New Ebay scam - be VERY CAREFUL

[juliel]

In the last two days I have found two bags on ebay that were scams. One was Balenciaga, one was PS. The prices weren't out of whack for what I have paid for some good deals recently. The PS seller had lifted his pictures exactly from another active ebay listing! The Balenciaga seller agreed to a BIN price for me and closed the auction early. I then asked her to send me a picture of the bag to show that it was in her possession because of some concerns about the photos showing up elsewhere as well. She sent me a photo of a post it with her name, which was photoshopped in, and was photoshopped onto a picture of the WRONG BAG. A Google Image Search led to finding the original picture on Portero.

Both sellers by the way had a listing that had a very flashy layout and listed free shipping in the text then a shipping price up top. Here's the PS auction so you know what to look for:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/161272676663

Both sellers had zero feedback. Well, everyone has to start sometime, but you also don't start by listing your first bag with a big fancy layout like that.

The moral of this - if you are bidding on a bag and the seller has no or very low feedback, do a Google Image Search. Check eBay for other listings that are for the same bag that might use the same pictures. REPORT, REPORT, REPORT.

If you buy these bags, you'll get your money back eventually, because PayPal will refund you, but long after the seller has made off with the money at PayPal's expense. Since eBay owns PayPal and eBay has ignored my reports to take these auctions down before they ended, I don't feel too sorry for them. But I DO feel bad for anyone who is excited to think she has won a great bag.

I don't know if the same person ran both of these listings or what, but there's definitely a pattern. I don't think anyone is going to take the time to earn 500 feedback just to run one scam for a few hundred dollars, and I don't always think that if it's not a high enough price, there's something wrong with it. Nor is someone with zero feedback automatically a scammer; I just bought a very nice bag from someone absolutely new to eBay. But when you get multiple factors together, you should be very very cautious.

 

[lizmil]

Thank you for the warning, I'm wondering though, a lot of sellers use images off of google, such as stock images, that wouldn't really tip one off that they were scammers, nor would they necessarily be. Your warning just makes me more and more Leary of eBay.

 

[juliel]

Thank you for the warning, I'm wondering though, a lot of sellers use images off of google, such as stock images, that wouldn't really tip one off that they were scammers, nor would they necessarily be. Your warning just makes me more and more Leary of eBay.

I'd be wary anyway of someone who was using a stock image off Google (like from the Balenciaga web site) to the exclusion of a picture of the actual bag, especially if it's represented as being pre-owned because of the importance of showing the amount of wear on the bag. These people were obviously using specific bag pictures - very particular backgrounds like you would have if you took a picture of the bag at your home rather than the white background of a stock photo - so it was clearly meant to be the picture of that individual bag.

I wish there were a way to search for listings by zero feedback sellers. If there were, I'd be able to try to find more of these.

 

[BeenBurned]

I found another listing for the same PS bag with the same pictures.

Although I hate to paint all sellers from the Philippines with the same broad brush, in the Coach subforum, we've seen hundreds (maybe thousands) of scary "good" fakes listed by Filippino sellers. There are so many, in fact, that the authenticators recommend against buying from sellers from that country.

Here's a source of the pictures of the green PS bag.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Authentic-Proenza-Schouler-Large-PS1-in-Kelly-Green-Satchel-SOLDOUT-/261446205672?pt=US_CSA_WH_Handbags&hash=item3cdf6880e8&nma=true&si=qlgf%252FURj2W2lVofBCtkFehXSCXk%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Additionally, the 0-feedback seller (adamsedg) who used the same pictures raises additional red flags in my mind, especially after viewing the photobucket album that hosts those images.

She has pictures of multiple brands of designer items with (supposedly) receipts from various countries. There's a Bbag receipt from Paris, another Bbag receipt from Neiman Marcus, a third receipt showing a purchase in Singapore, etc.

Other pictures in the PB album show a Philippines website, so I suspect that adamsedg and the ebay seller on ebay.ph are the same person or related to each other.

http://s842.photobucket.com/user/adameind/library/?sort=3&page=1

 

[juliel]

I found another listing for the same PS bag with the same pictures.

