• With the number of recent threads from brand new users that we have observed in our Classifieds forum selling goods under questionable circumstances, we have instituted a new policy restricting new members of iLounge from posting new threads in the Classifieds forum until they have reached "Regular Member" status.

    New users become Regular Members once they have made 10 posts and been a member of the iLounge Forums for at least 7 days. Prior to this time, members may still read the Classifieds forum, and even respond to existing threads for items being sold by other members, but they may not create new threads advertising their own items for sale.

    This will hopefully help to protect our user community by discouraging fraudulent users from signing up and posting classified ads without having at least a very basic level of established membership in our forums.

    Obviously all users should still exercise due diligence when making use of our classifieds forums, but we hope that this restriction will help to decrease the number of blatantly fraudulent ads that we have been seeing in recent weeks.

    Please be sure to review our Classified Forum Policy for more information.

beware ebay

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m.r.m.

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beware buying anything expensive on ebay. i was browsing ebay and found a great deal on a powerbook, which i followed up out of curiosity. it became obvious fairly quickly that the whole deal was a scam. it?s always the same thing: incredible price (one ought to be very suspicious simply because of this), but "only certain privileged bidders are allowed to bid". "send reseller an email to be placed on list". that?s where they try to convince you into doing something stupid. they will provide you with some obscure form of payment through western union... stay away! if a deal looks to good to be true. it is! if you can?t resist, discuss it with your friends, don?t simply decide something on your own. i?m fairly certain none of you need me to tell you this, but maybe there are few among us who are a little more "trusting". ;) :D

all of the following are scams.
 

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scabmettler

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And if you do buy something expensive on the 'bay, even if the seller seems trustworthy, always use a credit card. In most cases, your fraud liability will be $50 or less, though of course, you should check this out beforehand. This is assuming it really was fraud, and not inability to read the entire auction listing carefully, five times, backward, forward, and translated from Chinese and back to English.
 

jrandyc

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good advice

Absolutely!...., about 8 months ago, my brain was so overtaken by my desire for an ipod that I stupidly wesern unioned some c?@* in florida a load of money for an ipod which, of course, never came.

a/ try to always use a credit card, u can charge back

b/ If u can't do that, don't spend over ?105 as ebay won't refund u more

c/ properly try to check out past feedback of seller etc

I am now v tentative about private selling on the internet (probably a good thing as I would otherwise be v broke thu buying too much).. However, I have had great deals on lower priced items like dvd's from both ebay and the amazon marketplace.. so don't lose heart. For example, just got Spaced series one on DVD for about ?10 from amazon...GREAT!! and arrived in 1 dayhttp://www.ipodlounge.com/forums/images/icons/icon10.gif
 

scabmettler

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Hey jrandyc,

Have you tried contacting the USPS about mail fraud (assuming the seller was in the US)? Sending a certified letter to the thief politely but firmly telling them you have initiated a fraud investigation and that you've notified your local police? Sometimes businesslike threats can work wonders...

Sorry to hear about your experience. That sux.

Jax
 

SalsaVibe

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buyer beware...
read fine print.. read users feedback and read his feedback left by others...

ALWAYS use credit CARDS....

People that use western union or send cash are SUCKERS
 

redpattison

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Yes,you can not be too careful.I got caught for $480 cdn.I purchased a Sony Clie.Thought i did all the right things.Read the feedback.Sent the seller lots of messages.Boy,was i ever stupid.No item.What the seller did was borrow somebodies feedback(Friends)The police are now charging him with fraud.I will only be happy if i hear he has gone to prison.Chance of that happening is small.I expect he will get a smack on the wrist.(This is Canada and it is a white collar crime)
I also got in touch with lots of fraud departments,ebay etc.Did anybody care?Nope.Lots of sorries but that does you get you your money back?
ebay are so big,NEVER Again.I`ll pay the extra and at least get the article.
Worst still i did not use my credit card.Had problems with Paypal.
Oh well,put it down to experience.
I do have my ipod to console me.Love it.
 

