This is a security of transaction question. Will eBay HOLD funds and withhold payment until

[sunflowergate]

 Hi there,

This is a security of transaction question.  Will eBay HOLD funds for a buyer and withhold them until eBay is notified that the purchased goods have been received, inspected and approved?  

  A 'seller'  is offering a John Deere  tractor   JD4720  for sale, and it was originally in a Trader ad, advertised in Canada, and thought to be in North York, (Toronto) but  I have been advised the tractor is in  the United States, (Omaha NE)  (due to personal circumstances of divorce, moving etc..)   but the seller "will ship  across the border and pay shipping, border costs,  etc.  

Does eBay function in this way,  and can eBay verify that process is valid, or is this a scam?  I am concerned, having heard that eBay was recently hacked.

Kindly reply as soon as possible

Thank you

R.A. Kukkee    (Sunflowergate  on eBay)

[toby_le_pue]

It is a SCAM,

You will lose your money

and not receive abything for it.

There will be a section in the auto trader

where you can report this SCAM.

[toby_le_pue]

Craigslist Scams and Fraudulent Use of Vehicle Purchase Protection

All members should read this important warning.

If you shop on websites other than eBay, you should exercise caution if someone emails you claiming to be an eBay representative!

We are seeing an increase in reports of fake eBay Motors transactions that originate automotive websites other than eBay, such as Craigslist.

Fraudsters are sending online shoppers fake email messages claiming to be from the eBay Trust and Safety Department, the eBay Motors Finance Center, an eBay Escrow Agent, or from the eBay Vehicle Purchase Protection Program. These emails are all fake and often contain links to spoof websites that contain pages that look like authentic eBay Motors web pages, but are not. The fake eBay sites might even ask you for personal information and then send you fake eBay “Personalized Payment” instructions.

Don’t be fooled! If you are shopping on Craigslist or another website that offers classified ads, you should follow the community [url http://www.craigslist.org/about/scams]warnings[/url] (such as these from Craigslist) and meet and pay the seller in person. And if you exchange emails with someone who claims to be an “agent” of eBay you should be very cautious. Fraudsters often send spoof emails that appear to be from eBay (or one of our partners), but are not.

Never pay with MoneyGram or Western Union. Western Union and MoneyGram are prohibited as a payment method on eBay Motors. eBay will never recommend that you use either to pay for a vehicle.

It is important to remember, eBay does not “validate” listings, provide escrow services, or make payment arrangements on behalf of sellers. To verify that an email claiming to be from eBay is legitimate you should sign in to your My eBay account and check your In Box. If the email is legitimate you will find a copy in your My eBay In Box. If you don’t find the same message in your In Box, it is fake.

If you have more questions about spoof emails and "phishing" fraud, or how to report suspicious listings/emails, please visit our [url http://pages.ebay.com/securitycenter/]Security Center[/url]. Also, at the top right corner of the eBay home page is a link to Live Help, where you can start a live chat session with an eBay customer service representative who can help you verify whether a listing is authentic.

If you feel you were defrauded when you were shopping on the Craigslist site you may use this [url http://sfbay.craigslist.org/cgi-bin/emailForm.cgi]link[/url] to contact Craigslist.

[dmil8030]

Hello 'sunflowergate',

Ebay most certainly does not function that way.  A really good clue is that bitwhere ebay

will  "HOLD funds ... until eBay is notified that the purchased goods have been received, inspected and approved."

That is a whopper of a lie intended to reassure buyers unfamiliar with schemes and scams.

Craiglist and others are rife with those kinds of ads, - so be sure to report them on any site you find them.

You say it was once a Trader ad, -- is that where you saw it?  People often see similar items

on craiglist or kijiji making wonderful promises about how their purchase is covered by ebay's

buyer protection.

Have a look at this link about scams:

http://www.craigslist.org/about/scams

You know the old saying about buying vehicles, -- don't do it unless you can kick the tires.

Good luck 

[femmefan1946]

There is no tractor.

The seller is not in Nebraska.

If you send any money you will never see it again.

This is a scam.

[nubian_treasures]

"and it was originally in a Trader ad,"

Okay. Think for a moment. A tractor is a heavy item that would be very expensive to ship especially cross boarder. Do you really think a seller, who is trying to make money, would spend thousands of dollars of their own money to ship a tractor to your or anyone else in Canada? If you were a seller, would you do that? No? Neither would your "seller". This a well known scam. The buyer/potential and the item are never in the same country and I can almost guarantee you that the seller is in Nigeria.

Additionally, you found the tractor somewhere else. Why would ebay be hold funds on something you found on a different site? Many scam victims never think beyond the "super low price" of the invisible tractor/atv/car when their are red flags all over the transaction.

The fact that you asked about the transaction, makes me think you sort of knew it was a scam and just needed confirmation. Well, we can confirm what you suspected: it's a scam.

[nubian_treasures]

Also would like to mention that the site you saw the ad probably have warnings all over it about scams just like Craigslist does yet there is still a large number of people who fall the scams.

The Nigerian scams used to run rampant on ebay until ebay finally got wise (or enough complaints/closed accounts) and started implementing stricter security measures. This has put a huge damper on the scammers ebay activities. What they started doing instead was to put ads on other sites and still use ebay's name (because of their reputation) to find potential victims.