More eBay Nonsense

Over the years as the subject comes up, I've made no secret that I think eBay's procedures promote identity theft and why, and I've kept away from the site for a very long time. Well, I recently decided to browse around again. I am not a seller so I did not provide credit information. Just basic information that was required to register. But when I tried to update my e-mail address, I was required to give a credit card number, card identification number (PIN ! ! ! ), expiration date, name and billing address.

Of course, I didn't enter the information and now I'm thinking of asking my account be closed. I wonder if that's even a legal way to use a credit card number?

Cheryl, I think the card identification number is the three digit number on the back of your credit card, not a PIN number...

diann

Even so, that's too much info floating out there in the cyberpace twilight zone.

My post was informational only. I have no feeling about e-bay or paypal or other such things one way or another... :)

Ohh, not a presidential debate? :))

Garden6, not tonight. :) It's way too nice out to debate anything! :)

You're right, let's enjoy this beautiful evening, even when it's winter, it'll be too nice to debate!
:0)

cheryl,

thanks for posting about the dangers of identity theft in using sites like ebay! i had no idea! i recently signed up to buy from the site (don't recall them asking any cc info though, etc).

i listen to financial expert dave ramsey's radio program most days and he recommends people purchase identity theft insurance through zanderinsurance.com. my husband checked it out and for a family *(includes your kids!) it's only about $150 a year and they deal with all the headaches of cleaning your credit report and prosecuting the offender. we'll be adding it soon to our household.

ebay has never asked me for any of that stuff. some people don't use cc's or paypal, only checks/money orders. i wonder if you were on a phony ebay site. it happens.

tracks,

how are ya!? nice to have your perspective to. so you've successfully bought from ebay? i don't think i'd hesitate once i get that identity theft insurance.

oh shoot, i do it all the time. i just make sure the sellers have a lot of good feedback and remember, communication is the key to a successful transaction. most everyone on there is honest and helpful.

I think I was at the real site. I went directly to ebay.com from my browser address window like I normally do. I didn't enter any of that information to register but they sure seem to be wanting it now. I checked the help faq's and they even have an answer to why they need a credit card to change an e-mail address.

I always pay via PayPal. That way the sellers don't have any of my information. I've bought probably hundreds of things off ebay over the years. I have been burned a couple times, but I'm occasionally burned by brick-and-mortar stores, too.

Sure, but brick and mortar stores don't require credit card & billing information to purchase, or update your contact information.

I got a response from my e-mail to eBay. I wanted to change my e-mail address to one that they can't verify who I am from. So that's why they wanted a credit card. I'm still not sure I agree with it, but I have to admit I understand, especially with the way they connect strangers to each other.

Thanks for the info about identity theft insurance, Tir_Na_Nog. I never heard of it before.

You are welcome Cheryl, it was new to me as well. Love your name for "brick and mortar" stores.

ebay doesn't require credit card information, and like I said I use PayPal, so the sellers don't need it, either.

Of course, scam e-mails that pretend to come from ebay or PayPal ask for everything under the sun, including your PIN, SS#, and mother's maiden name, but I just report those and then delete them.

As I remember, I think my homeowners policy also has ID theft insurance.

This is a little different scenario but Ebay related. My dh's boss bought a treadmill on Ebay.....I know, it would cost a fortune in shipping, but anyway, that's what she did. The seller said he lived in Italy and they wouldn't let him do Paypal so he requested that she wire the money. So, she wired him $900 for this treadmill. I'm pretty sure she was scammed and will never see that treadmill.
She filed a complaint with Ebay, but I bet he is long gone.

oh man, now that's just plain dumb.

I know! And this woman is very smart in business matters, but maybe no common sense or too trusting, not sure. You have to wonder how many other people out there wire money because of some lame excuse from the seller. There are some smart creative criminals out there.

every country takes paypal. if she wasn't sure, she should have notified ebay before she sent money. they always tell you, "never send money".

I don't think she did think about it at all. She just did it. Plus, why would you buy something that heavy from another country?

no kidding. they have treadmills here! LOL i guarantee you i can find a good one, no, a great one for less than 900 and no shipping, esp. not from italy. yikes. you should find out the sellers name. i would like to investigate through ebay and see what's up with this guy.

I'll try to find out, I bet they change their name after a big take.

I forgot this part.....my dh reminded me.....after she wired him the money, he called and said the second item would cost $600 more than he had anticipated because of some shipping problem. She said she didn't even want the second item and she didn't send the money. At this point I think she realized how dumb she had been. I guess he thought he had a good one, so he was really going to milk it.

she must be very, very new at ebay and very naive.

Cheryl_IL, you tried to unverify your account by changing your verified card to one they couldnt even know that it was yours. Look at it this way.
E-bay tries to make the site safe for BOTH buyers and sellers, they cant be sure that you never will sell items on E-bay. If a seller is verified there is always a way to get money back and makes it harder for scammers to go about cheating people.
I have bought expensive stuff on Tradera.se. Its the Swedish auctionsite now owned by E-bay. Last month me and my son was going to buy a new or used puter, we checked all out and found two. One was a seller that never had sold a puter before and was unverified and one that had sold several used ones with top recomendation AND he was verified. This was a puter that had been running as a serverputer for less then a 1/2 year and costed 1285 dollars with shipping on "buy it now". Some of the components in the puter was brand new as he had rebuilt it as a gamingputer and we got an extra rammemory on 1G (now 3G) in the puter. My son goes to scool via Internet (puters and programming) and is a gamingnut. We had the camera rolling as we opened the box when the puter arrived to use IF it should turn out to be a scam as evidence, well when we opened the puter my jaws almost feel to the floor and that film could only be used as a commersial for this guy :)). Had we built that puter ourselfs we would have payed atleast 3570 dollars and that had left us with a lesser puter then we got as some of the items in that puter havent hit the open market here yet. Not to mention the extra box with converters adapters and cords that came with this puter. I swear I can hook up the whole house to this puter.
Turns out this guy is IT-tecnitian(sp) and have a small server buisness for companies. He has 9 puters that handels these companies and he changes serverputers atleast ones a year sometimes more often and rebuilds some of them to gamingputers and sell on Tradera.
Had this guy been unverified I dont think I would have dared to put that much money out for a putertower that has been used no mather how many good ratings he.had. The verification and the rules that all sellars and buyers have to sign make it atleast possible (with some hassle and work) for me to get my money back if the auction wasnt what it was promised to be.
Janett

I am always impressed by the safeguards on eBay. They do work hard to make it a safe place to do business. As always, everyone should learn how to safely use the Internet and remember, once you have been verified eBay will never ask you for your credit card #. If you get a request for that information it is a scam, do not open it and forward it to spoof@ebay.

It has come to the point where I would much rather give my credit card # to a computer than to a live, possibly larcenous, person in a store.