Monday, June 30, 2008
Monday, June 23, 2008
Funny Scam Email ---> "PLEASE ACCOMPLISH MY LAST WISH."
I was reading my gmail as usual and i decided to check my junks mails..... I saw this scam mail and it was irony..... Have a Good Laugh....
PLEASE ACCOMPLISH MY LAST WISH.
"Ms. Florence Walker." to me
show details 1:18 pm (1 hour ago)
Hello My Dear Friend.
My name is Ms. Florence Walker I am a dying woman who have decided to
donate what I have to you/ churches. I am 59 years old and I was diagnosed
for cancer for about 2 years ago, immediately after the death of my husband,
who has left me everything he worked for.
I have been touched by God to donate from what I have inherited from my
late husband to you for the good work of God, rather than allow my relatives
to use my husband hard earned funds ungodly. Please pray that the good Lord
forgive me my sins. I have asked God to forgive me and I believe he has
because He is a merciful God. I will be going in for an operation in less
than one hour.
I decided to WILL/donate the sum of US$6,500,000 (Six Million, Five Hundred
Thousand US Dollars Only) to you for the good work of the lord, and also to
help the motherless and less privilege and also for the assistance of the
widows.
At the moment I cannot take any telephone calls right now due to the fact
that my relatives are around me and my health status. I have adjusted my
WILL and my lawyer is aware I have changed my will and he will arrange the
transfer of the funds from my account to you. But this fund is with a legal
mandate with an irrevocable comprehensive insurance cover, as a security
measure against my husband relatives. I wish you all the best and may the
good Lord bless you abundantly, and please use the funds well and always
extend the good work to others.
Contact my lawyer with this specified Email Address: -
{james.a.s.associate@live.com} and tell him that I have WILLED US$6,500,000
(Six Million, Five Hundred Thousand US Dollars Only) to you by quoting my
personal reference number E-Morgan and Associates JA/EG/WILL/779914131209
and I have also notified him that I am WILLING that amount to you for a
specific and good work. I know I don't know you but I have been directed by
God to do this. Thanks and God bless.
NB: I will appreciate your utmost confidentiality in this matter until the
task is accomplished as I don't want anything that will jeopardize my last
wish. And Also I will be contacting with you by email as I don't want my
relation or anybody to know because they are always around me.
Best Regards,
Ms. Florence Walker.
PLEASE ACCOMPLISH MY LAST WISH.
"Ms. Florence Walker."
show details 1:18 pm (1 hour ago)
Hello My Dear Friend.
My name is Ms. Florence Walker I am a dying woman who have decided to
donate what I have to you/ churches. I am 59 years old and I was diagnosed
for cancer for about 2 years ago, immediately after the death of my husband,
who has left me everything he worked for.
I have been touched by God to donate from what I have inherited from my
late husband to you for the good work of God, rather than allow my relatives
to use my husband hard earned funds ungodly. Please pray that the good Lord
forgive me my sins. I have asked God to forgive me and I believe he has
because He is a merciful God. I will be going in for an operation in less
than one hour.
I decided to WILL/donate the sum of US$6,500,000 (Six Million, Five Hundred
Thousand US Dollars Only) to you for the good work of the lord, and also to
help the motherless and less privilege and also for the assistance of the
widows.
At the moment I cannot take any telephone calls right now due to the fact
that my relatives are around me and my health status. I have adjusted my
WILL and my lawyer is aware I have changed my will and he will arrange the
transfer of the funds from my account to you. But this fund is with a legal
mandate with an irrevocable comprehensive insurance cover, as a security
measure against my husband relatives. I wish you all the best and may the
good Lord bless you abundantly, and please use the funds well and always
extend the good work to others.
Contact my lawyer with this specified Email Address: -
{james.a.s.associate@live.com} and tell him that I have WILLED US$6,500,000
(Six Million, Five Hundred Thousand US Dollars Only) to you by quoting my
personal reference number E-Morgan and Associates JA/EG/WILL/779914131209
and I have also notified him that I am WILLING that amount to you for a
specific and good work. I know I don't know you but I have been directed by
God to do this. Thanks and God bless.
NB: I will appreciate your utmost confidentiality in this matter until the
task is accomplished as I don't want anything that will jeopardize my last
wish. And Also I will be contacting with you by email as I don't want my
relation or anybody to know because they are always around me.
Best Regards,
Ms. Florence Walker.
Ebay PowerSellers Search Engine Have Been Launch!!!!
We have just launched our No.1 Ebay Spider Search Engine, Eooze.com
Eooze.com is a Free Ebay Search Engine which all PowerSellers Dream Tool. It will help you check on other competitors keywords and all the top keywords use to search for the same item listed on Ebay. It also have a shopping feature that will allow people to shop in Ebay with ease. With Free Version of Wordtracker build in, it also allows you to the the keywords that have been searched in Google.
