eBay

Anyone do business on eBay? We have
some Kin, that buy any and all the 4/wheeler wrecks, they can. They then
disassemble, & run on eBay, parts for sale. They say the profit is 100%
usually.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My SoNLaw, has bought Bike Attire, and a few MS parts. I bought a sissy
bar for a Honda 600 VLX, for about 40% cheaper.
Does anyone, know a person, who had bad luck, maybe like they never got
their order from some individual. I worreid about that, with my first
''win'' to buy.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It's fun to ''bid'', sometimes I do it, and quit when I am about to
''win''....some one told me, they play the ebay game. They try to ''type
in'' something, and stump ebay. Find something that is not advertised,
out of the miilions of folks who participate. They hardly ever stump
the eBay folks....(smile)

<>Happy Holidays<>Bjay,.

 

I've done lots of business on ebay. The ebay "market" depends on what
you're buying/selling.
Most of the vehicles there are subtantially discounted. Some of them
are great deals, but the majority depend on the honesty and knowledge
of the seller. I've bought a few motorcycles this way and at least one
car. I can't recommend it unless you're willing to go look at the
vehicle ahead of time... After asking a lot of questions. Assume
nothing.

My brother just bought an old CJ-5 project. It was sold "as-is" - but
the seller told him it leaked nothing. It was driven home and
leaked/consumed a quart of oil every 35 miles. Extreme example, but
you get the point.

I bought a KDX off ebay - great shape...

I've sold a few "collectable" motorcycles on ebay - nothing high end -
old Honda 350s in unrestored condition. Some things go for good
money... Some don't..

Watch out for buyers and seller selling high end items - you need to be
able to call the individual, talk to them on the phone, and inquire
about picking up for cash, even if you're not willing to do so. There
is a large group of Romanians that have made very sucessful livings for
years off of American stupidity and trust... They are still quite
good.. They have networks of hacked IDs (great feedback), fake escrow
companies, and can forge UPS/FEDEX emails.. Just beware.

 

Good advice in this one.. I don't buy on ebay.. LOL.. Seems like ol' dudes
like me would rather pay a little more and be sure what we are paying for..
(speaking only for myself, of course)..

When I've had nothing else to do and time for it, I've surfed through some
of the sections of ebay.. I saw some items that were priced real good..
comparatively speaking.. The security of buying and selling on ebay does
seem a little too risky for me, though..

Your friend in Irving
Bill Walker

 

to dcg....I never wood buy anything as big as a Vehicle...I hear of
folks doing it, like you. I imagine, you found one that was reasonably
close to your vacinty, surely.
And, i know it wasnt shipped FedEx, so ya had to go look @ it, then buy,
eh? <>ebay is a huge success, and is 98% safe, I hear. the 2%
er's.....are in there, no doubt.

<>Happy Holidays<>Bjay,.

 

<>When I've had nothing else to do and time for it, I've surfed through
some of the sections of ebay.. I saw some items that were priced real
good.. comparatively speaking.. The security of buying and selling on
ebay does seem a little too risky for me, though..
Your friend in Irving
Bill Walker
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Me three, Bill.<> The time I did buy on eBay, I was worried till it
arrived...wasnt wurth the worry to me. But, It's fun to see what folks
have adv. to sell in there.
And down right comical, looking at the photos that some of em' display,
showin off their wonderful deals. They take photos of stuff on beds,
floors, bathrooms kitchens, out on the DriveWays, you name it......plum
comical...h0h0h0

<>Happy Holidays<>Bjay,.

 

I bought a car out of Houston (via Ebay). I won't buy one I can't see
on ebay, but then again - I've flown 1,000 miles to pick up the right
car.

I would buy one that I couldn't see if I knew someone that could check
it out for me.

In regard to that 98% of ebay being safe - The only one able to provide
those statistics is Ebay itself. I don't buy those statistics at all..
Even if the 2% is accurate, it wouldn't account for the majority of
fraud that is unreported.

Case and point - not ebay, but we'll use Yahoo as an example (easier
for me to spot fraud). The following auctions are fraudulent:

http://page.auctions.shopping.yahoo.com/auction/88602316?aucview=0x23
http://page.auctions.shopping.yahoo.com/auction/88642896?aucview=0x17
http://page.auctions.shopping.yahoo.com/auction/88610243?aucview=0x17

Locating the above took me less than 2 minutes. The majority of
motorcycle auctions on yahoo are fraudlent. I've worked with a group
of people trying to get yahoo to change their policies, but they won't
even discuss it with us... I hear from lots of people that have been
hit by these scams.

