Let's get proactive about LEGO scams on eBay.

[DoNotInsertIntoMouth]

Another http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lego-The-Lord-of-the-Rings-The-Battle-of-Helms-Deep-9474-/200946278546?pt=Building_Toys_US&hash=item2ec954e092

[DoNotInsertIntoMouth]

Here is an example of a set that is lower than MSRP that is most likely not a scam:

 

He describes why.

High feedback

Describes shipping

No long handling times:

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/LEGO-Star-Wars-Super-Star-Destroyer-Executor-NIB-/221258724568?pt=Building_Toys_US&hash=item33840c34d8

[etb546]

Thank you I understand better now...and these Helms Deep are HILARIOUS. AHAHAHAHA!

[pickleboy]

It's tough. Honestly I ask people if they are drop-shipping. What's weird is most of them respond immediately and say yes. They can't hide it because if you buy it they will know.

 

I usually just tell them I am now reporting them to Ebay - half the time they get scared and remove the auction themselves.

 

Don't get me wrong, it's tough to tell. I have made two purchases this year that ended up being a scam.

The reason he told you is b/c drop shipping is not illegal and almost every company has someone who does drop shipping for them.  Basically it works like this...XYZ company says...Hell yeah I'll give you a small cut if you can sell my product for me (Affiliate marketing is the same thing...which this website and millions other use)   Many times, people have to pay to be part of these drop shipper clubs where they get access to millions of products to sell.  ....dude goes out and works hard to sell XYZ company's product and the company gets a sale....dude makes some $$...person gets product they want.  What's the problem?    Nothing illegal here...no scam...no shady person...just a hard working person being a middle man.  I hope people don't get mad at me for making a bit of cash when I sell them something. 

So when you put this dude on blast here on brickpicker b/c you don't think he should be making money for taking his time to post a product that someone obviously wanted / or maybe you think it is illegal, you might be hurting some honest guy working hard in a honest profession.  Some people here mix up legal drop shippers with people who use stolen credit cards....which makes calling this dude a drop shipper like he did something wrong even more slanderous. 

We aren't the cops.    I have been sold an item once with a stolen credit card and the dude had 700plus feedback.  The two items i did buy that I THOUGHT might have been s scam were both people who sick family members and had to get rid of something fast so they signed up for ebay.  They were new to ebay and for some reason i still talk to them both helping them with ebay so I know they aren't lying/scammers. (after I bought the item and got it asked them both why they were selling so cheap....i help them with pricing their stuff now.) I know every here thinks there are things that are common sense about how to post on ebay but not everyone does the research they should prior to posting an and sometimes people are desperate and just need to get rid of stuff.

If one innocent person gets slandered or gets banned from ebay then this whole little witch hunt is sad.

 

[gte206w]

The reason he told you is b/c drop shipping is not illegal and almost every company has someone who does drop shipping for them.  Basically it works like this...XYZ company says...Hell yeah I'll give you a small cut if you can sell my product for me (Affiliate marketing is the same thing...which this website and millions other use)   Many times, people have to pay to be part of these drop shipper clubs where they get access to millions of products to sell.  ....dude goes out and works hard to sell XYZ company's product and the company gets a sale....dude makes some $$...person gets product they want.  What's the problem?    Nothing illegal here...no scam...no shady person...just a hard working person being a middle man.  I hope people don't get mad at me for making a bit of cash when I sell them something. 

So when you put this dude on blast here on brickpicker b/c you don't think he should be making money for taking his time to post a product that someone obviously wanted / or maybe you think it is illegal, you might be hurting some honest guy working hard in a honest profession.  Some people here mix up legal drop shippers with people who use stolen credit cards....which makes calling this dude a drop shipper like he did something wrong even more slanderous. 

We aren't the cops.    I have been sold an item once with a stolen credit card and the dude had 700plus feedback.  The two items i did buy that I THOUGHT might have been s scam were both people who sick family members and had to get rid of something fast so they signed up for ebay.  They were new to ebay and for some reason i still talk to them both helping them with ebay so I know they aren't lying/scammers. (after I bought the item and got it asked them both why they were selling so cheap....i help them with pricing their stuff now.) I know every here thinks there are things that are common sense about how to post on ebay but not everyone does the research they should prior to posting an and sometimes people are desperate and just need to get rid of stuff.