Do support us by spreading the words and sharing the site.
EOOZE
Eooze.com is a Free Ebay Search Engine which all PowerSellers Dream Tool. It will help you check on other competitors keywords and all the top keywords use to search for the same item listed on Ebay. It also have a shopping feature that will allow people to shop in Ebay with ease. With Free Version of Wordtracker build in, it also allows you to the the keywords that have been searched in Google.
Do support us by spreading the words and sharing the site.
EOOZE
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
How scammers run rings round eBay
Buyers fleeced, eBay practically powerless
By Ken Young
Everyone knows that buying and selling on eBay is precarious. Even eBay admits this and gives basic advice on its site that it believes helps eliminate most fraud.
But there appears to be a basic weakness in eBay's system that fraudsters and petty thieves are exploiting. It occurs when buyers pay sellers direct into the sellers' bank account by cheque or cash. The following is a real example that occurred in September this year (names withheld for legal reasons). Let's call the buyer Tom and the seller Harry.
Tom won the bid for a mobile phone and agreed to pay Harry (who lives 80 miles away from Tom) £185 plus £6 insurance using cash at a branch of Harry's bank. A few days later a box arrived. It contained a battery charger and an earplug, but no phone. Tom informed Harry who said that he believed someone at the post office must have stolen the phone and that he would look into it.
Days passed and Tom then asked Harry to claim on the insurance. Harry said he had lost the insurance slip and would instead refund 50 per cent of the £185. A week passed and Tom called Harry to say no payment had been received and that he was losing his patience and would report the matter to eBay.
Harry made more excuses and stopped answering his mobile phone. Over the next few weeks they spoke occasionally but Harry refused to send any money and blamed Tom for his removal from eBay (subsequent to Tom informing eBay of his loss). Tom contacted Harry's bank but the bank refused to provide Harry's address. Tom only knows Harry's mobile phone number and Hotmail email address.
In summary, Tom spent £196 on a phone that never arrived and he is not alone. As a result of basic research for this story we have been contacted by five people who have experienced similar scams (their stories, in emails, are copied below). The fact is it appears far too easy for this scam to be perpetrated.
Pattern of fraud
The pattern is all too predictable. Buyers and sellers agree not to go through the more secure PayPal system because it costs more to do so. So buyers take the risk of sending the money to the seller who either doesn't send the goods or sends shoddy or fake goods. The sellers protect themselves against prosecution by claiming loss, or disputing the buyer's version of events. The amounts involved - though not insignificant to the buyer - are too small for eBay to want to take the matter further.
There is one other common factor in all these stories. Though the buyers report the matter to eBay they are invariably frustrated at standard email responses and being steered towards a mediation system which costs the buyer £15 and even then may or may not lead to resolution. Alternatively, sellers can claim compensation through eBay and may get a maximum of £105 - if they claim between 30 and 90 days after the event and meet the criteria for payment. In our example above Tom made a claim last month and is still waiting.
A common refrain is: "Should I report this to the police? eBay are not replying to my emails about this and I don't know if the police are aware or not. What should I do?"
eBay declined an interview in relation to this story but instead issued a statement:
"eBay takes the issue of fraud very seriously and investigates every case of fraud reported to it. eBay currently has over 1,000 people worldwide with backgrounds in law enforcement, customer support, advanced computer engineering and analysis dedicated to making eBay one of the safest places to trade online and, in the UK, employs an ex-Scotland Yard officer as liaison point for law enforcement agencies.
"The majority of transactions on the eBay site are completely secure and without incident. Approximately 0.01 per cent of transactions end in a confirmed case of fraud."
This means that for every million transactions, 100 are 'confirmed' fraudulent, though the criteria for this confirmation are not available. Any security consultant will say that is an acceptable level of risk and way below fraud levels on credit cards. Not surprisingly, eBay therefore does not advise people specifically not to pay by cheque or cash payment into a seller's bank account.
Top tips
On the eBay website its 'top tips' state that sellers should ideally use secure payment systems like PayPal (which offers greater levels of protection, though still limited if the seller has little or no track record) and should NOT use money transfer services "like Western Union".
But aside from telling buyers to be wary it does not tell buyers NOT to send cheques or pay directly into sellers' bank accounts (either by money transfer or using cash at a bank branch). Clearly it believes that most such transactions are safe and therefore if the buyer assesses the risk as low, then why not?
Many eBay users may agree - it's 'caveat emptor' applied to the world of online car boot sales. But when Steve Gold, a security consultant, celebrity ex-hacker (he co-hacked the Duke of Edinburgh's Prestel mailbox), and former accountant also gets hit by such a scam you begin to wonder how the mass of eBay's users are avoiding getting stung and whether the 0.01 per cent figure is an accurate reflection of the amount fraud occurring.