I can pick 'em out on Ebay too, but it takes slightly more research.

In defense of online auctions - the cycle trader also has
advertisements that originate out of romania, as does craigslist, and
most major online classifieds. I've worked with an online motorcycle
shipper who has had his website content and transportation license
information stolen no less than 8 times - all by Romanians who setup
escrow/shipping websites...

As someone else mentioned - if you choose to pay and/or accept payment
in a way that is protected, you have very little risk on Ebay. Don't
avoid ebay due to the risk - but be educated and smart about your
transaction. If anyone needs more details or has a question - email
directly... There are great deals out there.

 

I really don't participate in Ebay, Yahoo, etc. auctions but...

Using your first example, what's wrong with it? Except the idea that
this R1 supposedly has 16K invested, and a current bid of 1.2K,
the seller is unrated, etc.

What's going to happen when this item closes?

Gary Walker

 

How so? The bikes are fake?

 

<>~~<As someone else mentioned - if you choose to pay and/or accept
payment in a way that is protected, you have very little risk on Ebay.
Don't avoid ebay due to the risk - but be educated and smart about your
transaction. If anyone needs more details or has a question - email
directly... There are great deals out there...(dcg)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~eBay is the worlds largest ''flea
market'' concept. I know quite a few who buy and sell, and have never
experienced any kind of fraud. The ''pay-pal'' method works well,
doesnt it?

<>Happy Holidays<>Bjay,.

 

The bikes are quite real - they were stolen from ads on the cycle
trader, ebay auctions, and other classifieds.
The more advanced scammers will have an account with some feedback.
Note that Yahoo requires a credit card for registration to sell items,
so you may want to take note of how many people currently have their
credit card and ID information stolen...

So, what will happen:

1) The auction will end, with a very low reserve price.
2) The seller will contact the buyer, offering to sell the bike.. We'll
assume two parties in the dialog below - S (seller) and B (buyer)


S: You've won my 1999 R1 for a great price of $1980. I'm sorry to sell
it, but it's just too fast for me.

B: I'd like to pick it up, can we arrange that?

S: Yes, but I'm out of town right now. The bike is in X area. You can
pick it up, but I'll require a portion of payment to hold it for you.
I'd like you to make the payment via Western Union / Paypal / Bank
Transfer. If you pay via Western Union your payment is protected - you
can send it to my name and password protect it. Just give me the WTCN
number.

B: Ugh, I don't know about that. Do you have the registration? (Note,
had the buyer sent money via Western Union, even password protected,
he's still screwed)

S: Yes (sends copy of a forged title)

B: OK, but I'm smart. I won't send you money via Western Union,
PayPal, or Wire tranfer. (It only takes 10% or so that send the money
at this point to make it worth it)

S: That's OK that you're a smart buyer. I'm a businessman. I do very
good business. You need to be a serious buyer. I have the answer - we
can use an escrow service. That way you are protected. Use the escrow
site: www.fakeescrowsitehere.com

B: OK. (Transfers money to a great looking escrow site via Wire
Transfer / Western Union)

Seller never heard from again.



Western Union payments are the LEAST secure way of sending the money -
these guys literally have Western Union pickup locations all over the
world. Just because you sent it to Alabama, doesn't mean that it can't
be picked up in Spain. In some countries, the WU shop keepers are
bribed and will split a % of the transfer with the person picking it
up.. All the scammer needs is the WTCN number - a number assocated with
any Western Union transaction. Despite what Western Union says,
password protecting money is of NO value.

The Escrow sites work the same way.. but they fool people into thinking
that they are working with a 3rd party - especially when they copy a
legitimate shipper or escrow company.

What's wrapped into this? A lot of identity theft - this is what
happens when you answer one of those fake "update your account" emails.
Your credit card is then used to originate the ads used for these
scams.

What else? There are jobs online being offered for people with active
paypal accounts. These people are allowed to keep 10% of the transfer
amount. In reality, these individuals were just hired to launder
money. They pass money from account A to account B. Account A gets
closed, but account B is already drained.

What else? In Romania there is very strongly organized criminal
element that provides the escrow sites, the western union payment
pickup locations, fake IDs, bank accounts for wire transfer, etc. They
get the majority of the profit off these deals - they hire kids off the
street to run the advertisements.

