Excerpts Saturday: Lucky Fool?

I never learn my lesson, I've been very keen to internet scams and all those smoldering bandits looming around the web targeting innocent victims on this blog ever since I encountered a Nigerian Scammer who almost took my laptop months ago but I was almost hit again by another, this time from an eBay seller who ploys to be a powerseller turned accused fraud artist, but this accusations remains to be proven though.

A week ago, August 16th, I encountered a Nokia N86 8MP being sold on eBay.ph at almost a quarter cheap than the original price, Php15,000 that is from a seller named
swordfish_killer80, he has quite a number of feedbacks of as much as 155 with 98% positive percentile, so I didn't hesitate to contact him and state my in-dire interest for the item but then will not bid on it until I will be able raise his asking price by selling my N82 and shell out the remaining amount from my pocket. It was just a very brief conversation that day.
The next day, August 17th, he send me an sms asking if I'm still interested in the item. I replied yes with all conviction and told him that I'm still raising money at the moment with my N82 posted on eBay unsold and that I have only 6thousand that time. Then came a shocking sms later that day proposing a compromise, he will lower the asking price to Php14,000 and wants me to send him the 6thousand that I have as a prepayment but will be sending me the device already in return with the remaining amount to be paid whenever my N82 will be sold. The offer sent me to delirium since the possibility of owning my dream phone was within grasp and it surely did masked my sense of conviction. It never crossed my mind that the offer was "To Good To Be True".

I was suppose to send him the money August 18th, but a buyer contacted me expressing his interest to bid on my N82 and it was as if an almost done deal with the buyer bidding the next day, so my plan of sending swordfish my 6thousand cash that day was foiled informing him about my buyer and the possibility of being able to send a full payment the day next.

Then came a bad news, August19th, my buyer retracted and the deal didn't push through. Swordfish called me up that afternoon for an update on our transaction and I told him that my deal with my buyer was off and that I'm back to his compromise offer but will be sending him the money early morning the next day. He never faltered with the offer, his confidence in me started to disturb me that I'm starting to doubt his intentions. Maybe he wasn't really planning to send me the device after the prepayment and that the device will just be sent later after the full payment, but nonetheless I was still 80% confident that night.

August 20th, I was preparing to leave when a thought cross my mind, check my eBay first to see if there were bids on my phone and was able to glimpse swordfish's declined feedback rate. Then came a very BIG revelation, two August 19th RED Flags were posted on his feedback page accusing him of FRAUD by TWO different buyers! I was never been so relieve knowing this feedbacks as I'm poised to become his third victim if the accusations were true but nonetheless it was quite convincing enough for me cool off the deal. He was so enrage when he found out that I backed-out sending me an awful harsh comment via sms. I replied then asking for forgiveness but I never told him that it was because of the RED Flags, who would ever want to trust a seller who is accused of FRAUD involving a Php44,500 worth laptop computer? I'm not saying that he is guilty on this accusations, he has the right defend himself but I have the right to refuse rather specially that our deal was out of eBay. Sending a harsh comment was below the line and that fueled me to share the story here. As of the moment though, he had withdrawn all this listings on eBay thus implying a benefit of doubt. Image below were the actual comments posted against the seller, click the image to enlarge, then you decide, am I lucky, fool or lucky fool?
I would never let this incident pass without my readers knowing because I believe it's my responsibility to raise awareness being a responsible blogger, that I should warn each and everyone to be vigilant in transacting with other people specially on eBay and that high feedback doesn't guarantee safety. It would be best to know your seller well before pursuing the transaction, as much as possible, never hesitate to ask questions nor documents that will help established your sellers identity because its best to be Safe than Sorry.

Posted in: Share Excerpts of Life,Websites - Ebay.ph