Out of Curiosity, I Bought a Camera on eBay Knowing It Was Likely a Scam

If you browse cameras on eBay, you’ve likely come across a deal that looked too-good-to-be-true: high-end, new, shiny, bargain basement price, and offered for sale by a seller with zero feedback. In the interest of research (and curiosity) I bought one of these cameras on eBay knowing I would likely be scammed. I wasn’t disappointed.

The too-good-to-be-true items are often sold by eBay sellers with feedback ratings of zero. This means that they likely fall into two categories: 1) a brand new eBay seller or 2) a new account created by a fake seller trying to scam buyers.

The general eBay shopper seems to sense this potential trap as some of these cameras sit on the eBay “shelves” for long periods of time despite their low prices. Occasionally, however, I see an indication that one of these items was purchased. Did the buyer get scammed? Or, are they now out in a scenic area making art with their new camera and grinning knowing they got it for a steal?

Recently a Hasselblad 907x Special Edition “On the Moon Since 1969” CFV II 50C popped up on my watch list at a tantalizingly low price for a limited edition medium format digital camera. The seller, of course, had a zero rating. Clicking on their seller profile, I saw that they were also selling a pair of pillows and were based in New Jersey.

In the name of investigative journalism, I wanted to see if this was a scam or a steal. While I was 99% sure the limited edition Hasselblad was a scam, I offered a low-ball, but not absurd, price for the camera. Buoyed by the thought that my purchase was protected by eBay, I was confident that purchasing this camera would be low-risk as eBay has a Money Back Guarantee policy that is designed to protect buyers and sellers.

15 hours later, I was surprised that my offer was accepted. My PayPal account had been debited and, even more shocking, a UPS tracking number appeared on eBay for the item. Oddly, the tracking initiated in South Carolina — not New Jersey.

What would happen next? Would I see a package progressing through UPS’s tracking system? Would UPS show that a tracking number had been issued, but a package was never put into the system? And, if something was headed my way, was it a real Hasselblad limited edition camera, a stolen Hasselblad limited edition camera, an empty box, or something else?

While waiting for the tracking information to update, the too-good-to-be-true nature of this item began to reveal itself.

I clicked on the seller’s eBay profile and got a message on the screen saying that the seller “No longer a register user.” Darn, I was thinking about bidding on those pillows, too.

I clicked on the eBay item number for the camera I purchased and got a screen stating that “We looked everywhere. Looks like this page is missing…” The listing page for the camera I had purchased was gone—not normal in the world of eBay.

I did a search to see if the item was still showing on a search page for similar Hasselblad cameras. It wasn’t, but there was a “On the Moon Since 1969” camera for sale in Japan with identical product images to the one I had purchased — this time from a seller with over 700 reviews and a price reflective of the market for that camera. By all appearances, a legitimate listing. Not good, but, again, not unexpected.

The UPS tracking was now showing that my package was in transit to me (or at least to my town, the most granular data visible in UPS’s tracking page), and overnighted, no less.

The next day, the UPS website said that my item would be delivered by noon. I was in earshot of the door for the morning and have a camera set to detect motion at the front door. On March 27th at 11:40 AM I received an email and pop-up message on my phone from eBay saying that the item was delivered at 11:08 AM. No doorbell, knocks, or Ring motion had presented itself. I opened the front door and there was nothing there.

I immediately went to my computer to report that the item had not been received. eBay’s first response asks that you contact the seller to address the issue and, if needed, eBay will step in to resolve the case.

Still wondering if there was a box out there somewhere, I called UPS to see if I could gather any clues, determine if the package had been shipped to the wrong address, or was erroneously marked as “delivered.” After chatting with their automated system, I finally was able to request a call. Several minutes later, UPS customer service called and asked for the tracking info, my name, and address. The agent passed to me that my mailing address and name did not match the address where the item had been delivered.

When asked for more details, I was told that UPS could not provide any more information as I did not have the receiver’s correct name or shipping address that had been provided to UPS for that package. Their recommendation was to contact the shipper. This was now, obviously, a dead end. From my what I could see, a package had been shipped overnight with UPS from North Carolina to an unknown address and addressee in my town pretending to be an item I purchased on eBay.

Back on eBay, I filled out the online form for the now-vanished seller and submitted it. I know that the seller was no longer in the eBay system, so I wondered where eBay would be sending my message. Into the void? On the screen it announced that eBay gives the seller three days to respond before “you can ask us to step in.” I filled out the online form again and the screen said, “If the issue is still unresolved by Apr 2, you can ask us for help.”

On the same day, an identical Hasselblad camera appeared on eBay — this time from a zero-feedback seller in Hamburg, Germany. The product images were identical to the one I purchased as well as the still-listed camera from Japan.

With a dead-end at UPS, a vanished seller on eBay, and eBay messages sent to said vanished seller, I started to get a little concerned that getting a refund for my purchase might be problematic.

Several online forums reveal tales of eBay not honoring their Money Back Guarantee policy due to buyers failing to prove that an item was not delivered. Proving that something was not delivered is akin to “proving a negative” — always challenging and sometimes impossible.

To support my case, I took screenshots of my Ring doorbell log, eBay pages, and called UPS back to see if they could, at the least, put something in an email or in writing that said a package with that tracking number had been delivered elsewhere. They stated that they could not.

I was also ready to involve my local police department, the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center, and Interpol once April 2nd arrived if the issue had not been resolved.

On March 30th, I received an email from eBay saying: “The seller asked eBay Customer Service to review this case and make a final decision. We will get back to you within 48 hours.”

A second email appeared 17 minutes later that said: “Your case for this item has been resolved. Unfortunately, we didn’t receive valid proof of delivery from the seller. We’re sorry you had a problem with your purchase.” The email said a refund would appear in three to five days — which it did — on April 2.

The resolution seemed a bit anticlimactic, as I had been readying myself for the possibility that I would have to single-handedly take down an international eBay fraud crime ring. But I was relieved to have gotten a refund with only a minimal amount of work.

Attempts to verify if eBay actually contacted a seller were fruitless. Did they resolve the case based on the fact that the seller had vanished from their system? Or did they have a way to contact the seller even though their account was no longer active?

Is this a lesson worth sharing with others? Absolutely. Will I bid on a too-good-to-be-true eBay item being sold by a seller with no feedback in the future? Absolutely not.

The way this scam was carried out was very cleverly designed to target the weakest points in the online reseller system. At several points, I could have found myself stuck, unable to progress, and the scammer would have won. I’m lucky because the end result is that I did not lose any money. That said, do not do what I did. If you think something doesn’t feel right, don’t risk it.

My hope is that in sharing what I experienced, I can provide a blueprint to this particular type of scammer’s strategy, inform other victims who encounter one similar, and, hopefully, help them get their money back.

About the author: Todd Vorenkamp is a Rhode Island-based photographer, writer, and photography teacher at Rhode Island School of Design Continuing Education. He also wrote an educational book about photography for kids titled, A Is for Aperture: The ABC’s of Photography. The opinions expressed here are solely those of the author.

Image credits: Elements of header photo licensed via Depositphotos.com.