Is this a scam?

[Matus Kalisky]

Hello,

I have just came across a seller on eBay that has 5(!) Linhof Technikardans, 4 Linhof Master Technikas 2000 - all new - on auction (and LOTS of other pricey camera stuff as well - all auctions). I find it really hard to believe somehow. This seller has 100% 28.000+ feedback, but when I check it those are all very small cheap items for couple of pounds (it is in UK).

On top of that there is just one small photo included and no real description of the items.

As I am eyeballing Techikardan for longer time - this could (if legit) be a good time to get one. Please let me know what you think. The seller can be found HERE (http://myworld.ebay.de/angelstitches1960/).

So - what do you think?

[Leigh]

If it's too good to be true... it's not true.

- Leigh

[polyglot]

It's odd. It looks like a legit seller has had their account hacked - they sell thousands of crappy little sewing/crocheting things every month but I see no camera feedback in the last few weeks. And they've suddenly got a bunch of very expensive cameras for sale instead of sewing gear. And the camera postings look a lot different from the other postings, particularly the inline branding image. And some of the postings use clearly-stolen images.

Run away. Edit: I just reported a couple of their listings as fraudulent.

[IanG]

We have a UK seller like that, always has a few of each camera or lens listed and at inflated BIN prices. Typically 90m f6.8 Angulons at 2-3 times the usual prices online and also via eputable dealer sores (where you get a guarantee). There's items that may well be listed a few times and despite people compaling Ebay does nothing to stop these unscrupulous dealers.

Ian

[Steven Tribe]

Nice things do sometimes appear from unexpected sellers!

In March, a Parisian lady seller of old Xmas cards at a few €s each suddenly had a Puyo casket set - something costing more than 200 times her selling average price.

So I did a check of:

-item listing layout compared with her usual.
-language used.
-recent listing from this seller?
-stock photos or item photos (there are no photos of a complete Puyo casket!)?
-description tallys with what can be seen on the photos?

Now this item passed all the above criteria and the location of the seller was within a twenty minute drive from where it had sold in 1907 and I was only slightly in doubt.
It arrived with the post delicate pink wrapping (both air cells and cell foam) and extremely well packed.

I assume that someone had used his wife's/lover's ebay account to sell his long treasured item and had personally supervised packing!

[Steve Goldstein]

Yesterday I'd bookmarked a different item from that same seller, and also noted that the auction seemed peculiar. I sent a message to the seller through the ebay system, not always reliable if the account has been thoroughly hacked, but this morning note that the item is listed as "No Longer Available"...

[Lachlan 717]

Of course it's a scam. And a crap, obvious, lowbrow one at that...

Did you actually read the inserted .jpeg outlining the BIN conditions?

This type of thing has been going on for years on eBay.

[Matus Kalisky]

I have just checked and all 'those' auctions are gone - I guess the account of the seller got hacked. All those 'cameras' are gone (were many more than just those few I mentioned)

Case closed :cool:

[goamules]

Isn't it interesting that the hackers are always offering obsolete, obscure, but very expensive items from the world of Photography? I wonder if other expensive categories are also sneaked into unsuspecting accounts, like Rolex watches, expensive computers, etc.? Are there hundreds of these scams every month that we don't notice, because they are selling other items we're not watching? Or only large format cameras and Pinkham lenses?

[Dan Fromm]

Garrett, I've seen many of these hijacked account scams. Always very expensive items, probably in the hope that if the scamster scores it will score relatively big.

[Brian Ellis]

Isn't it interesting that the hackers are always offering obsolete, obscure, but very expensive items from the world of Photography? I wonder if other expensive categories are also sneaked into unsuspecting accounts, like Rolex watches, expensive computers, etc.? Are there hundreds of these scams every month that we don't notice, because they are selling other items we're not watching? Or only large format cameras and Pinkham lenses?

There are 54,438 listings on ebay with "Rolex" in the title. Some must be scams but who knows how many.

[photobymike]

If they ask for an email before you bid and want a western union money gram payment its a scam... but i have never seen a german ebay page.... interesting

If my wife saw this seller she would want to order some beads from germany.... lets see, beads and Linhof Technikardans ... are you sure that Matus from Frankfurt just does not want to sell us beads? could not find the Linhofs

the ole i got your password you dope.....and now i sell to other dopes who dont follow the rules about purchasing.... who said "there is one born every minute".... Should be to hard ... i used to be a dope..... LOL

[Matus Kalisky]

You got me there photobymike - but the beads really are a bargin ;)

But as I mentioned - the cameras are gone. Somebody must have reported this to eBay. I did that once (I mean the reporting) and the items disappeared within few hours.