Yahoo has a SERIOUS problem in this regard. I've worked with others to
try and cut down the ID theft, require some sort of basic validation -
which could easily be automated, but to date - they've refused to do
it. I'm sure the Yahoo associated losses are in the millions... Every
now and then I get interested and follow up to shut these guys down..
The last one we shut down had $50k in the bank in less than a week. It
boggles the mind.

 

Depends on your perspective. Paypal is not necessarily safe. It can
be safe, if you use it correctly - but paypal doesn't want you to do
so. They advertise that your payment is protected.. It isn't.. Why?

Paypal only verifies that something was shipped from the seller to the
buyer. If something was shipped, they consider their part of the
transaction done. IE - the seller can send you a box of rocks. As
long as they are shipped, paypal will not refund your money. This can
screw the buyer.

If a seller accepts paypal payment and that payment is on a stolen bank
card or credit card, paypal can reverse the charge. This can screw the
seller.

If the seller doesn't keep proof of shipping for at least 30 days after
the sale date, the buyer can claim he/she never received anything.
This can screw the seller.

Any payment made by credit card can be charged back to paypal, even if
it was shipped and the seller has proof.. There is no recourse here.
Guess who paypal passes that loss along to?

So, how do you use paypal safely?

As a buyer - always pay with a credit card (VISA or MC). Never pay
with a bank card or bank transfer. Notice that paypal requires that
you register your bank account and defaults to a bank transfer? Wonder
why? You can't charge back an ACH transfer. Do not use AMEX - AMEX
will not allow you to charge back to paypal. If you use VISA or MC and
you get screwed you can charge it back. If you're not carring a
positive balance, there isn't much paypal can do but close your
account.

As a seller - make sure that your buyer is verified and immediately
withdraw all funds. Require a "clear date" before shipping. Until
you've got those funds in your bank account, paypal can take them away.

Paypal isn't bad - but unless you know how to use it correctly, you're
not protected.

 

I've bought about half that number myself. I've been plagued with
counterfeits. I've been buying some Tommy Bahama embroidered "collector"
hawaiian shirts and have been burned a few times.

I've managed to get my money back on all but 2, so that's not too bad.

Moral:
If it's sold too cheap, it's probably worth even less.

 

<snip>

Good info in both posts. Thanks.

 

Say......dcg. !is the man to know!
You are an experienced ''online'' shopper and so 4th. dcg. , I am
saivng all this good info, to check it out, and keep as a tool, for my
future eBay buying & so 4th. thanks. This is an example of what we can
learn in here. (but, an exception could be: okay, dcg. is one of the bad
guys, from indonesia, Spainland,Iceland,or whereever, feeding us a bunch
of bull butter...kidding )

<>Happy Holidays<>Bjay,.

 

X-No-archive: yes

In the case of eBay there are many, many cases of bikes for sale that
the seller doesn't own. FJR photos from personal web pages have been
traced by people on the FJR forum and the web site owner notified. The
owner then contacts eBay. eBay never acknowledges the scam; quietly
pulling the auction without word to anyone.

The number of frauds that slip past is probably higher than those
caught. eBay apparently takes on proactive effort; relying solely on
passive efforts via notifications to poorly-published contact
addresses (they hide the fraud addresses deeply where many people give
up before finding them).

 

ZZZZ<>ZZZZZThe number of frauds that slip past is probably higher than
those caught. eBay apparently takes on proactive effort; relying solely
on passive efforts via notifications to poorly-published contact
addresses (they hide the fraud addresses deeply where many people give
up before finding them).
--
Mark Johnson, Ft. Worth, TX

so in essence, and consequently, not to mention a moral lesson, ""don't
buy a dern motorcycle thru the dern ebay folks''''
(let it snow, let it snow) hohoho over here in east tejas

<>Happy Holidays<>Bjay,.

 

Top posted like a moron.

<plonk>

 

Yawn.

 

X-No-archive: yes

"takes on..." should have been "take no..."

--
Mark Johnson, Ft. Worth, TX
http://www.bikes-n-spikes.org
"The Democrats are the party that says government will make you
smarter, taller, richer and remove the crabgrass from your lawn. The
Republicans are the party that says government doesn't work and then
they get elected and prove it." P.J. O'Rourke