Welding

[mechtime]

Just aquired a new mig-welder, I wish to sell my old one. It is now on Ebay if anyone wishes to see it. It comes complete with good CO2 gas bottle, and fittings!
Just put 7501262732 in the search. (Clark 100E.)

[SteveW]

All,

There have been a couple of scams via Ebay, one reported recently in either ME or EiM and on the BBC Watchdog program so beware.

Someone offers to buy your wares and does so by inviting you to take your cut from a cheque they have worth much more providing you send on the difference with your newly sold goods. The cheques clears within days and off go your items and the change. Later you find the cheque has actually bounced and you've lost your money and your goods. These cheques are usually bogus or stolen.

Using PayPal can be similarly dangerous. They reserve the right to the money transacted up to 180 days after you think its yours justin case the buyer does a runner or refuses payment.

[Staffordshirechina]

Please don't be frightened of Ebay or Paypal!

The scam stories that seem to go around every few months are probably quite true BUT-

You need to be particularly stupid or greedy to get caught. Just remember that nobody will give you anything for nothing ( not even the nice people from Nigeria who want to share $millions with you!).

If anything appears too good to be true - then it is!

However, in a workday life, we are selling via Ebay and our website to buyers all over the world. At least half of those transactions are by Paypal. I could count the problems on the fingers of my left thumb after thousands of sales.

A warning though - buying engineering items via Ebay can be very addictive. My workshop and garage are now bursting at the seams with treasures bought at very cheap prices!

Regards,

Les

[steamjohn248]

Another Ebay scam is you get an Email telling you that an item you bid for and lost is now available again since the winning bidder failed to pay and that you can now have the item for the sum you stopped bidding at. I recently bid on a diesel shunter. it went for about £400 over my bid. I have since had three separate offers from three separate addresses, offering me the loco for the sum I bid.
To be fair to Ebay I have also had mail from them telling me on no account to reply to these offers or part with any money.

[rich]

Hi there Les,

On the ebay thing - I wasn't so sure about the having to be stupid or greedy to get caught.

One issue that seemed to be the problem was that people were waiting till there banks said that cheques had cleared, then were sending the goods off, only to find a few days later that their banks had decided the cheques were counterfeite, and so were going back on their decisions.

Although I've never been caught out myself (touch wood) - I too would wait until the bank said the cheque had cleared before sending the goods off.

True, I wouldn't get sucked in by someone paying me too much money, they would simply get their cheque back torn in two and a request for a new one; but I don't see how someone who isn't an expert in regonising counterfeit cheques is meant to know a real one from a phoney!


Yours,


Rich.

[Kane]

ive bought plenty of things off ebay and only once really had a problem.

athough it was only something cheap (£30?) and they never sent the product.

after a few emails with ebay we managed to get some of the money back.

if you check the feedback people have left then you can be pretty sure that your not going to get scammed if a hundred or so people have bought things without a problem from them.

Kane