E-Bay: Alert Thread

[Matt L]

A search of this seller's name brings up only a few hits, including this by me:

'97 E420 - Auxiliary Cooling Fan Activation

Be warned: He does not specify whether any of his parts are OEM, or who made them. I saw one neutral feedback on his account which stated that a fan for a different model of car was wired in reverse, as was the one I received.

As it says in the above-referenced post, the fan I bought from him failed after less than a year. I emailed the seller yesterday and informed him of this, but have yet to receive a reply. I'll just have to wait and see if he wants to do anything about it.

It's unclear in his advertisments whether he thinks that his parts have any warranty. What is clear is that he doesn't seem to care much about the products, as indicated by his response to my email last year about the miswired fan.

By the way, Phil came through with a genuine OEM fan for my car. It's only one side (which was all I needed), but was cheaper than the assembly that Rojoimparts sells.

There is a very easy way to tell if a 2nd chance offer is legitimate or a scam. Legitimate eBay 2nd chances are posted as eBay My Messages within the eBay, My eBay secure site. An email 2nd chance offer that does not commence from within eBay is ALWAYS a scam. I just had a whole slew of 2nd chance offers on a pretty '84 300 CD I lost to a last second sniper bid. I've been sniped before on nice camera gear and had 2nd chances come thru eBay and ended up with the items. Any emailed 2nd chance outside eBay is always a scam and it getes worse: if you click any link within the offer, you will provide sensitive information to the phisher. A classic identity theft game.

[probear]

Originally Posted by woodrat

Don't just delete those fake emails, forward them to spoof@ebay.com or spoof@paypal.com

another easy way to spot a fraud is that both paypal and ebay send email specifically addressed to your net name.
All of the spoof emails are mass generated and although they might have your email address, they do not address your 'ebay' or 'paypal' name.

Be safe, always type in the ebay.com or paypay.com as mentioned previously.

I received this email today.

The scam part is the sign-in link: http://www.centilmen.biz/flchat/chat/inc/cmses/www.singin.ebay.com.html

--------
From: member@ebay.com
Subject: FPA NOTICE: eBay Registration Suspension - Pending
Date: February 13, 2007 1:30:25 PM MST
Reply-To: member@ebay.com

Dear eBay Member,

We are sorry to inform you that , your eBay account will be suspended for 14 days for posting wrong categories .Please Sign in , and erase your mistake otherwise you can not sell anything on eBay because of your suspended account.

If eBay finds out that you created another account, they will suspend this new account and it'll even be harder to get your previous account reinstated.

-----------------

What's really sad is how poorly written they made it.

[renman]

This the same guy I bought a 300SDL from a month ago. After stewing for 30 days I finally gave him a negative feedback rating yesterday evening. He's a real piece of work. My car runs well but it has so many problems I still not sure where to begin. I haven't even drivin it since I got it home. Just now I was on Ebay and was crusin the mercedes list when I find this ad by Dieselduallydealer in Memphis. Same Guy!! Trust me you don't want to buy a car from this guy.


http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Mercedes-Benz-E-Class-Beautiful-1995-E300-Diesel-in-Exc-condition-in-Memphis_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ6335QQihZ017QQitemZ270116522290QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

[Jim B.]

Originally Posted by babymog

Yes. This guy, typical ad has the car photos (lots of 'em) on a dock, he's from St Pete FL, usually cheapo repaints, but they're all described as having xxx "meticulously maintained, highway, pampered, miles", being "one of a kind", with the color being rare and the best color combination, and one of the best of its year. If it's a 124 (either the 3.0 or 2.5) it will be the "highest power to weight ratio mercedes ever made", all tex interiors are listed as leather, every standard feature is listed as an option, and usually they are "well documented".

He buys these things from auctions or something, puts cheap tires and an orange-peel paint job on them, and asks a lot of money on ebay. Serious questions about condition are rarely answered.

Run away, far away from this seller under his many names.

Is this the guy you are talking about? (used to be called The "Mercedesshowroom" in Fla?)

Sames like the same kind of deal... buyer beware.

see: The Showroom - Ft. Lauderdale

[theo3000]

Watch out for this guy. I bought a pair of 123 vents, and they were delivered in a box that was 3x3 inches. In the box were 2 vents that looked like they came off a toy vaccum cleaner. He's been "selling" the same vents over and over since then.

He followed Ebay's/Paypal's rule's ... he said he'd give me a refund of the purchase price if I sent the item back. Unfortunately, he wouldn't refund the original shipping cost, which was twice as much as the item cost. It would have cost me more to ship the item back that I would have received as a refund.

It's an old scam, and I've been thinking trying it myself. I'll list some flat-screen tvs, laptops, etc.; and sell them for 10 dollars each plus 250 for shipping. I'll ship out some toilet paper in a box, and when the buyer asks for a refund, I'll return their 10 bucks if they send the TP back.

I usually am very happy with my Ebay purchases, but this kind of stuff really pisses me off!

BEWARE OF VISAVI MERCEDES

[wbrian63]

Unless I'm wrong, all of the 140-chassis cars have remotes that are digitally encoded to match ONLY the keyless entry module in the car.