If one innocent person gets slandered or gets banned from ebay then this whole little witch hunt is sad.

 

 

But can we both agree that the legitimate drop-shippers wouldn't have shady recent feedback history for a bunch of private auctions all in the same day, left by people with the same scenario on their own feedback history?

[DoNotInsertIntoMouth]

The reason he told you is b/c drop shipping is not illegal and almost every company has someone who does drop shipping for them.  Basically it works like this...XYZ company says...Hell yeah I'll give you a small cut if you can sell my product for me (Affiliate marketing is the same thing...which this website and millions other use)   Many times, people have to pay to be part of these drop shipper clubs where they get access to millions of products to sell.  ....dude goes out and works hard to sell XYZ company's product and the company gets a sale....dude makes some $$...person gets product they want.  What's the problem?    Nothing illegal here...no scam...no shady person...just a hard working person being a middle man.  I hope people don't get mad at me for making a bit of cash when I sell them something. 

So when you put this dude on blast here on brickpicker b/c you don't think he should be making money for taking his time to post a product that someone obviously wanted / or maybe you think it is illegal, you might be hurting some honest guy working hard in a honest profession.  Some people here mix up legal drop shippers with people who use stolen credit cards....which makes calling this dude a drop shipper like he did something wrong even more slanderous. 

We aren't the cops.    I have been sold an item once with a stolen credit card and the dude had 700plus feedback.  The two items i did buy that I THOUGHT might have been s scam were both people who sick family members and had to get rid of something fast so they signed up for ebay.  They were new to ebay and for some reason i still talk to them both helping them with ebay so I know they aren't lying/scammers. (after I bought the item and got it asked them both why they were selling so cheap....i help them with pricing their stuff now.) I know every here thinks there are things that are common sense about how to post on ebay but not everyone does the research they should prior to posting an and sometimes people are desperate and just need to get rid of stuff.

If one innocent person gets slandered or gets banned from ebay then this whole little witch hunt is sad.

 

 

 

I am not sure where any of that is coming from. I have a couple of articles on the website about drop-shipping. I know what it is. I said before in several other posts that I only take that as bad with other things: like never selling Lego before, low feedback, non recent feedback, etc.

 

I don't understand your point at all either. I mean, let's say we are wrong about one person. That's sad? How exactly? So we make one person re-list. On the other hand we can do nothing and all suffer from the price deflation.

 

I know what drop-shipping is and I know it's not illegal. But 99% of the time, if you are doing it on Ebay, without any other Lego sets in the past, with low feedback, with stupid low prices - you are scamming.

[DoNotInsertIntoMouth]

The reason he told you is b/c drop shipping is not illegal and almost every company has someone who does drop shipping for them.  Basically it works like this...XYZ company says...Hell yeah I'll give you a small cut if you can sell my product for me (Affiliate marketing is the same thing...which this website and millions other use)   Many times, people have to pay to be part of these drop shipper clubs where they get access to millions of products to sell.  ....dude goes out and works hard to sell XYZ company's product and the company gets a sale....dude makes some $$...person gets product they want.  What's the problem?    Nothing illegal here...no scam...no shady person...just a hard working person being a middle man.  I hope people don't get mad at me for making a bit of cash when I sell them something. 

So when you put this dude on blast here on brickpicker b/c you don't think he should be making money for taking his time to post a product that someone obviously wanted / or maybe you think it is illegal, you might be hurting some honest guy working hard in a honest profession.  Some people here mix up legal drop shippers with people who use stolen credit cards....which makes calling this dude a drop shipper like he did something wrong even more slanderous. 

We aren't the cops.    I have been sold an item once with a stolen credit card and the dude had 700plus feedback.  The two items i did buy that I THOUGHT might have been s scam were both people who sick family members and had to get rid of something fast so they signed up for ebay.  They were new to ebay and for some reason i still talk to them both helping them with ebay so I know they aren't lying/scammers. (after I bought the item and got it asked them both why they were selling so cheap....i help them with pricing their stuff now.) I know every here thinks there are things that are common sense about how to post on ebay but not everyone does the research they should prior to posting an and sometimes people are desperate and just need to get rid of stuff.

If one innocent person gets slandered or gets banned from ebay then this whole little witch hunt is sad.

 

 

 

Oh and let me know the next time you find out a sick family had to sell their 10 SSD's for $369 a piece because they needed the money. I mean, it's not like we are guessing here.

