Strange Ebay Activity

glenwolde that makes sense to me now after your "esplaining". Thanks.

It also points out that a yokel like me; who goes on ebay 3 or 4 times a year,(maybe), is likely not the average ebay user; meaning, there must be thousands of people "working" ebay 24-7 as a full time job.

And to stay somewhat on thread, there must be large numbers of folks "hacking and jacking" accounts night and day also.
 
I got an email confirmation one day from Walmart about transactions on my account. Only thing was...I hadn't made any.

I called them immediately and they said somebody was registering the account to a whole bunch of small value gift cards. There was like a hundred of them the largest of which was less than five dollars. He killed the account and forwarded it on to try to figure out how that scam was working.

I too lost the ability to use that email address to form a new account. I use gmail, but I used to use Yahoo. I still have the yahoo address and have it forwarded to my gmail.

One good thing about Yahoo is it allows you to create disposable email addresses. You choose a prefix, and a variable suffix of your choosing. You can use these in creative ways, like including a company name in the address.

I never thought that using your email for a user name was all that great an idea. If they have your email address they have half of what they need to get in your account. I look at is not a user name and password, but as two passwords.

Gmail doesn't have exactly the same thing...but there is a way.

Beginner

So I have an email address that I use for correspondence, but never as a user name. All the email addresses I use as usernames are different, but have the same prefix and all get forwarded to the gmail.
 
High Bidder Cancelled Thier Bid?

Sometimes a high bidder cancelled their high bid, leaving you holding the backup bid. It happens all the time.

If it's a item you regularly bid on, that's what might'a happened.

It has happened to me.
 
rusty37874 said:
I just won an auction on ebay that I didn't bid on! ---- Say What?, I have never had this happen before. Ever heard of this?
Click to expand...

It happened to me over 15 years ago. I was a member of eBay, but hadn't bid on anything at the time. Some German creep put three complaints on me which got me suspended or banned? I can't recall what I supposedly bid on? even though I had as yet ever bid on anything. I told eBay I had never bid but, they took the sellers word over the bidder. I didn't care, I had created a new account anyway---which I still have but don't use.
 
PatriotX said:
It may have been a case of you not winning an item on which you previously bid, and the winning bidder flaking out. The second-place bidder - you - then became the auction winner.
Click to expand...

He got hit with some type of spam. A second chance offer will show up to a buyer as a buy it now with a time frame of 24 hours. I have offered this to the second place bidder when the original buyer backed out.
 
the ringo kid said:
It happened to me over 15 years ago. I was a member of eBay, but hadn't bid on anything at the time. Some German creep put three complaints on me which got me suspended or banned? I can't recall what I supposedly bid on? even though I had as yet ever bid on anything. I told eBay I had never bid but, they took the sellers word over the bidder. I didn't care, I had created a new account anyway---which I still have but don't use.
Click to expand...

It has changed considerably for sellers on eBay. A seller cannot leave negative feedback and a buyer can return an item basically no questions asked on the sellers dime.
 
dswancutt said:
It has changed considerably for sellers on eBay. A seller cannot leave negative feedback and a buyer can return an item basically no questions asked on the sellers dime.
Click to expand...

Good. Last time I bid was over two years ago and the last time I spent money? I contacted seller and bought outright. I think it was a set of original lobby cards for the movie: Vera Cruz? Anyway, eBay didn't make any money from this and many other sales from same people.:)
 
dswancutt said:
It has changed considerably for sellers on eBay. A seller cannot leave negative feedback and a buyer can return an item basically no questions asked on the sellers dime.
Click to expand...

I see this contradicted in countless eBay ads. A high percentage of eBay ads state no returns and most that allow returns write shipping costs will not be refunded.

eBay's user agreement page states the next highest bidder is obligated to buy the item if the highest bidder does not pay OR the seller rejects the highest bidder. I suspect that last requirement might get sellers who bid up their own auction with a different account off the hook. However, eBay writes that in the event the next highest bidder becomes the "winner" that notification will always come through eBay's internal message system and never through an e-mail. If it comes through an e-mail eBay wants to be notified.
 
k22fan said:
I see this contradicted in countless eBay ads. A high percentage of eBay ads state no returns and most that allow returns write shipping costs will not be refunded.
Click to expand...

Well, that's what my listings stated but it doesn't work that way. All the buyer has to do is claim the item is not as described.
Just had this happen to me. I liquidated all my unbuilt plastic model kits. Had a Ju52 kit that was opened, but all the bags where sealed. Buyer said that kit has a strong musty smell and wants his money back. I had two options as a seller:
1 Refund his money and he keeps the item.
2 Send him a shipping label, hope he packs it correctly and has not stole/lost any of the parts and ship it back to me, then refund his money.

I choose option 1 as I would be 12 bucks in the hole for shipping and typically, relisted items don't bring the same amount if relisted. In the long run it wasn't worth the hastle.
I did screw up, as I listed the kit as used, but in as new condition. Won't make that mistake again.
 