Early in my ownership of my car, I purchased 3 or 4 of these pesky little critters on e-bay, none of which worked.

The owner's manual description of the synchronization process leads one to believe that any remote will work, so long as it's for the right car - not so.

On my last attempt, I mentioned to my parts guy at the dealer that I thought for sure I'd found the right remote, as it had come from another '92 model car - and that when I got it, I'd need a key cut for it.

He told me matter-of-factly that I was wasting my $ - and he was right - that one didn't work, either.

Bit the bullet and purchased a remote from the dealer. It was not cheap, but I'd already wasted more than half the cost in remotes from ebay that didn't work.

Brought the new one home, pressed the button, unlocked the driver's door with the key and presto!

[Jim B.]

Originally Posted by 4shur

Jim, you seem knowledgable when it comes to "Exports" among other things. Would it have to clear US customs to ship to Cayman?

No, I am no expert whatsoever. But the information is out there, and not too hard to get.

I'd start with the Government brochure covering the matter the US Government put out that deals with it:

http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/travel/vacation/kbyg/prohibited_restricted.xml#Automobiles

Trolling Google a little bit gives some clues, too...(freight forwarding, customs declarations, time deadlines, bills of lading, dock receipts, insurance, less than 1/4 tank of gas, containers, all fluids in it, etc., etc., looks doable to me...)

http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=775373

http://www.importexporthelp.com/car-exporting.htm

http://www.reliablefreightinternational.com/inter_auto.html

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9504E2D6133BF931A2575AC0A9659C8B63

And it looks like you can get it to the Grand Cayman Islands too...

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Cayman-Islands-180/Bringing-Car-CI.htm


Meanwhile, the auction ended at $8800 and didn't hit reserve. He wants a pretty penny for it. He knows these Diesels are hot on the market.

Maybe you could try and see what he wants for it before he relists. (?)

[swinggrrly]

EBAY FRAUD ALERT!!

I bought a 1979 300SD on Ebay from Green-Benz. They are CROOKS! They shipped me a completely different car than the one in the listing photos. They also delayed shipping for a month, I believe so that I would not be eligible for help through the eBay Buyer's Protection Program (which expires 30 days after the listing ends, which was a week before they finally delivered the car.)

I have also now made contact with two other parties who had similar experiences. We are hoping to sue Green-Benz (and possible eBay for retracting at least two negative ratings from us), perhaps in a class action suit. If anyone else has had a bad experience with Green-Benz, please contact me directly at swinggrrly@yahoo.com (and no, it's not THAT kind of "swinging"...I used to teach swing dancing).

Thanks, Lisa

[grindMARC]

Here's another scumbag seller on ebay. Just about every car I have seen listed by him has some kooky story about the odometer. His lot happens to be near my office, so I went over to look at one of his cars once. I think its particularly telling that he no longer lists the address or the name of the car lot.

In this particular case, he is stating miles at 99k and then disclosing further down in the ad that miles are unknown and that it has over 300k. I reported the ad to ebay. Hopefully, they'll take it down.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&sspagename=ADME%3AB%3ASS%3AUS%3A1123&viewitem=&item=260205053927
His seller id changes every few months, but right now its "t34inc"

The car I went to look at was an 87 300SDL that was resprayed so poorly that it only took me 10 seconds to realize that he's trying to screw people on ebay. His cars are "20 foot" cars. They look great from 20 feet. On the car I looked at, the windows had a blue tint to them. When I rolled down the windows, I realized it was overspray and not tint. He sprayed right over the weatherstripping and rust bubbles. This car also had an odometer story. But the funny thing is that the story changed COMPLETELY between the phone call and going to see the car.

[yellowrosefarm]

I bid on a battery tray for a W123 from MacsMercedes/the Benzgarden. I waited 3 weeks before emailing asking where it was. The response I got was "yeah, I just haven't gotten around to shipping that yet". About 10 days later I got a battery tray from a different car that didn't resemble the one in the picture and a small bag of parts (a relay, some fuses and bulbs) that I didn't order. I emailed them and waited another 10 days for a response before posting a negative feedback. I still never heard anything until the time for feedback was about to run out and they posted a negative on me. What a bunch of jerks!!!!!!!!! From what I read later, though, I guess I was lucky to get anything at all, as this place is in MI, and I'm betting it's the same bunch that have given others problems.

[pwogaman]

Another reason for "Buyer Beware."

Here is the link:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110258296583&ssPageName=ADME:X:RTQ:MOTORS:1123

Here are our communications:

Dear va-cheapcars,

Your listing says the car was Ve emissions tested; did it pass? If so, when? Is it valid for emissions now?

Thank you
- pwogaman

Dear pwogaman,

Hi
It was inspected in Va 2 months ago and passed. The car is considered in VA a classic due to the year and does not have to be inspect or pass emmisions with classic tags.
- va-cheapcars

Dear va-cheapcars,

Virginia requires 25 years to be considered an antique and forego emissions and inspections. Did the car pass emissions in Virginia? Please let me know before I bid.
- pwogaman

Dear pwogaman,

Hi
In this area they dont due emmisions it passed VA inspection on March 08 doesnt need to be done till April 09 it shows on sticker it did but I know the shop doesnt have a emmisions machine dont know any in the richmond area that does.
Matt
- va-cheapcars

Dear va-cheapcars,

Sorry, but I'm still a bit confused. Your listing says, "VA SAFETY AND EMMISSION INSPECTED." What emission testing was done then if they don't do it in that area.

