Wanted to share a recent encounter that occured this week.

Had an ebay seller who was selling a Class A amplifier for 300 bucks who lived in my zip code here in NYC.

Keep in mind, zip codes in NYC are on average only a quarter of a square mile in size.

I sent an email saying i want to check out the amp and if it was ok, would make and offer thru ebay and pay while I was there and take the amp home.

Seller replies you buy now, come buy and I'll hand you the amp at my door.

I responded that I will have to assume there is something wrong with the amp, and with drew my interest.


After the exchange...it dawned on me I had used the want to go to your house to check the goods on offers that appeared to be questionalble in the past and it helped spot scammers. Tipically when I'm checking for scammers I send an email from a few different ID's at the same time. One saying let me get your info so I can come by and check the goods and pay in cash.

The others will have senerios of money orders or bank transfers. Scammers usally do not respond to request that include house calls from buyers.

I buy a lot of stuff on eBay. I agree with your thoughts that scammers will avoid Paypal and in-person pickups. But that doesn't mean that everyone who won't let you into their house before you win is a scammer.

I've encountered a number of people who are truly scared to let unknown individuals into their homes. These include, the young, the elderly, single women, and of course, the truly paranoid. With smaller items I will often offer to meet at someplace where the person can feel safe. Public buildings, their local bank, and restaurants /coffee shops/diners are favorites.

For local offerings I will ask if a check the merchandise meeting is allowable. I will normally let the seller know I will bid only if they agree to meet "should I win the auction". For bigger items packaging is a pain, and cash avoids Paypal fees. If I don't feel good about an auction I'll just pass it buy. They'll be many more items I want in short order.

hammr7 has offered good advice to you.
I would also recommend checking, of course, the sellers feedback rating. I would like to see a feature on ePay which allows me to see onlt the negs, avoiding going through what could be thousands of "nice transaction" feedbacks.

Always try and use PayPal, if possible. They protect you, albeit in a somewhat limited way.

To spot shill bidders, look at the bidding history. If there's a bidder who keeps bidding up, and his feedback rating suggests he's not a newbie, he may be shilling for the seller. This can be further confirmed by looking at the shills location... If he's located in the same city as the seller, he might be a shill bidder. (although not necessarily; some peeps just have to have the thing no matter what it costs them, although this is silly).

Read ePays tutorials. They are designed to protect you against the slimy bastards who are out to rip off people. No one knows more about this than ePay, after all the feedback they received from people who got burned!

I never bid... I snipe. I use a program that places my max bid 3 seconds before the end of the auction, after I'm convinced the auction is genuine and I've bombarded the seller with a million questions. Ask questions! Lots of them! You can tell by the answers if the seller knows what he's talking about, or if he's just winging it.

A "one owner" can literally mean "I am the one owner of this thing", not the original owner.

Good luck with your future ePay dealings!

A seller who only accepts money orders doesn't indicate scam. I've used them before. Many sellers only want money orders and if it's an item I want I'll gladly pay in the form of payment requested. PayPal is EVIL. Money Orders work quite well. The hype spread around that all money orders = scam is getting sort of old and tired. I suspect one big reason people like PP(evil) over a money order is that the buyer can slap it on a credit card furthering their debt, where money orders can only be purchased with cash(and in some/many cases a debit card).

Insisting people meet at a local police station parking lot is a good way to send the people up to potential no good running.

Oh, and just looking at negative feedback is narrow minded. I've purchased from sellers in the past with 93% positive feedback because I've read their negative feedback, then viewed what the reply feedback was and found the seller not in the wrong. Be this a seller with 50 feedback, or even 5000. A person with 2000 positive and even 98% isn't necessarily a bad seller. Looking at only the negative on any seller and I'd probably run too. Then you do a little research and see, for example a negative received that seller was a crook and insert general childish rant as well. Then you see the seller's response to that feedback which says the buyer was irrational and completely unreasaonable and they gave the buyer a month to pay and they still didn't. On the other hand, if many people refuse to bid solely on negative feedback, then it leaves the item open for others seriously interested who can look past what may only be retaliatory negative feedback.

My three cents.

I've encountered a number of people who are truly scared to let unknown individuals into their homes. These include, the young, the elderly, single women, and of course, the truly paranoid. That is a very good reason why the meeting offer was not accepted. Would you let a stranger you met through ebay come to your house to buy stereo equipment? I sure would hesitate. Just my two cents.

