Ouchie. Please remember to not wire through ebay...

 

Holy crap. Sucks to be that guy.

 

Ouch that hurts...

 

No feedback for a 2998 there, dont know what you mean

 

Well...Was referring to the 105002 Feedback...A bit risky for the 2998 buyer to put 32K usd with such a seller...

 

This is why I bought my speedmaster through @Kringkily!!

 

I guess Amman Jordan is now on the S-List!

 

Well the seller had over 5000 good feedback, and had the history of a good seller.

Points to a hacked account. They are getting more and more adept, and focusing on niche expensive items, such as speedmasters.

Two ID changes, one recently but a minor one. It must have some significance as the timing conincides with the seller turning bad. Perhaps something to do with setting up an alternative PayPal account.


I don't know how they do it.

For me, I have 'bought successfully from unknown people for quite high amounts, but only after exchanging ID's and speaking, often at length, with the seller by phone. Very few are phsycopthic enough to maintain a phone conversation that fools me, but I am ready that it might happen.

All part of the fun - until you lose money.

I lost money once. A fraudulent 2915, which put me off for a few months. Then I started getting forensic on the sellers.

I feel sorry for the buyer, but it does seem a well planned scam, that clear fooled some of us here. It fooled me, in so far as I thought it was a genuine lot. As I did not win anything I did not do my in depth review as I was not sending money - I can see why a buyer might feel confident.

In my experience eBay and PayPal won't help - it's too large a transaction.

Law enforcement departments are completely understaffed, uninterested and overwhelmed - or at least they were back when it happened to me. It might have changed, but when i was talking to them the staff was internet illiterate, and in that department because no one else would do it.

eBay is still Wild West, when buying from an unknown seller, but it can be the most rewarding place to buy, still.

The annoying thing is that if PayPal and eBay really wanted to find this guy, they could - but they won't.

 

$35 for expedite shipping from Jordan! that's a bargain!

 

Buy the seller. Like you Spacefruit, I've found speaking with someone on the phone provides a level of due diligence that is hard to beat. I recently bought a piece from an unknown (to me) seller. It wasn't for a crazy amount of money, but 20 minutes on the the phone and I was 100% confident the seller was legit and was just "one of us". Watch came through flawlessly.

 

I'm not sure the size of the transaction matters. I think the issue is that eBay/PayPal don't want to get into authentication disputes. If the buyer got NOTHING, I believe he would be refunded his money. If he got a Speedmaster, no matter how "frankenized" it was, I agree that eBay/PayPal would not get involved.

 

That's so terrible for the buyer, and a good reminder of the risks we all take.

Even though feedback was for the 105.012 listing, it looks equally likely the 2998 bidder is .screwed. The scary part is that watch sold twice. Who knows if both high bidders paid, but seller has $100k+ in completed listings for past 6 weeks alone http://www.ebay.com/sch/swisswatchesportal/m.html?LH_Complete=1Purchases made through these links may earn this site a commission from the eBay Partner Network

 

My bad I misread that

 

Thanks for sharing. A great reminder to stay cautious at eBay.

 

The bank account attached to the eBay and Paypal account must belong to someone. As someone said, they could and should locate them and report them to the police. Fraud at that level would likely come with a jail sentence.

 

I was just looking over sold auctions and feedbacks this morning and saw this. Did not know paypal protection has limit.
That hurts.

 

Ouch, that hurts. So many pitfalls these days. This case also illustrates that good feedback on eBay doesn't mean anything now and then
I don't think I would transfer this amount to an online-stranger via eBay.... Even if I had the money. Otherwise I would arrange a meet, whether I have to book a flight for it or not...

Vintage watch collecting has never been so challenging...

 

My rule is, don't buy anything online from an anonymous private seller, and certainly not one from another country, for more than about $100 without significant due diligence. Some of you with deeper pockets can set a higher limit, but remember what I tell clients who want to enter into unwritten "handshake" contracts: Think of the most money you could lose if the other party suddenly disappears. If you can say that amount out loud and smile, you can do a handshake contract.

 

Holy Feck Batman!