Gold, an experienced eBay user, reports that he bought a hard drive for £63 from a man who never sent the item. After weeks of the usual hassle he used 192.com to track the man down to confront him. The seller - somewhat shocked to see his 'victim' - pleaded poverty and illness and apologized profusely. Gold admitted defeat safe in the knowledge that at least he had confronted his fraudster and learnt a useful - if painful - lesson.
Pants down
He now says he uses a mixture of web tools to check out sellers. He pays 192.com £25 per 100 enquiries to get addresses from phone numbers; he uses maporama.com to check out locations of sellers; and he admits he is more cautious than ever.
"eBay is caught with its pants down," he says. "They are neglecting their customers; they should make a shed load of information available to help people to avoid this." Like others Gold says he hit a brick wall when he tried to get other bodies involved: "I went to trading standards - they weren't interested. I even compiled a dossier on the seller and sent it to his local police force. Subsequently they told me they were aware of eBay fraud but don't deal with it." Gold believes the level of fraud on eBay is higher than the 0.01 per cent figure given: "But how can we tell? eBay won't reveal the real figures so we have no way of knowing."
He has a point. Credit card fraud has been reduced over the years by greater public awareness over the levels and types of fraud occurring. eBay is relying on sellers to be 'careful' but the question for the regulatory authorities remains: Is eBay doing enough to protect its users? Those who lose out as a result of this type of scam certainly think not.
Clearly eBay cannot be held responsible for dishonesty among sellers but perhaps it could do a lot more to warn people how easy it is for petty criminals to exploit our desire for a bargain. Maybe it is time for an independent body to track complaints against the system so that buyers can get a better picture of the types and frequency of frauds occurring. ®
Below are a selection of emails from others defrauded via eBay. Names have been omitted for legal reasons:
I was cheated out of £200 when I tried to buy an ipod. I corresponded with the seller, who seemed friendly until I sent my money and he clammed up. I got emails from another apparent victim, who also was a bit shy of giving out his contact details. I suspect the second person was the first in disguise. Top cap it all, the seller gave a bank account for me to deposit the money, which I did, but it turned out that his identity was totally fake - in fact it was someone else's ID. So he had used a real ID (not his own), to open not one but three accounts at Nationwide to use for fake eBay transactions. I contacted the police but the trail went cold. I did manage to get Nationwide to close the accounts down They said he had been taking money out as soon as it hit the account. I tried to contact eBay with the details, saying the guy wasn't returning my emails, they responded with an email saying "why don't you try our arbitration service." I emailed them asking how I could do that if the guy won't respond to me. They replied saying they were sorry about that but maybe I should try their arbitration service. I then asked how I could claim on their insurance policy to reimburse defrauded customers, and they simply replied advising me to try their arbitration service.
I bought a couple of Tiffany items - from different sellers - for my niece last Christmas. One item was fine - the other was a fake. The girl who sold it handled it perfectly. She was very chatty (by email) and was 'touched' when I told her the thing was intended as a gift for my niece etc..... Anyway, when my niece received the item, it was obviously a fake. We did consult Tiffany, who confirmed that they hadn't ever manufactured a piece in that style. I got back on to her and her response was something not so far short of f off - but without the swear words. I was furious. I contemplated forms of retribution. I did, however, go thru the Safe Harbour system but with no success. I later made a claim from eBay but it was such a long-winded process that i kind of forgot to finish it off. So I just lost the money. From my experience I'd suggest eBay needs to sort out its claims policy. It's such a hassle that it really is off-putting. I still use eBay but without the same enthusiasm.
I have a reseller friend who was a victim of an eBay scam, and to add insult to injury not only did they steal his card details on a non-existent transaction, they sent him a brick through the post to rub salt into that wound.
By Ken Young
Everyone knows that buying and selling on eBay is precarious. Even eBay admits this and gives basic advice on its site that it believes helps eliminate most fraud.
But there appears to be a basic weakness in eBay's system that fraudsters and petty thieves are exploiting. It occurs when buyers pay sellers direct into the sellers' bank account by cheque or cash. The following is a real example that occurred in September this year (names withheld for legal reasons). Let's call the buyer Tom and the seller Harry.
Tom won the bid for a mobile phone and agreed to pay Harry (who lives 80 miles away from Tom) £185 plus £6 insurance using cash at a branch of Harry's bank. A few days later a box arrived. It contained a battery charger and an earplug, but no phone. Tom informed Harry who said that he believed someone at the post office must have stolen the phone and that he would look into it.
Days passed and Tom then asked Harry to claim on the insurance. Harry said he had lost the insurance slip and would instead refund 50 per cent of the £185. A week passed and Tom called Harry to say no payment had been received and that he was losing his patience and would report the matter to eBay.
