I was recently bidding on a pair of X-Metal Mars. The seller didn't keep the bidder's names private, and people have gone to town on it.

I have recieved 3 e-mails now with people claiming to be the seller, saying that for some reason ebay must end the auction and that I won them for an amazing price. I wasn't sure what was going on, so I sent out a few e-mails to see what they were going for, and they then tried to pull even more money out of me and so on.

Here is an example e-mail:

I'm the seller of the item that you've recently bided through the eBay system.Item name: OAKLEY X-Metal MARS ########### ####### Item number: (############) I`ve just been contacted by the eBay staff who informed me that due to some reasons the eBay policy automatically proclaims you to be the winner by default. I need your agreement on this so I can contact eBay to confirm you that you're the winner, otherwise I'll relist the item. I am sorry for the inconvenience, but I need an answer asap. You will have the oportunity to purchase the item at your last given price wich is US $150.09 .If you agree my offer please respond this email or contact me at incltn@gmail.com . Thank you!


And this is the e-mail I got back from another person with the same claim:

Hello,
In order to proceed with the transaction i will need the details of the shipping(your address , full name,item number and your best price)
Payment will be made under eBay security and Square Trade Safe Transaction trough Western Union Ebay will contact you
immediately after that with all info about payment and shipping.
Regards



Watch out guys. Deals that are too good to be true are definately too good to be true now.

I just got an email from the same guy! What a douche bag! Excuse my french.... here is this email...

"I'm the seller of the item that you've recently bided through the eBay system.Item name: Oakley Juliet original release! dual tone HARD TO FIND Item number: (320100xxxxxxx) I`ve just been contacted by the eBay staff who informed me that due to some reasons the eBay policy automatically proclaims you to be the winner by default. I need your agreement on this so I can contact eBay to confirm you that you're the winner, otherwise I'll relist the item. I am sorry for the inconvenience, but I need an answer asap. You will have the oportunity to purchase the item at your last given price wich is US $102.50 .If you agree my offer please respond this email or contact me at incltn@gmail.com . Thank you!"

I have a other problem. I wanted to sell a mobile phone on ebay and it got sold 2 times. Both times ebay told me that the buyer's account was not the real deal... the first time that was ok, but the second time I've allready changed several mails with the buyer. But he couldn't pay with PayPal and now decided to send me the money via "Scarlet Courier Ltd Company" - what does this mean? He's not really answering my questions plus his english is not that understandable (no "."," or something like that...). Can you help me, what is that Scarlet Courier? I'm not sure what to espect now.

Thanks!

Someone bought a car from me on ebay & paid with a money order. The money order was for way more than the price of the car because they said I needed to western union the remaining portion to the transport company direct. Well ,the money order was fake & they had no intention of ever picking up the car. I even spoke to this guy on the phone so now it's all in the polices hands. Stupid scammers

It's called the overpayment scam and is usually run by Nigerian scam artists to supplement the old 'advance fee' scam they also run. They are well organised and even had representatives locally. I was sent a counterfeit cheque for a piece of equipment once and it was for £1000 over the price of the goods. They wanted the overpayment in cash, so I told them they would have to pick it up. I them arranged to meet them at an agreed location with some of my lads hidden in the back of a van and they experienced a bit of oriental payback and I ended up about £500 better off.

Nice! I can't believe they agreed to meet you.

Craigslist is full of those guys - it's rediculous....

ppl please remember don't give out your personal details and always use PAYPAL.


BEWARE OF ID THEFT!!!

It was a fake 'courier' company that was supposed to pick up both the equipment I was selling and the overpayment. I acted like a schmuck and let their greed take over. I ended up turning them over, lol.

OMG!! wtf happening to ebay now?!@#*

^ Now?!?

A year ago I won an auction for a phone which was "brand new in the box". I got a very very used phone in a box hand-cut from a larger cardboard box. The best that ebay/paypal would offer me was a refund of the purchase price ($50) minus the postage costs ($40 for USPS Global Priority to Poland - the parcel was actually sent regular airmail for a cost of $12) minus the customs charges i paid (30% of the declared value of $50 plus $12 postage, i.e. $20) minus my shipping cost (parcel had to be shipped via a postal service which has a tracking number and requires signature on delivery, that would cost me $20). So to get back my $50 I would need to spend $20 and lose $40, meaning I could return the phone and lose $10!

Now I don't bother with returning goods. I specifically request and pay for airmail with sig on delivery for anything I buy. If it isn't what I supposedly bought then I just report it as never delivered. I get my money back because scammers never send parcels with sig required on delivery so paypal will always find in your favour. My local UNICEF shop (charity shop) is a good place to buy fake Oakleys because that's where I've deposited all five of the fakes I bought!