Sea and Sea DX-D70 Housing for D70 - Relisted!

I weas delighted when someone "bought it now" in response to my Ebay auction for my lovely Dx_D70 Housing. That quickly changed to fuming fury when I read the email from the "buyer" :

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Hello

How are you and your business? i hope fine.I from holland.I want to buy this your item as a birthday gift for my brother who works with shell oil company in west africa,kindly reply this mail if you are not a time waster with payment contacts(i mean get me your paypal email and for payment) and the total cost and the shippment via royalmail on invoice, I will pay you for it.and your methods of payment as to commence payment immediately. Do you ship to africa?If you have paypal acount, i will pay you via online paypal .I hope this item will get to him for the birthday soonest.

Thanks and God bless you

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Needless to say I won't be dealing with this particular individual, the housing is now relisted as item 7597851941

Rob Barker

You can usually get your listing fees back from Ebay for frauds like this.

Good luck.

James

I don't understand what looks fraudulent. He wants to pay immediately, no?

Have to say I'm with Kasey on this one.

Let the funds be deposited into you account and clear well before you ship - normal business !

Hi Kasey,

The problem is that they usually send a forged cashier's check that deposits "OK" but then is revoked a day or two later when the bank figures out it's a forgery. By that time, you've already mailed off your goods.

Cheesr

James

Hi,

Reduce your exposure to risk. Do not sale outside USA (incl. PR, Virgen etc...Alaska) . Make sure you mark your item so no one outside US can see it. And whenever posible take cashier/mo , if not posible (paypal) wait five days before shipping. Remember you can send second offers to people that bid in your auction.

Ed

Tampico ED,

I trust that your are not here implying that anyone from "outside USA" (as I am, and as a whole lot of other wetpixel members are) should automatically not be trusted!

I always make sure the funds are in my account before shipping. Paypal normally is an instant transfer, but if someone pays via Paypal's eCheck option, you should wait the extra days for it to clear.

I don't like to sell internationally because it forces me to go to the post office or shipping center instead of having my packages picked up by UPS or FedEx.

Hi Kasey,

 

The problem is that they usually send a forged cashier's check that deposits "OK" but then is revoked a day or two later when the bank figures out it's a forgery.  By that time, you've already mailed off your goods.

 

Cheesr

James

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I still don't get it. What do you mean "they?" And this guy wants to pay by paypal. I'm not trying to stir anyone up here - I really don't understand what is inappropriate in the email except the questionable English.

I'm with Eric, I limit sales to the US and maybe canada. shipping overseas gets expensive too.

Too many frauds, not worth the trouble.

However, if someone writes me and sounds legit and is willing to pay via PayPal, I'd consider it.

Maybe this article from Divester is interesting to the thread:

Another example of Ebay Fraud

Posted Mar 8th 2006 12:50PM by Bill Reals

I've bought most of my diving gear on eBay and still look for deals every now and then, there is always more room for dive gear in the shed. I was looking on eBay for a compressor and came upon a great example of fraud. Who knows how long it will last but it looks like someone is already having some fun with it since the bid is now at $1.5m.

 

So I thought I was share a little how-to on spotting eBay fraud when looking for dive gear. Not all of these signs by themselves indicate fraud but when you start seeing more than one of these on one listing then beware...

Jack

Unfortunately awaiting recipt of payment prior to despatch is no protection - West African scammers frequently use stolen paypal IDs to pay for expensive goods, which will then be reclaimed and the vendor ends up out of pocket.

This one was fairly easy to spot - many are more difficult.

I had also specified despatch to UK only and they claim to be from Holland, wanting despatch to Africa. Yeah right.

The good news is Ebay also spotted the scam, have closed the account down and offered to refund my fees.

The item has been relisted (7597851941) and it ends tomorrow - I will despatch to the US or Western Europe for established wetpixel members despite what I've said in the auction!

I would have give it one try and said a wire transfer was the only way, once you have it then you would send the item, no cheating on a wire transfer, but reading that email I would say 99% sure it was a scam.