When I was 'dispatched' from Cambridge so suddenly a few weeks ago I had just become the proud owner of a new high-ish end mobile phone...a luxury that now, with no job and a dying car about to face this years M.O.T. I can no longer justify!It was thus that having used it only once, I decided it would have to go the 'eBay way' in the hope of procuring for myself a few much needed pounds and so my long abandoned eBay account was duly poked back into action and up for sale went the phone.
And that's where the trouble started!
The whole issue has been an utter debacle, the first auction ended when a scammer over bid so massively it effectively stopped all other bidders, we are talking £1100 here for an item that I would expect maybe £200-£300!! Immediately I began getting emails from eBay themselves telling me this was a fraud, (no shit Sherlock) and what to do next. I duly followed their instructions, which took up best part of half a day and started over with a re-listing. Thing I thought would be sorted from that point.
How wrong can you be!
Since then I have had umpteen fraudulent attempts at gaining my email address or my paypal details, individuals threatening me, telling me they have paid (when they patently haven't), that my account has been suspended, that I am 'under investigation' and of course the guys from 'Yonkers' attempting to purchase from outside of eBay.
These guys know their stuff, they are good, distinguishing the scammers from the genuine bidders is pretty hard, the only real sign is that the scammers mail doesn't ever turn up in my eBay inbox, just in my private mail....well that and the lack of command of the English language some of them display!
It's been almost a full time job these past two days sorting it all out, eBay are quick to respond but getting to them in the first places isn't as easy as it should be and I have so much of this crap, my inbox is literally overrun with this rubbish that keeping track of who is who and what is what is nigh on impossible.
Millions of people use eBay every day, surely they can't all be having this much hassle but one thing is for sure....I just don't need this right now and when this damn phone is sold I won't be using eBay again in a hurry!!
*Incidentally....if anyone wants a Nokia N95 8GB gimme a shout!
11 Comments:
I hardly ever use eBay now. A couple of months ago, my better half was selling a CD however received an email from eBay that his listing had been suspended because he'd 'lifted' text from another seller! (They were selling the same item) Maybe he should have just made up the track names, changed the title of the band and called the whole thing something completely different!
All hail AMAZON!
Good luck with the selling of the phone by the way :(
You have probably attracted scammers as you have such a quality item on sale. Ebay need to sort their act out, scamming in this way via their site has been going on for years.
Ive had a few scam emails re Ebay, but not many. Probably cos Im selling tat lol
Hugs
Tracey x x x
I had a problem a few months ago. Someone I had bought a book from and paid for through Paypal emailed me saying could I please send a cheque as I hadn't paid. Through answering him, my email account was hacked and it took me a day to sort it all out. I haven't used Ebay since. Good luck with selling your phone.
I think I've just been lucky with ebay so far, having sold a few things, but I think it also depends on the sort of thing you are selling. Mobiles and such like just seem to bring the troublemakers, I'm not sure why!
BTW, I have the same phone, nice bit of kit, shame you need to sell. Good luck!
Never used ebay, and to be honest im a total luddite when it comes to online shopping/selling, i think all stories end up like yours!
Oooer I was thinking of selling some of my stuff on ebay, but now I am having a rethink... have got a nokia n95 phone already, but there is a shop in bedford that buys such things down Midland road at the junction with greyfriars. Might be worth contact them if it would help.
I only buy on ebay and pay promptly via PayPal which works really well - for me, anyway!!
belleek
My brother had a very similar situation with an ipod he was trying to sell on e-bay. He got emails like the ones you're getting and he just gave up in the end bbecause he was never confident enough that a bidder was genuine!
xx
Yikes! We have bought stuff on e-bay before but never tried to sell anything. It sounds scairty!
Phones are notoriously bad for scammers on ebay. Everyone I know who has tried to sell one has had trouble, they seem to get targeted because they're quite a lucrative item to sell on.
You're definitely not alone, and at least you're not stupid - I mean, for every sensible person there must be one who just goes along with their requests to "send it to my aunt in nigeria and we'll pay by western union" for it to be worth their while. Good luck!
I used to sell children's clothes ages ago, and never had any problems. I don't use it much now, though. Glad I don't, from the sound of it!
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