Help wanted with possible eBay scam - Dell laptop question?

ttm

I've just emailed a guy (via eBay system) for the Dell Tag number off one of the laptops he's got listed. Obviously this is to check the laptop exists on the Dell system and to double check the spec.

Now here was his reply

"sorry, all these are sealed in boxes. i cant get to the individual tags without breaking the seal"

So my question is the Service Tag number on the outside of the packing box? I just seem to remember it is but can't be sure so if anyones bought a new Dell recently can you check and let me know.

Rebel021

my service tag was on the label outside the box

yoshytoshy

Would they not be concerned you might use the Tag number ,to commit fraud.

Like when someone selling a car ,doesn't want their reg displayed.

ttm

yoshytoshy wrote: »

Would they not be concerned you might use the Tag number ,to commit fraud.

Like when someone selling a car ,doesn't want their reg displayed.

You have a point but there is a difference between quoting the tag on the eBay listing where anyone can see it and supplying it to a potential buyer so the buyer can check that Dell did at least make the item concerned. When you go to see a car you see the reg number and can then do an online check if you want to before commiting to buy.

As an example I asked for and was given the Service Tag from another Dell machine listed on eBay recently and I didn't bid because the system was originally supplied in France with a French keyboard, the seller hadn't mentioned that in the auction.

Thanks for the info Rebel021, I thought as much and even checked a load old Dell boxes I have from years back in the shed and they too had the service tags clearly printed on them.

If anyone wants to take a look the auction I'm concerned about is http://cgi.ebay.ie/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=250389377544 which ends today, I did report my suspicions to eBay but who knows how there opaque system works?

Eireann

Very strange, the photo is just a stock one too, I would avoid at all costs. Member since 2006...

Take a look here...

http://www.goofbay.com/ebay_seller_history_tool.html?gsl_username=smurfu2&gsl_days=30&gsl_include=both&gsl_show_buyers=on&gsl_submit=&gsl_submit.x=41&gsl_submit.y=2

Rebel021

Wouldn't touch that list with a bargepole

Eireann

Touch what list!?

ttm

One explaination would be a Hijacked account (which I also just happened to mention to eBay LOL).

Old account with no activity and never sold a thing till now?

Ah good I see some feedback. The plot thickens ONE Neutral.....

seller remove item after that when my payment was done

http://feedback.ebay.ie/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback2&userid=smurfu2&&ftab=FeedbackAsSeller&iid=250389377544&sspagename=VIP:feedback:2:ie

wonder if that could be because the seller forgot to set the bidder ID as private. No way you can ask questions of a succesful bidder if their ID is kept private?

Thanks Eireann I like goofbay.com wonder if the tax man has found it yet :eek::eek::eek:

I think Rebel021 ment listing so was refering to the eBay listing I linked to and not your goofbay list.

delly

I emailed the seller to say I lived near Dun Laoghaire and could I pick it up if I win.

We'll see what he comes back with.

ttm

delly wrote: »

I emailed the seller to say I lived near Dun Laoghaire and could I pick it up if I win.

We'll see what he comes back with.

Good idea I was going to ask if someone would try that for me

First question I asked (as per OP) got a swift reply but subsequent questions have gone unanswered.

I really am looking for a Dell laptop and another guy who is selling a load of second hand ones is telling me that all the Service tags have been removed from the systems he is selling, so another one I won't be bidding on

Prior to that I ask another seller for the Service tag and they gave me the wrong one then tried to sell off eBay once they thought I was interested :rolleyes:

delly

Well tbh, I use eBay to buy all kinds of stuff, but I think a laptop is one of those things which it can be risky for.

Rebel021

Eireann wrote: »

Touch what list!?

I meant listing:D

Eireann

Sorry I thought you meant the Goofbay list was dodge - I love that site!
How come so much stuff was sold recently with no feedback?!
Very strange. OP, I would avoid it like the plague.

ttm

Eireann wrote: »

How come so much stuff was sold recently with no feedback?!
Very strange. OP, I would avoid it like the plague.

Don't worry I am avoiding like the plague, but I just got to watch the items for as long as it takes to see the outcome :cool: - could be weeks or even months but thats the eBay system for you :mad:

I know I'm autistic and that sometimes gives me an advantage seeing stuff other people miss (lateral thinking - disadvantage is I miss the obvious LOL) but how come people can bid on an auction like this and miss the signs that to me screeeeeeeeem out BEWARE!

