Are fruitcakes running rampant on eBay lately? Selling, buying, listing, feedback, etc...

[AirborneAFOL]

its actually part of the scam.  Same person buys from you a few times and you build what you feel is a good relationship with the buyer.  Then they hit you up asking for something or you mention you have something of value and they mention maybe handling the same outside of ebay so everyone can save a little money and you go for it.  Then exactly what happens to you occurs, they make a claim, you have nothing to back it up and your out money and product.

Bollocks. I’ve got a handful of buyers/sellers I’ve established great outside-eBay relationship with. I just do most my buying/selling with them offline these days in fact, very few transactions via eBay proper.

Not saying its not a scam tactic, just that there’s still plenty of great hobbyists out here and we care more about the camaraderie / reputation / trust than trying to get a few bucks over on someone.

[Guest TabbyBoy]

5 minutes ago, zaphoid said:

its actually part of the scam.  Same person buys from you a few times and you build what you feel is a good relationship with the buyer.  Then they hit you up asking for something or you mention you have something of value and they mention maybe handling the same outside of ebay so everyone can save a little money and you go for it.  Then exactly what happens to you occurs, they make a claim, you have nothing to back it up and your out money and product.

That’s why I’ll never deal outside of eBay again no matter what the eBay “buyer” wants. With me, it’s either cash on collection (I have somebody big in a car nearby if it’s valuable), bank transfer or Bitcoin/Ethereum. Why eBay don’t have 2FA when making a purchase is beyond me. It should be up to the buyer to secure their accounts, some are so lazy and use the same password for everything.

 

[Captain_chaos]

8 minutes ago, TabbyBoy said:

Remember that the chargeback will cost you £14.

I believe that I should be covered against this.

[zaphoid]

19 minutes ago, AirborneAFOL said:

Bollocks. I’ve got a handful of buyers/sellers I’ve established great outside-eBay relationship with. I just do most my buying/selling with them offline these days in fact, very few transactions via eBay proper.

Not saying its not a scam tactic, just that there’s still plenty of great hobbyists out here and we care more about the camaraderie / reputation / trust than trying to get a few bucks over on someone.

I've had issues the few times I've done it, I'm sure there are great people out there, I just haven't encountered them.

[andyposterfan]

19 minutes ago, AirborneAFOL said:

Bollocks. I’ve got a handful of buyers/sellers I’ve established great outside-eBay relationship with. I just do most my buying/selling with them offline these days in fact, very few transactions via eBay proper.

Not saying its not a scam tactic, just that there’s still plenty of great hobbyists out here and we care more about the camaraderie / reputation / trust than trying to get a few bucks over on someone.

Ive sold directly to collectors plenty of times. Always problem free when Uk.

but some countries... I'm just going to have to avoid.

ive had a bad run recently. I've had buyers try to blackmail to "throw in free extra polybags" or demand i "sell a few more at cost" or giving me abuse for "eBay GSP charges" or risk bad feedback. I've been so disappointed by pepole lately. Again, this behaviour has come from certain European countries only.

its sad to see so many dishonest people for something like Lego that is me at to be a nice thing.

[AirborneAFOL]

Ive sold directly to collectors plenty of times. Always problem free when Uk.
but some countries... I'm just going to have to avoid.
ive had a bad run recently.

That’s a good point. None of my trusted folks are outside the US. International sales are a whole different ballgame.

[andyposterfan]

US, Germany and Canada... always been ok

[MoHu]

Last 2 weeks I've had a number of sales to "hijacked accounts".  First one got through the net and was shipped even though i noticed it was French registered ebay account sending to a UK address. Also not used in over a year.  Shipped next day and the following day got "real" account holder telling me not to ship.  Its on the Paypal investigating phase.

I've got two UK "safehouse" addresses for scammers if anyone wants to know where never to ship.   Do they really think i am going to ship to any address that ebay /paypal said was used in an hacked account?

[feed]

11 hours ago, MoHu said:

Last 2 weeks I've had a number of sales to "hijacked accounts".  First one got through the net and was shipped even though i noticed it was French registered ebay account sending to a UK address. Also not used in over a year.  Shipped next day and the following day got "real" account holder telling me not to ship.  Its on the Paypal investigating phase.

I've got two UK "safehouse" addresses for scammers if anyone wants to know where never to ship.   Do they really think i am going to ship to any address that ebay /paypal said was used in an hacked account?

High value items, or just run of the mill stuff? 

[Guest TabbyBoy]

Please PM me the IDs and addresses of suspect scammers so that I can block them. I'll soon be using my eBay private account for the first time this year. However, I won't be selling anything above £50 so that it's covered by Royal Mail signed for. The big stuff is always cash on meeting.