Harry made more excuses and stopped answering his mobile phone. Over the next few weeks they spoke occasionally but Harry refused to send any money and blamed Tom for his removal from eBay (subsequent to Tom informing eBay of his loss). Tom contacted Harry's bank but the bank refused to provide Harry's address. Tom only knows Harry's mobile phone number and Hotmail email address.
In summary, Tom spent £196 on a phone that never arrived and he is not alone. As a result of basic research for this story we have been contacted by five people who have experienced similar scams (their stories, in emails, are copied below). The fact is it appears far too easy for this scam to be perpetrated.
Pattern of fraud
The pattern is all too predictable. Buyers and sellers agree not to go through the more secure PayPal system because it costs more to do so. So buyers take the risk of sending the money to the seller who either doesn't send the goods or sends shoddy or fake goods. The sellers protect themselves against prosecution by claiming loss, or disputing the buyer's version of events. The amounts involved - though not insignificant to the buyer - are too small for eBay to want to take the matter further.
There is one other common factor in all these stories. Though the buyers report the matter to eBay they are invariably frustrated at standard email responses and being steered towards a mediation system which costs the buyer £15 and even then may or may not lead to resolution. Alternatively, sellers can claim compensation through eBay and may get a maximum of £105 - if they claim between 30 and 90 days after the event and meet the criteria for payment. In our example above Tom made a claim last month and is still waiting.
A common refrain is: "Should I report this to the police? eBay are not replying to my emails about this and I don't know if the police are aware or not. What should I do?"
eBay declined an interview in relation to this story but instead issued a statement:
"eBay takes the issue of fraud very seriously and investigates every case of fraud reported to it. eBay currently has over 1,000 people worldwide with backgrounds in law enforcement, customer support, advanced computer engineering and analysis dedicated to making eBay one of the safest places to trade online and, in the UK, employs an ex-Scotland Yard officer as liaison point for law enforcement agencies.
"The majority of transactions on the eBay site are completely secure and without incident. Approximately 0.01 per cent of transactions end in a confirmed case of fraud."
This means that for every million transactions, 100 are 'confirmed' fraudulent, though the criteria for this confirmation are not available. Any security consultant will say that is an acceptable level of risk and way below fraud levels on credit cards. Not surprisingly, eBay therefore does not advise people specifically not to pay by cheque or cash payment into a seller's bank account.
Top tips
On the eBay website its 'top tips' state that sellers should ideally use secure payment systems like PayPal (which offers greater levels of protection, though still limited if the seller has little or no track record) and should NOT use money transfer services "like Western Union".
But aside from telling buyers to be wary it does not tell buyers NOT to send cheques or pay directly into sellers' bank accounts (either by money transfer or using cash at a bank branch). Clearly it believes that most such transactions are safe and therefore if the buyer assesses the risk as low, then why not?
Many eBay users may agree - it's 'caveat emptor' applied to the world of online car boot sales. But when Steve Gold, a security consultant, celebrity ex-hacker (he co-hacked the Duke of Edinburgh's Prestel mailbox), and former accountant also gets hit by such a scam you begin to wonder how the mass of eBay's users are avoiding getting stung and whether the 0.01 per cent figure is an accurate reflection of the amount fraud occurring.
Gold, an experienced eBay user, reports that he bought a hard drive for £63 from a man who never sent the item. After weeks of the usual hassle he used 192.com to track the man down to confront him. The seller - somewhat shocked to see his 'victim' - pleaded poverty and illness and apologized profusely. Gold admitted defeat safe in the knowledge that at least he had confronted his fraudster and learnt a useful - if painful - lesson.
Pants down
He now says he uses a mixture of web tools to check out sellers. He pays 192.com £25 per 100 enquiries to get addresses from phone numbers; he uses maporama.com to check out locations of sellers; and he admits he is more cautious than ever.
"eBay is caught with its pants down," he says. "They are neglecting their customers; they should make a shed load of information available to help people to avoid this." Like others Gold says he hit a brick wall when he tried to get other bodies involved: "I went to trading standards - they weren't interested. I even compiled a dossier on the seller and sent it to his local police force. Subsequently they told me they were aware of eBay fraud but don't deal with it." Gold believes the level of fraud on eBay is higher than the 0.01 per cent figure given: "But how can we tell? eBay won't reveal the real figures so we have no way of knowing."
He has a point. Credit card fraud has been reduced over the years by greater public awareness over the levels and types of fraud occurring. eBay is relying on sellers to be 'careful' but the question for the regulatory authorities remains: Is eBay doing enough to protect its users? Those who lose out as a result of this type of scam certainly think not.