[pickleboy]

Oh and let me know the next time you find out a sick family had to sell their 10 SSD's for $369 a piece because they needed the money. I mean, it's not like we are guessing here.

Smart ass.

Way to completely miss the point. 

 

EDIT.  To answer your question, the entire post was not meant for you and i guess I never should have quoted your post b/c my post was actually meant for everyone,  not you in particular.

[Diabolos80]

DNIM is right, the SSD seller is in no way legit. If you find someone posts a possible scam wrongly, please feel inclined to inform the rest of the forum. But don't antagonize the whole process with patronizing claims that noone else knows this situation. The whole point of this thread is to take scamming on a case by case basis, inspect the evidence, make a decision as a community, and suggest to ebay if they need to have a look. You're right, pickleboy, we're not cops. We're informed citizens with a voice and a reason to take interest. No one of us will be right every time, but fortunately there are many of us. As long as we're not too busy bickering, the truth will out.

[pickleboy]

To each their own... 

 

Nothing wrong with looking for scams... I am just pointing out that you guys better be sure before you go harassing people. I probably could have said it better. That's all.   I didn't mean for everyone to get butt hurt.  ebay protects everyone who buys from them. 

[Diabolos80]

I'm not butthurt. I'm still sitting down, even

On with the show!

[Pirate]

The reason he told you is b/c drop shipping is not illegal and almost every company has someone who does drop shipping for them. Basically it works like this...XYZ company says...Hell yeah I'll give you a small cut if you can sell my product for me (Affiliate marketing is the same thing...which this website and millions other use) Many times, people have to pay to be part of these drop shipper clubs where they get access to millions of products to sell. ....dude goes out and works hard to sell XYZ company's product and the company gets a sale....dude makes some $$...person gets product they want. What's the problem? Nothing illegal here...no scam...no shady person...just a hard working person being a middle man. I hope people don't get mad at me for making a bit of cash when I sell them something.

So when you put this dude on blast here on brickpicker b/c you don't think he should be making money for taking his time to post a product that someone obviously wanted / or maybe you think it is illegal, you might be hurting some honest guy working hard in a honest profession. Some people here mix up legal drop shippers with people who use stolen credit cards....which makes calling this dude a drop shipper like he did something wrong even more slanderous.

For the last time, it is IMPOSSIBLE to legitimately dropship 10xxx lego exclusives at these prices. There are no 'suppliers' for these sets. These are *all* scams. There is no legitimate dropshipping going on here.

[pickleboy]

For the last time, it is IMPOSSIBLE to legitimately dropship 10xxx lego exclusives at these prices. There are no 'suppliers' for these sets. These are *all* scams. There is no legitimate dropshipping going on here.

Thank goodness it's the last time. 

[SuperLegoTramp]

To each their own... 

 

Nothing wrong with looking for scams... I am just pointing out that you guys better be sure before you go harassing people. I probably could have said it better. That's all.   I didn't mean for everyone to get butt hurt.  ebay protects everyone who buys from them. 

 

This,

 

Dont see the point in reporting people since the buyer is 100% covered anyway.

[DoNotInsertIntoMouth]

Smart ass.

Way to completely miss the point. 

 

EDIT.  To answer your question, the entire post was not meant for you and i guess I never should have quoted your post b/c my post was actually meant for everyone,  not you in particular.

I was more joking then being a smart ass. Just saying your rhetoric was pretty strong attacking the people in the thread and not the people who cause this problem. You could have used a more obvious example. I think everyone here who had posted understands what drop shipping is and what the difference is.

I didn't mean to be mean anymore than your original post did - just making a strong argument back.

I think some of us are tired of hearing people go on about drop shipping isn't illegal because there isn't anyone legitamtely doing it.

[DoNotInsertIntoMouth]

This,

 

Dont see the point in reporting people since the buyer is 100% covered anyway.

This isn't true though. If the police investigate, your name is on the invoice. They come to you and take the merchandise, lock your account because it looks like you did it. eBay can't protect you from that. Read Eds post on drop shipping and how it hurts everyone.

It's also a crime to use stolen credit cards and do this. If we just act like "no big deal" who are we?

If your credit card was stolen and used in this manner would you want everyone to just purchase the stuff and not worry because "they are covered"

[DoNotInsertIntoMouth]

Maybe instead ask if the seller is using a stolen credit card, since dropshipping isn't illegal.

