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EBay Scam...Buyer Beware

By
Real Estate Broker/Owner with Blowing Rock Investment Properties

If it looks too good to be true, it probably is.

I'm a broker in Blowing Rock, NC and here's a story about something that happened to one of the agents in my office. She had a $750,000 home listed for about 6 months. She gets a call from someone out of the blue, who was just browsing on Ebay and saw that the home that she had listed had just "sold" on ebay for somewhere around $250,000. Big surprise to her, and her client...we went to pull it up on ebay and sure enough there it was. Pictures, details, everything. 

We contacted Ebay and the man who bought it discovered soon enough that the deal didn't go through. Isn't that crazy?  Would you really just buy a home off of the internet without seeing it or doing any background on the person selling it to you? That just doesn't make a bit of sense.

Does anyone else have any stories of things like this happening? My guess is that it happens a lot more than we think.The internet has become a powerful tool for doing business, but there's more than enough liability involved as well. 

Arina Hanciulescu
RealtyPros - Las Vegas, NV
RealtyPros
I agree with you Ebay is the most unsafe place. The systems allows very easy access to scams and a lot of people get hurt.
Sep 22, 2007 06:52 PM
Vicki Burton
Southport Realty-Southport, North Carolina - Southport, NC
A local Buyer's Agent - Southport NC Real Estate
Were the pictures and listing details on ebay taken directly from her listing? How does ebay say they try and keep a handle on real estate scamming. I have bought quite a few things on ebay in the past and have never had a problem. If a seller gets a few bad comments, it's pretty much over, so the self-policing seems to work very well. I've never even looked at real estate on ebay but it's hard to figure how a scam artist could get very far and not get caught. 
Sep 23, 2007 01:01 AM
Greg Wilson
1st Cornerstone Realty - Schaumburg, IL
I've gotten some many scam emails from ebay imposter, that i've lost count.
Sep 23, 2007 02:34 AM
Kate Bourland
Marketing with Kate - Redding, CA
Onlilne Marketing Mobile Marketing
This is scary.  It seems to me that e-bay should be able to require proof of a listing agreement or ownership prior to allowing these listings to be posted.  It sounds to me like the seller was trying to scam money from the buyer - not from the seller.  Very scary!
Sep 23, 2007 03:20 AM
Vicki Burton
Southport Realty-Southport, North Carolina - Southport, NC
A local Buyer's Agent - Southport NC Real Estate
What about craigslist, zillow, trulia, and others? Do they ask for proof? I would think that the powerful and mighty ebay would surely have policies in place like proof of listing or ownership. How would they logistically get that proof, though? I'm a buyer's agent so I'm not dealing with these online issues. There are some things that just shouldn't be bought on line like real estate, cars, boats, diamonds, to name a few.
Sep 23, 2007 04:04 AM
Kate Bourland
Marketing with Kate - Redding, CA
Onlilne Marketing Mobile Marketing

This comment is to buyers agent.  As long as things like cars and jewerly can go into escrow for inspection there is nothing wrong with buying them online.  I've bought both a boat and a car online and used the escrow function.  It worked well.  But listing properties that people don't even own is beyond me.

 

Sep 23, 2007 05:38 PM