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Auction site members asking for a phone #

kansei

kansei

Super Member
I received 3 inquiries regarding my phone number in the last 12 hours. All 3 inquiries are from the auction site regarding auctions I am currently running. Two people asked for my phone #, the last person asked me to call them.

This sounds like some sort of a scam or a huge coincidence. Does anyone have any experience with people asking for your phone # on the auction site? Perhaps the site was compromised and is being abused by scam artists? I got a few similar emails from CL listings, but none from the auction site before.:scratch2:
 
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I've had that on CL, but never on the bay! I stick with the eBay email system so there is a record of all correspondence.
Regards,
Jim
 
I have asked for phone numbers before, and also requested that the seller call me depending on the item and if I thought they were a scammer.
 
If it is eBay you are referring to auction bidders (Their bid must be in )can submit a request to eBay to get your contact information including the phone number you have on file. If someone does you will receive an email with their contact information stating that a bidder has requested yours. I have done it many times and it is sometimes good to talk to the seller to get more detail about what is up for auction.
 
Normally the Bay will only give out seller's phone numbers to winners of auctions (or give out numbers of winners to sellers). This can allow conflicts to be resolved in an orderly manner. I have been able to uncover a few scams by getting a suspect phone number and confirming it isn't valid (immediate grounds to cancel a winning bid or cancel payment to the seller). If you catch a seller with an invalid phone number you used to be able to get all their auctions suspended for something like 14 days. Don't know if that still holds true.
 
hammr7 said:
Normally the Bay will only give out seller's phone numbers to winners of auctions (or give out numbers of winners to sellers). This can allow conflicts to be resolved in an orderly manner. I have been able to uncover a few scams by getting a suspect phone number and confirming it isn't valid (immediate grounds to cancel a winning bid or cancel payment to the seller). If you catch a seller with an invalid phone number you used to be able to get all their auctions suspended for something like 14 days. Don't know if that still holds true.
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They will also give out phone numbers to bidders. I have done it several times to get information not mentioned in the description.
 
I noticed a E-Bay items location was local to me, I went and P.M. the seller as I noticed a huge price for the item being sold and figured it would not sell. I asked the person to contact me if the item did not sell (Concept 16.5 ) gave my phone number, sure enough, a no sale auction and a day later I received a phone call and got the Concept 16.5 for a great price and just a short 30 mile drive from home and no shipping. To stay with in E-Bay policy you have to communicate further after the auction has ended. At that point E-Bay has nothing to do with it.
 
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The most likely reason they would ask for a phone number would be to work outside the eBay system. Maybe to see if they can work an outside deal.

eBay already has an "ask seller a question system" in place.

Consider eBay cannot track whatever is agreed to between parties on a phone.

From there the risk is all yours.
 
EddyFranner said:
I noticed a E-Bay items location was local to me, I went and P.M. the seller as I noticed a huge price for the item being sold and figured it would not sell. I asked the person to contact me if the item did not sell (Concept 16.5 ) gave my phone number, sure enough, a no sale auction and a day later I received a phone call and got the Concept 16.5 for a great price and just a short 30 mile drive from home and no shipping. To stay with in E-Bay policy you have to communicate further after the auction has ended. At that point E-Bay has nothing to do with it.
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Very true Eddy... Good info. you gave out. :)
 
terra1 said:
The most likely reason they would ask for a phone number would be to work outside the eBay system. Maybe to see if they can work an outside deal.

eBay already has an "ask seller a question system" in place.

Consider eBay cannot track whatever is agreed to between parties on a phone.

From there the risk is all yours.
Click to expand...

Makes sense, there was mention of whether I had a "BIN".
 
Don't under any conditions give out your phone number. People can back trace to your home address - you sure don't need someone to make a house call when you are not there.
 
I almost never get phone numbers for buyers...... wish I would as Fedex asks for it, and I either use my own, or 555-555-5555. I hope I never run into problems with that.
 
out of the thousand or so items I have bought on ebay in hte last ten years, I have only asked for teh sellers phone once. It was becasue I was spending $6k on an item and htey didn't have all the paypal protections they do now.
 
Reply to the emails and tell them you'll be happy to answer any questions through the eBay messaging system. Do not give out your phone number.
 
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