[Mudshark]

Quote:

Originally Posted by silverrain /img/forum/go_quote.gif How would you change it? How? In what way, basically? What roadblocks would you add to the system to improve this? As a professional software developer and systems designer, I am very curious about your ideas, since systems security is one of my areas of responsibility.

1. How about making high-volume sellers post a bond or a letter of credit (or at least make them provide proof of a valid bank account and/or credit card)?
2. How about background checks on big-ticket sellers?
3. How about making sellers disclose a valid address and phone number to prospective buyers?
4. How about checking to see if a supposed business actually exists before allowing it to post $1+ million of merchandise on your site? I tried to find this supposed Arizona distributor using Google and could find no reference to it. Hence, I didn't buy anything.

It's really not all that complicated.

 

[santiclaws]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mudshark /img/forum/go_quote.gif How about making high-volume sellers post a bond or a letter of credit (or at least make them provide proof of a valid bank account and/or credit card)? How about background checks on big-ticket sellers? How about making sellers disclose a valid address and phone number to prospective buyers? How about checking to see if a supposed business actually exists before allowing it to post $1+ million of merchandise on your site? I tried to find this supposed Arizona distributor using Google and could find no reference to it. Hence, I didn't buy anything. It's really not all that complicated.

What's in it for ebay and PayPal to do all that?? They want to make things easy to sell, not create roadblocks. If a few people get scammed in the process, oh well...

 

[wrecked_porsche]

Yeah, ebay has to spend more to implement those steps. I don't think they are gonna care if people gets ripped off, as long as they (ebay) gets the max profits.

 

[silverrain]

Between ebay and paypal, most of this stuff is actually done, if you guys check.
Ebay has "ID verified" and
Paypal has "verified" status too -- both places do numerous checks for valid ID, bank accounts, credit cards, addresses, along with independent 3rd-party verification of certain data, too.
Lots of hoops and checks to get through.

Bottom line is: no matter what is done, someone will always find the loopholes and try to use them for personal gain.

If it gets TOO hard, nobody will use the business, and they FOLD.
They DID shut this sale down, after being made aware of potential problems.
They DO try to help prevent these scams to their customers -- if they did NOT, and too many people were scammed, they will FOLD, instead of growing as they have.

I'm still waiting to see if there is any proof of scam, other than the fact that they did not answer email question (mine wasn't answered, either).

And if Ebay FOLDS, that would hurt many many people -- so you can bet that they are doing everything possible to prevent scamming or other problems, so they can keep their jobs. You can bank on that.

No, I don't work for either of them, but have been a customer of both since their startups, and have seen first-hand (as both buyer and seller) how tight they try to keep their security in both places.

I have myself gotten refunded moneys from a "no-ship-product" scammer/seller in the past, and as a seller, have had buyers keep a product I sent, and swear they never received it, and get a refund, to my loss as a seller -- so I know the system works -- but nothing can be perfect, though they do actually try to be.

There is always a jerk somewhere, always, screwing people over for some $$$ -- caveat emptor, and do your best to be careful.

 

[ast]

Lesson 1: when it sounds too good to be true, it is.

Lesson 2: eBay business model

 

[spronkey]

High volume sellers should be required to present a certificate of incorporation. In New Zealand at least to sell that kind of volume you have to be registered for GST (tax) so will have a GST registration number at the very least.

Furthermore, high volume sellers should also be required to pay at least a percentage of listing fees upfront.

Similarly, ID verification has been consistently proved woefully inadequate - photo identification should be required for high volume sellers.

Simple things don't detract from everyday people using eBay but would greatly increase baseline security for bidders.

 

[braillediver]

all-systems555 ( 11) Not a registered user


So the Seller is no longer on eBay.

I feel bad for the people who lost money.

The people who continued to think this was legitamate should think twice, do some research and ask questons before giving your money away.

What's amazing is this isn't an isolated incident but happens every day on the Internet.


Caveat Emptor- even the ancient Greeks got burned on eBay.


Mitch

 

[Burkeman]

Anyone have an update on this? PayPal is investigating my screwup, but nothing much else to report on this front. Others?

 

[braillediver]

“Anyone have an update on this?”

What do you mean? The Seller perpetrated a Fraud for many thousands of dollars and has been shut down.

There’s No Money to recover, The Seller Never Had anything to Sell and there’s No Reason to believe they were in AZ or even in the USA.

Sadly people continued to believe in Santa Clause despite obvious signs of Fraud.


Sorry for your loss.

Mitch

 

[bthurmond]

There is an on-going saga of various individuals' experiences with all-systems555 on/through Ebay and PayPal at this forum:

eBay Problems - all-systems555 20 pos feedback and 500 items in his shop - Page 3

 

[Headdie]

Finally got my D2000. It was well worth the wait. You might check this vendor. It looks like sometimes he has major (but short) discounts. Another headfier reported such a bargain on other phones.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Headdie /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hum... I've just bought from this guy a pair of AH-D2000 for 157.80$ shipping and handling included, eBay Store - japan: electronic, UMPC, notebook Hoping that it's gonna be fine...