Ebay problem possible scam/fraud

poet123

Browsing Ebay last night and found a great villa for rental, and a really good price (too good to be true it now seems:D) anyway the person had 0 feedback but everyone has to start somewhere so...

I emailed to see if the villa was available, got a message back to say it was, and so I have emailed to ask how we go about booking etc.

Decided to run the details through google to see if the villa was listed elswhere, and hey presto up pops the villa at a price well above the Ebay one,(five times as much) and is fully booked for all the periods it is being advertised on Ebay for.

So, what to do now? am awaiting details from the Ebayer, and will obviously not be proceeding, but do I report to the police before I challenge them, or lead them on further and then report to Ebay/police etc/actual villa owner.

I would hate anyone else to get caught out and part with any money whilst I am drawing them out. Had it been a random week I could have thought it was a genuine cancellation sale, but the ebayer has July and August/September showing as available and confirmed any date in August was free,when the availability chart shows all these periods fully booked. This has got to be a scam.

I dont want to post the detail yet as I think they need to be stopped and so the less info that is out there the better.

So, any advice as to how to proceed from you ebay regulars would be welcome.

pulliptears

Have you contacted the other person that is advertising it? Im assuming if you have found it elsewhere booked then there is a contact number?

poet123

No, not yet, not sure what to do reallly. I thought I had better wait till the Ebayer contacted me again with concrete details of how to pay etc, then I would have more proof that there is an issue.

freddysmith

What I would do is report it to Ebay with your findings. If you have purchased tell the seller you are not going to pay because you believe the listing to be fraudulent.
Then let Ebay sort it out and leave it there. Pass on to Ebay any further emails from seller.

pulliptears

poet123 wrote: »

No, not yet, not sure what to do reallly. I thought I had better wait till the Ebayer contacted me again with concrete details of how to pay etc, then I would have more proof that there is an issue.

Personally, Id give them a call. Say that you were just checking it is available as the ebay ad says it is but the website says its booked.

Could be something as simple as a cancellation?

poet123

I have not purchased, but the ad is a classified one but shown in an auction style format, which apparently conveys no security for the buyer via ebay. I had not understood the nuances of this style of sale until I looked at ebay rules and regs.

So I am expecting to get an email asking for bank transfer/cheque payment , and want to know whether it is worth reporting to the police for them to do a "sting" on the seller......or have I watched too many cop shows?:o

freddysmith

Yes to many glamorised cop shows. Don't get involved more than reporting to Ebay if you are really concerned. That's my advise.

poet123

pulliptears wrote: »

Personally, Id give them a call. Say that you were just checking it is available as the ebay ad says it is but the website says its booked.

Could be something as simple as a cancellation?

That is what I thought, but the ad states all of July/Aug and Sept are available.....

poet123

freddysmith wrote: »

Yes to many glamorised cop shows. Don't get involved more than reporting to Ebay if you are really concerned. That's my advise.

Why? do you not think the police would be interested or is there some other reason for not getting involved?

pulliptears

poet123 wrote: »

That is what I thought, but the ad states all of July/Aug and Sept are available.....

could be a long booking? lol. It does sound dodgy on the face of it, but I think you may be in danger of getting far too involved. Give them a call, establish whether or not something odd is going on and take it from there.

(but dont forget to update because Im curious now as well!!)

freddysmith

poet123 wrote: »

Why? do you not think the police would be interested or is there some other reason for not getting involved?

It's just my opinion to let Ebay sort it out as I would not have lost any money myself. I just can not see the police doing anything unless a number of complaints have been made.
So hopefully Ebay will quickly remove the listing to prevent anyone being caught out. So unless the OP tells Ebay the listing will remain.