Proof that Ebay Drop Shipping Scams hurt us all

[DoNotInsertIntoMouth]

I am not going to go through all the drop-ship scam details, etc. and talk about it. Drop-shipping itself is not a scam. Either way, here is some proof of how this affects everyone.

 

Diablos, I, and some others have pointed quite a few listings out. Here are what I see as the most commonly drop-ship scammed sets:

 

10228 - Haunted House (mostly because it sells over retail on Ebay)

10225 - R2D2 - we have seen some extremely blatantly low listings

10221 - SSD - its expensive!

10188 - Similar to the above.

 

I watch all of these sets like a hawk on Ebay and for the last month and a half, the number of probable scam listings has jumped significantly. 2-3 are posted a day!

 

So how does this affect everyone?

 

Go take a look at the BP data for each one of these sets - over the last month they have all gone down. Look through the sold listings. Some pretty low prices, huh? Look on Ebay and try to find a price like some of those with pictures, and a 1 day handling time and a legit seller. Not happening.

 

The Haunted House went down 30%.

 

I am not trying to stir pots and start a war - but this is a problem. Anyone who doesn't think so? I don't understand... Do you not use BP data?

[MartinP]

This is definitely a problem. My brickfolio took a big hit last month. The cause: the larger Lego set, which are still on the primary market. I believe that Drop Shipping is to blame.

[Guest TabbyBoy]

Has anyone reported suspicious activity to eBay themselves?  I'm quite wary of the massive amount of Korean listings that always seem to sell at high prces.  It doesn't bother me too much as I'm soon switching to Gumtree and Amazon.

[mikeur86]

I have noticed quite a few Death Stars selling for pretty cheap. There was a BIN for 10 at 300.00. I ended up buying one and then received a message later that day saying ebay removed the auction. So that must have been a scam.

[DoNotInsertIntoMouth]

I have noticed quite a few Death Stars selling for pretty cheap. There was a BIN for 10 at 300.00. I ended up buying one and then received a message later that day saying ebay removed the auction. So that must have been a scam.

 

I saw that one. I reported it - it was pretty bad.

 

its tough too because you have to fight sometime and buy something quick enough while it is a good deal - at the same time be weary of this happening.

[etb546]

It is incredible how many scam listings I see posted each day! The haunted house especially! One scam seller lists one every day for 24 hr duration! And people keep buying them! She has gotten no feedback from buyers on any of her items since August 6th, so I'm hoping the buyers realize what has happened and gove her neg feedback. Isn't there any way to report a SELLER on eBay, not just a listing? It amazes me how oblivious EBay is.

[Guest TabbyBoy]

In the eBay listing, to the right of the "Description" & "Postage and Payments" tabs, you'll see "Report Item".  Even if you're not quite certain, report it anyway.  To be honest, I never buy off anyone with less than 100% feedback,  Call me a snob but I (jh-65) have 2099 feedbacks at 100% - it's not difficult to put your customers first!

[DoNotInsertIntoMouth]

In the eBay listing, to the right of the "Description" & "Postage and Payments" tabs, you'll see "Report Item".  Even if you're not quite certain, report it anyway.  To be honest, I never buy off anyone with less than 100% feedback,  Call me a snob but I (jh-65) have 2099 feedbacks at 100% - it's not difficult to put your customers first!

 

Definitely agree. I sometimes mack an exception to this rule, but only after reading the comments form the negative

[Jackson]

 To be honest, I never buy off anyone with less than 100% feedback

 

 I have seen buyers give negative feedback just because they didn't like the movie they bought, which had nothing to do with how the seller performed.

[sadowsk1]

I used to enter my sets into a brickfolio but stopped a while ago so I can't say it upsets me that it throws off any numbers.  Scams aren't good obviously for anyone.  Lego is probably a small aspect of the business that Ebay does overall.  With that in mind I'm sure they try to police it, but I wouldn't say it's by any stretch their priority market to monitor.

[Jackson]

 Call me a snob but I (jh-65) have 2099 feedbacks at 100% - it's not difficult to put your customers first!

 

Just keep on selling, and you will encounter that a-hole buyer who will give you negative feedback just for fun.  And he won't respond to any of your messages.

[Spartikis]

There are many other things that affect the price charts, people take the minifigs out of a set but it gets picked up as a sold listing for a NEW item, or when someone makes a listing for $0.99 but charges $30+ shipping. I think as long as you realize that its just a rough estimate of the value youre fine.

[kutaone]

Kinda reminds me of the "TRU prices are too high so I don't like it" threads.  The difference here is someone is upset that someone can LEGALLY sell something cheaper than most people can.  Does it drive the price down, yes but it's legal...it's not immoral...you can do it too...
 

[DoNotInsertIntoMouth]

There are many other things that affect the price charts, people take the minifigs out of a set but it gets picked up as a sold listing for a NEW item, or when someone makes a listing for $0.99 but charges $30+ shipping. I think as long as you realize that its just a rough estimate of the value youre fine.

 

I believe these are weeded out by jeff.

[DoNotInsertIntoMouth]

Kinda reminds me of the "TRU prices are too high so I don't like it" threads.  The difference here is someone is upset that someone can LEGALLY sell something cheaper than most people can.  Does it drive the price down, yes but it's legal...it's not immoral...you can do it too...

