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Deal of the century?


rirakuma

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I hope this is appropriate for this forum. I was looking through some ads today and found this :eBay Australia: Buy new & used fashion, electronics & home d�r

 

A leica MP and pre asph 50 lux for $3700 BIN! From what I understand doesn't the MP cost close to $3500 and the pre asph around $2000+ secondhand?

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A friend of mine wanted to bid on what seemed like too good of a deal on eBay. Fearing it might be a hijacked account and/or just pictures of the item pulled off the internet, he asked the seller to send him some more pictures of the same item and with the serial number visible and also a current newspaper headline plus a piece of paper with my friend's eBay account name in the frame. Kind of like kidnapper's do :)

 

The seller responded saying something about the item being somewhere else at the moment and that they didn't have the time to take another picture of it, etc., etc.. As it turned out, the auction was indeed a fraud and eBay took it down after a few days. Of course you should approach the seller diplomatically about it so that you don't insult a valid seller, but it is another way to help be more certain that the item does indeed exist.

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Pop, if this is so, can you please remove this entire thread?


I think the thread is more useful if it's visible, if only to warn people away from this and similar offerings.

The auction has a few peculiarities:

  • Price too good to be true (it is, really).
  • The page redirects to a similar page on eBay Ireland (may be different for you).
  • The auction can not be reported within eBay Ireland because it's not known there.
  • You will indeed be unable to find the auction unless you're logged into eBay Australia.
  • Trying to report the auction will lead you to a sign-in screen even if you're already signed in. DO NOT SIGN IN HERE, as fake sign in screens are routinely used by the black hats to harvest accounts and matching passwords.
  • The item is said to be in Spain.
  • The only payment method offered is by transfer to their bank.
  • Bidding is said to be restricted to approved bidders.
  • Trying to display the placed bids will result in an error message.




As I've said above, you bid at your own risk. Which is above average, to put it mildly, IMO.
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There is one more thing to pay attention to.

The item is located in Spain but the last photo at the bottom shows "BANDO" on the lens pouch, which is the official Leica distributor in Korea (meaning it must've been purchased IN Korea, or the seller may happen to be Korean and now lives in Spain? :D).

It just sounds very sketch and I would definitely stay away from it. ;)

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Well, I submitted my details to be "approved" to bid :)

 

The listing "ended because the item was no longer available".

 

I then received a direct email message saying that it's on hold pending local sale. Surprisingly, the sale did not go through so I was the lucky person next in line who could buy it. :D

 

Payment terms was direct bank deposit of course :rolleyes:

 

I received a "formal invoice" from "Mark" with the following details:

 

Shop

Toledo

Spain

Personal details moderated

 

ITEM DESCRIPTION QTY RATE AMOUNT

01 Leica MP a la carte w/ 50mm Summilux pre-asph f1.4 1 2.725,00 2.725,00 EUR

02 Packing/crating 1 0,00 0,00 EUR

Shipping Full insurance 1 59,00 59,00 EUR

Return

Policy

Returns accepted within 10 days after receiving of

item. Restocking fee will be charged on all return

items. You have a 2 days inspection period from

receipt of equipment

0,00 0,00 EUR

Sales tax 0.0% 0,00 EUR

TOTAL 2.784,00 EUR

 

 

I told him that I'll make my way to the bank soon. "Mark" is still waiting :p

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although it is tempting to email these folks and tell them what you think of their evil ways- i never do... i don't want to get targeted by a bot-net denial of service attack- the theft and encryption of my data, mass spamming, or some other sinister and unseen ramification. There is no point really contacting these people and insulting/playing with them. For them it is all par for the course... If you must be sure to use email accounts you don't care about in the slightest and could happily/painlessly lose.

 

regarding this particular scam: the type has been common on ebay for 10 years maybe- ebay accounts are hacked and then items are listed- at too good to be true prices. Most times the photos (and descriptions) are taken from actual legitimate ebay listings. Commonly an account will host 100's of these auctions at once before being removed. If you look at the seller often they have not sold the particular type of item before. They generally mandate payment by wire or deposit- and ask you to contact them out of ebay to make the deal- with an email address inserted in to the text. They have been occurring for so long: they must work. Some idiots fall for it. Mugu.

 

Expensive items like cameras and watches are the favorite. Usually you only need to have half a brain to know what is going on. Buying high priced items on ebay has one rule: caveat emptor. If you use you brain and start out suspicious of everything: then do your research before buying anything- you will get some great deals and avoid the pitfalls.

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