Suspicious South African seashell auction - ebay seller crownparke

[SFlame]

So this is not saying this is a scam, but I wanted to make arena members and in particular nirvana collecting arena members aware of this.

Today a South African seashell finished on ebay

My other half was bidding on it for me as a present (obviously they don't come up often)

Here's the weird thing - he was heavily outbid yet he got an offer from the seller, saying that the USA buyer was fraudulent and he couldn't offer it as a second chance offer due to being a private seller. But he could send an invoice through paypal...

So he asks me what I think... I've got alarm bells going off all over for the following reasons:

1. Private listing can't see the bidders
2. Offering the listing outside of ebay
3. Offering the listing to someone who was not the second chance bidder
4. Previous feedback is only for 0.99p stamps
5. Suddenly listing expensive llandro items once 25 feedback have been hit

Maybe I am just being paranoid but just something doesn't seem right here..

[moved to Trading Support love pkw xxx]

[kakenterprise]

If it was me I'd pass, and report the seller.  It gets down to, is it worth the chance that they're not scamming you..  That's not a chance I'd take. 

[Galactica]

I agree that doesn't sound right.   It could be fraud although wouldn't you be covered if you paid through paypal?
Seems like the seller could also be trying to get a sale while skipping ebay fees- but the whole thing seems very suspicious.

[pinkaurora]

I agree with your alarm bells and myself personally I would pass.

[Icecrystalline]

I'd say that since PayPal would cover you, you don't really have anything to lose. So long as you claim within 40 days, you'd get your money back, unless he provided proof of postage and it did genuinely go astray in the post, then a 50/50 would probably be reached.

[pinkkittywinks]

There was a South African Seashell up for sale on UK eBay a while back, there was a thread made about it since the pictures had been taken from an African auction site.

http://mlparena.com/index.php/topic,348404.0.html

I had been watching that auction and wondered if it was the same seller as previously, however the the location and such are different.

I'm still unsure about it though, the pictures look familiar.

Love pkw xxx

[SFlame]

They have different locations for their different listings... Hmm even more suspect

[pinkkittywinks]

I've just looked up the ID of the seller mentioned in that thread and they are NLARU.

I'm comparing the feedback of both sellers and I'm slightly alarmed by the similarity of the items bought and sold, by both.

Run sflame. Run far, far away.

Love pkw xxx

[Icecrystalline]

Ooh, yeah, in that case, I'd run away from that!

[angelponies]

Doesn't sound good and if the user has no money for paypal to take, they will give you "Oh I am sorry this user has no money to refund you, but once they have it we will refund you" that happened to me with an item a few years ago. seller closed his/her bank account and paypal could not reimburse me, but I still have an IOU if the seller ever registers again, riiiight it's been years. Be very careful about that.

[Bibinettepony]

Doesn't sound good and if the user has no money for paypal to take, they will give you "Oh I am sorry this user has no money to refund you, but once they have it we will refund you" that happened to me with an item a few years ago. seller closed his/her bank account and paypal could not reimburse me, but I still have an IOU if the seller ever registers again, riiiight it's been years. Be very careful about that.

Wow!! I have never though this could happened with paypal :o((((

[nhal039]

I bid and also received the same message asking if I wanted to buy it :/ I really don't understand people scamming about such things

[kellyponyfeathers]

I thought it sounded fishy too.  The seller knew exactly what the pony was, a South African Seashell, though he claims it was "found in the attic, in an old toy box."  When most non-collectors sell off old toys, they have no idea what they are beyond maybe the brand name.  So I thought it was strange that this seller knew the pony was from South Africa.

Hmmm, if you want to give the purchase a try and maybe get a South African pony, can you charge it to a credit card?  Didn't I read somewhere that it gives you added protection if the item is not as promised?  Definitely check with your credit card company before trying this though, and definitely proceed with great caution.

[ClosetAvalanche]

Keep in mind, also, that they could send you a fake paypal invoice that is designed to steal your paypal info. I would pass, as tempting as it is. Too many warning bells.

[rosierjay]

something similar happened to me way back when. and well lets just say the fbi didn't catch them.