Homebrew applications. Even when I did that, my bank sent me a warning asking me if I “actually did want to spend $600: and if I did I wish to hit yes, if I did nothing then they wouldn’t release the $600. This is a good thing to have for your protection, but you still have to be careful.

Keeping a low balance in this “eBay checking account“ wow you to monitor what goes into it, what goes out of it, and what is paid in or out. eBay won’t be able to take what they can’t see, and they can’t take what you don’t have. The problem here is that there are so many people out there who try so hard to do the right thing when they sell online, and then there are the idiots that try to do everything wrong and try to screw you out of something by selling you something you think it’s something but you find out or something else. When I bought the Nintendo switch off of eBay, I just paid 600 and some odd dollars for it, and it was a big risk, but based on what I saw and based on the sellers reputation I thought it was worth the risk. That was the biggest purchase I have ever done while I have been an eBay customer. I have been on the other side where you have people who buy from us, because we list on eBay. When I was working for our family business, we put over $25,000 worth of phone system equipment on eBay. eBay thought it was a scam so they took everything down, and then wanted wanted us to prove that we had all of the goods that we placed on eBay, and we had to prove that we were a valid business so that we would be able to list product at that level. We were able to do that, but it took us almost a week to be able to get back online because of some people being stupid and not paying attention.

I have seen several cases of people who have been “scammed” off of eBay, and most of that has been on peoples court with Judge million, or judge Judy. You have to be careful when you purchase from certain individuals, and most times if you purchase from the same person over and over again and it continues to be a good experience, hopefully it well.

Remember, the most important thing is, if you have automated deductions from your account, unless you are stopping them by telling the bank that you no longer want them to be debited, they will come out of your account when they are supposed to, and because they are automatic deductions they come out when they’re supposed to, so you have to make sure that you have the money in there to be able to do that. Separating your eBay finances from your personal finances will ensure in one way that you do not go broke in your primary account when somebody tries to play a game on ya.

regardless of what service you use, there are always people that are going to try to scam you. The only thing is, you have to be smarter than they are, and on your toes because some people try to take advantage of others because they can, and that can be a pain in the butt I would follow Rusty’s advice, and that goes for anyone who is selling online: I hate scammers and people who try to take advantage of other people: they have nothing else better to do than to try to take something from somebody else who may not have a lot? That is wrong and that is where I draw the line.  I have been lucky that all of my online interactions have been with either AMAZON or places that I trust, so I don’t normally run into a situation like this, but this is all good advice that should be followed.

Brian

[Nyte Kitsune]

On 11/2/2021 at 9:11 PM, Firefly 35 said:

I wonder how many of those scams amazon has been responsible for. 

Probably a few, Though one thing they have apparently STOPPED being responsible for are allowing scalpers sell PS5's for 1000+ on Amazon. I was on there the other day, all of those listings were removed, just back to showing PS5's as "Unavailable", Ebay on the other hand..... A lot of scalpers on there for PS5's, No thanks.. I'll wait til I can buy one legit.

[Cute_Kitten]

Scammers suck. I've never bought anything from ebay. Luckily you didn't fall for their scam! Rusty has some great advice. 

[DprDJeff]

Another thing is to always check a seller's history. If they have a good history, but their last feedback was years ago, be wary. My friend's Ebay account got hacked. He had a high rating, but hadn't used it in years. Whoever hacked it listed a bunch of electronics for believable prices and shipped out boxes with rocks in them, so they could take advantage of the account as long as possible.

[eatenbywo1ves]

On 11/10/2021 at 11:18 AM, Nyte Kitsune said:

I'll wait til I can buy one legit.

This might not happen in actuality. Ps5's will only see their scarcity increase because actual factory production issues that we see everywhere...

Food for thought on scalpers. They are only expanding their presence into other markets where scarcity can be used to demand double the $$$, Abdl brand diapers are popping up on walmarts reseller function for $40 to $45. We are so fucked if they figure us out..... I know I'd cave eventually.

 

Now ebay has a bad reputation for some reason cause of scammers selling or whatever. Thats a problem that is blown way out of proportion to the amount of actual scammers selling on the site. If you anyone ever tells you about how ebay fucked them and backs scammers on the sale its likely that most of their conscious thought process is dedicated to remembering how to breathe correctly. Ebay %100 sides with the buyer in any reality of this being disputed.

Now being a quality seller on ebay and dealing with scammers.

This is a $200 sale internationally on ebay, the above photo is the first account i talked with about the sale.

I agree to list the item so that they can purchase it in Europe. Also the swiss get pissy if you tell them they're EUso have fun with that one.

ALL OF THE SUDDEN

Ok I need to purchase on this account cause business reasons or w/e bs they use



You should have just send the package via UPS. I do buy frequently in the US.

I was wondering why it takes so long. UPS Delivery takes about 3 Days for UPS Worldwide Expedite.

Can you send me e receipt of the postage cost?

Kindest Regards
Thomas

THIS MOTHER FUCKER CANT EVEN SCAM! I confirm shipping several times as $127.00 is the cost for the postage.

He paid in EBAY and then didnt even realize he fucked himself.

How the scam works is the buyer gets the seller to send the item outsider of ebays shipping program for international sales. The buyer is required to cover the 127.00 in postage. The second that the money clears the buyer gets the item at no cost, pockets your $127 postage as well.

I got all the guys money and he cant do anything about it is how the issue was resolved for me on that btw