[KShine]

Sending items w/o tracking is an open invitation to steal - don't do it.

[MoHu]

12 hours ago, feed said:

High value items, or just run of the mill stuff? 

Indominus Rex £210
2 x 75916 £190 
2 x 75917 £190
Scooby doo Mansion £150
Arctic Truck £104

All 1 day dispatch so moving to 2 day dispatch plus will be phoning / emailing buyer for anything over £75 + going on chat to eBay / Paypal if the spider sense still tingles as they can tell what ebay country the sale was made in.

[Guest TabbyBoy]

44 minutes ago, MoHu said:

Indominus Rex £210
2 x 75916 £190 
2 x 75917 £190
Scooby doo Mansion £150
Arctic Truck £104

All 1 day dispatch so moving to 2 day dispatch plus will be phoning / emailing buyer for anything over £75 + going on chat to eBay / Paypal if the spider sense still tingles as they can tell what ebay country the sale was made in.

If I ever start selling >£50 sets on eBay, I’m thinking of asking for a copy of a utility bill whether it be for a residential or business address. Of course, this will be stated at the very top of the listing. Thoughts?

Remember that you can still get a chargeback several weeks after the sale as some people only check their credit card statements when they arrive in the post. Delaying dispatch won’t make much difference in these cases.

I’m going to keep saying this until eBay take notice... BUYERS NEED 2FA TO MAKE A PURCHASE !!!

[Captain_chaos]

On 26/10/2017 at 8:52 PM, TabbyBoy said:

Remember that the chargeback will cost you £14.

This case has now been resolved. I have access to all my funds (so about £164 after Paypal fees), and there is no chargeback fee. In fact, eBay refunded me the FVF for this, which should have been £17. Not sure whether they will re-bill for it, now that I have the money. Anybody know?

[Guest TabbyBoy]

38 minutes ago, Captain_chaos said:

This case has now been resolved. I have access to all my funds (so about £164 after Paypal fees), and there is no chargeback fee. In fact, eBay refunded me the FVF for this, which should have been £17. Not sure whether they will re-bill for it, now that I have the money. Anybody know?

Glad you got sorted. Regarding the FVF, they shouldn't re-bill for it if the sale wasn't successful. Recently I've been asking for copies of a utility bill as proof of address for items above £100 and genuine buyers have been happy to provide that as long as I promise to delete it once viewed. The scam rate is EXTREMELY high for big ticket items on eBay. They have serious security problems that need fixing otherwise they'll be going under.

I'm going to keep saying this until it happens, "eBay need to introduce 2FA to eliminate hacked accounts when making a purchase, how hard can it be?"

 

[Captain_chaos]

5 minutes ago, TabbyBoy said:

Glad you got sorted. Regarding the FVF, they shouldn't re-bill for it if the sale wasn't successful. Recently I've been asking for copies of a utility bill as proof of address for items above £100 and genuine buyers have been happy to provide that as long as I promise to delete it once viewed. The scam rate is EXTREMELY high for big ticket items on eBay. They have serious security problems that need fixing otherwise they'll be going under.

I'm going to keep saying this until it happens, "eBay need to introduce 2FA to eliminate hacked accounts when making a purchase, how hard can it be?"

 

Seems like in a perverse way this has actually benefited me then. It wasn't an issue from my perspective once I provided tracking details to the correct address. Looks like so long as the seller sends to the address given on eBay / Paypal, they're protected just fine.

My suspicion is that this is an easy way for a buyer to scam a free item. I'm not sure how Paypal can stop buyers claiming that they were hacked even if they weren't. Seems like it would be easy to add a mate's address to Paypal and just send something there. Leaves Paypal out of pocket the cost of the item, assuming seller protection works (which in this case it did). I doubt that would work continuously, but as a one off?

All just speculation though.

[Guest TabbyBoy]

5 minutes ago, Captain_chaos said:

Seems like in a perverse way this has actually benefited me then. It wasn't an issue from my perspective once I provided tracking details to the correct address. Looks like so long as the seller sends to the address given on eBay / Paypal, they're protected just fine.

My suspicion is that this is an easy way for a buyer to scam a free item. I'm not sure how Paypal can stop buyers claiming that they were hacked even if they weren't. Seems like it would be easy to add a mate's address to Paypal and just send something there. Leaves Paypal out of pocket the cost of the item, assuming seller protection works (which in this case it did). I doubt that would work continuously, but as a one off?

All just speculation though.

At least eBay/PayPal do earn their fees when this type of thing happens. 

[Fenix_2k1]

10 minutes ago, Captain_chaos said:

Seems like in a perverse way this has actually benefited me then. It wasn't an issue from my perspective once I provided tracking details to the correct address. Looks like so long as the seller sends to the address given on eBay / Paypal, they're protected just fine.

