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iPhone eBay Sellers beware!!!

dccorona

dccorona

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Jun 12, 2008
2,033
1
A day ago, I put my 1st gen iPhone up on ebay (after having it sell once but never receiving payment) and within a day, I received 4 messages from people offering me over $800 and $150 for shipping for me to "send the phone to their son who is studying abroad, as a gift from mom".
All 4 of these messages had similar stories, and wanted me to send the phone abroad

I've heard enough horror stories to know how fake these are, and obviously didn't take them up on the offer

just thought i'd warn others trying to sell their phones on ebay

(to those who have experience): I did reply to those messages, to respectfully decline. but now im worried that the reply (through ebay, not an email) could give them enough info to hack my account. did I screw up? am I in trouble now?
 
It's not just iPhones. These dam nigerians attack every popular product in every popular selling site. I can't sell a dam PSP game on Craigslist without a bunch of people offering me $200 for it to ship to to Nigeria. And, they don't pay Paypal, only moneygram.
 
all the emails i got were asking for paypal
and never said the country

but from what ive seen and heard, it probably is nigerians
 
I sold 2 iphones on ebay recently. I made the mistake of putting a buy it now on the items - of course scammers bought them and wanted shipping outside of US. You have to go in and edit who can bid on your items - you can set it so only people who live in the countries to which you ship can bid. So I set mine to U.S. only and of course got a scammer in Puerto Rico who bought it - they slipped through since PR is US.

Eventually, after having to list the items 3 times and delayed the selling of the phones about a week - I sold them. One to someone with no feedback, was wary of it but they paid instantly and the person with 200+ feedback took 6 days to pay.

Definitely be careful. I wouldn't ship outside the US. Another tip to keep scammers out is to set it so that the bidder must be a paypal registered user with confirmed shipping address.
 
i have 81 messages in my inbox currently, all of them from scammers with weird ass names that offer me way more money then asking price or ask me for the final asking price when its right on the ad. it's all computerized so if you are using craigslist dont put your email in the "Reply To" part, then they can't respond
 
If you need some money, I have a cousin in Nigeria that needs $1000 to free up some family funds ... $30-40k that he will split with you.

Of course I also need a $500 finders fee.
 
I sold my, fairly beat up, 8gb original iPhone for $415 to someone in the Netherlands. It was my first experience on eBay so I was worried about scams but it couldn't have gone smoother. The guy from the netherlands was so friendly & left me really nice feedback =)
 
dccorona said:
all the emails i got were asking for paypal
and never said the country

but from what ive seen and heard, it probably is nigerians
Click to expand...

they'll probably ask you to ship to london or somewhere else. you'll get a "paypal" email for more than the item sold for, but it will not be a legitimate email. do not deal with scammers, just ignore them.
 
Well it's pretty obvious. If it has nothing to do with completing the auction on eBay, then it's a scam.
 
dccorona said:
(to those who have experience): I did reply to those messages, to respectfully decline. but now im worried that the reply (through ebay, not an email) could give them enough info to hack my account. did I screw up? am I in trouble now?
Click to expand...

I would definitely recommend changing your eBay password just in case. If you respond to their message by clicking on the link in the email, it might be a fake eBay link, trying to get you to type in your user name and password, which they could use to hack into your account.
 
i have all those bidding restrictions
i think those people saw the item and found they couldnt bid on it so they tried to get me to sell it to them "unofficially"
and then theyd have sent me a fake payment
 
Wow..I'm going to be selling my og iphone in the next week or so and this thread makes me a bit nervous. I'm torn between craigslist or ebay. Obviously i want the best return but don't want to be scammed.
 
jecapaga said:
Wow..I'm going to be selling my og iphone in the next week or so and this thread makes me a bit nervous. I'm torn between craigslist or ebay. Obviously i want the best return but don't want to be scammed.
Click to expand...

I sold my white macbook on craigslist, but I wouldn't have unless I sold it to someone local. So a lady contacted me who is also in Oklahoma and was relatively close. She was looking for a used mac for her daughter so we met up and sealed the deal. If I hadn't been able to see her face to face I wouldn't have sold it there. I just don't trust craigslist.
 
Wow some people will do ANYTHING to get what they want, as long as they don't get caught and imprisoned. Unbelievable. Be careful mate.
 
I sold mine on eBay by auction which ended yesterday for the grand sum of £220. I'm really pleased!! I'm now restoring / erasing for the 4th time just to be sure nothing is left. After the first restore I noticed my iTunes account details were still there. Have hopefully sorted that now!
 
dccorona said:
all the emails i got were asking for paypal
and never said the country

but from what ive seen and heard, it probably is nigerians
Click to expand...

eBay is as safe as a chimp with a nailgun and PayPal is about as secure as a paper bag in my opinion. Both my accounts have been hacked on numerous occasions. And I have been the intended victim of a few scams. Luckily I knew what I was doing and never responded. I now avoid both in a big way. If people ask me to look/buy something for them via eBay I give them a big "nope!"

My account on Paypal contains all fake information.
 
