Let's get proactive about LEGO scams on eBay.

[Darth_Raichu]

I just had two Spongebob sets sell to different usernames in the Russian Federation, accounts opened less than 60 days and feedback of 1.  Thought nothing of it for the first sale, but canceled the second transaction as I'm sure it's a scam.  Luckily the first guy left me positive feedback the same day I shipped it, so hopefully that'll help protect me in what I"m already assuming will be a loss.

 

All eBay sellers need to remember their ebay ids had a big fat ZERO next to it at one time.  Everybody starts with 0 feedback and not everyone is a scammer.  

In actuality, dealing with untrustworthy buyers is just one aspect of the business, whether online or at B&M stores

[emes]

 

 

All eBay sellers need to remember their ebay ids had a big fat ZERO next to it at one time.  Everybody starts with 0 feedback and not everyone is a scammer.  

In actuality, dealing with untrustworthy buyers is just one aspect of the business, whether online or at B&M stores

 

 

Amen brother...if people can't tolerate some risk, they shouldn't be selling on eBay.

[pickleboy]

I for one don't mind repeated questions.  If I don't feel like answering them or reading the answers, I don't.  It's that easy.    A well visited forum is going to have the same questions asked dozens of times, dozens of different ways.  Sometimes it's better to start a new thread than having to read through ten previous pages of comments to catch up.  And I am certainly not going to do a search before every question I ask.  Some of those threads have dozens of pages and I am not sure I want to look every time it is updated to see that someone is talking about something that happened 5 pages/two weeks ago.

Relax everyone.  The forum isn't always going to be knowledge bombs that is new to everyone. 


That being said,  I certainly wouldn't come to a LEGO forum to ask ebay /shipping questions if I wasn't an active member of that community.
 

[Mdpadgett]

I just went ahead and emailed the seller to get a refund. He never answered me back so I figured I was stuck with it. But today when I checked my email I saw that he had refunded the entire order. Now I don't have to worry about it anymore. Thank god.

[stephen_rockefeller]

So I am seeing a growing number of listings on eBay of currently available LEGO sets that are being listed as retired in the headline and/or description. Now I know some of you here say its the buyers job to protect themselves from being scammed by doing their research. I somewhat agree. I just think its ridiculous the lengths so seller will go to to get an "edge" on the competition. I frequently email these sellers and very politely inform them that the set they have listed is in fact not retired and more times than not their true scammer Dbag colors shine through in their responses. Most say too bad don't bid/buy then. Newsflash skeezbayer, I never was going to bid or buy, I just want your listing to be honest. What are your thoughts here?

[Maverick2k1]

This seriously aggravates me so much when I see this, so your not alone. Thank you for taking the time to email them regardless of their idiotic responses.

[TheOrcKing]

False listings such as these are meant to capitilize on the misinformed and flat out annoy me. Some people can justify them in various ways all they want but there is no need for these kind of listings at all.

[DoNotInsertIntoMouth]

I am totally against this too. It also kills Ebay's search function as searching "retired" is worthless.

[Huskers1236]

Ebay is just a more organized version of Craigslist.  For the most part, the sellers and just as crooked, you just don't have to meet them.  It was like the Mr. Gold "Hot Pack".  Anybody that had half a brain knew darn well what was in the package, but the world has enough morons that think "Maybe I'll be the lucky one that gets Mr. Gold!!". 

[RunMan3]

I'm sure there are many crooks on EBay just like other places but I believe there are far more honest people. It is a shame that some have to mess up things for all.

[Darth_Raichu]

I do not worry about this thing too much.  There are always people selling fake items from the back of their trucks.  If someone is willing to risk it and buy from them instead of going to my nicely organized store, then far be it for me to limit somebody's freedom.

[sadowsk1]

I see it in listing and I think that the word retired has lost all meaning as far as ebay goes.  Does it mean people are jumping on auctions and bidding more because it is listed as retired?  The potential is there.  I think the majority will be desensitized to the word in time and something flashier will have to be used to replace 'retired' like...limited production run, first edition, sold for a limited time, or insanely deadly (the last one was in an auction I came across the other day).

