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Shells
05-01-2007, 05:44 PM
Hey guys,

I think this a possible eBay scam, but wanted some advise to see if this makes sense to anyone else.

I want some S14 Kouki tails for my Zenki, so I bid on some. I was outbid yesterday (and the auction is still going) and the "seller" (according to the email) offered the item to be in broken English. He said I need to send him my name, address, and blah blah, and he will arrange payment through eBay, etc. He didn't mention the price though. I contacted him back and asked him the price and he replied giving a price that was higher than my max bid. I replied advising him I didn't even bid that high, and asked if he wanted to sell it for lower and he replied asking what my offer is.

So my question is, is this a complete scam? It just seems stupid that the auction is still going at a higher price than I bid, yet he is contacting me to see if I want to buy it for lower than it's currently going for.

The only other theory I can come up with that makes this seem somewhat legit is the possibility that because the seller is out of the country, he's got access to all kinds of foreign junkyards where he can get these tails cheap in a market where they're not as desired, so he is willing to take what he can get from multiple bidders if he's making a decent profit.

What do you think?

MELLO*SOS
05-01-2007, 05:47 PM
It's most likely a scam. This is part of the reason ebay changed it up so you can't see the member IDs of the other ppl bidding on the auction when it gets close to the end. Scammers were going thru and finding the loser bidders of auctions then sending them an email offering the item to them outside of ebay with some excuse like the winner didn't pay or w/e.

Shells
05-01-2007, 05:51 PM
It's most likely a scam. This is part of the reason ebay changed it up so you can't see the member IDs of the other ppl bidding on the auction when it gets close to the end. Scammers were going thru and finding the loser bidders of auctions then sending them an email offering the item to them outside of ebay with some excuse like the winner didn't pay or w/e.

The email I have is formatted as if it's from eBay (with all the HTML) and says it's from the seller. So then my question is, what is the seller trying to accomplish with this? Is he just hoping to get me to send him money and he'll send nothing in return?

Or, are you suggesting the email was not from the seller and was from some random scammer who got my ID from the bidding history?

Tenchuu
05-01-2007, 05:52 PM
if it is not through ebay, you are going on nothing but the guy's word. he is in now way obliged to send you anything.

ranger240
05-01-2007, 06:04 PM
have him re list it on ebay with a buy it now option, and buy it, thats what i did for my super tyte jdm 180sx steering wheel that went unsold the first time .... have him put it under some random title, then him send you the title in a private ebay message and buy away.. or arrange a rough date and time that he'll relist it so you can be there to buy it quickly

garagelu
05-01-2007, 06:07 PM
yea i would definatley say its a scam. You are better off just holding off and finding another set of taillights than losing 300 some dollars. They come around on ebay quite often anyway.

street240
05-01-2007, 06:15 PM
It is a scam. They tried to get me just the other day. I bid on an item and I got an ebay format email. I logged into my ebay account and could not find this in the "myebay" section. I forwarded the email to ebay and they told me that it was a scam. If you get an ebay email. Dont reply to it. Log into your ebay and see if the same notice is in there. Good luck

Shells
05-01-2007, 06:54 PM
Thanks for the info guys. I'll just ignore the email then. Damn, I just wanted some Kouki tails. :)

street240
05-01-2007, 07:01 PM
Some guy just put some up for sale.
http://www.zilvia.net/f/showthread.php?t=142298