Item dispute

gembo84

I received an email a few days ago telling me I had won an item on ebay - however I didn't bid on this item..

I use a network system at my university - and I have had problems with people hacking onto my computer before - so I think someone hacked into my ebay account through this possibly.

More so it all seems a bit suspicous to me anyway - the item was buy it now £10,000 and a bid was made on my account for just £100 - which the bidder than accepted and closed the auction.

I contacted the buyer and explained to them. I also contacted ebay however they have got back to me and told me they can't find any evidence of someone hacking into my account - I have since changed my passwords and updated the security etc.

Now I have received an alert from ebay telling me the buyer is willing to let the matter go if I pay for their ebay fees.

Now I'm annoyed about this because I never even bid on the item in the first place, and I have to agree to these charges before even knowing how much it is..

Is there any point in taking it any further with ebay? Or should I just pay the fees and forget about it..

Anyone got any advice?

Cheers!

hjb123

How much are the fees that you would have to pay? I think to be honest to save a negative and strike and as ebay cant find evidence of hacking you might be best just paying the fees - you could always pay them then continue to fight!

Sounds odd that the BIN was 10000 yet they closed the auction at £100 when you had bid!

I would check the price of the fees you would have to pay then decide

soolin

No one can force you to pay but if you don't you will of course get the nPB strike and almost certainly a neg. As a seller I am always being told that someones dog bid, or it must have been a ghost as they keep their passwords secure and don't let anyone else use the account so I would probably treat any such excuse as just that, an excuse.

One thing I would suggest you just double check and that is that the item definitely shows as won in your 'items won' list. It is a long shot, but worth a double check.

Assuming that someone using your id and password did win then I can't see what else you can do except pay up or accept the strike. I would strongly urge you though to read the ebay tutorials about keeping yourself safe and protecting your password. Allowing your security to be compromised on ebay is one thing, it could be much worse if you are lax as someone may get access to your bank accounts and other vital information. Get in the habit of changing your passwords every month, use a combination of numbers and letters that are random, make sure you log out properly, don't just close the screen down, ever. The network won't make any difference to your security levels if you get in the habit of keeping yourself safe.

Soo

jenniferpa

While I agree with Soo on the whole, I'm also very suspicious about the whole BIN for £10000 but will accept £100. Perhaps there is some legitimate reason for this, but logically it doesn't make sense. Furthermore, why would the vendor simply be happy to get the fees back? It really doesn't add up. Would you be willing to give the item number?

Jennifer

Kaminari_2

If the item is worth 10k maybe it is worth paying the £100 and reselling? Somehow i don't think it will be but you never know.

gembo84

Thanks all - the seller has now got Ebay to credit them with the fees. The item was some kind of Monopoly ticket with McDonalds - some kind of scam I'm not sure..

jenniferpa

Forgive me if Im misunderstanding this, but are you saying that you're not being pushed to complete this sale now AND ebay (ebay?!?) has given the seller back his fees? That seems unusually generous of them.

Jennifer

soolin

big_ste wrote:

stick 2 fingers up to ebay and the scammer, dont pay, take the strike (so what, I'd be quaking in my boots if i had a strike ... NOT) if you are that bothered just re register inder a new id.

I can't see that anyone has definitely decided this was a scam, have i missed something vital?

Soo

gembo84

Yes apparently because we both agreed on a mutual retract for the item (which they class as me returning the item or something like that) ebay will credit her.

I'm not too sure of the details to be honest - all I know is my end - and ebay have emailed me telling me no further action will be taken!

Was all quite simple in the end..

Skyhigh

I have seen scams like this, quite a few, although this may not necessarily be a scam.

How can it work?

I put an item up for £10,000.
Then I can either:
- Spam people with fake "Auction won!" ebay mails.
- Use hacked account into to offer £100.

I close the deal at £100, having used someone elses account to buy my own item.

So wheres the scam?
I get them to pay my listing fee's, I tell them it cost me £7 to list, when it only cost me £3.

Better scam?
The main scam, would be to get them to actually pay for the item, as they will believe that its worth £10,000 and they could resell even for only £1,000.
But its worth 50p, so I'm £99.50 up.


Again, if may not be a scam, but I'd suggest your account may have been compromised.
In all honesty, there are very few ways for ebay to tell if your account has been hacked, unless someone it repeatedly guessing your password over and over spamming your account access record.

Why?
If someones got your username and password, they simply log in, ebay can't tell its not you.
- Only if they scan through your login IP addresses for each and *every* login to try and spot "unusual" locations (such as an IP from Africa), would they be able to tell it may not have been you.
But they probably won't do this, it takes too much time and effort on their behalf, just to help you out, one of millions of ebay customers.



Anyhow, glad to see you've got it sorted out