Same here, it's awesome when you got to check your email and you have 100+ emails, 1 each for auctions you didn't post. Then 100+ emails saying your auctions have been taken down. Then you have to call ebay, prove you are you and then change your password. My ebay and paypal have both been hacked 3 times. Anyone who keeps bank account info in there is crazy. I keep 1 time use credit card numbers only, then paypal shut me off because I added and removed too many credit cards :) My account is back, but you just can't win with these guys.

MacboobsPro said:
eBay is as safe as a chimp with a nailgun and PayPal is about as secure as a paper bag in my opinion. Both my accounts have been hacked on numerous occasions. And I have been the intended victim of a few scams. Luckily I knew what I was doing and never responded. I now avoid both in a big way. If people ask me to look/buy something for them via eBay I give them a big "nope!"

My account on Paypal contains all fake information.
Click to expand...
 
I sold my Iphone to some jackass in the USA. The auction stated normal wear and tear on the phone. The guy gets the phone, doesn't like the wear and tear and wants to send it back. I tell him no, he makes up some story about the SIM tray being jammed, and wants to send it back. I tell him no, it was fine when it shipped - he broke it, he bought it. He files a complaint with paypal they rule in his favor and now he's sending it back. Who the **** knows what shape its going to come back in.

Seller bewarea as paypal basically lets the buyer have an item, do whatever they want to it/with it and return it to you.
 
as much as that sucks for you, they don't always rule for the buyer. I bought a guitar hero controller from a lady in canada who didn't ship until I filed a complaint two months later (shipping was like $40, 60% of total price <- mistake. tracking to prove it once it shipped). and then once I got it, it was nothing like the auction stated. so after a month or so with paypal, they ruled in her favor and I got nothing for my troubles. most of the time ebay/paypal don't care about the buyer as long as they get money.
 
notnek said:
as much as that sucks for you, they don't always rule for the buyer. I bought a guitar hero controller from a lady in canada who didn't ship until I filed a complaint two months later (shipping was like $40, 60% of total price <- mistake. tracking to prove it once it shipped). and then once I got it, it was nothing like the auction stated. so after a month or so with paypal, they ruled in her favor and I got nothing for my troubles. most of the time ebay/paypal don't care about the buyer as long as they get money.
Click to expand...

Well that angers me even more because I feel like paypal flat out ****ED me on this one. This guy just didn't like the wear and tear plain and simple. I have 81 feedback, 100% positive, he has 3, 1 negative. Who you gonna believe? Who's worth more business wise? **** PAYPAL. I can't get in touch with anyone in disputes over there to get any insight at all, I'm basically gonna bend over and take it...

I was told I can appeal if the phone isn't in working condition. I shouldn't have to; I insured the item, described it clearly, **** PAYPAL.

Rant over.
 
In response to your main question, I would not be all that worried about them potentially stealing your information, I think that there is not enough information there for them to do that. But for the next time, just do not respond to them at all, and even though you seem to know already, be sure to keep all of your auctions inside the country that your are selling the item from, just adds that added layer of security.
 
AustinSTI said:
I sold my Iphone to some jackass in the USA. The auction stated normal wear and tear on the phone. The guy gets the phone, doesn't like the wear and tear and wants to send it back. I tell him no, he makes up some story about the SIM tray being jammed, and wants to send it back. I tell him no, it was fine when it shipped - he broke it, he bought it. He files a complaint with paypal they rule in his favor and now he's sending it back. Who the **** knows what shape its going to come back in.

Seller bewarea as paypal basically lets the buyer have an item, do whatever they want to it/with it and return it to you.
Click to expand...

Next time, post pics and be honest about the wear and tear. Obviously, "normal wear & tear" is very subjective and you may have understated its poor condition.

The only people who get ripped off on ebay are idiots, so don't worry about getting ripped off if you're of average intelligence. Ship it when you get the payment, only accept paypal, checks or money orders and wait 2 weeks if you have to for the check to clear.

It really is that simple.
 
oban14 said:
Next time, post pics and be honest about the wear and tear. Obviously, "normal wear & tear" is very subjective and you may have understated its poor condition.

The only people who get ripped off on ebay are idiots, so don't worry about getting ripped off if you're of average intelligence. Ship it when you get the payment, only accept paypal, checks or money orders and wait 2 weeks if you have to for the check to clear.

It really is that simple.
Click to expand...

I was honest about the wear and tear and did have pictures. I know how to sell on Ebay and have been doing so since '99. If the buyer wanted further details or additional photos all he had to do was ask for more details or photos BEFORE bidding on the product. I've answered every question posed to me honestly and within one hour to every buyer that has asked one. How dare you infer I was in any way dishonest. The honus is on the buyer if they have a question to ask it. It is not on me the seller to take super high resolution pictures of every angle and every nick on a phone that is in better shape than most. It is on me to disclose the condition of the phone WHICH I DID. Aside from a small dent or two which IS normal wear and tear the phone had no scratches on the glass or back and was fully functional. If the buyer thought he was getting a mint condition phone he should have read the auction which clearly stated it was used and had wear and tear associated with it. Even the impotent Paypal CSR agreed with me that my auction was clear.

Next time get your facts straight before posting something inflamatory or talking about something to which you have no knowledge.

I agree that only idiots get ripped on ebay. Ship only to confirmed addresses, only once payment has cleared and you'll be fine.
 
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