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Judi Dec 10, 2005

http://cgi.ebay.com/21-Open-Mouth-Bear- … dZViewItem

Roxanne!  Your auction has been copied by someone in Hessen Germany!  There are others too.
  Penny, Kathy Meyers...all fraudulent auctions stolen from you.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Mink-Sweetheart-Bea … dZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/Tillberg-Artist-Moh … dZViewItem

Dilu Dec 10, 2005

Judi,

Help me understand, because I don't.  I went and looked, did this person steal the whole Roxanne auction and people are going to bid but they wont get a bear because this isn't Roxanne?

I am confused.

dilu

kbonsall Dec 10, 2005

Check out the last 4 feedback entries!!! SHEESH

Judi Dec 10, 2005

Exactly Dilu.  This has happened before.  The fraudulent seller collects the money but does not have the bear to send.  They just completely copy the listing.  Yikes.  I hope ebay will stop thi asap before the unsuspecting bidders get scammed.  

Dilu Dec 10, 2005

So if we didn't know our artist friends and bid on a bear we'd be ......

How awful for the bidders but also how awful for our friends, who worked so hard and don't need this kind of thing to sour the new and up and coming collectors.

Is there anything that can be done?

Dilu Dec 10, 2005

Hmmmmm  i see that part of the scam is that there is very little time left too....9 hours, 10 hours etc....

I am also happy to see that no one has bid on them......yet......

fingers crossed that no other of our bear friends have this problem......

Judi Dec 10, 2005

Read these feedback comments.

http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.d … d=magadalu

Densteds Dec 10, 2005

What's wrong with ebay!!! they took one of my auctions off in a flash because they said I shouldn't use the wording "old style" yet these creeps are getting away with theft....and what I find strange is that when I clicked on the links it's in Australian Dollars...but this ebayer is registered in Germany...maybe he's ebay identity has been stolen???

Denise.

Dilu Dec 10, 2005

Wow, I read the German ones too and had to wonder did they phoney up their positive comments?

I am glad the negative listings are there, hope it helps keep people from bidding.

If I hadn't belonged to TT I would be fat dumb and sassy, well not fat, but dumb and sassy in Oregon think, look at that I can get a Tillberg, or any of the others, bear .....

Does this have to be reported by Nancy, or Kathy or Roxanne or Pen? Or can anyone report it?

And given how slow e-bay has been to react to things......

I am glad you and Deb were on top of things and saw it.....

another reason why collectors should belong to TT.

Judi Dec 10, 2005

I know what you mean Denise!  This is wacked for sure!  If you read the last four feedback comments you would think ebay would pull this sellers auctions immediately.

This is all very bad for artists..especially the one's being copied.  

Roxanne Dec 11, 2005

Hey Judi,
That is of a bear that I had made a couple years ago. This auction has been copied from a seller named "chibear". chibear has a legitimate auction of this bear on right now.
This is nuts. Ebay has gotten so bad lately....

Deb Dec 11, 2005

Rox ~

Did you let chibear know?  She should write to ... what is that Ebay email address anyway for reporting these things?

Roxanne Dec 11, 2005

Good idea Deb,
I will write her right now.

DebbieD Dec 11, 2005

  I simply cannot believe ebay is not tracking down this person to throw them in jail!!!      This is fraud and identity theft...not to mention how badly it will upset bear collectors 

Is there anyway to "post a question to seller" at the bottom screaming that they are a fraud?  Or does it only get posted if the seller responds to it? 

I'm thinking I may well steer clear of ebay for a bit....

kbonsall Dec 11, 2005

Seller has to post it on the bottom of the auction for a question to appear

Shelli Retired Help Advisor, Banner SponsorDec 11, 2005

I think part of the problem here is that if, in fact, this ebay account is hijacked, that means that the seller and all his/her feedback -- which that seller earned, with good service -- would be tainted or pulled, perhaps even illegally, and definitely unfairly! due to the actions of a third party that is NOT the seller him or her self.

If this ebay account is hijacked, it's not the seller that's the bad guy who needs sanctions; it's the hijacker, who could be anywhere and anyone on earth. 

I'm not nearly a computer expert, but I think the only way to find out who hijacked this account is for the seller him or her self to find the intruder on his or her line (if the hijack occurred via the seller's ISP line or due to some kind of virus of spyware on his or her harddrive), and then somehow block that intrusion at the source.  All of that is entirely out of eBay's view and control.  I presume in saying this that eBay CONSTANTLY monitors for hijacks at its own server sites; but I admit, that's an assumption on my part.