Clearly eBay cannot be held responsible for dishonesty among sellers but perhaps it could do a lot more to warn people how easy it is for petty criminals to exploit our desire for a bargain. Maybe it is time for an independent body to track complaints against the system so that buyers can get a better picture of the types and frequency of frauds occurring. ®
Below are a selection of emails from others defrauded via eBay. Names have been omitted for legal reasons:
I was cheated out of £200 when I tried to buy an ipod. I corresponded with the seller, who seemed friendly until I sent my money and he clammed up. I got emails from another apparent victim, who also was a bit shy of giving out his contact details. I suspect the second person was the first in disguise. Top cap it all, the seller gave a bank account for me to deposit the money, which I did, but it turned out that his identity was totally fake - in fact it was someone else's ID. So he had used a real ID (not his own), to open not one but three accounts at Nationwide to use for fake eBay transactions. I contacted the police but the trail went cold. I did manage to get Nationwide to close the accounts down They said he had been taking money out as soon as it hit the account. I tried to contact eBay with the details, saying the guy wasn't returning my emails, they responded with an email saying "why don't you try our arbitration service." I emailed them asking how I could do that if the guy won't respond to me. They replied saying they were sorry about that but maybe I should try their arbitration service. I then asked how I could claim on their insurance policy to reimburse defrauded customers, and they simply replied advising me to try their arbitration service.
I bought a couple of Tiffany items - from different sellers - for my niece last Christmas. One item was fine - the other was a fake. The girl who sold it handled it perfectly. She was very chatty (by email) and was 'touched' when I told her the thing was intended as a gift for my niece etc..... Anyway, when my niece received the item, it was obviously a fake. We did consult Tiffany, who confirmed that they hadn't ever manufactured a piece in that style. I got back on to her and her response was something not so far short of f off - but without the swear words. I was furious. I contemplated forms of retribution. I did, however, go thru the Safe Harbour system but with no success. I later made a claim from eBay but it was such a long-winded process that i kind of forgot to finish it off. So I just lost the money. From my experience I'd suggest eBay needs to sort out its claims policy. It's such a hassle that it really is off-putting. I still use eBay but without the same enthusiasm.
I have a reseller friend who was a victim of an eBay scam, and to add insult to injury not only did they steal his card details on a non-existent transaction, they sent him a brick through the post to rub salt into that wound.
Beware Of Fake AutoGraph
I hope this will help you avoid the fake Autographs on eBay.
I have now been selling on eBay for over 6 years, and collecting since i was 12 years old when i first met the Rolling Stones in March 1965 (the building they played at is now an old peoples home!). I have been a full time autograph dealer for 15 years, and work with both the Police and Trading Standards in tracking and prosecuting forgers. I am also the UACC ethics board member for the UK, and organise the 'Autographica' event in London. To help you avoid the forgers on ebay i have come up with these 'Golden Rules' ignore them at your peril!
This guide is aimed at the relative newcomer to eBay, so those of you who have more experience will know that there are indeed genuine sellers on eBay who may seem to break some of the rules below. But the point is that you should always read the full eBay listing, check out the seller as much as you can, and don't take risks with your money. If an item seems too good to be true, then you can be pretty damn sure that its a fake, so don't take chances.
1/ Never never buy anything from any seller who uses the PRIVATE option (Private Feedback or Private bidding), unless you are a very very very experienced ebayer!
There is not one single good reason why any legitimate seller would use either of these PRIVATE options, the UACC have banned it, and so should eBay. Don’t fall for their old tosh about protecting your privacy, it’s their privacy they are concerned with not yours! Fall for this one, and the chances are 100 to 1 that you will be buying fakes, forgeries or just plain rubbish.
The PRIVATE bidding option prevents you (the buyer) from finding out what they (the seller) has previously sold, it prevents other eBay members from warning you about their fakes or scams, and worst of all, it allows the seller to bid against you without you knowing! (yes that’s right, a seller using the PRIVATE auction option is able to bid on their own auctions and push up the final price without you knowing! Now if that is not cheating, I don’t know what is). So always look out for the PRIVATE auction warning at the top of every ebay listing, and if you see it, avoid it. You will often find these sellers have changed the ID many times too, just click on ID History to check. They change their name normally because they have had some bad press somewhere (isitreal.com etc) and so change it to try and hide.
2/ Always pay for items using PayPal, if you don’t have an account then open one, worst case pay using your credit card. That way if anything goes wrong you will get you money back, and in the case of PayPal it is a very easy thing to do. If the seller does not accept either, and you have any doubts about the seller, then don’t bid. There are now an increasing number of fraudulent sellers who are no longer accepting PayPal, why? Because Paypal have barred their accounts because of the number of refunds they have had to give unfortunate customers. If the seller wants you to pay in cash or Via Western Union, and does not accept Paypal or a credit card then run away. I know PayPal can be a pain, and they are not perfect, but its still by far the best way to safely pay for anything on eBay. Asking for Payment via Cash or Western Uinon is against eBay UK rules, so avoid these sellers.
