(fwd) WARNING! New Ebay SCAM! (fwd)

From: Mike Ford <mikeford_at_netwiz.net>
Date: Mon May 17 15:19:21 1999

>>It means that the "dealer" has an item X in their inventory, they see that
>someone else on Ebay is selling an equivalent X. The dealer follows the
>auction to completion, when complete, the dealer sends email to the second
>highest bidder and asks if they would like to purchase the item from them
>for the price they offered the seller.
>
>This is a scam? Give it a break guys. If I bid on something and am not the
>high bidder I would like a chance to buy. If you don't then don't reply.
>Sometimes you can get in a bidding war and end up pay many times the value
>of an item, I.E. Imsai or Altec on Ebay, Is it really that different than
>making an offer here to someone who has something you want? So who looses if
>a seller contacts you and you agree on a fair price? Ebay? Time to face the
>facts Ebay, Yahoo, etc., etc. auctions are going to stay a while.

The above was an explanation of the legitimate practice. The abuse is where
a third party pretends to be the seller, contacts the second etc. bidders
and requests payment be sent to a blind PO Box, then skips with the funds
never sending any goods.

BTW I just sent an inquiry to eBay to see if this is rumor, hoax, or fact.
Received on Mon May 17 1999 - 15:19:21 BST