Buying a bike on eBay and avoiding fraud
There has been a dramatic rise in the number of fraudulent bicycle auctions on eBay. The crooks believe that bicycle purchasers are naturally gullible or they have defrauded enough people that they think all bike buyers are stupid. eBay is slow to keep up with these crooks. so I and a small group of eBay members find these auctions and bid on them to keep novice buyers from having their money stolen.

While eBay downplays the amount of fraud on their site, but it happens and it happens a lot. It may be a small percentage of their total number of auctions, but that is still an extraordinary number of fraudulent auctions everyday. We just look at bikes, and many of these crooks list electronics, jewelry, computers, etc.

Here are some tips:

• 1. If the price seems too good to be true, then it is probably a fraudulent auction.
  


• 2. Look at the sellers other auctions, if there are listing many other expensive items, then it is probably a fraudulent auction. I have seen as many as 1200 items listed at one time by some crooks. These types of crooks usually have a new eBay ID with no feedback and are "located" in Europe. I have seen eBay cancel all of the auctions, suspend the new user and then see the EXACT same listings show up several hours later under another "new" user's ID. Also look at the category the listing is ubder. Why would an honest seller list 173 bicycles in the wristwatch category. They seem to sort of know how to use eBay's Turbo Lister listing tool.
  


• 3. Look at the sellers previous auctions. If they have consisted of mostly inexpensive items or items totally unrelated to cycling, then it is probably a fraudulent auction. These types of crooks have hijacked a user's account by sending a false email to the eBay user stating they are eBay and need for the member to update their password. The crook then takes over their account. If you receive an email of this type delete it, as eBay NEVER asks for that information. I get those about every 30 days or so and then about a week later auctions listing expensive items from hijacked accounts start to show up.
  


• 4. Look at the duration of the auction. If it is 1-day or 3-days, then it is probably a fraudulent auction. The crooks are realizing that if the auction duration is short, they have a better chance of getting your money. eBay takes as long a 5 days to investigate this type of fraud. In that time the crook can have your money and be gone forever. A good rule is to NEVER bid on a 1-day item.
  


• 5. Look at the photos, many crooks use the same photos over again or steal them from other websites. A seller who only shows photos from the manufacturer's website is probably a crook. If you are not sure, ask for additional photos.
  


• 6. Email the seller and ask where the bike is shipping from if they say the UK or France, or Spain (or some other location that differs from what the listing says), then it is probably a fraudulent auction. I like to then email the seller back and say I have a friend or relative who can pick up the bike and pay in person; this usually ends the entire discussion right then. Either the person says no or provides some long and fictitious excuse as to why I can't get the bike in person.
  


• 7. If free shipping is offered, then it is probably a fraudulent auction. Shipping a bike to the US from the UK for example, costs over $100.00.
  


• 8. If the person wants Western Union payment it is probably a fraudulent auction. These payments are totally untraceable and you will NEVER see the bike or your money again.
  


• 9. Also, compare the description to the photo. For example, if the description says DuraAce and the photo shows Campagnolo, DON'T BID. These people do not know bikes. I asked a crook once if the bike he was selling was the "limited edition" model with helium filled tubes (there is no such thing) and he enthusiastically replied "yes".
  


• 10. If the seller doesn't list a size for the bike, email and ask what the size is, or ask for a size that the bike doesn't come in, if they have that "wrong" size or say they have "all sizes" then the person is a crook.
  


• 11. If the listing has an alternate email address in the body of the listing that differs from the one in the "contact member" link. Then the seller is probably a crook. The alternate address is usually a yahoo.com, msn.com, aol.com, hotmail.com or similar generic email address. Some crooks are setting up these false email accounts and use the eBay seller ID as the contact email (sellerID@hotmail.com), making it look even more legitimate.
  


• 12. Most of the crooks make the listing a "Featured Item" paying for the listing that has the purple background.
  


• 13. Some crooks hide the identity of the bidders (called a private listing) so people bidding cannot be told it is a fraudulent listing. They also say things like "email me before bidding".
  


• 14. Recently people have been told that they can send their payment to "Online Escrow Pro". '"Online Escrow Pro" is NOT a company; it is software that creates an Online Escrow service. Here is a link to their website: http://www.alstrasoft.com/escrow.htm . The software costs $145.00 or less if you become an affiliate. So for a very small price, the crooks can make it look like you are sending your money to a legitimate escrow service, but it is not. Any offers like this, or comments like “I am over my PayPal maximum for this month”, or offering a square trade through eBay really only means that if you send money you will never see it again.
  Remember, if you are doing a wire transfer via Western Union, YOU CANNOT TRACK OR RECOVER THE PAYMENT once the crook has your money. Again the best way to test out if the seller is real is to ask for more photos (with him in them) or even better, tell the seller you want to pick up the bike and pay for it in person. If they are in some other country, say you have a friend who lives in the same city. I guarantee that the transaction will come to a screaming halt.
  

Unfortunately eBay does not employ the manpower to stop all the fraud that occurs on their site. I only look at bicycles, and the crooks list many other things. The annoying part is that eBay plays down the amount of fraud that happens, leaving new eBay users thinking the EVERYONE on eBay is honest and that is simply not true. The crooks are getting smarter, if only by refining their tactics, so if in doubt don't bid. Just look for another bike, there are plenty listed.

Finally, eBay notified me that a Colnago CF3 auction that I "won" was invalidated because the account was "compromised" and that I should not complete the sale. I already knew that. I have also just "won" two bikes from a fake auction where the seller is supposedly in Australia. He is probably a happy guy as my winning bid for one Bianchi that is worth about $1500.00 was $15,000.00 and another Bianchi worth a bit less that $1500.00 was $15,000.00. Needless to day I will not be sending any money...

For more information on this stuff check out: http://www.fraud-auctions.com/