Neato Botvac scam

[k9tardus]

This guy keeps trying to scam us with a Neato Botvac for under $350 with free postage. He refuses to post a photo of the actual item and whenever I threaten to report him he closes his listing fast! Then comes back the next week with the same item under a new seller name - 0 feedback, just created. His answer to the fact it's a scam? Paypal will give you your money back so why care? Creep

[davewil1964]

Don't buy from him then. He can only scam you if you let him, and simply listing an item doesn't actually constitute a scam.

You obviously know who he is, so go somewhere else. Like a shop.

[davewil1964]

Also, given they are worth around a grand, there is a fair bet it isn't real.

I can understand the attraction, but did you REALLY think you could get one for 35% of retail?

[*tippy*toes*]

But eBay's the place for big bargains isn't it? Therefore, 35% of retail price would be a big bargain. Of course it would be genuine, it's on eBay!

[lyndal1838]

If you know it is dodgy why are you even giving him the time of day?

And he cannot close his ID down every few days/weeks....ebay is doing it so they obviously know about him.

These shonks only continue to list because they know someone is going to fall for it and part with their money.  It sounds like that someone is you, in this case.

By the way, you do realise that the scam is not in the listing but every time you correspond with the seller he is getting information about you.    Your email address is no doubt on scammers lists all over the world and if you have actually bought and paid for the item he has your address, phone number, paypal address and possible other details as well.

Instead of continually trying to get the item dirt cheap I would suggest you start changing your passwords and do a deep scan on your computer.....and look out for scam emails in coming months.

[davidc4430]

i rekon you should buy it so you can come back to the boards complaining about being scammed.

[springyzone]

There are a few scams like this on ebay. I saw a similar thing happening with thermomixes a while back. A different seller with zero feedback would pop up every week or so, offering a brand new, latest model thermie, free postage, everything for about $600 or so, when new, they sell at over $2000 and even second hand ones on ebay are often around the $1800 mark.

I am not sure how the scam works because yes, a buyer could probably get their money back from paypal if they didn't get the item (and it's a pretty sure bet they wouldn't). I suppose the 'seller' though would have access to their details, as  lyndal mentioned. Plus they might be hoping to persuade some buyer that their paypal was playing up and to pay via bank deposit.

Best thing is not to buy when you have any doubt about the honesty of a seller or any doubt that the product isn't going to be as described.

Yes, the seller is a creep, we just have to stay on our toes-on ebay and anywhere else.

[go-tazz]

That one sold and the next one was removed so just keep reporting them.

To report fraudulent listings you can use the report link on the item page,(above the item number).

Then use the drop down boxes: Listing practices > Fraudulent listing practices > You suspect that a listing is

fraudulent, >Continue > Send report.

As stated,you need to watch for fake phishing Email from eBay and Paypal as that's one of the main

reasons for the scam,(to collect personnel data on you and to try and scam you).

I have a saved search set,(so I'll report them as they pop up).

[*tippy*toes*]

I think the case with some scammers is, especially the Chinese ones, they depend on newer buyers not knowing they can get a refund. When you look at all the negs that the scammers end up getting, there are quite a few yellow and blue star buyers saying that they have been scammed and lost their money. I don't know if they end up getting refunds or not, but at the time of leaving feedback, it seems they think they have lost their money.

[go-tazz]

I used to notify buyers that they should start a dispute and report the seller,(I used to copy and paste it from

a word document).

Even ones with feedback of over 500 had no idea they could start a dispute to retieve their money,

So I don't think it has changed and the scammers would be getting away with that money as there is no

way to notify buyers now,