I just got this weird email from the seller (apparently), but I can't seem to figure out how he found my gmail address (that address isn't linked to my eBay account).. "Dear dgco86...You expressed interest on this item. I'm the seller of this item on which you've recently bid on through the eBay system... ***Item title: VINTAGE TAKARA DIAKRON DK-1 TRANSFORMER G1 SUN STREAKER -- Item number: 290161910996*** ...And I've contacted you because I need to know if you are still interested to buy ... Email me as soon as possible with your answer because I must to know if is necesarly to find another buyer or if you can buy the item(i need to know your final price)...If you accept this offer the eBay policy automatically proclaims you winner. The transaction will go strictly according to eBay's RULES and POLICY and will be supervised by eBay Trust & Safety Department. If you are interested just reply to this message...I am waiting a fast response!...Thank you! " I wasn't even close to being the high bidder, so I'm not quite sure what to make of this..
You're sure this wasn't an official second chance offer? That and the regular contact form are the only way a seller can contact their bidders. Sellers definitely don't have your email account unless you are the winner. Is your eBay name a prefix of your email address? Here's a crazy idea: maybe this is some bizarre scam where the person just randomly attached "gmail.com" as well as other popular webmail domains attempting to contact you with this bogus offer and one just happened to get through I would either (a) contact the seller directly through eBay to make sure it's indeed them, or (b) reply to the email through gmail pretending to be interested and see what's really goin on here. Also, perhaps if you dissect the header of the email you can find out where this person actually is from the IP address and compare it with the seller's location.
I'm looking at my ebay account right now and the second chance offer doesn't seem to be there, so yup it's a fake. I hope no one got scammed.. :\ I guess he/she just got lucky by attaching @gmail.com to my ebay user name.. Probably tried @hotmail and @yahoo too. Anyway thanks for confirming my suspicions.. Into the trash it goes... By the way here is the header (there's hardly any information here): from eBay Member <[email protected]> reply-to [email protected] to [email protected] date Sep 25, 2007 7:55 AM subject eBay Offer 290161910996 mailed-by motosites.propagation.net Should I report this to gmail as an attempt at phishing?
I would contact the official seller on eBay and ask if he'd tried to contact you. If so, tell him to send a PROPER second chance offer (that way you're covered under eBay). If he didn't have anything to do with it report it to eBay and Gmail.
You need to report them to ebay. I have several that I received while trying to win a paintball marker. The ones sent to me used a different seller name than the auction I bidded on.
SCAM!! Some a-hole pulled this on me before the auction ended and I pulled my bid thinking it was legit until I noticed the auction link page was bunk. Ebay auction image and everything was attached to it. Poor original seller got shafted with a low sales price because I didn't bid.