Thank you
- pwogaman

Dear pwogaman,

They inspected the exhaust system for leaks. I did what was required by local law in VA. The saftey inspection sticker shows emmisions ok but like I said I know in this area there are no shops with emmissions equipment and there are no state emmision stations to take it to within a 100 mile radius. I can not gaurentee it will pass in your area.

- va-cheapcars

Dear va-cheapcars,

I've got a Virginia State inspection sticker and it says nothing about emissions. Are you sure about what you have been representing here?
- pwogaman

Here is the link to VA emissions: http://www.virims.com/ins-reports/index.php

Here is the VIN: wdbca45e8ka479012

[chuni959]

Originally Posted by cscmc1

From wikipedia:

Shill bidding may be a common practice on eBay. In his book "Fake: Forgery, Lies, & eBay" Kenneth Walton describes how he and his cohorts placed shill bids on hundreds of eBay auctions over the course of a year. While many sellers consider shill bidding a harmless act, some believe that it may violate federal or state laws. Walton and his associates were charged and convicted of fraud by the United States Attorney for their eBay shill bidding. Some eBay sellers frown on the practice and a few spend considerable time trying to "out" those among them who use shill bidders as well as working to increase public knowledge of how to protect themselves from said shilling. Their tactics can easily turn up many "false positives" — for instance, they believe that auctions having many bidders with very low (less than twenty or so) and/or no feedback could be suspect.

Wow, a wikipedia article? Thats about as scholarly as my previous post.

Also from Wikipedia:

"In Late November of 2008 the member "cscmc1" on mercedesshop was crowned "King of the Shills" after successfully shill bidding up his 400th auction. He was recently brought into Bloomigton police custody on charges of sodomy."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shill#Shills_in_auctions

[cscmc1]

Class move, Chuni. Much appreciated.

Anyway, here's a bit more on the Diebenkorn auction (from http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/9045.html). This was a double-whammy; the painting was a fake AND the sellers used shill bids to inflate the prices. I know where you're coming from, but I disagree with defending the process of shill bidding.

Two men pleaded guilty Tuesday in Sacramento, California federal court to scamming eBay users out of US$450,000 over two years by self-bidding on their own auctions to drive up prices.

Sacramento attorney Kenneth Walton and Scott Beach, of Lakewood, Colorado, were indicted in March on charges of wire and mail fraud for using self-bids, or shills, to illegally inflate the prices of more than half of the 1,000 auctions they hosted at eBay from November 1998 to June 2000.

"While it's hard to rejoice about a guilty plea, we feel that we're very satisfied with the agreement that we reached with the government," Walton's attorney, Harold Rosenthal, told media sources.

One Still at Large
As part of their plea, Walton agreed to pay back at least $65,000 and Beach at least $39,000. The pair are barred from participating in any Internet auctions for a period of up to three years and Walton agreed to surrender his license to practice law in California.

In return for the guilty pleas by Walton to seven counts of fraud and by Beach to four counts of fraud, federal prosecutors agreed to ask for leniency when the two are sentenced in June. Each of the fraud counts carries a maximum penalty of 5 years in prison and fines of $250,000.

Still at large for his part in the scam is Kenneth Fetterman of Placerville, California.

Phony Diebenkorn
Authorities started investigating the trio after they auctioned what was ultimately revealed as a fake Richard Diebenkorn painting. The painting garnered a winning bid of $135,000.

Walton reportedly found the unsigned painting at a Littlerock, California antiques store and forged the inscription "RD 52" on it.

After placing the painting up for sale at eBay, the three defendants made over 50 phony bids to artificially inflate the price of the painting by using alternate eBay identities. The defendants created the aliases by providing eBay with phony names, addresses and phone numbers.

An amateur art collector from Amsterdam won the Diebenkorn auction, but eBay voided the sale, saying it had detected shill bidding.

eBay spokesperson Kevin Pursglove told the E-Commerce Times earlier that the San Jose, California-based Web auction house assisted the investigation by providing federal authorities with access to eBay tools that can help pursue individuals who perpetrate auction fraud.

"Anytime we see a series of listings that may be a fraud, we will often contact the authorities and let them know what kinds of information we have available," Pursglove said. "A lot of the information we have is confidential and covered by our privacy policy, but we make it very clear to our users that if they engage in any fraudulent activities, we will cooperate with the authorities to the max."

Pursglove said that with approximately 6 million items listed on eBay each day, it would be impossible to catch each and every fraudulent action as it occurs. However, recently introduced software gives eBay a better shot at stopping shill bidding. The software searches the bidding history of individual bidders to look for historical shill patterns, and identifies shill patterns as they are occurring, Pursglove said.

Previously, the auction house was only able to detect shill bidding when the auction was over.