Is this seller committing some kind of fraud?

[Arik5405]

I bought a Phenom II 965 off of eBay for $129.99 here:
Link to Auction

The cpu is coming from Chicago, IL and was delivered to my place today. But there's something a little strange going on here, the cpu showed up in a box from Newegg not from the seller in Chicago. There was also a packing slip enclosed and it was billed to some lady in Jackson, MO and of course I was listed as the shipping address. This struck me as a little odd. Why would a person in Chicago selling 20 cpus be purchasing them from Newegg and selling them at a discounted price on eBay? My only thoughts are that either he gets a nice deal from Newegg by buying in bulk, or he is committing some sort of credit fraud and using other people's CCs to purchase things off of Newegg and have them ship the products out. I asked the seller yesterday if he could provide a tracking number and he said "the item was shipped, I will give you the tracking number later", and that was all of the communication I had with him.

Is something fishy going on here? Should I just not worry about it and enjoy the new cpu?

(sorry about run on sentences, grammatical errors and blocky paragraph, I typed this really fast before I left for class)

 

[BoomerD]

I bought a Phenom II 965 off of eBay for $129.99 here:
Link to Auction

The cpu is coming from Chicago, IL and was delivered to my place today. But there's something a little strange going on here, the cpu showed up in a box from Newegg not from the seller in Chicago. There was also a packing slip enclosed and it was billed to some lady in Jackson, MO and of course I was listed as the shipping address. This struck me as a little odd. Why would a person in Chicago selling 20 cpus be purchasing them from Newegg and selling them at a discounted price on eBay? My only thoughts are that either he gets a nice deal from Newegg by buying in bulk, or he is committing some sort of credit fraud and using other people's CCs to purchase things off of Newegg and have them ship the products out. I asked the seller yesterday if he could provide a tracking number and he said "the item was shipped, I will give you the tracking number later", and that was all of the communication I had with him.

Is something fishy going on here? Should I just not worry about it and enjoy the new cpu?

(sorry about run on sentences, grammatical errors and blocky paragraph, I typed this really fast before I left for class)

Contact Newegg and ask them...OR, try to contact the person whose credit card was used.

 

[911paramedic]

Only been selling since August of last year (the seller, not me) but all the feedback has been good. The actual transaction you described is a bit strange though, I'll give you that much.

 

[lsv]

It's probably a scam, Newegg does not offer bulk or corporate accounts AFAIK.

Someone suggested contacting the owner of the card, do so. It won't hurt. Just keep all documentation and proof. Worse comes to worse you return the product and your credit card reimbursed.

 

[GeezerMan]

Yeah, I had the same question myself. There are several sellers on ebay with a similar styling of their user name, all selling the same type of PC items, but in a very limited selection. If it was a scam, why is the selection so limited?

 

[chowderhead]

drop shipping. It's pretty common.

 

[Ns1]

drop shipping. It's pretty common.

not for $30 less than NE price...

 

[911paramedic]

not for $30 less than NE price...

...from NE. D:

 

[Ns1]

...from NE. D:

what?

150 price @ NewEgg. I don't care how low wholesale is, 130 to dropship the item from NewEgg after fees is ridiculous.

 

[darkewaffle]

I had a similar experience earlier this year. General consensus seemed to be that likely someone had a gift card or something that they wanted to flip to cash, but that seller was also selling 'en masse' as I recall seeing a ton of 57xx cards and external HDDs in their listing.

Dunno what to make of it.

 

[imported_noonedoes]

I bought a Phenom II 965 off of eBay for $129.99 here:
Link to Auction

The cpu is coming from Chicago, IL and was delivered to my place today. But there's something a little strange going on here, the cpu showed up in a box from Newegg not from the seller in Chicago. There was also a packing slip enclosed and it was billed to some lady in Jackson, MO and of course I was listed as the shipping address. This struck me as a little odd. Why would a person in Chicago selling 20 cpus be purchasing them from Newegg and selling them at a discounted price on eBay? My only thoughts are that either he gets a nice deal from Newegg by buying in bulk, or he is committing some sort of credit fraud and using other people's CCs to purchase things off of Newegg and have them ship the products out. I asked the seller yesterday if he could provide a tracking number and he said "the item was shipped, I will give you the tracking number later", and that was all of the communication I had with him.

Is something fishy going on here? Should I just not worry about it and enjoy the new cpu?

(sorry about run on sentences, grammatical errors and blocky paragraph, I typed this really fast before I left for class)

This might be a triangle scam.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5158208/ns/technology_and_science-security/

This happened to me last year. Someone was using another person's ebay id to sell games and giving them a percent....he didn't know that the guy using the id was using stolen credit cards to buy stuff online and sending it to the buyer. It's discovered like 30 days later when the stolen credit card owner finds it on their bill and complains. Contact the newegg and paypal to cover your butt. The seller usually has a high rating because everyone loves the prices and by the time people have problems, he is long gone.

 

[Ns1]

This might be a triangle scam.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5158208/ns/technology_and_science-security/

This happened to me last year. Someone was using another person's ebay id to sell games and giving them a percent....he didn't know that the guy using the id was using stolen credit cards to buy stuff online and sending it to the buy. It's discovered like 30 days later when the stolen credit card owner finds it on their bill and complains. Contact the newegg and paypal to cover your butt.

green for you. +++

 

[Arik5405]

This might be a triangle scam.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5158208/ns/technology_and_science-security/

This happened to me last year. Someone was using another person's ebay id to sell games and giving them a percent....he didn't know that the guy using the id was using stolen credit cards to buy stuff online and sending it to the buyer. It's discovered like 30 days later when the stolen credit card owner finds it on their bill and complains. Contact the newegg and paypal to cover your butt. The seller usually has a high rating because everyone loves the prices and by the time people have problems, he is long gone.

sounds almost exactly like my situation.

