after having a close mishap with an IPOD, I took matters into my own hands. This deusch tried making me send a money order or western union to a bank in china, for a german auction!!! So...I wrote a nice email to the Bank commission of China, with all the information the guy gave me, including the address, the account number, and the name on the account, and all bank info this idiot sent me to send payment to, I just copied and sent to this website that i got after a couple phone calls....I got an email back from the "official Bank of China" stating that my email has been recieved, and that all the account information i had sent was processed and holds on multiple accounts have been placed for further investigation...
I felt better after that email.
Like everyone here is saying, gotta be your own investigator. you have to be a very wise shopper these days....here are a couple tips I have picked up over the years on ebay, and surviving two scams in my days:
1 never, ever send cash
2 never send western union
3 never send money orders over 200 without certified mail, signature confirmation, and tracking readily available.
4 Never pay for a major item (rear's body panels, engines, CARS, or anything like that) without seeing in person, or having someone you trust see it....
5 Never send payment to a person not listed as the seller. contact ebay if the addresses are different, or the names are different adn hold payment until things are figured out
6 if you are a seller, make your pictures unique, so that no-one can reuse them. Phillyturbosix is pretty good at that!
7 dont take second offers...ever...if you loose, you loose...dont take some lame offer or "second cahnce for your last bid!! crap offer. try a different seller if they couldnt sell to the winning bidder!
Anybody else, please feel free to post more tips!!!
John :biggrin: