Ebay scams?

beerguy

Bronze Member
Joined
May 6, 2004
Messages
1,138
Reaction score
1,176
Golden Thread
0
Location
Camano Island, WA
Detector(s) used
CTX3030,
Many more on a rotating basis.
Park Ranger and Pack Mule pouches by Freeloader!
I have 4 of my machines on ebay right now, after listing them yesterday.

I am now inundated with offers to buy them outright. I did not set it up to take offers, people are just sending them.

Has anyone seen this? It feels like a scam, I am getting 10 'offers' an hour.

I know detectors are popular, but this is the first time selling something on ebay that this has happened.

Anyone else see this?
 

Upvote 0
I thought offers to buy outright was not ok on eBay unless set up that way in the listing. I’d be careful and good luck.
 

I went through that as well, there's a lot of illegal diggers looking for a machine.
You can set your items to sell to North America only.
 

I don't deal with Ebay. I heard that scammers are really out of control on Craigslist.
 

You ought to become a charter member and sell them right here.
 

Do not reply to them and don't ship out of the country. Tracking becomes impossible. I'd change my listing to ships to us only and cancel overseas bids.
 

Last edited:
ok....Are you meaning they are offering to buy them outside of Ebay? Or are you getting "offers" ? This is something that is fairly new on Ebay. If no one has made a bid on the item an offer can be made through the messaging. It's still part of Ebay and they still have to pay through paypal. I noticed this starting to happen a few months back. Even as a seller, If someone asks me a question I have the option to send them an "offer" with my answer to the question too. I haven't sold anything in a couple of months and I'm not sure of all the details on how it works. But I'm just guessing that maybe this is what's going on....Along those lines somewhere.

It may not be a scam. I've also made offers through messaging even if they don't have an "make offer" on the listing and its all fair and with the rules as long as it all goes through Ebay....

:dontknow:
 

Last edited:
I accept offers occasiinally on ebay,
the vast majority are lowball offers from cheap asses and resellers that buy, mark up, and sit on it til it sells.

if you have relatively low feedback, poor quality images, ir anything else that makes you look like a new or casual seller, it will often attract the resellers. As long as you use ebays offer system to complete the transaction, there is nothing wrong with accepting offers, however if you are getting that many offers, your stuff is probably reasonably priced to begin with and it will likely sell for what you are asking anyway.
 

I did not set them up to take offers, but they just came rolling in.

I will change them to keep it domestic, thanks for that advice.

I was a charter member here for a bit, but shied away from this entire forum due to some 'unusual' posts from a few mainstay members.

This is actually my first post in many months.
 

Some forums you can advertise for free and some forums you can't even mention a vendor that doesn't advertise on their forum. I used to use ebay but the fees are to much for me. I have sold stuff on craigslist too and that's risky as well.
 

If you listed them fixed price and did not allow offers you will get tons of offers through the mail. Lowball sob story offers to legitimate I just want to shave a few bucks. If you listed it as a bid item once you receive a bid you cannot accept an offer the auction has to run its course unless you end it early and you will get end the auction early offers out the wazoo. It is an endless stream of bottom feeders. I only list items at a fixed price with make offer tab activated. It makes it much easier to manage the bottom feeders You just have to click decline offer not deal with an email. Once BF's are managed you can see that 90% of eBay participation is legitimate persons buying product they need. I have also seen eBay sponsored "set up" emails sent by eBay to see if they can get you to break eBay rules. They have an entire team of people doing it to protect their revenue stream. Fun stuff. Craigslist is a nightmare and has proven at times to be dangerous. I stay away
 

If you listed them fixed price and did not allow offers you will get tons of offers through the mail. Lowball sob story offers to legitimate I just want to shave a few bucks. If you listed it as a bid item once you receive a bid you cannot accept an offer the auction has to run its course unless you end it early and you will get end the auction early offers out the wazoo. It is an endless stream of bottom feeders. I only list items at a fixed price with make offer tab activated. It makes it much easier to manage the bottom feeders You just have to click decline offer not deal with an email. Once BF's are managed you can see that 90% of eBay participation is legitimate persons buying product they need. I have also seen eBay sponsored "set up" emails sent by eBay to see if they can get you to break eBay rules. They have an entire team of people doing it to protect their revenue stream. Fun stuff. Craigslist is a nightmare and has proven at times to be dangerous. I stay away

Heck, just set it to automatically accept an offer over a certain amount, and reject offers under an amount. Then you don't even have to click reject offer.
 

I agree with you. Never do I purchase or sell there.


Great thing you guys don't utilize craigslist!! More for those of us who do!! I paid 300 for my ATP, 650 for my hardly used Excal, and just got an Equinox 800 for 750. All work fine, had no problems with transactions and got some great machines from people who just decided they had bought things they wouldn't really use much. Got my demo Safari on ebay, many good deals there too but one has to look a lot.
 

I don't deal with Ebay. I heard that scammers are really out of control on Craigslist.
Ever since I started saying “I only deal with cash and in person” on CL I haven’t had a single scammer reply. Works well.
 

I did it with gold, was offered 95% of value. Guy also told me how to change it on eBay but I don’t remember the details. Figured as long as he was paying me 1st with PayPal it was ok and it worked out fine.
 

Some forums you can advertise for free and some forums you can't even mention a vendor that doesn't advertise on their forum. I used to use ebay but the fees are to much for me. I have sold stuff on craigslist too and that's risky as well.
A trick to cut your scammers down by 80% buying or selling on Craigslist. Set up a meet and tell them "You know where the ****** Police Dept. is on ***** street? I'll meet you in the front parking lot in an hour." About half the sellers I call will say "Whoops Lookie! I've got it sold just now. BTW the PD parking lot has the best CCTV cameras around & will commend you on your smart thinking if they want to see why you're sitting there.
 

Top Member Reactions

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom