12-08-2013, 07:54 PM
A while ago I found a new ebay scam http://forums.macresource.com/read.php?1...sg-1595860 where the buyers would bid on every damn small RAM sale and if the item is shipped without tracking (which is common since ram is so light and the sale was often under $15, many just send it first class mail and don't bother with tracking), they immediately open a 'not received' case and win it since there is no tracking info. The package goes to a reshipping service and off to china.
Ebay is getting better at finding these guys and shutting them down, but they just open new accounts and charge forward.
I buy apple computers, build them up and sell them on ebay and as a result, I generate piles of RAM and old hard drives. When the pile gets too big, I sell it off. I don't like dealing with sales under $20 so in the past, I'd sell off the ram in big lots, but since DDR3 has been rising in price for a year, I can now hope to get $20+ for a pair of 2GB DDR3 SODIMMs so I'm selling them off in auctions in pairs.
And this operation bids on every single one of them and has won 3 of 4 that I've posted. In the 4th the account was shut down and the bid removed by ebay. Ironically, this is bad for me. If the crooks don't bid, the final price is lower.
Isn't this a perfect scam?
I'm not really sure what to do about this. Please don't suggest calling ebay to get them to take care of it. It just isn't possible. The people I need to talk to do not answer the phones and the people that do have no idea how to get in touch with the right people.
I've considered sending off pairs of truly worthless SODIMMs instead of the correct item - by the time it gets to china the account will have been suspended. But do I really want organized Chinese criminals angry at me? This is a million dollar enterprise... when people get in the way of criminals and their million dollar enterprises, bad things happen. They could, at the very least, destroy my ebay selling account.
So, after much plotting, I dutifully send off the correct stuff and pretend that all is well. DAMN, I want to hurt them, but it's actually not in my best interest to remove those bids - I have absolutely nothing to gain by working against them and a lot to lose if they realize that I'm working against them.
ARGH!
Ebay is getting better at finding these guys and shutting them down, but they just open new accounts and charge forward.
I buy apple computers, build them up and sell them on ebay and as a result, I generate piles of RAM and old hard drives. When the pile gets too big, I sell it off. I don't like dealing with sales under $20 so in the past, I'd sell off the ram in big lots, but since DDR3 has been rising in price for a year, I can now hope to get $20+ for a pair of 2GB DDR3 SODIMMs so I'm selling them off in auctions in pairs.
And this operation bids on every single one of them and has won 3 of 4 that I've posted. In the 4th the account was shut down and the bid removed by ebay. Ironically, this is bad for me. If the crooks don't bid, the final price is lower.
Isn't this a perfect scam?
I'm not really sure what to do about this. Please don't suggest calling ebay to get them to take care of it. It just isn't possible. The people I need to talk to do not answer the phones and the people that do have no idea how to get in touch with the right people.
I've considered sending off pairs of truly worthless SODIMMs instead of the correct item - by the time it gets to china the account will have been suspended. But do I really want organized Chinese criminals angry at me? This is a million dollar enterprise... when people get in the way of criminals and their million dollar enterprises, bad things happen. They could, at the very least, destroy my ebay selling account.
So, after much plotting, I dutifully send off the correct stuff and pretend that all is well. DAMN, I want to hurt them, but it's actually not in my best interest to remove those bids - I have absolutely nothing to gain by working against them and a lot to lose if they realize that I'm working against them.
ARGH!