Eireann

i think some people are really innocent and can't see the bad in people! Bargains make people act weird.

ttm

Eireann wrote: »

i think some people are really innocent and can't see the bad in people! Bargains make people act weird.

Six Hundred and Eightly (680) EUROS worth of weirdness!

http://cgi.ebay.ie/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=250389377544

Oh well at least the buyer isn't getting ripped off on postage only 20euro

Eireann

Bidding has now ended.. I would be interested to keep an eye and check out the feedback for this transaction...

He/She just got two positive feedbacks.. today... an easel and massage socks.. kinda random considering it all seemed to be electronics before this (as per Goofbay)

Eireann

I also just checked out their feedback left... 3 items from 06/07.. from two users, now all NARU. No feedback for more recent transactions!

AND they have 8 XBox 360 Elites on BIN for €120... very strange indeed.

Eireann

This guy is getting worse.. had 8 XBoxes for sale... now has 14.

ttm

Frustrating isn't it :(:(

One reason I stop myself chasing tooooo many of these , I only bother reporting something now if I would actually consider buying it if everything felt right.

I don't sell on eBay so don't understand all the selling rules but thought this should apply from ebay pages about Featured Listings ........

"Some upgrades require qualifications. For example, Featured Plus is available only to sellers with a Feedback score of 10 or more."

The orignal laptop was afaik a Featured Plus listing? Yet feed back score at the time was 3. And this also looks like a Featured Plus listing http://cgi.ebay.ie/Asus-GeForce-9800GTX-512MB-9800-GTX_W0QQitemZ250391646894 ?

Eireann

His feedback jumping up is really strange too. I believe 9 of the 14 XBoxes are now sold.. I'm definatly gonna keep an eye on this one, I feel sorry for the buyers if this is dodgy.

ttm

If it is a scam its a good one. eBay don't want to know about it, but then when you report something its very hit and miss if they do anything. For example I reported one item (defo illegal acording to eBays rules) and it was removed then noticed same guy had a load more listed and when I reported them eBay did nothing - go figure. Suspect they even have a special place for my reports - the bin :rolleyes:

Most scams are just old ones reused and with a little searching with google you can find the same pictures or text in a scam somewhere else - scammers seem to think if it worked once for however short a time its always worth a second try? But here there is no history, just the classic gut feeling you (I) get when an offer "is too good to be true".

If you were to score this (like some anti-spam software scores email) it would go like this.......

Stock Photo minus 1
Current Feedback minus 1 (for item withdrawn)
Feedback History minus 1 (no verifiable history)
History as seller minus 1 (could be included in above?)
Type of item minus 1 (sought after item)
Price minus 1 (really is the cheapest on eBay - toooo cheap)
Responce to questions minus 1 (responce avoided answering question)
Bidder ID private minus 1 (no chance of checking with a previous winner)
Method of sale unlikely to to raise the best price minus 1 (too many sought after items listed at the same time very strange also laptop sale included many extras which mould normally be sold seperatly to make more money)
Quality of listing minus 1 (only because this is a seller who has never sold on eBay before yet they know all the angles including Featured listings)
Best offer used on a sought after item that is already cheap minus 1

That makes a total of ten minus points which if we keep to my anti spam analogy comes up with a seller whose items get sent to the spam folder.

jor el

Some poor gobshite has just lost 700 euro. Not to mention all the idiots buying the Xboxes, including one person who's bought 2 of them.

I find it hard to feel sorry for these people though. These are obvious scams, especially when you analyse it in a manner like ttm has just posted. Even without over analysing it, you cannot buy an Xbox Pro console for 120 euro, nor do you get a laptop of that spec for 700. If it gives you pause to stop for just one second, and ask yourself "could this possibly be real?", then it almost certainly isn't. An idiot and his money, and all that.

Eireann

I honestly 100% believe that people are just getting tunnel vision, they see the excellant price and don't see anything else.

Some people shouldnt be allowed to shop online, as its full of this crap. I hope we are all wrong about this seller, but I dont think we are.

ttm

I wonder if someone can explain to me the cost of listing this item.....

http://cgi.ebay.ie/Asus-GeForce-9800GTX-512MB-9800-GTX_W0QQitemZ250391646894

..... as it looks like a Feature Plus listing? Which means the eBay fees for the listing are costing nearly 60euro, although I think that cost is spread across all the sales of that listing. OK so its a good way to get interest but again if the item is a bargin which it is, why pay that much extra to sell something that will sell anyway?

