Ebay (again!)

shamustwin · Post by **shamustwin** » Tue May 16, 2006 5:37 am

I bid on a JL Casino, lost. Today I have four (count 'em, 4!) second chance offers for it, all from different senders!
Two offers have the ebay logo, and link back to the ad. One of those has the original seller's email attached.
The other two are from individuals and look suspicious. Just basic emails.
I would like the guitar, but am confused as to who I reply to and which I send to [email protected].
Grrrrr...
Thanks for letting me vent.

randyz · Post by **randyz** » Tue May 16, 2006 5:48 am

It can be very confusing. I recently lost an auction on some aviation art prints. I immediately received a second chance offer. I responded to the seller in no uncertain terms that I don't appreciate bogus second chance offers. I have since discovered that he is a very reputable art dealer who simply wanted me to know that he had multiple copies of the auction prints in stock. Oooops!

shamustwin · Post by **shamustwin** » Tue May 16, 2006 6:30 am

Great Caesar's ghost!

I called the guitar shop in NY to sort this out. They were offering no second chances. The guitar was sold.

All second chance offers were fake (a 5th offer appeared as I was forwarding these to ebay)!

winston · Post by **winston** » Tue May 16, 2006 7:28 am

I routinely ignore all second chance offers. I have found that sending them to spoof@ebay does nothing to stem the flow of such bogus activities.

Unfortunately it's become a fact of life on e-bay.

shamustwin · Post by **shamustwin** » Tue May 16, 2006 7:29 am

9 second chance offers so far, all different senders!

leftyguitars · Post by **leftyguitars** » Tue May 16, 2006 8:07 am

I once got a second chance offer for a lefty vintage guitar that I had sold! When I emailed him showing interest but wanting more pix of the guitar he sent me a photo (of a right handed guitar) which he has scanned from an old catalogue. I showed even more interest and said that I didn't trust banks because of all the scams that I had heard about and would he send me his address so that I could send cash. He sent an address (in New York),"Great" I said "I live really close by, I'll call around with my mates to finalise the deal". I never got a reply to that mail.

cmuk · Post by **cmuk** » Tue May 16, 2006 8:17 am

Nice one Peter. I'd have loved to have seen his jaw drop when he got your message, especially if it was his or a friend's actual address.

webhead · Post by **webhead** » Tue May 16, 2006 8:19 am

When this happens- always reply by sending a message to the seller thru the Ebay auction itself, not the e-mail.

sowhat · Post by **sowhat** » Tue May 16, 2006 8:52 am

What a story, Peter!

winston · Post by **winston** » Tue May 16, 2006 10:08 am

That's a good one Peter.

doctorwho · Post by **doctorwho** » Tue May 16, 2006 10:30 am

Ditto with what Don says.

BTW, I hope that any forwarded e-mails to eBay include the full headers. I go a bit further in attacking back at the criminals. Here is a sample of what I send:

Subject: CRIMINAL SPOOF OF EBAY PAYPAL FROM IP ADDRESS 130.65.3.15 AND USING http://driverbank.co.kr AS A BASE Fwd: eBay Unpaid Item Strike Received: #5862143303

To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>

CC: "FTCSpamComplaints" <[email protected]>, [email protected]

Dear Sir or Madam:
Another criminal spoof, this time from from IP address 130.65.3.15 (sjsu.edu) and using driverbank.co.kr as a base of its criminal operation. I am forwarding this to you with FULL HEADERS as well as the DISGUISED LINK http://driverbank.co.kr/~dk01/.secure-l ... PI.htm) in hopes that you will bring charges against the criminal and his/her/its aiders and abettors.

Sincerely,
GC

One reason for cc'ing the FTC is to help build a "depraved indifference" case against eBay if needed. If one could show that, for every 1000 complaints, eBay engaged in only one or two court actions against the criminals, that would show that eBay is indifferent to the plight of their customers and is thereby guilty of complicity with the criminals.

winston · Post by **winston** » Tue May 16, 2006 10:36 am

Good point Gary

doctorwho · Post by **doctorwho** » Tue May 16, 2006 12:34 pm

Thanks, Brian. (Can you tell that I watch way too much Law & Order? And Court TV?)

winston · Post by **winston** » Tue May 16, 2006 1:59 pm

Are CSI and 24 on that list too? They are for me. Great TV shows are far and few between these days.

Reflecting on your previous post Doc it seems to me that ordinary citizens have become scam filters and detectives for e-bay and the authorities.

Who would have ever imagined that we would be engaged in hunting down and exposing cyber thieves from the vantage point of our desktops and laptops just a few short years ago?