ES-300 ebay fraud

[dunlop212]

Some of you may recall the thread I posted here a few weeks back about
the ebay scammer who block copied my ad and photos to run a parallel
fraudulent ad. I reported it to ebay, and they deleted it.

I got an e-mail today indicating that someone (maybe the same guy) is
contacting my bidders to see if they were interested in a "second
chance" sale.

None of this has ever happened to me on ebay (my feedback, including
the completed sale, are listed under my handle "ehagen"). I think I
need to take a shower.

[Kurt Shapiro]

FBI time.

"dunlop212" <ed_h...@bellsouth.net> wrote in message
news:57bfeff0.0404...@posting.google.com...

[dunlop212]

"Kurt Shapiro" <kurtWITHOUTT...@hotmailNOSPAMTHANKS.com> wrote in message news:<K7KdnWluL4Q...@comcast.com>...
> FBI time.
>

Nice thought, but I can't even get ebay interested. I sent them an
e-mail asking them to warn the other bidders, and they responded with
a form e-mail that made it clear that they did not even read my
e-mail.

Caveat emptor! That's the purpose of my post here.

[Michael Evans]

Hmm - Ebay is not really serious about fraud. At least that is my conclusion
too
after a recent experience with an auction that I participated in (and won)
where there was **clear** evidence of shill bidding (somebody connected
with the bidder driving up the auction price). This person drove
up the price in small increments until it was just past my max bid then
retracted (which causes all their bids to be removed) and **then** placed a
bid at just under
my max. This bidder had one transaction with feedback on Ebay and this was
with the seller! When I contacted Ebay they sent me a form email saying
everything
had been checked and all was in order (even though I could document exactly
what had happened
through their own emails). I refused to give up and after about
4 more emails to their idiotic customer service people I got an admission
that something "unusual" had happened but they still refused to nullify
the auction. So I'm left in limbo. According to their rules I should
complete
the transaction but I won't because without the shill bidder I would have
purchased
the item at a considerably lower price. Now this is all for small money but
still
Ebay's attitude alarmed me. I will never purchase anything costing a lot of
money thru
them because they are not policing their auctions properly and, based on the
emails
I've received, don't seem to think they have to. I wish there was a forum to
post these
kinds of complaints about them. They are making a lot of money and I don't
think they deserve to.

It seems your experience with them is similar. So Ebay users beware!

Mike

"dunlop212" <ed_h...@bellsouth.net> wrote in message

news:57bfeff0.04042...@posting.google.com...

[Clyde Spillenger]

Based on what you said -- perhaps Ebay should institute a rule that
prohibits someone from bidding on an item once that person has
retracted a bid. Is there any strong reason against having such a
rule? It seems it would help cut down on the kind of situation you
describe. Of course, then a third person (or the seller himself)
could just then place the "just under" bid.

"Michael Evans" <mev...@utstat.utoronto.ca> wrote in message news:<iKyjc.24074$OU.5...@news20.bellglobal.com>...

[Michael Evans]

Yes a rule like that would help but in the end I think they have to be
prepared to
examine any auction they sponsor and come to some kind of sensible
determination
as to whether or not the auction was conducted properly. If it wasn't (and I
think the
evidence in my case was pretty clear) then the auction should be cancelled
and appropriate
action taken against the seller. If they have don't enough evidence against
the seller then
the auction could just proceed again. To me that is their responsibility as
hosts
for the auction and for the fees they collect. Its bizarre to me that they
don't see it that
way at all. More or less regarded me as a pest.

Also they don't keep complete
records of the auctions. When my auction was completed the record available
on the web only recorded the one bid retraction and not the multiple
incremental
bids that this person had made before that (I saw them when I got the email
that
I was no longer high bidder). I think there are flaws in the way Ebay is
conducting
itself. I suspect these will lead to serious problems for some if it hasn't
happened already.

Mike

"Clyde Spillenger" <spil...@law.ucla.edu> wrote in message
news:f42156e5.04042...@posting.google.com...

[Kurt Shapiro]

Interstate fraud, internet fraud, and mail fraud are Federal crimes, but
Ebay is not in the business of enforcing laws.

The FBI probably won't consider this a big enough fish to be worthy of the
trouble, but you never know. Might be worth an email to them.

"dunlop212" <ed_h...@bellsouth.net> wrote in message

news:57bfeff0.04042...@posting.google.com...