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Keith Pitman
30-May-2008, 15:13
Not sure this is the correct category, but this listing on Ebay # 300229337074 is pretty obviously fraudulent under a hijacked Ebay ID. The pictures and text are lifted from a Phillips listing that ended a few days ago, and the seller is offering (in broken English) a buy it now price that looks really good, but you must contact him outside Ebay. Hope no one here is one of the bidders. I reported to Ebay, but no action yet.

wfwhitaker
30-May-2008, 15:47
Looks like it's gone now. But it'll probably be back. This was the second time this week that listing has shown up.

Rob_H
1-Jun-2008, 09:39
I didn't see this listing but there is a person on ebay using the same tactics to repeatedly offer the Nikon 360/500/720 lens as well as other high end medium and large format equipment. Almost to the second, if you raise a red flag the listing is gone and ebay has no record of the item or listing number.

His listings are always buy it now and only offered for 24hrs and wants you to not reply to the sellers address but to a specific email and only accepts Western Union wire transfers. Most if not all times it's a UK address.

It's a shame ebay can't find ways to stop this.

Rob

seawolf66
1-Jun-2008, 09:51
Yes ebay could stop this stuff with a 24 hour hold on posting so they can review them : More so for those that have been red flaged before:

Michael Rosenberg
1-Jun-2008, 11:19
There is a similar instance on someone offering an Imacon 848 scanner for a good price - they are in Europe but will ship a new unit within the US. You can buy it now but have to pay through Western Union -

Mike

Lachlan 717
1-Jun-2008, 15:16
As soon as I saw this ad, I pinged off a report to eBay. This listing was removed within about 10 minutes.

Given the hundreds of thousands of ads listed daily, I do not expect eBay to be able to prevent these sorts of things. It can only rely on "community spirit".

I would suggest that, when you see something like this, to:

a) report it as soon as you can. (This is done at the bottom of the item with a link "Report this item". From memory, you need to go to the fraudulent listing drop down option, then to suspect that it is fraudulent, but you have not bid option.

b) post a warning here as soon as you can.

Given the world wide coverage that this forum has, notifying here should reduce the selling options for these arseholes...

Lachlan.

Keith Pitman
1-Jun-2008, 16:45
Here's the response I received this morning from my first report to Ebay:

"Thank you for writing eBay in regard to your report on image and text
theft.

I reviewed your information about the possibility of image and text
theft. At this time, I didn't find sufficient evidence to show that the
member has violated any eBay policies.

Please understand that in some situations members will allow others to
use their images. It's also possible that the members acquired the photo
from the same source or a source that we can't verify. If this is the
case, eBay can't remove the listings.

We will be able to take action only if the person who owns the image or
text writes to us directly. If you feel strongly about this issue, I
recommend that you contact the seller, informing him or her about your
concerns and recommending that he or she contact eBay. Once we hear from
the seller, we will then take the appropriate action.

It is my pleasure to assist you. Thank you for choosing eBay."

After I reported it the second time --at the same time I made the posting here-- they ended the auction.

I've reported a number of these in the last year or so. Ebay has usually been very responsive and prompt in removing fraudulent listings, but the representative who reviewed my first posting clearly missed the point.

Agree that anyone identifying these types of frauds should initiate a report to Ebay. If it's large format related, it might be helpful to let forum members know, too.

lenser
1-Jun-2008, 16:56
In case there is a concern that the normal reporting route is too slow, near the top right on the ebay home page is a "Live Help" function that usually gets a real representative withing second to just a very few minutes. They may be able to route a call for action more quickly.