 

 

I don't think you read the beginning post or understand what we are talking about.

 

Person lists item on Ebay for way cheaper than retail.

You purchase it.

Customer then buys set using a STOLEN credit card for full price and puts your name and address on it

It is shipped to you.

 

What is legal about that?

[kutaone]

I don't think you read the beginning post or understand what we are talking about.

 

Person lists item on Ebay for way cheaper than retail.

You purchase it.

Customer then buys set using a STOLEN credit card for full price and puts your name and address on it

It is shipped to you.

 

What is legal about that?

You are correct.  I was talking about drop shipping.   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drop_shipping

 

You are talking about people using stolen credit cards. 

[DoNotInsertIntoMouth]

You are correct.  I was talking about drop shipping.   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drop_shipping

 

You are talking about people using stolen credit cards. 

 

I am talking about drop-shipping scams. Thats what is in the first post. Drop shipping is perfectly legal, provided you are legit buying an item. I want to make sure that is clear.

 

Scamming people using drop-shipping so their name//address/etc. is never involved in the transaction.

[kutaone]

I won't get into semantics with you.  I just think a lot of people around here, not you apparently, get these mixed up.

 

Glad we are clear!

[DoNotInsertIntoMouth]

I won't get into semantics with you.  I just think a lot of people around here, not you apparently, get these mixed up.

 

Glad we are clear!

 

Don't you love semantics though?

 

The haunted house is the one that really gets to me. That set has so much potential and it makes me mad there are people selling them for $150.

[TheOrcKing]

The biggest problem with dropscammers (illegal drop shipping) is the people who end up with fraudulent charges on their stolen credit card number. I've had a couple times in my life where an a**hole somehow got my credit card number, then all the hoops I had to go through to fix the whole damn mess and prove it wasn't me who bought all that garbage. It isn't fun at all.

One dropscammer eBay listing does not effect the average much but when they pile on, everything starts getting FUBAR'ed.

[Guest TabbyBoy]

 I have seen buyers give negative feedback just because they didn't like the movie they bought, which had nothing to do with how the seller performed.

Contact eBay and they can remove this negative feedback.  It happened to me when I sold a perfectly described rear derailleur for a mountain bike.  It's wasn't my fault that the buyer had an old single-speed frame that wouldn't accommodate it.  Again eBay restored my feedback with out issue.

[Guest TabbyBoy]

Just keep on selling, and you will encounter that a-hole buyer who will give you negative feedback just for fun.  And he won't respond to any of your messages.

 

Again, eBay has good seller protection and will often remove negative feedback if you open a good case with them.  It's just a shame that we can't give buyers negative feedback.  They way I do this is to leave feedback and then type for example, "*--- NEGATIVE FEEDBACK ---- Total timewaster that couldn't be bothered to read the description properly."  If you type the truth, it's rarely a problem as a fellow seller who deals with the same cretin will often back you up.

[nolanfan34]

I understand the point of the post, but I think it's important to remember a couple of things. One, your brickfolio value doesn't mean a thing until you actually sell. We can't take it as gospel of course that if you sold everything at this moment that you would get $x back. That is probably somewhat obvious.

 

Two, while I agree this does hurt short term prices and confidence in eBay as a secondary market with skittish sellers, it really shouldn't do anything for the long term value of a set. If you are going to hold for a couple of years post EOL, a scammer won't have anything to drop ship to begin with. So while I agree it hurts the short term value of something like HH, I can't imagine it mattering long term.

[DoNotInsertIntoMouth]

Again, eBay has good seller protection and will often remove negative feedback if you open a good case with them.  It's just a shame that we can't give buyers negative feedback.  They way I do this is to leave feedback and then type for example, "*--- NEGATIVE FEEDBACK ---- Total timewaster that couldn't be bothered to read the description properly."  If you type the truth, it's rarely a problem as a fellow seller who deals with the same cretin will often back you up.

 

Be careful. if someone reports you back, Ebay will remove that and they can suspend your account.

 

It is against feedback policy to list negative-tone feedback for a buyer - 

[DoNotInsertIntoMouth]

I understand the point of the post, but I think it's important to remember a couple of things. One, your brickfolio value doesn't mean a thing until you actually sell. We can't take it as gospel of course that if you sold everything at this moment that you would get $x back. That is probably somewhat obvious.

 

Two, while I agree this does hurt short term prices and confidence in eBay as a secondary market with skittish sellers, it really shouldn't do anything for the long term value of a set. If you are going to hold for a couple of years post EOL, a scammer won't have anything to drop ship to begin with. So while I agree it hurts the short term value of something like HH, I can't imagine it mattering long term.

 

Unfortunately it definitely matters long term. More people bought the sets because they got them at great prices. If they are investors, they can undercut your price and make a bigger profit on the set.

 

More of them sold always = less price later on. These people may have waited to buy one if they didn't get them at insanely low prices.

 

Also, not everyone holds sets. - some like to flip, which makes this much harder.

 

Edit: Someone might want the Death Star 2- but they can buy the 10188 for $320. Maybe they decide to go that route.