Quote Originally Posted by kingjames
There was a listing on ebay for this Pioneer SX1250 and emailed the guy for a bin price because he said free shipping with bin but stated no amount for bin. I have since gone back to look for listing and it's gone. Below is the response I got from my emails. I'm sure it's a scam. How can they get away with this? His page looked legit and he had 100% feedback.Please advise!


HI
First I want to tell you that my pioneer sx1980 are brand new, unopened box...So that's why we use as a payment method Western Union money transfer...
Yes that was a scam. If you wait a couple of days the scammers will be back again using another stolen user id they've phished from some unsuspecting soul. Here are some warning signs that a sale could be a scam:

  1. Seller lists an email address in the item description and asks you to email them at that address rather than thru eBay's "Ask Seller a Question".
  2. Seller suggests in the item description to email them before auction end to consummate a sale outside eBay.
  3. Seller requires payment via Western Union, Bank wire transfer, or any form of payment where buyer has no protection or recourse against non-delivery or non-conformance.
  4. The seller has zero feedback.
  5. The item being sold is completely inconsistent with other items the seller has sold in the past. (example: Seller has always sold knitting supplies before and is now selling a pr of L300's.)
  6. Look at seller's "Other Items Being Sold" and see if they've listed a lot of high dollar cameras and electronics all with similar terms and descriptions. (example: seller is asking US$700, free freight, in 10 different auctions)
  7. You recognize that pictures or descriptions have been copied from another auction.
  8. The item's seller's location (or seller's dialect) stated in the item description or email response does not match the eBay records for the that User ID.
  9. The auction period is unusually short, usually 3 days or less.
  10. An item or price looks too good to be true. (example: New SX1980 in unopened box. Or new Paragons for US$700, delivered.)

None of these, by themselves are too much reason for alarm but two or more of the warning signs above and you should just walk away. Several of the LH members, I like to think myself included, have become pretty good at spotting scams and will report to eBay to do our part at shutting them down. The scammers are always a few hours ahead of eBay and use that small window of time before being shut down to entice a person to work outside the system to get that unbelievable deal.