[stephen_rockefeller]

I think that the people listing these sets are well aware of what the term retired means as it relates to LEGO. My whole thing is that you don't have to take advantage of ANYONE in order to make a comfortable living for yourself. Not sure how some people can see stuff like this and think nothing of it.

[Darth_Raichu]

If I worry about every potential scam out there, I can never get anything done

[Darth Lego]

Those listings are annoying. People should just be honest and fess up. They are intentionally tricking people for their gain and that's not right at all.

[Diabolos80]

I agree, it's a lie and that's about as immoral as it gets.

On the flipside, I've had buyers pay full price on my "best offer" listings before I ever received an offer. The world is a strange, ignorant place. One can take advantage without even trying, apparently.

[Grolim]

Can you report the listings to Ebay somehow?  Seems like you could clearly prove a case of false advertising or something.

[Lateral-G]

I am sure most here are in-tune with false or mis-leading ebay listings for Legos because that's what we're primarily interested in.

 

However, you will find false claims made in listings in almost every category on ebay. I have numerous other hobbies (model railroading, R/C, plastic modeling, shooting/firearms, Lego) and I can tell you these all have listings with false claims about what's being sold.

 

It comes down to knowing what you're buying. I don't bother contacting the seller. I just smile and move on to the next listing. You're not going to change what these sellers are doing.

[comicblast]

To be honest, very few eBay sellers know the meaning of "retired". I've seen one or two sellers call the set retired because the set had taken a beating! They don't know what they are talking about.

[stephen_rockefeller]

To be honest, very few eBay sellers know the meaning of "retired". I've seen one or two sellers call the set retired because the set had taken a beating! They don't know what they are talking about.

I don't know man, I think in have to call BS on this ;)

[JoshTX]

To me, its annoying to see that, but I don't feel like I'd be bothered enough to act upon it. I also get annoyed when people label things with other corny buzzwords in stores or on ebay, such as "HOT!" "LIMITED SUPPLY!!" or RARE!" Funny how grocery stores will do this alot in the produce section. You walk up on a display of apples and theres a freaking sign there that exclaims "BEST PRICE IN TOWN!!" and its actually 5 cents per pound more than their competitor, ha ha.

[DoNotInsertIntoMouth]

To me, its annoying to see that, but I don't feel like I'd be bothered enough to act upon it. I also get annoyed when people label things with other corny buzzwords in stores or on ebay, such as "HOT!" "LIMITED SUPPLY!!" or RARE!" Funny how grocery stores will do this alot in the produce section. You walk up on a display of apples and theres a freaking sign there that exclaims "BEST PRICE IN TOWN!!" and its actually 5 cents per pound more than their competitor, ha ha.

 

Yeah I wish their was a way to get rid of it. Honestly a lot of times i ignore that because they are normally overpriced.

[Darth Lego]

To me, its annoying to see that, but I don't feel like I'd be bothered enough to act upon it. I also get annoyed when people label things with other corny buzzwords in stores or on ebay, such as "HOT!" "LIMITED SUPPLY!!" or RARE!" Funny how grocery stores will do this alot in the produce section. You walk up on a display of apples and theres a freaking sign there that exclaims "BEST PRICE IN TOWN!!" and its actually 5 cents per pound more than their competitor, ha ha.

I remember right after the Jabba's Palace scare lots of listings had "discontinued" or "rare" in the titles/descriptions. Most of those listings were $200+ dollars and even one was about $800! Those same listings claimed they had a great price for a rare set. Yeah, riiigght. ;)

[Diabolos80]

I ignore them. I don't bother contacting or even worrying about their karma, for the same reason I don't flip off people who cut me off in traffic anymore. As my wife has had to repeatedly remind me, they don't care.

[Guest betsy805]

Unfortunately positive feedback is not going to protect you when the real owner of the paypal account files a claim and says their account was hacked.

 

Was it in Moscow, or did they spell it Moskow?

They spelled it Moscow.  And I just got the chargeback that I'd been waiting for...credit card fraud.  Can't really be mad about it as I had a suspicion it was coming and didn't take the correct steps to protect myself.  At least I canceled the second transaction, right?! I'll take this as a $100 lesson learned.