Today, I almost fell for an ebay scam and I wanted to pass this message on to others so they do not fall into a simliar trap.

Recently I have been bidding on lap tops, I am under the false impression that a lap top will allow me to write more often. Wih this in mind I am looking for an older model, one that will run some of my writing software but fast enough to watch movies and burn cds. I found a lesser known brand and put a bid down. A couple of hours later as always, I got outbidded. Granted the auction wasn't over but the price was getting close to my limit. I wrote the lap top off and started searching for another dream machine.

A day later I received an email stating that the owner of the auction had to leave on a business trip and that he needed to sell the lap top asap. So he was sending an email out to all bidders and requesting that they make a final bid. I thought that was a little fishy, so I went to ebay and looked up the seller. I emailed him using the ebay mail asking him if this was true and whether the shipping and handling charges still applied. He sent me back an email simply stating that the shipping and handling charges still applied. So I assumed, I know I shouldn't have, that since he didn't deny the rest of the story that I would go ahead and make him a final offer. I actually went fifty dollars over my budget and was delighted to get an email from the "seller" telling me I had the highest bid.

The next email me he sent me detailed a procedure which looked like it came from ebay. It basically told me that the "seller" had decided to do this special auction for me and that to pay the "seller" I just had to go to western union to get the money order to send. The email included the "seller" info and that he was from England...wait a minute I thought...England? Quickly I went back to ebay and looked up the auction. The actual shipping area was San Jose.

The other thing that really bothered me was that he wanted a money order, typically people take paypal because it is quicker. So with these two red flags popping up before my eyes, I emailed the "seller" back and told him I no longer wanted his computer. I also reported the scam to ebay as well.

So buyers be very careful if somebody emails you about doing a special auction, for an item that have to sell ASAP and especially if they want you to do a money order.

Learn more about this author, John Stormhammer.
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