Although I hate to paint all sellers from the Philippines with the same broad brush, in the Coach subforum, we've seen hundreds (maybe thousands) of scary "good" fakes listed by Filippino sellers. There are so many, in fact, that the authenticators recommend against buying from sellers from that country.

Here's a source of the pictures of the green PS bag.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Authentic-Proenza-Schouler-Large-PS1-in-Kelly-Green-Satchel-SOLDOUT-/261446205672?pt=US_CSA_WH_Handbags&hash=item3cdf6880e8&nma=true&si=qlgf%252FURj2W2lVofBCtkFehXSCXk%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Additionally, the 0-feedback seller (adamsedg) who used the same pictures raises additional red flags in my mind, especially after viewing the photobucket album that hosts those images.

She has pictures of multiple brands of designer items with (supposedly) receipts from various countries. There's a Bbag receipt from Paris, another Bbag receipt from Neiman Marcus, a third receipt showing a purchase in Singapore, etc.

Other pictures in the PB album show a Philippines website, so I suspect that adamsedg and the ebay seller on ebay.ph are the same person or related to each other.

http://s842.photobucket.com/user/adameind/library/?sort=3&page=1

Yep, this was the ebay listing I found as well - so lazy when it's likely that someone looking for "green PS1" will come across both!

Funny how adamsedg claims to be a US seller though with all those receipts. For a hot second I thought maybe the Balenciaga seller had bought the bag in singapore or whatever then came back to the US, but then everything else got shadier and shadier.

I don't know about authenticity but I'm guessing upawn at least has the bag in hand, since it doesn't seem like someone would go through 100 legit transactions just to cheat someone out of some money much further down the road. (I did message upawn to let him/her know that the pictures were being used by someone else). I wish ebay would do something about this when they are reported.

 

[uadjit]

Thank you for the warning but a listing for a large PS1 starting at $235 from a 0 fb seller is suspicious as all get out. Even the final sale price is very, very low for a large PS1 unless it's extremely beat up. Then add in the fact the body says "free shipping" but there's a shipping charge.

This should serve as yet another of example to everyone as to why when an auction has red flags like this you should hit the "Back" button! I know that low prices are tempting but as you point out it is not worth the hassle not to mention "feeding" the scammers by letting them get away with the cash.

Glad you caught them in the act!

 

[BeenBurned]

I don't know about authenticity but I'm guessing upawn at least has the bag in hand, since it doesn't seem like someone would go through 100 legit transactions just to cheat someone out of some money much further down the road. (I did message upawn to let him/her know that the pictures were being used by someone else). I wish ebay would do something about this when they are reported.

I doubt that upawn's bag is authentic and I suspect that the adams seller is probably connected in some way to upawn.

 

[rainnebeauxday]

Regarding the Balenciaga bag mentioned here, I saw the listing and posted it in the Authenticate This thread for B Bags. I noticed (and noted) that the seller was a zero feedback seller and had a zero feedback bidder on this auction. Then I noticed that the bag was listed as Free Shipping to US in the description, yet in the official Ebay bid area it had a price quote to ship (in the USA). I also noticed (lol) that the bag was being sold from Chicago but the pics looked like they were taken in a tropical environment.

I Googled some of the description in the listing, using quotes, and a link to a site who originally sold the bag came up. I posted this on the Authenticate This thread. At the same time Juliel was dealing with the seller. I had written to them twice with no response, but the seller was messaging her.

When the auction ended the price of the bag was bumped up by the zero bidder. I was not bidding. Once Juliel started to push the seller for more info they wrote to me asking if I was still interested in the bag! After she had just won...unbelievable!

 

[unoma]

Wow, thank you ladies. I was looking at the green PS.

 

[Designed_One]

I use stock photos of items that I have never worn or used as the pictures will be able to show the product better than any photos I take.

I'm not a scammer. I'm also not a 0 feedback ebay either.

 

[juliel]

I use stock photos of items that I have never worn or used as the pictures will be able to show the product better than any photos I take.

I'm not a scammer. I'm also not a 0 feedback ebay either.

