New ebay scam

[Alun Thomas]

I just wanted to raise an issue, possibly it isn't so new, but it is new to me.

In the last day or two I put a bid on a pair of Miranda camera viewfinders, and set a maximum bid I thought should be competitive. A day or two later I log in to see a notification from ebay, telling me that a (higher) bid on the item was retracted, leaving me as the highest bidder now. I clicked over to the item to see. most interestingly, that the present bid level, just happened to be my maximum bid. It seems that ebay now lets a user retract a bid by themself, without needing to contact the seller. This is in case you added an extra 0 inadvertantly perhaps.

But in this case a user put a high bid on to find out what my maximum bid was, then once they found it out, retracted that bid, and followed with a new bid, ever so coincidentally, $1 less than my maximum. It's my view that this bidder is known to the seller (a certain Jimbo27), and this is a scam to ensure the sale occurs for my maximum bid. They would have been better to retract the bid and not put the $1 less bid on until the dying seconds of the sale in my view. In any case, I just retracted my bid as well, and will probably refuse to deal with that seller again.

In any case, a warning for others here to be very wary of this practice when they put bids on. Perhaps it's better to bid in the dying seconds and see where things fall.

[Blazer0ne]

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[HansMoleman]

Ebay's increasing corruption and indifference to users have pushed me away. Far too many other options to bother with them. It's no longer an auction.

[The_WB]

Exactly why I refuse to purchase anything on Fleabay.

Even with all of their safeguards, someone always finds a way to crook the system.

[55]

[kds315*]

Yep, a well known method to find out the max bid of someone.
I only bid in the last 5 secs, and either I win or lose...

[D1N0]

I don't use eBay a lot any more. Anything that has a reputation is usually way overpriced and or inflated shipping costs. The UK is the most reasonable in pricing but it has gone behind a customs wall. Of course when you use something less you are not going to find the deals that are there. I usually just store a search when looking for something on eBay. I have found several good deals that way, when they popped up in my mail (usually buy it now). I've had people maxing out my bid on several auction sites. It is to be expected, people try to make the most out of it if they can. But usually it is done more subtly than overbidding and then cancelling. That never happened to me.

[philslizzy]

I've stopped bidding on ebay for this reason. I buy BIN its easier and I get what I want.

Many years ago I had bidded on a job lot of cameras (before I knew you could put a maximum bid on). All dusty folders shown in one photograph. I was out bid then i counter bidded. this carried on until the bidding went a couple of pounds higher than my max. then I stopped and let the other guy win.

Moments later I got a message from the seller saying the other bidder didnt want the lot. He offered it to me for £25 (a pound less then the winning bid.). I saw that he was located in a nearby post code so I agreed to see him and look through the box before committing. He wasnt happy but agreed. I took my laptop so I could pay him there.

I had smelled a rat, it felt like I had been bidded up. I researched this and discovered it was called shill bidding

When I got to his house he showed me the box full of various folders which were all closed on the photo. There were a few Kodaks and a Super Ikonta, A Vito (the folding 35mm one) a voigtlander, a couple of folding Retinas and some grubby looking lenses. Well worth the £25.

I noticed a few other items on the shelf next to his PC, a brass plate camera lens, rangefinder, a zeiss turret finder and an Oly Trip. I asked him about them and he said they were going to go into another auction.

I told him that my max bid had been £23 and I would pay him just that. Then I told him I suspected him of shill-bidding. I just guessed but his face said it all . I said I could report him, as ebay would look into it. He got nervous at that point. I told him that the other bidder was also located in his postcode area. He said it was probably coincidence. I explained that whaterver, ebay would look at the bank account that the (presumably different) paypal address was linked to and ban him. I was bullshitting him - I have no idea if that would have happened 8 or 9 years ago.

He explained that he was a big seller of toy cars and comic books and that if he was banned he'd lose his business.

So I suggested I'd pay the £25 if he threw in the the other items and I wouldnt report him to ebay. He agreed. Then I paid cash which flummoxed him.

When he saw me off he said he'd mess me about if he saw any items for sale on my account. He never did, but I watched his auctions carefully. He kept a clean nose.

I scammed a scammer.

[Blazer0ne]

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[stevemark]

[caspert79]

There are even more scammer buyers than scammer sellers. Ebay is a nasty place, but there are not many serious alternatives that I’m aware of.

[Blazer0ne]

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[Blazer0ne]

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[visualopsins]

As I was about to pull the trigger on Canon 135/2L I discovered m42 lenses on ebay, that I could purchase a full set of "legacy" film lenses for the same amount of money. Trash to treasure mentality? Indeed, but of a different sort than getting a U l t r a - A c h r o m a t i c T A K U M A R 1 : 4.5 / 8 5 for $100. My version of the "trash to treasure" mentality remains valid 18 years later!

Of over a thousand ebay transactions I had a problem with only two -- that's right only two of over a thousand. I got dinged for a $30 web cam deal that was too good to be true. A full refund for the other.

Of course I stack the odds in my favor, checking seller's feedback number and rating, the sort of feedback they leave, other items they sell determine if seller knows photo equipment, if ebay offers full buyers protection refund if something does go wrong, etc..

Selling on ebay is another matter, given ebay buyer oriented protection policy, although I've never had any problems selling.

Ebay and Paypal fees seem higher than necessary imho, but no more than other auction sites.

Before ebay I participated in an audiophile forum, buying some really nice pro audio equipment from almost complete strangers, without any protection whatsoever -- buyer sends money order, seller ships on receipt. I even got an invitation from an engineer to see the Hoover Dam turbines recently disassembled for maintenance! Unfortunately work got in the way.

[Blazer0ne]

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[D1N0]

Mflenses is a valuable resource. There is a topic here about almost every lens you can think of or find. But there is only a small group of people that visit. Most people live in the Facebook bubble. Old style forums are waning.

[stevemark]

[visualopsins]

[Lightshow]

Like with any group, there are good and bad eggs mixed in together, I recently tried buying an eBay item from the States, the seller didn't include Canada as a shipping destination, so I asked them if they were willing to, they said sure, only eBay's convoluted system made it too confusing for them to change, so they shipped it to me for free as a good will gesture, the item was only $20USD I think so they didn't get the $20 and they paid for shipping on top, I offered multiple times to pay, they refused, I received the item right away, the experience definitely left an impression.

[Blazer0ne]

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[HansMoleman]

[Lightshow]

It definitely helps restore some of my faith in humanity, especially when this time period seems to be... My opinion is the only one that matters, so you're wrong... do your own research, I did mine on Facebook this morning, I'm now an expert on biology.
Well at least we'll give scholars plenty to analyze in the decades to come.
Thankfully there are a few oases of sanity on the net like MFLenses.

[eggplant]

[stevemark]

[philslizzy]