I’ve never seen this before - has anyone else? It looks like a genuine listing, but there’s no bid or buy it now button - when you click on the listing you get:



And contact seller lets you send the seller a message via what looks like eBay’s messaging system. Also in the sales description, it says this:



Is this a new thing? A scam? If anyone wants to look and also be kind enough to let me know I’m not losing my marbles, the link is here:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/tudor-bl...863644?hash=item3d9c46631c:g:IHoAAOSwp2Vd3AHbPurchases made through these links may earn this site a commission from the eBay Partner Network

 

Ebay calls it a Classified. Here's a screen shot from non-mobile:

 

That is odd - how would ebay make money out of it? An up front charge? And I’ve never seen it offered when I’ve listed anything... and surely it would encourage scams as there presumably can’t be any buyer protection?

 

I remember reading that Ebay was struggling due to intense competition from Amazon for all of the “buy it now” business which accounts for a significant part of Ebay’s income.
So it looks like this would be an attempt at diversifying services, this one for those people who prefer to take more risks (no evaluation, no biding contract) and pay less in commissions.

People like to trash Ebay and its fees but it is a treasure trove for all sorts of things— I can’t begin to imagine if it were to disappear.

 

I agree - some of my best (and most interesting) purchases were found idly perusing the odder corners of eBay... my young nephews love holding the dinosaur poo (coprolites) I found for sale..

 

The scammers are all over these. No protection.

 

curious, is this based on first hand experience, here say/news, or speculation? I’m also interested to know how “safe” this type of listing is.

 

I suspect scam. I had one appear too for a speedy

 

This is clearly a scam, or maybe you still believe in Santa Claus?

 

There are some very cheap prices on some omega listings, each ad has a different email contact address but the same seller. I'm happy to be proved wrong if somebody has had a successful transaction. Gav1967 has shown one above.

 

I’m fairly certain that as Syrte says, it started off as a genuine offering, but having looked at a few listings, there seem to be a lot of scammers all over this - or maybe it’s just one prolific one. What I don’t understand is why eBay hasn’t pulled the plug, given what it just be doing to their reputation....

 

Not just eBay.

The internet is full of perils for the innocent, the ignorant, and the greedy.

https://www.news.com.au/technology/...t/news-story/a7c72eb98416a557cabd93110afda4f7

Be careful out there.

Very very careful.

 

It's a "Classified Ad". An option that's been around for a while, though I had only ever seen it for used cars

 

Funny, because it explicitly states in the screen shot I posted that it's NOT covered by eBay.....

Sounds legit! Tell him you'll take 6 of them!

 

One reason people like to trash ebay is because they started off at 5% commission, drew everybody in then once they'd established a virtual monopoly upped it to 10%, acquired Paypal, made all their sellers accept that and eventually extended it to postage costs. Yes it's a useful platform and I use it, but it's hardly surprising if people who remember the alternatives it killed off feel a tad aggrieved.

 

There are so many scammers on eBay it’s beginning to be ridiculous. I know it’s impossible to filter them all out completely but a fair chunk of the listings for brands like Rolex, Omega, Breitling etc are so obviously fraudulent I don’t know why eBay can’t spot them. There are some photos reappearing on ebay year after year. Different sellers selling the same watch with exactly the same description