A seller who only accepts money orders doesn't indicate scam. I've used them before. Many sellers only want money orders and if it's an item I want I'll gladly pay in the form of payment requested. PayPal is EVIL. Money Orders work quite well. The hype spread around that all money orders = scam is getting sort of old and tired. I suspect one big reason people like PP(evil) over a money order is that the buyer can slap it on a credit card furthering their debt, where money orders can only be purchased with cash(and in some/many cases a debit card).

Insisting people meet at a local police station parking lot is a good way to send the people up to potential no good running.

Perhaps you've had a bad experience with PayPal? What was it?

PayPal just recovered my money for a cd I bought on an official John Norum website, which I never received:thmbsp:

There is no recourse in getting your money back using a money order. Money orders are a scammers best friend:yes:

Looking at neg feedback assumes that you are wise enough to interpret the neg comments and judge for yourself.

As for someone buying with their CC, who cares?

Here's how to view all of the negative feedbacks together without going through all those "nice transaction" feedbacks. I use this all of the time.

http://www.toolhaus.org/cgi-bin/negs

Perhaps you've had a bad experience with PayPal? What was it?

PayPal just recovered my money for a cd I bought on an official John Norum website, which I never received:thmbsp:

There is no recourse in getting your money back using a money order. Money orders are a scammers best friend:yes:

Looking at neg feedback assumes that you are wise enough to interpret the neg comments and judge for yourself.

As for someone buying with their CC, who cares?

Money orders may be a scammers best friend, but they're also a legitimate way for many honest sellers to accept payment. Again, I've purchased many an item from sellers who take ONLY money orders, all without issue!

There's also no recourse with PayPal(I know, I lost a lot. they protect shady sellers). I used to be a happy user of theirs. Then, as with many other people, they do a 180 and refuse to protect you sighting "you did read our 80 page agreement you were supposed to read when you signed up, right?". "It clearly states in section xxx paragraph that we do not in fact cover that". Tell them they're misleading everyone out there who uses PayPal and they'll tell you well all PayPal users have read their entire legal agreement and know they don't cover many things. They act like any purchase you make is covered. Not true at all.

There's many sellers(and buyers) now who refuse to use PayPal. Some people still have zero issues with them. But when you do, you'll never use them again.

I too prefer using M.O. for payment. I only use PP if it is the only form of payment the seller will accept. Never had a problem yet using M.O.s. You have to do your homework and check out the sellers feedback, read some of them and see how the seller deals with his buyers. Like the previous poster said,some sellers don't want anything to do with PP.

so it sounds like the majority would buy from someone who says bid, pay, I'll hand you the item at the door.....

so it sounds like the majority would buy from someone who says bid, pay, I'll hand you the item at the door.....

At least you don't have to worry about united package smashers or fed up destroying your purchase. :D

I've encountered a number of people who are truly scared to let unknown individuals into their homes. These include, the young, the elderly, single women, and of course, the truly paranoid. With smaller items I will often offer to meet at someplace where the person can feel safe. Public buildings, their local bank, and restaurants /coffee shops/diners are favorites.
With CL and whatnot I generally try to set up a meeting in the parking-lot of a local supermarket/shopping center. Easy to find, close to the main thoroughfares, "I'll be waiting for you near the light pole with the sign that says G-7 on it". And nearly everyone just wants you to buy their stereo kit, but there might be someone out there who wants to make a coat out of your skin. With large and cumbersome items this becomes more difficult, but it was going to be moved sooner or later.

You never know.

Money orders may be a scammers best friend, but they're also a legitimate way for many honest sellers to accept payment. Again, I've purchased many an item from sellers who take ONLY money orders, all without issue!

There's also no recourse with PayPal(I know, I lost a lot. they protect shady sellers). I used to be a happy user of theirs. Then, as with many other people, they do a 180 and refuse to protect you sighting "you did read our 80 page agreement you were supposed to read when you signed up, right?". "It clearly states in section xxx paragraph that we do not in fact cover that". Tell them they're misleading everyone out there who uses PayPal and they'll tell you well all PayPal users have read their entire legal agreement and know they don't cover many things. They act like any purchase you make is covered. Not true at all.

There's many sellers(and buyers) now who refuse to use PayPal. Some people still have zero issues with them. But when you do, you'll never use them again.

Teron, I'm sorry you've had trouble using PP.
I think I'll read the user agreement again (been quite a while, and some changes have probably taken place).

I made two claims with PP since joining, and recovered all the money both times. One was for $380 that I thought I'd never see again.

To be honest, I don't like ePay or PP. I don't like buying from strangers who leave out the little things ("You have to look really close") But, for certain things like vintage audio or other junk not usually found at the local store, ePay may be the only way to go, I'm sorry to say.:sigh: