[Bear]

This message may not interest you, it probably is in the wrong area of this board. I apologize for my newness, but not for my concern.
Like some of you I track eBay listings. One intrigued me very late on Tuesday nite. A new seller(zero feedback) was offering one of TLC4x4 restorations and at the end of the blurb about it, said $7200 selling price. I emailed the seller a letter but never got a response--listing said they lived here in California. I surmised by the write up and the photos that this was probably a stage two resto, but a darn good price if it was only 7200--but that seemed very fishy. So the next morning I watched some more until the first bid came in at 7200 and was then immediately cancelled by the seller--so I couldn't see if the reserve price had been met. Oddly, the bidding was started up again and reached $9,900 and then unbelievably $100,000 Thursday--I thought this was a typo for 10,000 and expected it to be retracted by the bidder--unless of course it was a shill bid, intended to drive up prices or at least help on the greed-factor for later. However, 90 minutes later all the bids were again cancelled by the seller. Bidding started over again and within three hours there was a bid of $65,000. Two hours later all bids were again cancelled and yep, they started over again. By Friday at 7am a bid came in for $20,000--this time the seller waited for higher suckers but pulled off all bidders 6 hours later. Now they were on their fifth time reopening bids which only reached $15,000 Saturday nite......So, today, Sunday when I got time, I phone-called the eBay security department and talked at length to a rep at around 5pm California time. I asked if they were aware of the situation and got a fuzzy answer. They would not yank the listing by phone and made me go thru the writtern email reporting process to them. However, two hours later it was yanked...............What I learned from the rep was this probability: By lying and writing to an unsuspecting beginner eBayer using a similar looking email page to eBay's, telling her that revisions were needed to her info, her true listing info was stolen when she naively responded to what seemed like a legit request. Pilfered listing info from a TLC4x4 listing including photos, was then used to create a phony listing. By allowing bidding until it reaches large numbers, closing it down for a short while, then opening for rebidding repeatedly, and repeatedly cancelling, a good sized list of possible suckers is acquired. Then email second-chance offers are emailed out to these folks, home email addresses are exchanged, comments are made that entice the bidders by offering to cancel the listing NOW if they send purchase money to an official looking website. I know this firsthand since three months ago this was offered to me--suspiciously with poor English wording and an ebay motors-looking email page with just a few slightly different letters in the email address.................So, to me, I hate to admit, I need to understand that these listings are not barn-finds, or my lucky lottery chance. Greed or the belief that I and I alone have accidentally stumbled onto the find of the century isn't real.................Sorry if you are smarter than I am, and already knew all this stuff. But for the innocent newbies among us, please be very careful. It isn't just about Land Cruisers, other collector cars are likely being used, too. So..............Caveat emptor.................. and sorry if this appears in the wrong spot. I just can't this time say it shouldn't be brought to everyone's attention.......... Cheers......... The listing is pulled, but it was eBay number 300093876463 for a 1979 Toyota Land Cruiser FJ40, said to be serial number FJ40308830, white in color, 39,692 miles on the odo.--just in case they are foolish enough to re-run this one again--and sorry, eBay says they will not inform me about the circumstances they discover in their investigation--I shore wish they would! I was told that often the crooks reside in Africa or other overseas areas difficult to prosecute. Anybody know the phone number for the good judge, Roy Bean......

[Landpimp]

may I sudjest a few paragraphs?

my head hurts

[nuclearlemon]

Originally Posted by Landpimp

may I sudjest a few paragraphs?

my head hurts

x2

[jsaltlick]

I like it. makes you concentrate and squint. Both great exercises.

Very interesting about the cancelling of the bids technique. I always wondered why they did that. F-ers.

[cruiser88]

thanks for the heads up glad to see someone else has ebays #

[65swb45]

WOW!

[Hobbs]

Originally Posted by Landpimp

may I suggest a few paragraphs?

my head hurts

Originally Posted by nuclearlemon

x2

Grammer FAQ's.....? Just a thought.