hi every one, i was looking on ebay 2 days ago and found this item it says ‘tamiya 1/48 avro lancaster grand slam bomber box’
the start bid was 99p [ now £40 ] with a p+p of £4, postage of this sort of model would be in the region of £5.50p to £8.00 depending on the service given by the seller of this item. WHICH WAS WHEN I THOUGHT SOME THING WRONG HERE
on his listing it showed that any parts which are loose from sprues will be bagged up before sending item out.
I SENT HIM A MESSEGE ASKING HIM IF THIS ITEM WAS JUST A BOX ONLY AND NO KIT INCLUDED i told him about the way he has listed it.
his reply - box only no kit !, since then he has remved all the listing about packaging model up and there really is no mention of no kit in the box
i have sent 2 messeges to the bidders of this item telling them about it.
i got back in touch with the seller of this item and he said he knows he’s made a mistake, but cannot withdraw item because bids have taken place.
totally a lie , i have since reported this item to ebay and said it is fraudulant item and they are looking into the auction.
ALWAYS FULLY READ EVERYTHING IN TITLE AND LISTINGS OF ITEMS BEFORE PUTTING ANY BIDS ON ANY ITEM , EMAIL THEM
Not sure about eBay UK, but in the US & Canada, that could very well be considered auction interference. I’m not condoning what this seller tried to do, but contacting eBay should have been all the action you took, letting the staff at eBay take it from there.
i think i would apprecate any one telling me this is a scam, below is a part of his listing on ebay for which he removed…after the bids where placed on. now there is more bids on !!!
ALL FRAGILE PARTS OR PRICES LIKELY TO BRAKE (I.E PROP WINGS DEPENDANT ON THE SIZE OF PLANES ETC) WILL CAREFULLY BE REMOVED FOR POSTING SO HOPEFULLY THE PLANE WONT SHATTER IN THE POST AS I HAVE SUCCESSFULLY SENT PLANES TO ALL CORNERS OF THE PLANET AND THEY`VE ARRIVED FINE.
SOLD AS SEEN, ALSO I WILL COMBINE ITEMS TO SAVE ON POSTAGE COSTS
Looking over the item I concluded the seller is nothing but a thief and the item should be pulled from Ebay. I concure with Ian and feel bidders should be emailed and warned and the seller reported to ebay.
Also watch out if you have an eBay account for phishing. About a month ago I received an email from someone who wanted information on shipping information for something I was selling. The email looked legit as I had recently received a couple of emails from a seller. The only thing is I haven’t sold anything on eBay yet! Before clicking on anything on the email, log on to you eBay account and check your correspondences. The ones you receive at your email account will also show up in your account messages.
I would also recommend that buyers purchase insurance, especially on expensive items. I had about four hundred dollars in Greenhill reference books mysteriously “disappear” in the mail ( dunno if the seller ever actually sent them ). In another instance I did purchase insurance on a resin figure. Seller pocketed the money and never sent complete figure to me.
Caveat emptor. I would check feedback ratings on sellers and buyers. If they had many complaints even in the past, and the feedback was not withdrawn, that’s a sign that you may want to avoid doing business with that person.
It never ceases to amaze me at the ammount of scammers that are out for a fast buck. I remember seeing an Ebay posting, a while back, Selling ‘Water from Lourdes’ comes in a Evian bottle. You gotta laugh.
It is a shame Ebay is a great resource for OOP and rare items. Unfortunalty in this world there are scumbags everywhere. I will not bid on any item unless the seller has a 100% feedback rating no matter how bad I want it. Even if you purchase insurance it does not guarantee you will be paid by the Post Office. They can reject the claim if they feel the item was never shipped. One can only hope somewhere along the line these scumbags get there come uppins!
That is great advice to any new eBayers Mike. Do not ever respond to a message from Ebay in your mail box. Only respond to corespondence through the My Messages link on the Ebay web page itself. I have received at least ten spoof emails asking for passwords credit card numbers and even PIN numbers! You know they are fake when they appear in your mail box but not in My Messages. eBay will never send you a email asking for your password or any other sensative type of information. Also like Mike said never respond to an email in your mailbox about an item you have purchased on eBay. Agian if it is legit it will appear in My Messages. This should be the only way you conduct buisness on eBay. If you answer an email in your mailbox I guarentee you will get burned.
I probably would too, and it does happen, but the thing is that eBay does indeed frown upon it. I wonder just how many sellers on ebay have lost sales from legitimate auctions as a result of warnings to prospective buyers from dissatisfied (re: impossible to please) previous customers.
As a seller of kits from time to time I would suggest that one not jump to conclusions in a case like the one that started this discussion.
I use a listing service and often base a new auction on one of my existing templates, just changing the relevant details. It is quite possible to overlook some wording in these circumstances and so cause confusion without any intention to defraud - I know, I’ve done it.
It is quite correct that the description cannot be changed once a listing has bids on it, though it is possible to add additional details. If it’s obvious that buyers have been (unintentionally) misled the proper course would be to cancel the auction.
It would also be extraordinarily naive to try to defraud buyers in such an obvious manner, unless buyers paid cash (unusual these days) the seller could be pursued through eBay as well as Paypal, if that service were used, and would very shortly be suspended.
No doubt there are those out there who’ll try to scam buyers, and always will be, but had I seen this listing, while I might have queried the seller to clarify his offer if I was interested in it, I certainly would never start with the assumption it was fraudelent.
Sadly too, no matter how clear and concise one tries to be it’s always possible for some buyer to misconstrue one’s words and claim to have been misled.
As for contacting the bidders, that’s a good way to be told to mind your own bloody business.