Ebid Fraud

The_Conductor

Got an e-mail from ebid yesterday- rather terse stating:

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Original Message

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From: <admin@ebid.ie>
Date: Tuesday, November 30, 2004 2:09 pm
Subject: eBid Account - suspended !!

Dear <snip>

We reserve the right to revoke access to our site. We have suspended your
account
If you wish to have your account reinstated, please feel free to contactcustomer service (customerservice@ebid.ie) to discuss the matter.

Yours etc
eBid

I naturally enough was wondering what the story was and sent back the following:

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Original Message

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From: "<snip>" <>
To: <customerservice@ebid.ie>
Cc: <>
Sent: Tuesday, November 30, 2004 4:03 PM
Subject: Re: eBid Account - suspended !!


Good afternoon,

I have attempted to call your office (at the advertised phone number
01-2020500) but am unable to get through.

While I do appreciate that you reserve the right to deny access to your
service on whatsoever grounds as you may choose, I do not consider that I
have undertaken any action that warrants my account being suspended.

I would appreciate if you would
1) let me know why you saw fit to disable it.
2) if a mistake has occured, please re-enable my account.

I have not been using ebid much lately, but have purchased a mouse for a
Macintosh and a laptop through ebid in the recent past (I've not sold any
items in some time).

I look forward to hearing from you,

With best regards,

<snip>

******

Naturally enough I was more than a little miffed- wondering what they were up to. I this evening received this from them (note userid removed as I am presuming the party is innocent unless proven guilty):

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Original Message

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From: <snip> [mailto: <snip>@ebid.ie]
Sent: 01 December 2004 15:33
To: <snip>
Subject: Re: eBid Account - suspended !!


Dear <snip>

We send you a mail yesterday concerning the account suspension.
I have copied it below:

We are assisting the Garda Fraud squad with their investigation into a
Seller on Ebid.

We have been requested to supply the of all members who placed bids on items
listed by S******1234

Your account was suspended while we examined the details of the items
listed. You may have recieved an email from us to that effect. Please ignore
it. Your
account has been reactivated.

I hope you understand that eBid is determined to stamp out fraud on our site
and are doing everything we can to assist the Guards in their investigation.


Yours sincerely

<snip>

****************

Fair enough the guy was offering Sony Ericsson P900 phones for Euro 100 each. Sounded dodgy as hell. I bid on one (he had 100) and following the auction close politely informed the guy that I intended to collect the phone from him in person- as his registered address is not too far from where I live. I never heard back from him- I got no phone, he got no money.

Is there a mad amount of fraud happening on ebid- and the other auction sites- and short of chanting caveat emptor, is there anything that can be suggested to protect yourself when buying stuff from third parties online?

I was more than a little annoyed at the heavy handed approach ebid took on the bidders- they have the guys address on file- so whats the idea trying to intimidate people who bidded on his auction? Also- it was an auction starting at 1 Euro, with a non-disclosed reserve (even if he did say he had 100 units). No-one knew he was giving them away at 100 each until they actually bid 100 or more (in my case I autobid up to 400 Euro, and it automatically stopped at 100 Euro when I matched his reserve).

I'm more than a little peeved at the ebids heavy handed response.......

.

alleepally

Looks like it was some sort of automated email that went out on suspending the account. Presumably they needed to do it to assist in catching the crim who may have fleeced others. Since your account is re-instated it's as well off to just put it down to the automatronic email system we live in !!!

Canis Lupus

I work with a money transfer company and as far as I'm concerned Ebay has tonnes of fraudulent ppl.

Examples of what I've seen:

People bid on an item and don't win but receive an email from another member stating that they have seen yur bid and have the exact same product themselves and would sell it for the right price.
Buyer checks the sellers history and finds it impecable.
Seller insists money be sent via my company (which is not liable for non delivery of goods yada yada) but in order to placate the buyer, the seller asks the money be sent to a random name and the transfer number be passed onto the seller who can then ring up the company and verify money is on the system and the seller will send the goods.
Then the buyer can change the name into the correct version and the seller picks up the money and all is good.

Cept these ppl work in gangs and hack a valid users account on ebay which has a great rep.
Also once they receive the money transfer number then can then view the transfer on the internet and see the payees name (also highly possible they have inside source like an agent in a shop)
Then they make up required ID (oddly always seem to be an Italian ID card or Italian passport) and collect the money and thats it.
Buyer has no come back with us because we have a receipt showing a payee collected fair and square and we aint liable for non delivery as is shown in our terms and conditions etc etc and obviously the police won't really be able to do anything either.

Other twists on the theme is the seller will offer to use an escrow service again dodgy (even with highly professional looking websites being used).
It goes on but ultimately I blame the buyer who thinks he/she is making a FANTASTIC saving usually on an expensive camera/mobile phones (bulk) and laptops but doesn't stop to think about the matter.

Stories I have of one person buying £1000 camera (thats sterling ppl). The seller picked the money up with fraudulent ID and claimed he never received it (how could he as it wasnt sent in his name). The buyer complains to us but also sends another £1000 in the meantime which the seller gleefully collects and dissappears with.

Also my heart goes out to some dope of an english lad who bought some £3000 worth of mobile phones in a similar deal using money his boss gave him, He never got those phones and I reckon he prolly didn't keep his job either....

It goes on and on and particularly last summer it WAS HUGE. I received at least one phonecall a day about a matter described above and usually we're talking £600 and above. Shocking how dense some ppl can be.

Hobbes

Canis Lupus wrote:

Shocking how dense some ppl can be.

I doubt all the blame goes on the end user. Some people expect eBay to some kind of reputable business that make sure everything is on the up and up when it is so far from that.

They expect Christies, instead they get dodgy businnes in some back alley way.

It would be better to alert the customers to possible scams then to blame them.

Padraig Mor

Ebid is gone to the dogs altogether. Used to use it a few years ago, but they really let it slide. I'm surprised it's still going to be honest.

okidoki987

Are we talking about EBID OR EBAY or both?
Big difference!

Padraig Mor

okidoki987 wrote:

Are we talking about EBID OR EBAY or both?
Big difference!

In my case, talking about Ebid. eBay rocks!

The_Conductor

okidoki987 wrote:

Are we talking about EBID OR EBAY or both?
Big difference!

Ditto- my probs are with ebid.ie
Any dealings I've had on ebay have been fine (apart from extortionate shipping charges!)

Jimllfixit

Lots of different thoughts in this thread.

My beef about Ebid is/was that for the same IDENTICAL 47 auctions, not a single bid via Ebid, loads through Ebay. You could see several of the auctions on both sites in a Google search acouple of days after they were uploaded.

It's a pity for Ebid, because the site works well, takes a fraction of the time to use than Ebay, and they do charge less for selling stuff.

Regarding excessive shipping charges, that's entirely down to the seller; as a seller, I have to add in a euro on top of posting to make it worthwhile, but the Irish postal rates are crippling.

biko

Thread from 2004. If you like you can start a new one in the Online Auctions forum.