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How does this suspicious Ebay scam (I think) work?

I just saw an Ebay item was too good to be true. It was for a new electric generator worth at least $2,000. It had about 10 hours to close. The starting bid was about 25 GBP ($42 US dollars). No bids yet. Item location was in Illinois but seller was in Germany. Almost all of the seller's feedbacks were in German and 100% positive. Free shipping but must contact seller via email prior to bidding. How does this work and still the seller make money?

25 Answers

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  • 1 decade ago
    Favorite Answer

    email the seller with that question.

  • mand
    Lv 5
    1 decade ago

    Thats doesnt sound like a scam...thats how ebay works. its possible the bidding could get up to $2000, but the seller decided to start the bidding at $42US. If there is NO RESERVE, and no one else outbids you, then you could quite possibly and rightfully win the guitar for that amount.

    Just make sure you read all of the fine print very carefully BEFORE you bid.

    Happy Bidding.

  • 1 decade ago

    I wouldn't touch that deal with a ten foot pole. This is way too good to be true and the email before bid sounds like to me they are going to rip you off. I saw a case like this on tv a while back, they get the money but the item doesn't exist.

  • 1 decade ago

    I can't comment on this one individual seller. The only way to check is through feedback, but even that could be bogus. Just be wary....

    As to being "too good to be true", I bought a brand-new double oven for $1 last month; an almost new $2500 fridge for $45 last week. Picked up both of them... No problems. Sometimes you actually can get a great deal on e-bay.

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  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    eBay is the largest online marketplace and one of the most popular ways to earn an income from home with a PC and internet connection. Selling on eBay is inexpensive and easy to start. Ebay has a number of tools for sellers to maximise sales. These are eBay Pulse, Hot items report, merchandising calendar. By sourcing products at a low price, you can increase your profit. Check out http://tinyurl.com/rygsh for more details.

  • 1 decade ago

    If you do not check a company before entering into a transaction, you could lose your money, time and credibility. Some widely used resources are the Better Business Bureau (www.bbb.org) and the national fraud center ( www.fraud.org) These days, you can easily find out more about a company using the internet in a few minutes. From a company's website, you can details about its ownership, how old the company really is and feedback from the company's customers.

    You can find more detailed information about a company at http://tinyurl.com/gtb89

  • 4 years ago

    There must be a number of causes why they promote it for decrease than the MSRP. They did aspect out that they seem to be a "video games warehouse" so it feels like they're a distributor and by no potential a keep and for this reason, do not markup the unit with the classic retail markup. additionally they ought to no longer easily have a brick-and-mortar area so that they do no longer have the customary overhead that consists of that. fortunately for you they're taking funds by paypal so if it became out to be a scam, you could rfile it to ebay/paypal and get you funds decrease back in any case.

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    I wouldn't say it was a scam - it could have been. But the auction did have 10hrs to close and the price can go up a ton in that amount of time. You don't know what this person does for a living - for all you know they could own a generator plant in Germany and distribute from Illinois.

  • Judy
    Lv 7
    1 decade ago

    Once in awhile, you can get great bargains on ebay. And it's a great place to find things you're looking for. On the other hand, remember the old rule "if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is". If there's a scam involved, you'd probably figure it out in the required email exchange before shipment.

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    he probably has you transfer the money using western union instead of using check or money order and once you do that theres no way you get the money back and yeah, you don't get anything. But maybe it wasn't a scam maybe he was selling the item for someone in Illinois and the member was located in Germany, but I don't understand why anyone would do that?

  • 1 decade ago

    What they do is to get you to agree to payment arrangements outside of ebay, and then you are screwed. Ebay has some protections in place but if you go outside the system (this is the reason for email) you will lose everything and get nothing.

    Drop it like a hot potato.

    Source(s): No animals or plants were harmed in the answering of this question. Any similarity with any person, living or dead, is purely coincidental and unintended. This answer contains a substance known by the state of California to cause excessive moronic stupidity. Use with adequate ventilation.
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