3/ Always check the location of the seller. On the top right in the Sellers Information box, it tells you where the seller is registered, does this tie in with what it says next to Item Location? Does it have any location stated at all? If it says ‘Fastest shipper on ebay’ or similar where it should say the location, avoid the seller, (not putting the location is actually against eBay rules). If the registered location is different to the location stated, then avoid the seller. Please be aware that there are now a growing number of forgers who are in a different country to which they are selling in. The reason is simply because you as the buyer are much less likely to be able to do anything about it. There are also known forgers operating from some of the eastern countries too, Poland Romania, Russia etc. Also consider this, why is a man in Spain, Greece, Italy, Cyprus or Australia! selling David Beckham etc signed items which he claims to have got in person! Lately we have seen in increase in forgeries from the Liverpool area. All claim excelent contacts with the club, and one even claims to be a member of a group who are working with eBay and trading standards! Unless you can be 1000% certain, stay away from sellers in far off lands, chances are you will also end up being stung for import duty on fake items from a seller you will never get a refund from. We have reports now of a man in Italy selling signed football covers. He shows the real thing, but sends you a forgery, and he shill bids his own auctions too. The signs are there in his auctions, but can you see them? Avoid this seller at all cost.
4/ Check to see what other items the seller has sold in the past 30 days, if they have sold more of the same Elvis signed photos etc (or similar hard to find items), then avoid them. To check their sales go to Advanced Search (top right corner) then Search by Seller and remember to click on Include Completed Listings. Ebay will then give you a full list of all the items the seller has sold in the last 30 days. This can be quite eye opening when you see how many ‘Rare’ David Beckham signed shirts they have sold in 4 weeks! This method also works for those who use the PRIVATE option too.
5/ Always check the feedback. Every dealer, even good ones get some negative occasionally, you can’t please everyone. But some dealers have a huge amount of negative, often warning others about the fakes they sell etc, but still people bid on their items. Take a good look at the sellers feedback history, go back a good few pages, see what sort of feedback they give buyers too, see if you can see any kind of patterns. Check who they are buying from ‘See Feedback from Sellers’ this can show you where they are buying from, and in some cases you can then easily see they are buying fakes and reselling them. Look out also for negative comments left as a positive. Buyers are often concerned about leaving a negative feedback, so instead leave a negative comment as a positive feedback. All positive feedback is not always positive comment!
These are the 5 things you should always check before buying anything on ebay, break just one of these rules and you will very likely be buying a duffer, break all 5 and you are throwing your money away for sure.
6/ Avoid sellers who make excessive claims as to where they obtain their stock from etc. ‘I have worked in the music business for 30 years’ ‘item comes with an impeccable references from someone in the film industry’ ‘I buy my items from UACC dealers and other registered sources’ (the UACC do not allow anyone to make this claim unless they state EXACTLY who they purchased from, or they will be VERO'd off !) etc etc. Unless you already have considerable experience, then only buy from dealers who are actually members of the UACC, PADA or the IPDA (and can prove it), and be careful, anyone can join the UACC, it is after all a club for autograph collectors. Only Registered Dealers have been members for 3 years or more, and have proved they know what they are talking about, they have provided both references from other known dealers, and their stock has been checked on a regular basis by other dealers. There are very few genuine dealers who are not UACC members, but there are many unscrupulous dealers who make the claim that being a member of the UACC proves nothing and so refuse to join. The truth is that most of these 'sellers' have been refused membership or have already been thrown out! Its the provenance of the seller you need check, not the provenance of the item!
7/ If the seller only has Madonna, Harrison Ford, Elvis, etc all listed at the same time, way below their true market value, then they are 99.99% likely to be fake, so you know what to do! Avoid them. A real Elvis will cost you $500 plus minimum so forget about that $50 signed colour photo with loads of provenance that looks a bargain!
8/ Forget about any COA, an item is either real or its fake, and no amount of classy COA with triple holograms, a wax seal, fancy ribbon, DNA, or nice paper will make a poor fake into a genuine bargain. A COA is only as good as the seller is honest, and if the seller is a fraud, then your COA is no more useful than a used piece of toilet tissue!
9/ Learn how to bid. In other words, read the pages on ebay about how the proxy bidding system can work for you. Don’t wait until the last minute to bid and then get outbid by a sniper! Learn how it works, always bid slightly higher than you are prepared to pay and use it to your advantage. Find out about the sniper programs, thay are a must if you want to outbid your rivals.
