Almost Got Conned

In my last post, I wrote my Niki (Nikon Coolpix 5000 digital camera) was sent back for repairs after it failed. It had been away for 2 weeks and it was not fixed yet. This morning I rang Nikon and it is still sitting there waiting for parts.

In the meantime I was looking for another camera. This time I wanted a SLR digital camera. After some research, I was weighing between a Nikon or a Canon. I decided I do not want to spend good money on a new spanking camera. Since I have bought a few guitars over the Ebay and was happy with it, I said to myself “Why not a camera over Ebay?” So I went surfing in Ebay to see what was on offered.

2 days ago I saw a listing that caught my eye.

Listed was a Canon EOS 350D with 2 lenses, I decided I will go for it even though one of lenses have a speck in it. The seller could not confirm whether it was a dust speck or fungus. It was risky and I requested for a picture shot with that lens. The seller sent a picture and after looking at it, I decided it was dust speck and I could clean out the dust speck out of the lens.

The seller replied 2 of my questions to my Yahoo email account but my questions and answers to it were not posted in his listing. I thought it was strange because all questions posed to the seller normally are posted in the listing. Being busy at work, I brushed it off and did not think much about it. Almost all the time, my instinct will bug me if something is not right and this morning I received an email from Ebay.

Dear xxxxxxx,

Our records indicate that you have received an email from eurobeatsteve through the eBay email system (via the Contact eBay Member or Ask Seller a Question feature) and that the email may contain a fraudulent offer to purchase or sell an item off the eBay site. The email may also be an attempt to obtain your email address if you respond to the sender.

We would like to provide the following safety tips:

* Do not respond to the sender (either through the eBay system or your email provider) if the message is an offer to buy or sell an item. This type of offer is against eBay policy, may be fraudulent, and the transaction will not be covered by eBay protection programs.

* If you received what appears to be a Second Chance Offer for an item you recently bid on and it's appearing in My Messages with the subject of "Message from eBay Member", it's not a legitimate Second Chance Offer. Real Second Chance Offers appear in My Messages with a blue background and subject stating, "eBay Second Chance Offer for Item...". Always check for both the blue background in My Messages and the subject line of "eBay Second Chance Offer for Item." when responding to a Second Chance Offer.

I was glad the seller was caught out by Ebay or else I may be poorer by A$750. I have to give kudos to Ebay for their efficiency.