In the meantime, though, I agree that eBay could and should have SOMETHING in place that makes yanking such auctions an absolute priority, and guarantees bidders their money back.  Also, it seems to me that when it's this obvious an account has suddenly gone sour, indicating hijack or hostile takeover, there must be some way the seller -- not at fault here -- can re-establish an account, somehow get a "clean slate" and preserve their reputation, and keep the feedback they have earned (which eBay wouldn't otherwise allow.)

I guess the problem with that might be that, if the seller is given a new account, not yet hijacked, eBay might worry and conclude that it's the seller's COMPUTER that's been tapped -- and thus, that any new account would also be subject to fraudulent hijacking, the very next time the seller uses that violated computer to access his or her eBay seller's account.

Am I making any sense at all?  Kinda telling you more than I actually know, here.  Typical.

Would love to hear from anyone, or the relative and friends of anyone, who might know more about this phenomena, and how we can protect OUR accounts from hijack.

Too bad this stuff comes up at the holiday time, when people just want to please those they love.  What a mess!

Deb Dec 11, 2005

Somebody here, can't recall who just now, uses wording something like:

If the auction you viewing is listed by yourebayname, you are buying from the artist ... or something like that.

kbonsall Dec 11, 2005

but, you know what, someone could hijack an auction and put the same wording just change the seller name in the ...

I only sell my bears at this, for example, kim's ebay act - antique corsets id but someone could put... i only sell my bears with the somejoeschmo id

minkbears Dec 11, 2005

Thanks to Donna and everyone else who contacted me about my auction being stolen by these dishonest foreign sellers. I'm new to ebay and I was having a good time with it...until now. My auction was copied not only in Germany but also in Australia and China. Do you believe it!!! I've written several emails to ebay...it takes them way too long to respond. Donna emailed me to let me know that there was a bid on the German auction so I used the link that Judi posted and sent the bidder a message to let them know that they were being scammed.

I took Kim's lead and I am posting an alert to the problem on my next auction. If anyone has any other ideas..

Thanks again to everyone for watching out for me.
Bear Hugs, Kathy Myers

Shelli Retired Help Advisor, Banner SponsorDec 11, 2005

Good point, Kim.  Someone could simply copy/paste the auction listing in its entirety to their own seller account. 

But it's also possible that the seller listing these items is a legitimate and credible seller and a good person, and that their ACCOUNT was hijacked, and is being used by another person, under their name.  In that case, the auction listing would have to be placed into the seller's account by a third (up-to-no-good) party, hacking that account.

Who knows?  Seriously.  Does anyone know how this usually works/looks, when it happens?  I'd be curious to know.  Just cause.. I'm curious.

All I know is, it's scary, and wrong, and mean-spirited, and can harm the reputation of otherwise good sellers (and bearmakers.)  I suppose the one consolation is that it happens all over the world, to lots of people, in many areas of sales and marketing... so we're not the only targets.

Good luck and take care, all,

jazzyrags Dec 11, 2005

That bidder will lose her money

kbonsall Dec 11, 2005

If she pays through paypal, cant she get it back??  I think she can... thats a definite plus with paying with paypal

melissa Dec 11, 2005

I agree with Shelli and would definitely say that this poor German person's account has been hijacked - if you look at their selling pattern, they only sell infrequently on ebay and the auctions have not been for bears.  They may even be unaware that someone has hijacked their auction as all those previous auctions have happened in the last day.

This should suffice as good warning to continually update your anti-spyware software, never ever leave your internet connection plugged into your phone jack when you're not online - or if you have broadband invest in a really good firewall.  Our phone companies here give free anti spyware and the program that stops people dialling up from your computer.  Also,  I cannot highly enough reccommend that you use firefox as your browser.

Stinks for those of you getting your auctions ripped off - I guess this is what we have to expect in an online environment.  It's kind of like putting our bears in a big store with no insurance and no security and wide opening doors inviting any old person in.

Roxanne Dec 11, 2005

I have notified the gal that has the original, legitimate auction about this. She has not yet responded to me. I will let you all know when she does.

I think that the thief just copied and pasted this auction to their own. Very easy to do. I can tell by the way everything is miss-matched with the borders and all.

Densteds Dec 11, 2005

Kim..I don't think he's accepting paypal as payment only Western Union wire transfer, so you wouldn't have a hope of getting your money back..and did you notice he's only got one day auctions...trying to catch as many poor suckers in the shortest time..there's 51 auctions listed by this person and how many times has he done it before, he should be in jail, this is fraud, ebay should report it to the police.

Denise.