10/ This may sound strange, and once the forgers read this they will change their wording, and my top ten tips will become nine! But I have noticed that there are only a few genuine dealers that use the term ‘Hand signed’ but almost every forger uses it ! I have no idea why this is, I think it must be some form of subliminal action, whereby as the forger has signed all his own items with his hand, it must therefore be hand signed!
I hope the above has been of some use to you. Buying autographs on ebay is a great way to build a collection, and at the moment its a buyers market, and with good knowledge (and with the use of a snipe program!) you can obtain some excellent bargains. Get to know the dealers, do they only sell on ebay? are they known by any of the other dealers? do they attend any of the more well known autograph events such as AUTOGRAPHICA (try a Google search)? or are they just a chancer selling fakes on ebay from a foreign land?
And one last thing, some collectors advise that you ask sellers questions about the item, this in most cases is a total waste of time. I get asked all the time 'is this item genuinely signed?' well as a UACC registered dealer of some years, i would be soon thrown out if it was not, but ask that question to an eBay forger, and what do you think he might say? 'No, its a forgery, don't buy it' No of course not, he will say whatever you want to hear won't he! You might however get a better insight into his business practice by asking about his previous criminal record!
Garry King. UACC Registered Dealer 179. UACC Ethics Board member.
We would like to thank Garry King for letting us use this
I have now been selling on eBay for over 6 years, and collecting since i was 12 years old when i first met the Rolling Stones in March 1965 (the building they played at is now an old peoples home!). I have been a full time autograph dealer for 15 years, and work with both the Police and Trading Standards in tracking and prosecuting forgers. I am also the UACC ethics board member for the UK, and organise the 'Autographica' event in London. To help you avoid the forgers on ebay i have come up with these 'Golden Rules' ignore them at your peril!
This guide is aimed at the relative newcomer to eBay, so those of you who have more experience will know that there are indeed genuine sellers on eBay who may seem to break some of the rules below. But the point is that you should always read the full eBay listing, check out the seller as much as you can, and don't take risks with your money. If an item seems too good to be true, then you can be pretty damn sure that its a fake, so don't take chances.
1/ Never never buy anything from any seller who uses the PRIVATE option (Private Feedback or Private bidding), unless you are a very very very experienced ebayer!
There is not one single good reason why any legitimate seller would use either of these PRIVATE options, the UACC have banned it, and so should eBay. Don’t fall for their old tosh about protecting your privacy, it’s their privacy they are concerned with not yours! Fall for this one, and the chances are 100 to 1 that you will be buying fakes, forgeries or just plain rubbish.
The PRIVATE bidding option prevents you (the buyer) from finding out what they (the seller) has previously sold, it prevents other eBay members from warning you about their fakes or scams, and worst of all, it allows the seller to bid against you without you knowing! (yes that’s right, a seller using the PRIVATE auction option is able to bid on their own auctions and push up the final price without you knowing! Now if that is not cheating, I don’t know what is). So always look out for the PRIVATE auction warning at the top of every ebay listing, and if you see it, avoid it. You will often find these sellers have changed the ID many times too, just click on ID History to check. They change their name normally because they have had some bad press somewhere (isitreal.com etc) and so change it to try and hide.
2/ Always pay for items using PayPal, if you don’t have an account then open one, worst case pay using your credit card. That way if anything goes wrong you will get you money back, and in the case of PayPal it is a very easy thing to do. If the seller does not accept either, and you have any doubts about the seller, then don’t bid. There are now an increasing number of fraudulent sellers who are no longer accepting PayPal, why? Because Paypal have barred their accounts because of the number of refunds they have had to give unfortunate customers. If the seller wants you to pay in cash or Via Western Union, and does not accept Paypal or a credit card then run away. I know PayPal can be a pain, and they are not perfect, but its still by far the best way to safely pay for anything on eBay. Asking for Payment via Cash or Western Uinon is against eBay UK rules, so avoid these sellers.
3/ Always check the location of the seller. On the top right in the Sellers Information box, it tells you where the seller is registered, does this tie in with what it says next to Item Location? Does it have any location stated at all? If it says ‘Fastest shipper on ebay’ or similar where it should say the location, avoid the seller, (not putting the location is actually against eBay rules). If the registered location is different to the location stated, then avoid the seller. Please be aware that there are now a growing number of forgers who are in a different country to which they are selling in. The reason is simply because you as the buyer are much less likely to be able to do anything about it. There are also known forgers operating from some of the eastern countries too, Poland Romania, Russia etc. Also consider this, why is a man in Spain, Greece, Italy, Cyprus or Australia! selling David Beckham etc signed items which he claims to have got in person! Lately we have seen in increase in forgeries from the Liverpool area. All claim excelent contacts with the club, and one even claims to be a member of a group who are working with eBay and trading standards! Unless you can be 1000% certain, stay away from sellers in far off lands, chances are you will also end up being stung for import duty on fake items from a seller you will never get a refund from. We have reports now of a man in Italy selling signed football covers. He shows the real thing, but sends you a forgery, and he shill bids his own auctions too. The signs are there in his auctions, but can you see them? Avoid this seller at all cost.