 

[GeezerMan]

Certainly could be a scam, but why the limited merchandise selection?, and some of the sellers have feedback on these same items for several months, so i would think they would have been caught by now..

 

[imported_noonedoes]

Certainly could be a scam, but why the limited merchandise selection?, and some of the sellers have feedback on these same items for several months, so i would think they would have been caught by now..

If you look at his feedback, the majority of them comes after december 2010 (91 out of the 103), it was exactly like my situation. Luckly for me, the person who's ebay id was stolen didn't know what was happening and I track him down on facebook. He refunded me my money, payed me to ship the game back and went to his local police to cover his butt.

 

[bradley]

This might be a triangle scam.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5158208/ns/technology_and_science-security/

Wow. You learn something every day. Definitely something to ponder about eBay purchases, especially one-day auctions without Paypal payment options.

 

[GeezerMan]

Look at the sellers completed items. He has sold some very expensive items: a 8300.00 camera lens, 7550.00 lens, 3400.00 lens.

One of the feedback he has, for a 5599.99 lens, is done by a seller/buyer on ebay that sells the same stuff he does. I'd bet money now that this is a scam, with several user names being used to provide each other feedback.
Their user names have a similar styling too.

Log in to your ebay account and view this rundown right here.

http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.d...rgel&completed=1&all=1&rows=50&sort=12&_rdc=1


and this one:

http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.d...cott&completed=1&all=1&rows=50&sort=12&_rdc=1

 

[JMapleton]

I work at an online retailer and this happens sometimes. Most of the time they're using stolen credit cards.

 

[Patranus]

Wow, people here think about things too much.

So what do you get by turning this guy in?

No CPU and no money.
Its lose/lose for you.

Even if it was CC fraud, the lady isn't going to have to pay for any of it.

The only loser here would be you.

 

[Slapstick]

Wow, people here think about things too much.

So what do you get by turning this guy in?

No CPU and no money.
Its lose/lose for you.

Even if it was CC fraud, the lady isn't going to have to pay for any of it.

The only loser here would be you.

Yeah the right thing to do is such a pain in the ass.

 

[grrl]

Wow, people here think about things too much.

So what do you get by turning this guy in?

No CPU and no money.
Its lose/lose for you.

Even if it was CC fraud, the lady isn't going to have to pay for any of it.

The only loser here would be you.

From the MSNBC article:

>>Consumers caught up in the scheme may find out they have more trouble than a surprise visit from law enforcement -- they might be out the cash. Young-Chi said it's not yet clear what will happen to the items he unwittingly helped steal from Amazon, but he might be forced to return them, or pay for them.

 

[geno]

Wow, people here think about things too much.

So what do you get by turning this guy in?

No CPU and no money.
Its lose/lose for you.

Even if it was CC fraud, the lady isn't going to have to pay for any of it.

The only loser here would be you.

And the seller gets away with money that isn't his. OP might lose but letting scamming assholes get away with it (and encouraging them to continue to do so in the process) is its own special kind of losing in the big picture. Tough decision though when the OP stands to lose his cash.

 

[pcslookout]

Someone is jealous and wants in on the selling profit I can see. Perfect way to try to ask a question that you really want to ask but know no one will tell you. It is easy to see what your trying to do.

I know exactly what these sellers are doing but most will never tell you how it is done for good reason. It is amazing how simple and easy it is too. That is why no seller will dare tell you how this is done. The question your asking won't get a exact answer because it could hurt their business with you becoming competition. Why do you think so few people will never give you a straight answer on inventory resources ? Mainly because there is none. There is no list of resources. They are created and that is all I am going to say. You all are the ones that made it that way anyway. I wouldn't tell anyone here anyway how it is done because all they want it for is to become sellers. Most of you all want the easy answer. Like I said there is none and as far as saying they are created is all I am going to say. The only other thing is most of these sellers are not doing any kind of fraud. Now there is always a few bad ones that do. I for one am glad this is kept as a secret otherwise you would have every Jane and Bob trying to do this and ruin it.

 

[Arik5405]

Someone is jealous and wants in on the selling profit I can see. Perfect way to try to ask a question that you really want to ask but know no one will tell you. It is easy to see what your trying to do.

I know exactly what these sellers are doing but most will never tell you how it is done for good reason. It is amazing how simple and easy it is too. That is why no seller will dare tell you how this is done. The question your asking won't get a exact answer because it could hurt their business with you becoming competition. Why do you think so few people will never give you a straight answer on inventory resources ? Mainly because there is none. There is no list of resources. They are created and that is all I am going to say. You all are the ones that made it that way anyway. I wouldn't tell anyone here anyway how it is done because all they want it for is to become sellers. Most of you all want the easy answer. Like I said there is none and as far as saying they are created is all I am going to say. The only other thing is most of these sellers are not doing any kind of fraud. Now there is always a few bad ones that do. I for one am glad this is kept as a secret otherwise you would have every Jane and Bob trying to do this and ruin it.

Well, thanks for saying a whole lot of nothing.

 

[Arik5405]

I sent a message to the seller asking if he could explain the situation, his response:

Dear arik5405,

Hi, What do you mean? the package I has been shipped to you from my sister. She is a member of newegg. If you don't believe in me. Just return to me, I'll make a fund refund to you.

Thanks for your time,

- seller.scott