Hephador

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I rolled the dice and got lucky getting my 30GB off eBay from a really wonderful seller. However, in the course of my searching, I would see a "sealed, 30GB iPod" come up at a clip of about one a day for $399 with the Buy It Now option. I would look and they were all being sold by the same guy who had about 150 positive feedback reponses but had only been a registered account since March. I was really tempted but thought (like lots of really good eBay deals) that it was a little too good to be true...especially when they were popping up in such quantity. So I did a search on auctions that had ended and found about 20 sold by the same guy for the same price over about a two week span. So I looked a little more in depth to his feedback and looked at what he'd sold in his most recent auctions and it was almost always something called nixies (looked like a radio part or something) and they always went for like one or two dollars. So while he had lots of positive feedback, it was all for items that were only a few bucks. There was no reason to believe he had come into twenty (it later became twenty-four) iPods that he was willing to sell at $100 less than retail. So I went back to the list of his iPod auctions and mailed the first eight or so people to have won his auctions (all won with Buy It Now) and asked if they had received their iPod yet. Those that replied all said they hadn't and they were starting to get worried even though they had gotten an email from the seller saying it was going to ship that week. I told them that none of the others I had talked to had received theirs either and I would keep in touch with them if someone did get theirs. It may have been coincidence, but after I wrote those emails, the subsequent auctions I saw come up from the seller were all private auctions so you couldn't see who the high bidder was or who won it.
Well, even after I received my iPod, I kept watching the seller's feedback to see if any of the people who won his auctions ever posted any feedback, positive or negative. One guy who had been waiting for about 20 days posted a negative about his and the seller posted some negative back on the buyer saying he didn't read the auction correctly. But when I glanced over the item page, there was nothing wrong with what the buyer claimed. Then just the other day, I went to look at that seller's feedback again and found that another negative complaint had been filed against him but alas, I couldn't read it because the seller has set his feedback as private now. I can tell you though that there still have been no new positive feedback notices for him. So just a word of warning to go along with the thread about how risky eBay can be. I just thank my lucky stars I found a good seller. (Yes, I know watching this process should've made me even more wary of doing exactly what I did, but I really wanted a 30GB that I couldn't afford retail haha).

-John

PS. The bad seller's username is cubbonroad.

PPS. I think it's total BS that a seller can make his feedback profile private. Oh well.
 
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dancore

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i buy many things off ebay, never bought anything over 50$...when it came to my ipod it was a hard decision not to buy a brand new 2nd gen buy it now for like 240$, but i stopped, and was like i can't risk it, and just did a student deal from Apple.com :)
 

leonthepro

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well I'm going to get a 30gb ipod off ebay.com and get it sent over to United Kingdom, which may be more risky as there is little I can do if I dont get it.... But, no shops in America will actually send a 30gb ipod internationally (because apple wont let them), and I want one from US because of price and volume limitations. So ebay is my only option, and a pretty good option in my opinion seeing as they are cheaper than in the shops.
But I'll be careful, I'm always careful on ebay (I bought my 10gb 2nd gen ipod off ebay.com).
You have to take risks in life, and this risk will ceartinly be worth it.
 

M@rK

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Ha leon, ive done exactly the same, im PRAYING i get it, i cant afford to lose this much money (Im a student lol) but i checked the rating ( >400 all positive) and Im keeping my fingers crossed.
 

sUnShInE

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I bought something from eBay a couple of weeks ago and during the check out process via PayPal, noticed that you can get buyers insurance through them. I don't know if this is a new deal or what, but in the very least seems like good faith by eBay/PP.

Has anyone used this? JC.

Sorry to hear so many bad experiences... but fortunately, despite all the bad stories, I know plenty of good ones :D
 

noryen

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SalsaVibe said:
ALWAYS use credit CARDS....

People that use western union or send cash are SUCKERS
I agree, but also disagree on this point.

As a buyer, I love to use credit cards to buy stuff, that way I can dispute the charges.

But as a seller, I never accept credit cards because it's too easy for someone to dispute something. If you sent someone an item and they dispute the charges, then you are F'd. (That's why you see many sellers no longer acceptying paypal).
 

scabmettler

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Well, in all fairness, as a seller you're not totally effed if someone tries to do a chargeback on you. You have an equal right to dispute that chargeback and provide proof of shipment and that's the same reason why many sellers will only ship to Paypal confirmed addresses.

Also, to those who think eBay's a total risk, scary, etc... remember that it's much more likely for someone with a negative experience to post that on a bb such as this. The *vast* majority of eBay auctions go smoothly and are without fraud. Buy with a CC, check feedback, and use any buyer protections/insurances that are available to you. And if it's too good to be true, STEP AWAY FROM THE INTERNET!!! :)
 

M@rK

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Just got my iPod shipped from America that I bought on EBay, everything was fine. Just so you know all deals dont end in disaster :D
 

caterinka

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Yeah, but I bet this whole discussion was making you a little nervous before it came, wasn't it? ;)
 

nfnsquared

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Help, I've been scammed on Ebay by cubbonroad

Hephador,

Saw your post on cubbonroad's iPod scam on Ebay. Do you still have the e-mail addy's of those people? Please reply privately to my profile e-mail address. Thanks.

Anyone else been scammed by cubbonroad?

Thanks,

John
 
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