new intricate Ebay scam

This is rather clever, I admit.

Imagine that you are selling an B&O item on Ebay as an auction with, say 100 EUR reserve. You have a team of scammers.  Buyer A promptly places bid just at reserve (100 EUR). Buyer B then proceeds to bid and wins the item for 200 EUR. After winning the auction, Buyer B contacts you and says "I want to cancel my purchase, it does not have (something something whatever)".

Within 15 minutes from Buyer B trying to cancel, Buyer A also contacts you and say "Oh damn, I forgot this. Do you have another for sale or is it really sold? Can I still buy it?"

Majority of people do not want the hassle and are prepared to sell the item to Buyer A for less of what auction ended at.

So buyer A basically bypasses the bidding process and gets the item for, say, 150 EUR and buyer B is just an accomplice.

 

 

 

Why would they go to that trouble when the reserve is 100, why not just bid $100. It’s at the reserve. Why would they get the price up between them? 

And if no-one else has bid, then surely the seller has sold at the price the market will bear?

I think the situation described is when there are other bidders.  If the winning bidder fails to pay or pulls out (for a 'valid' reason) then there is the opportunity for the seller to offer the items to the next higher bidder, and so on.  The scam is that another bidder shortcuts this process by offering a quick purchase that is right at the reserve - hence playing off the sellers laziness and desire for a quick sale at a minimum acceptable price.

Easily avoided as a seller - simply offer to next higher bidder (if happy with price) or re-list.  Either option is just a few button clicks.

I agree. Use "Second chance offer" towards the next-highest bidder.
If the winning bidder wants to cancel his bid, he will get a strike by Ebay. After a certain amount of strikes he'll get kicked out of Ebay, so it is
not a trick he can perform many times.

Martin

Rob.B:

Why would they go to that trouble when the reserve is 100, why not just bid $100. It’s at the reserve. Why would they get the price up between them?

I think he’s basically saying if buyer a contacts you (as opposed to you contacting them) after buyer b backs out - it’s all a bit suss irrespective of the $ difference (example).

And you’re right though if the value is not high is there really a gain 🧐

Yes, in my case I had other bidders. Winning bidder pulls out directly after auction ends, the "reserve met" bidder then approaches within minutes and low-balls you for somewhere in-between reserve and winning bid.

Prices are irrelevant, it could be 100 or 1000, as long as they bypass the auction.

Re-listing was not so easy/quick in my case. I stood my ground so winner/scammer B just marked item as "paid" without actually paying. That flag forced me to wait for legal three days before I could start process of getting my fee back from Ebay.

I fully understand if people cave in and just sell it to scammer A instead of reading all Ebay legalese...both "bidders" seem to be hi-volume pan-handler types so in long run I bet it pays.