4/ Check to see what other items the seller has sold in the past 30 days, if they have sold more of the same Elvis signed photos etc (or similar hard to find items), then avoid them. To check their sales go to Advanced Search (top right corner) then Search by Seller and remember to click on Include Completed Listings. Ebay will then give you a full list of all the items the seller has sold in the last 30 days. This can be quite eye opening when you see how many ‘Rare’ David Beckham signed shirts they have sold in 4 weeks! This method also works for those who use the PRIVATE option too.
5/ Always check the feedback. Every dealer, even good ones get some negative occasionally, you can’t please everyone. But some dealers have a huge amount of negative, often warning others about the fakes they sell etc, but still people bid on their items. Take a good look at the sellers feedback history, go back a good few pages, see what sort of feedback they give buyers too, see if you can see any kind of patterns. Check who they are buying from ‘See Feedback from Sellers’ this can show you where they are buying from, and in some cases you can then easily see they are buying fakes and reselling them. Look out also for negative comments left as a positive. Buyers are often concerned about leaving a negative feedback, so instead leave a negative comment as a positive feedback. All positive feedback is not always positive comment!
These are the 5 things you should always check before buying anything on ebay, break just one of these rules and you will very likely be buying a duffer, break all 5 and you are throwing your money away for sure.
6/ Avoid sellers who make excessive claims as to where they obtain their stock from etc. ‘I have worked in the music business for 30 years’ ‘item comes with an impeccable references from someone in the film industry’ ‘I buy my items from UACC dealers and other registered sources’ (the UACC do not allow anyone to make this claim unless they state EXACTLY who they purchased from, or they will be VERO'd off !) etc etc. Unless you already have considerable experience, then only buy from dealers who are actually members of the UACC, PADA or the IPDA (and can prove it), and be careful, anyone can join the UACC, it is after all a club for autograph collectors. Only Registered Dealers have been members for 3 years or more, and have proved they know what they are talking about, they have provided both references from other known dealers, and their stock has been checked on a regular basis by other dealers. There are very few genuine dealers who are not UACC members, but there are many unscrupulous dealers who make the claim that being a member of the UACC proves nothing and so refuse to join. The truth is that most of these 'sellers' have been refused membership or have already been thrown out! Its the provenance of the seller you need check, not the provenance of the item!
7/ If the seller only has Madonna, Harrison Ford, Elvis, etc all listed at the same time, way below their true market value, then they are 99.99% likely to be fake, so you know what to do! Avoid them. A real Elvis will cost you $500 plus minimum so forget about that $50 signed colour photo with loads of provenance that looks a bargain!
8/ Forget about any COA, an item is either real or its fake, and no amount of classy COA with triple holograms, a wax seal, fancy ribbon, DNA, or nice paper will make a poor fake into a genuine bargain. A COA is only as good as the seller is honest, and if the seller is a fraud, then your COA is no more useful than a used piece of toilet tissue!
9/ Learn how to bid. In other words, read the pages on ebay about how the proxy bidding system can work for you. Don’t wait until the last minute to bid and then get outbid by a sniper! Learn how it works, always bid slightly higher than you are prepared to pay and use it to your advantage. Find out about the sniper programs, thay are a must if you want to outbid your rivals.
10/ This may sound strange, and once the forgers read this they will change their wording, and my top ten tips will become nine! But I have noticed that there are only a few genuine dealers that use the term ‘Hand signed’ but almost every forger uses it ! I have no idea why this is, I think it must be some form of subliminal action, whereby as the forger has signed all his own items with his hand, it must therefore be hand signed!
I hope the above has been of some use to you. Buying autographs on ebay is a great way to build a collection, and at the moment its a buyers market, and with good knowledge (and with the use of a snipe program!) you can obtain some excellent bargains. Get to know the dealers, do they only sell on ebay? are they known by any of the other dealers? do they attend any of the more well known autograph events such as AUTOGRAPHICA (try a Google search)? or are they just a chancer selling fakes on ebay from a foreign land?
And one last thing, some collectors advise that you ask sellers questions about the item, this in most cases is a total waste of time. I get asked all the time 'is this item genuinely signed?' well as a UACC registered dealer of some years, i would be soon thrown out if it was not, but ask that question to an eBay forger, and what do you think he might say? 'No, its a forgery, don't buy it' No of course not, he will say whatever you want to hear won't he! You might however get a better insight into his business practice by asking about his previous criminal record!
Garry King. UACC Registered Dealer 179. UACC Ethics Board member.
We would like to thank Garry King for letting us use this
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