I think you all should check out who is posting here before you say things like this.

We know what drop shipping is. I ask them that if they for all the other criteria. I don't give a crap if they are drop shipping for $50 over retail. But no one is doing it for $50 under retail. It's not rocket science.

[pickleboy]

This isn't true though. If the police investigate, your name is on the invoice. They come to you and take the merchandise, lock your account because it looks like you did it. eBay can't protect you from that. Read Eds post on drop shipping and how it hurts everyone.

As long as you have a receipt you are fine.

[DoNotInsertIntoMouth]

As long as you have a receipt you are fine.

Don't you feel like that is a bit under sighted?

How many credit cards do you have? Have you ever thought one was gone? Have you ever worried if the bank would cover a charge?

Answer the last question- wouldn't you want other people to not be sheep and purchase everything and not worry if they knew it was stolen?

[SuperLegoTramp]

Please explain how someone can add a credit card to there paypal account that hasnt got there name on the card they are using?

[pickleboy]

Don't you feel like that is a bit under sighted?

How many credit cards do you have? Have you ever thought one was gone? Have you ever worried if the bank would cover a charge?

Answer the last question- wouldn't you want other people to not be sheep and purchase everything and not worry if they knew it was stolen?

I am protected from garbage like this with my cards.

 

No one knows for certain what is being purchased with a stolen card and what isn't.  No one knows for certain where these sets are coming from.  If you want to take your time to report to ebay a suspected listing or retailer...so be it...no one is trying to stop you.  I was just trying to point out that you really have no idea who is on the other end of these ads or what their motives are so I prefer to leave all that to ebay....apparently you do not...which is fine.

I feel there is much more wiggle room to scam as a buyer than as a seller...but that's just me.    They still have to get by paypal to get their $$.  In order to get it before your scam would be detected by the people you are selling to or the person discovering their card being stolen you would have to have a verfied account.  My guess is we are dealing more with identity thieves who open new credit cards than dealing with people who steal them out right...but who knows.

 

[DoNotInsertIntoMouth]

Please explain how someone can add a credit card to there paypal account that hasnt got there name on the card they are using?

 

Its actually easy to do. Most credit cards now offer prepaid and cash advance. You "buy" a new pre-paid credit card with this in another name, and then you put it on Paypal.

[DoNotInsertIntoMouth]

I am protected from garbage like this with my cards.

 

No one knows for certain what is being purchased with a stolen card and what isn't.  No one knows for certain where these sets are coming from.  If you want to take your time to report to ebay a suspected listing or retailer...so be it...no one is trying to stop you.  I was just trying to point out that you really have no idea who is on the other end of these ads or what their motives are so I prefer to leave all that to ebay....apparently you do not...which is fine.

I feel there is much more wiggle room to scam as a buyer than as a seller...but that's just me.    They still have to get by paypal to get their $$.  In order to get it before your scam would be detected by the people you are selling to or the person discovering their card being stolen you would have to have a verfied account.  My guess is we are dealing more with identity thieves who open new credit cards than dealing with people who steal them out right...but who knows.

 

 

I agree with you. There is definitely much more wiggle room as a buyer. I think the problem is, on Ebay, I am seeing prices drop and drop and it becomes hard to legitimately sell as set because there are so many people selling new items for much much cheaper then they should be.

 

This scam hurts us all. Maybe not directly, but if you are into investing and buying on Ebay, it hurts us. The BP prices are based off Ebay. It drives them down. Look down the list for the last items sold for the SSD and tell me those make sense.

[DoNotInsertIntoMouth]

Here is an example of one that I can't prove pretty close to a reasonable doubt, so I wouldn't report.

 

It's not that much less, but no picture or anything. I would never buy it, but I wouldn't report it either.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lego-Star-Wars-Millennium-Falcon-7965-/251309863327?pt=Building_Toys_US&hash=item3a833c319f

[DoNotInsertIntoMouth]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lego-Ninjago-Epic-Dragon-Battle-9450-/200946285104?pt=Building_Toys_US&hash=item2ec954fa30

 

This one is pretty obvious though. No feedback, way less than retail, no pictures or description, and selling two other Helms Deeps 30% less than retail.

 

If he isn't a scam artist, he should learn to post better Ebay listings. Report away people!