I should have added featured listings into my scoring system (another minus 1) as in the past I have seen a great many hijacked accounts use featured listings to sell items quick, if your not the one paying for the listing then it doesn't matter what it costs , having said that most of those listings involved Western Union type payments.

More analysis, there is a link to all the recent +positive feedback from sellers and not the obvious one . If you check the sellers feedback left for others you can work out that the sellers leave you positive feedback as soon as you pay and all the items are BIN, looks like a good investment in positive feedback if you don't want to look like you are buying feedback but want it quick. If I've checked back through my buys off eBay and less than one in ten sellers leaves feedback as soon as paid, so what chance of picking 5 sellers in a row off that do? yeh more OTT analysis, I'll be reading the listing backwards next and checking for subliminal messages LOL but it does make me wonder why eBay can't have a scanning system that highlights listings that might be fraudulent so they can investigate before the buyers can put a bid in.

OK suitably over analysed but there has to be a logical reason for the gut feeling "its too good to be true".

Eireann

Cant get my head around it at all

ttm

SONY 64GB USB2.0 Flash DISK


Just spotted this on eBay today, not reported it yet as I'm not sure eBay take much notice of me anymore



Now there are two fairly obvious mistakes hope you can all spot them

Not sure how long the link or the picture will last as eBay could delete them if someone reports the item.

For those that don't know Sony does not use the VIAO brand name on usb keys also 2GB is a bit of a give away even if you missed brand name issue.

Eireann

Removed!

ttm

Eireann wrote: »

Removed!

Thats good I've no problem when eBay are that quick but just look how opaque their system is? I added 4 items to my watch list and now they have vanished never a word from eBay so if I hadn't copied the link to the listing here (or saved it on my desktop) I'd have no idea it was gone. Its always annoyed me the way eBay do this rather than inidicate in watched items that the item is removed, always looks to me like a cover up.

Eireann

I agree, something disappears without notification and you never know what happened.

ttm

Looks like the negative feedback has started to arrive.

"AVOIDAVOID ITEM STILL NOT ARRIVED, LEFT 3 MESSAGES NO REPLY,DONT TRUST HIM JOKE" from a user with 0 (zero) feedback.

Eireann

I was waiting on that, would love to know what item he bought, shame it was private

Eireann

They bought one of the XBoxes

http://www.goofbay.com/ebay_bid_history_tool.html?gbl_username=skellybeans&gbl_days=30&gbl_submit=&gbl_submit.x=8&gbl_submit.y=13

ttm

Ouch, suspect more to come then eBay will close the account so we can't see anymore bad feedback or that eBay isn't as safe as they say

Eireann

Another neg has been added..

ttm

Thats was a negative for one of the laptops that started this thread, but 295.00euro for....

DELL LATITUDE D630
Free small external 500GB hard drive. Bringing the total storage space of each laptop to 1TBI will also include a free new 16GB Corsair USB key with each laptop.

This laptop is new and comes with 3 years next business day business warranty (warranty will be transferred to you)
500GB internal Hard drive and free 500GB external Hard Drive.
4GB RAM

Comes with wifi, bluetooth, modem, nic etc

......it was all the free extras with a top spec system that had me asking about service tags (well actually if its a Dell system I always ask for the Service Tag number)

ttm

3 negative in as many hours, another Xbox buyer.

jor el

The most recent negative is from a user with 908 feedback, and been on eBay for 5 years. How can you be around that long, use it that much, and not spot a scam as blatantly obvious as this?

Unsurprisingly, eBay are doing nothing about it. Doesn't matter now anyway, the seller/scammer got what he wanted, and probably cleared out the Paypal account a week ago.

Nody

jor el wrote: »

The most recent negative is from a user with 908 feedback, and been on eBay for 5 years. How can you be around that long, use it that much, and not spot a scam as blatantly obvious as this?

Ebayed ebay account! Buy instant trust :pac:

Eireann

7 negs now... I wonder if they all know how to open a dispute?

http://feedback.ebay.ie/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback2&userid=smurfu2&iid=-1&de=off&items=25&which=negative&interval=365

Eireann

Quite amazing that theres a few high feedbacks from the buyers... 909, 867, 213?

Silly silly. Tunnel Vision is definatly at work here.

867 bought THREE

Paid £350 For 3 Xboxs Via Paypal ~ No Response ~ No Items ~ Complete Con

Eireann

3 more negs added...

