Scams & Auction Business Frank Ross on 16 Jan 2007 04:38 pm
eBay Seller Busted for Selling Stolen GPS
What happens when you get your GPS stolen from your car and then you go to shop for a new one on eBay, but see your stolen GPS up for sale? That’s what happened when Danial Rangkar (eBay ID ‘nydannysjewelry‘) tried to resell the GPS he allegedly stole (I’m supposed to use that word ‘allegedly’ in good form). One of the ‘customers’ who shopped his auction also happened to be his victim!
Well not surprisingly, nydannysjewelry is now NARU. But it’s stories like this that probably keep many buyers suspicious of making purchases on eBay. While eBay plays “Whack a Mole” with bad sellers, its reputation of being a marketplace rife with fraud continues to persist.
A lot of effort on eBay goes toward preventing certain kinds of fraud (such as intellectual property infringement and shill bidding), but what are they doing to make buyers feel good about doing business with a previously unknown seller? The seller in this story had a decent feedback rating of 179 with 2 negatives so there were no real red flags there.
Should eBay start to qualify sellers with something more than a bank account? That would certainly favor people who are actually businesses trying to do business on eBay but they might need to make some allowance for the ‘basement cleaning’ seller as well. I’m not sure the Whack-A-Mole approach will ever work in a marketplace the size of eBay.
Tags: eBay Business, eBay Selling, eBay Fraud, Stolen Goods on eBay
on 17 Jan 2007 at 12:07 am 1.Randy Smythe said …
Here’s an idea. How about seller classifications? Each seller would be required to have a verified PayPal account and could choose a seller classification. Possible classifications could be Hobbyist, Part-time seller, full time proprietor and small business (with employees) and Online Seller with Brick and Mortar Biz. I think more seller transparency would be beneficial to buyers and could be used as a marketing tool for sellers.
If you are identified as a hobbyist you might draw in like-minded buyers to your store etc.
Just a thought! I’m just throwing this out there. What are the Pros and Cons to this type of approach?
on 17 Jan 2007 at 1:44 am 2.Frank Ross said …
Excellent idea Randy. As long as eBay could verify each classification it might fly. Perhaps the verification/validation could be the PayPal end but that might get confusing for Buyers.
The problem for eBay of course, is your idea sets the stage for doing something they don’t like - building your business outside of eBay using ‘their’ users. I do wish you were on eBay’s board!!