My suspicion is that this is an easy way for a buyer to scam a free item. I'm not sure how Paypal can stop buyers claiming that they were hacked even if they weren't. Seems like it would be easy to add a mate's address to Paypal and just send something there. Leaves Paypal out of pocket the cost of the item, assuming seller protection works (which in this case it did). I doubt that would work continuously, but as a one off?

All just speculation though.

PayPal requires address verification if you add new addresses so this won't work. It's why we've seen the dual postcode scam.

If postcode field changes it triggers verification so scammers add their postcode in final address field.

A one day dispatch delay usually does work as PayPal and eBay will send emails re: the purchase and the original account owner is in contact as soon as they see the emails.

I've done around 100 sales this year.  Ranging from £15-250 I've had 3 scam attempts using hacked accounts 2 which I detected immediately  and 1 where a clarication message alerted the original owner to the hack. The scams were all on sets in the £50-100 range. I'm guessing they pick sets that move on quickly.

[hockeyweasel]

On 10/27/2017 at 8:22 PM, TabbyBoy said:

If I ever start selling >£50 sets on eBay, I’m thinking of asking for a copy of a utility bill whether it be for a residential or business address. Of course, this will be stated at the very top of the listing. Thoughts?

You'll make it too burdensome to buy from you.  So long as there are other comparable options, the honest people will go elsewhere, too.  I just want to buy LEGO, I don't want to fill out a fricking application.

Edited November 6, 2017 by hockeyweasel

[Guest TabbyBoy]

1 minute ago, Fenix_2k1 said:

PayPal requires address verification if you add new addresses so this won't work. It's why we've seen the dual postcode scam.

If postcode field changes it triggers verification so scammers add their postcode in final address field.

A one day dispatch delay usually does work as PayPal and eBay will send emails re: the purchase and the original account owner is in contact as soon as they see the emails.

I've done around 100 sales this year.  Ranging from £15-250 I've had 3 scam attempts using hacked accounts 2 which I detected immediately  and 1 where a clarication message alerted the original owner to the hack. The scams were all on sets in the £50-100 range. I'm guessing they pick sets that move on quickly.

This is why I have a 2-day delay before shipping. I often post cheap items immediately, but more expensives ones are 2 days later so that genuine account holders have time to be warned.

When I sold 12x £200 sets on eBay last year, 8x were scams - shocking stats!

PayPal/eBay... Install 2FA and the problem is solved - you then lower our fees!

[Captain_chaos]

46 minutes ago, Fenix_2k1 said:

PayPal requires address verification if you add new addresses so this won't work. It's why we've seen the dual postcode scam.

If postcode field changes it triggers verification so scammers add their postcode in final address field.

A one day dispatch delay usually does work as PayPal and eBay will send emails re: the purchase and the original account owner is in contact as soon as they see the emails.

I've done around 100 sales this year.  Ranging from £15-250 I've had 3 scam attempts using hacked accounts 2 which I detected immediately  and 1 where a clarication message alerted the original owner to the hack. The scams were all on sets in the £50-100 range. I'm guessing they pick sets that move on quickly.

I've had about the same number of sales, ranging from about £5-270, and this was the first 'scam'. As it has been resolved with no detriment to me, I'm not too concerned.

[roxio]

I had a recent attempted scam on £250 technic set. I now use eBay shutl for big sets as prices are way cheaper than parcel force and I have a ups drop-off very close. 

Genuine account holder opened case 3days after sale, PayPal held and released my funds on same day as tracking show delivered and signed for. 

Real account holder will get refunded by PayPal so our fees keep rising ?

[Captain_chaos]

20 minutes ago, roxio said:

I had a recent attempted scam on £250 technic set. I now use eBay shutl for big sets as prices are way cheaper than parcel force and I have a ups drop-off very close. 

Genuine account holder opened case 3days after sale, PayPal held and released my funds on same day as tracking show delivered and signed for. 

Real account holder will get refunded by PayPal so our fees keep rising

I use Parcelforce because I still have access to 40% off, plus usually 10 - 15% cashback on top. Ends up costing about £5.30 to ship something insured up to £100.

[Guest TabbyBoy]

1 hour ago, Captain_chaos said:

I use Parcelforce because I still have access to 40% off, plus usually 10 - 15% cashback on top. Ends up costing about £5.30 to ship something insured up to £100.

For what weight and size of package?

[Captain_chaos]

26 minutes ago, TabbyBoy said:

For what weight and size of package?

Anything within reason (that's Lego anyway). I'm not sure of the absolute limits, but any 'medium' parcel (i.e. large Lego box size) up to I think 5 kg is the same price. Add another £100 cover and it's more like £6.90, still not a lot. Gets more expensive when you need even more cover.