I think for a new item that's less sketchy than for a used one though. I think for something like a Balenciaga, where there's so much variation, I'd still want to see a picture of the actual bag to see if it fit what I wanted in terms of color, etc - whereas say, a black Chloe Paraty is not going to have that variation from bag to bag. But you'd also be able to produce a photo of the individual item to prove you had it if asked without having to Photoshop a post it onto the bag!

 

[juliel]

Regarding the Balenciaga bag mentioned here, I saw the listing and posted it in the Authenticate This thread for B Bags. I noticed (and noted) that the seller was a zero feedback seller and had a zero feedback bidder on this auction. Then I noticed that the bag was listed as Free Shipping to US in the description, yet in the official Ebay bid area it had a price quote to ship (in the USA). I also noticed (lol) that the bag was being sold from Chicago but the pics looked like they were taken in a tropical environment.

I Googled some of the description in the listing, using quotes, and a link to a site who originally sold the bag came up. I posted this on the Authenticate This thread. At the same time Juliel was dealing with the seller. I had written to them twice with no response, but the seller was messaging her.

When the auction ended the price of the bag was bumped up by the zero bidder. I was not bidding. Once Juliel started to push the seller for more info they wrote to me asking if I was still interested in the bag! After she had just won...unbelievable!

And this was all before I called her on her crap. She sent me the picture of a Part Time with the post it taped to it when the auction was for a City - when I said "wrong bag" she had some story about grabbing the wrong one from her storage unit. That's when someone else's eagle eye spotted that it was photo shopped, but I was going to let it play out for a bit. . . until I couldn't resist telling her "someone else on tPF has told me you're trying to sell it to them, AND it's 'shopped!"

I just bought two more Bals at great prices today off eBay, but both sellers had sufficient feedback that I doubt that they don't have the bags. I've had to return two this month for SNAD (one had a huge red X on the back of the tag and split tassels; the other was very faded across the top and I asked about it from the pictures thinking it might be the lighting and was told no fading - big lie), and eBay has no problem, regardless of the seller claiming no return, with making them take it back if there is an issue. I would never do it unless I had very specific and legitimate issues where I felt as though the bag really was not in the shape represented. So at worst I'm gambling the cost of return shipping on the possibility of something being not authentic and the seller not knowing. I'm taking a leap I guess that a US seller who has built up sufficient feedback hasn't done it as a long con over several years to blow it on one $500 transaction.

 

[BeenBurned]

I use stock photos of items that I have never worn or used as the pictures will be able to show the product better than any photos I take.

I'm not a scammer. I'm also not a 0 feedback ebay either.

Use of any company's stock images is copyright infringement. Any website you go to will have a page with the terms of the use of the site and they all disallow use of their images and text for commercial purposes. The pictures on a website are for the benefit of their customers and belong to that company.

Companies pay a lot of money to have professional photographers and writers prepare their online catalogs and they take a dim view of others using their material.

 

[rainnebeauxday]

And this was all before I called her on her crap. She sent me the picture of a Part Time with the post it taped to it when the auction was for a City - when I said "wrong bag" she had some story about grabbing the wrong one from her storage unit. That's when someone else's eagle eye spotted that it was photo shopped, but I was going to let it play out for a bit. . . until I couldn't resist telling her "someone else on tPF has told me you're trying to sell it to them, AND it's 'shopped!"

Did she respond to your statement above? I have four purchased of my pre-loved B Bags from Ebay, so yeah, there are good, honest sellers out there, you just had probably the worst type to deal with. I hope the bags you purchased make it to you safe and sound Oh, btw, the B Bag seller has another negative review up, making them a -2 rated seller.

 

[juliel]

Did she respond to your statement above? I have four purchased of my pre-loved B Bags from Ebay, so yeah, there are good, honest sellers out there, you just had probably the worst type to deal with. I hope the bags you purchased make it to you safe and sound Oh, btw, the B Bag seller has another negative review up, making them a -2 rated seller.

The funny thing was that I found the sheet she had made up with pictures of that cookware set when I was snooping around Google for the pictures of the bag.

I love how ebay does nothing about anything, too. I can't tell you how many fake bags I have reported this week and I don't think any of them have been pulled.