334, 266, and 29 feedbacks. How can people with high feedback not realise that this was so dodgy?!

ttm

All I can say in the defence of anyone who got ripped off is that I reported the seller to eBay giving the same reasoning as I did in my posts here and they ignored it.

I joke that eBay bin my reports but if they did keep a file they'd know I was correct 99% of the time (must have reported 1000's of items and sellers in the past for standard scams) and this type of scam has been on the decrease recently but as I heard eBay were "letting a lot of staff go" I just wonder if the scams will start increasing again?

Eireann

ttm, maybe you can help me get my head around this scam.

I understand that seller had items for sale, sold at a ridicoulously (cant spell) low price, got paid by Paypal for all items presumably...

Ok, so I know that part.

Now, Paypal balances get transferred into your bank account. When the money is no longer in your Paypal balance, can Paypal retrieve the money from the sellers bank account, or is there no way of getting it back from the seller?

In other words, does the seller escape with the money? I guess they do, but surely theres a way of Paypal reversing the withdrawn money..

I'm just very confused.

ttm

I don't sell on eBay so I can't really explain how the seller gets his money out? So if anyone can explain how that works please do!

What I am fairly sure of is that if there is no money in the sellers PayPal account then the buyers can't get their money back.


One way to take your money and run might be this
http://workonlineguides.com/how-to-get-money-out-of-paypal-when-you-have-no-bank-account/ ?

Nody

Eireann wrote: »

In other words, does the seller escape with the money? I guess they do, but surely theres a way of Paypal reversing the withdrawn money..

I'm just very confused.

Once Paypal has moved them to the bank account they have no way what so ever to reverse it. This of course is beyond the fact that the person would withdraw the cash as soon as it arrived and close the account/transfer it on some where else.

Eireann

It sounds like scammers paradise. Yet more negs and the user is still registered... doesnt make sense!

jor el

Eireann wrote: »

In other words, does the seller escape with the money? I guess they do, but surely theres a way of Paypal reversing the withdrawn money..

I'm just very confused.

Yes, the scammer withdraws the money from Paypal, possibly to a bank account, and does a runner. There is something Paypal could do, instigate a fraud investigation into the scammer. They don't do this though, because they are profiting from the scam, as are eBay. Lets not forget, that out of the money the buyer pays to the seller, Paypal take a cut. The buyer gets shafted, the seller takes the money and Paypal take their cut. eBay also make money from the initial listing fee, and final valuation fee.

Paypal and eBay are profiting from fraud, which is something they don't want to publicise, as it's quite illegal to knowing facilitate and profit from a fraudulent action, and makes them accomplices to it.

It's a handy little earner though, as the buyer has no way to discover the identity of the seller, as this is guarded by Paypal.

ttm wrote: »

I don't sell on eBay so I can't really explain how the seller gets his money out? So if anyone can explain how that works please do!

The bank account could have been set up using identity theft, so as to hide the scammers real identity, but since neither eBay nor Paypal are actually investigating these scams, they could probably use their own account, and still get away with it.

ttm wrote: »

What I am fairly sure of is that if there is no money in the sellers PayPal account then the buyers can't get their money back.

Correct. Only if the buyer paid by credit card do they have any hope, as a charge back may work for them (though not always).

ttm

Well there he goes; clocked up 16 negatives in less than 24hours before he becomes Not a registered user wow the power and speed of eBay (not).

Only thing that does is protect eBay from any further negative feedback.

Just incase anyones wondering here's what I said when I reported this seller on the 14th of March TWO weeks ago!

Item number(s):
250389375482
250389377544
250389376719
250389372221

Message: Seller is selling Hi Value laptops and has never sold before. Possible account Hijack. Buyer asked for Dell Service Tag which is on all Dell computers and also on the packing boxes, reply was "sorry, all these are sealed in boxes. i cant get to the individual tags without breaking the seal". The Service Tag is unique to each machine and would allow the buyer to check the system was genuine, even when packed the Service Tag are normally visible. So if the user does not have the computers he claims to have for sale he can't supply the Service Tags. Seller has also already just sold brand new graphics cards at about half retail price, no law against it but seller only needs to sell one genuine graphic card and get + feedback to be able to take his money 3K + and run?


Edit > Also reported a second time a few days later from another account as I never trust eBay to do anything about items reported over the weekend (14th was a Saturday) but I think I forgot to tick the send copy to my email box as I can't find a copy anywhere.

Eireann

ttm, good on ya for trying