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rusty37874 said:
I just won an auction on ebay that I didn't bid on! ---- Say What?, I have never had this happen before. Ever heard of this?
Click to expand...

I had something like this happen once on eBay, sort of. I made someone a low-ball offer on some item (not the "asking for" price). So much time went by before he accepted my offer, I had forgotten I'd even made it!

About a week went by before I even noticed I'd "won" an auction. But it was no big deal. It was some three dollar do-hickey, and that included shipping. If it had been a scam, they had very low expectations.
 
dswancutt said:
Well, that's what my listings stated but it doesn't work that way. All the buyer has to do is claim the item is not as described.
Just had this happen to me. I liquidated all my unbuilt plastic model kits. Had a Ju52 kit that was opened, but all the bags where sealed. Buyer said that kit has a strong musty smell and wants his money back. I had two options as a seller:
1 Refund his money and he keeps the item.
2 Send him a shipping label, hope he packs it correctly and has not stole/lost any of the parts and ship it back to me, then refund his money.

I choose option 1 as I would be 12 bucks in the hole for shipping and typically, relisted items don't bring the same amount if relisted. In the long run it wasn't worth the hastle.
I did screw up, as I listed the kit as used, but in as new condition. Won't make that mistake again.
Click to expand...

In a round about way you wrote I was correct. Either the flaws in your item were not included in your item description or you chose to not assert your rights. Retailers often let the customer be right in order to preserve their reputation. Just because that is a sound business decision does not mean there is a rule that they have to. There will be some small percentage of customers that milk the situation.
 
You run into a lot of weird and unexpected things with eBay.
But I think the most common and difficult area to resolve is merchandise not being described accurately.
I like to buy brand name items in new condition.
That pretty much eliminates how excellent is excellent or almost new is what?
And sometimes that don't work.
A while back, I bought a new Queen lock blade knife with bone handle.
When I got it, the action just wasn't right.
Those knives, for you non bladers, have a Ching action not unlike a pump shotgun.
And I already had a cheaper version of the same knife, which has fantastic action.
I finally convinced the skeptical seller that he had sold me a suspicious knife.
EBay - let the buyer beware!
But in the other hand- let the good times roll.
 
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I see some of the same on gunbroker. Listings for guns that are "new" but we lost the box and papers when we moved. Sorry but new does not mean the same to me as unfired.
 
I suspect dswancutt envisioned his customer assembling the model and throwing out the box. In that case his moldy box would not appear relevant. However, it's Christmas season. In families that give each other new gifts that moldy box would have made the model unsuitable for gifting. It is also possible the buyer was planning to put it out on his shelf for resale as new and the moldy box would prevent that. If it was a collectable like an older as NIB S&W revolver the box's deterioration affects value and should have been mentioned in the ad. If it had been in the ad the sale price would have been less but that would have been a lot better than what he got.
 
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Walmart.com fraud detection is very good. They contacted me about a couple of suspicious orders and it turned out they were fraudulent. Someone had stolen my credit card info and used it to place orders on line. My credit card company didn't have clue, but Walmart did and contacted me.

I had to get a new credit card, but other than that, there was no problem. That was Discover, which has very poor fraud prevention and as I found out, even worse customer service.

:(

glenwolde said:
I got an email confirmation one day from Walmart about transactions on my account. Only thing was...I hadn't made any.
Click to expand...
 
k22fan said:
I suspect dswancutt envisioned his customer assembling the model and throwing out the box. In that case his moldy box would not appear relevant. However, it's Christmas season. In families that give each other new gifts that moldy box would have made the model unsuitable for gifting. It is also possible the buyer was planning to put it out on his shelf for resale as new and the moldy box would prevent that. If it was a collectable like an older as NIB S&W revolver the box's deterioration affects value and should have been mentioned in the ad. If it had been in the ad the sale price would have been less but that would have been a lot better than what he got.
Click to expand...

What you say is true except a:, the box was not moldy, just had been sitting in a non temp controlled storage unit tighly packed in a box for 9 years, and b: that I sold about 200 kits or more that I have sold that are exactly the same, out of the same box and storage unit that smelled the same and nobody said diddly boo. In fact, several of the feedback say the kit was better than described. Many people list kits exactly as mine as new, even though the box is open. This kit was listed as used because it was open. I do my best to show any problems and under sell the kit. If the decals where trashed, I said the decals were trashed, parts missing to my knowledge, I let people know. I even notified two buyers that I had found parts listed as missing after they bought kits and offered to send them to them free of charge if they wanted them. So despite what you are trying to imply, I am not out to take advantage of anybody.
What chaps me as the buyer never even tried to work with me. I think he knew damn well there was a chance that i would do as I did.
And despite what you say, even with a no return in your add, the buyer STILL can return no questions asked per eBay if the buyer deems it not as described. The buyer calls the shots in the eBay world.
 
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