Celestron scope from China on eBay

[04Stefan07]

Has anyone noticed a bunch of Celestron telescopes that have popped up on eBay recently? They start at 99 cents with free postage.

This seems really dodgy to me (this could be in relation to that telescope website based in China that someone posted a thread on here not too long ago).

A Celestron 6SE went for around $730 today.

Check them out.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Astromaster-130EQ-MD-Reflector-Telescope-w-Motor-Drive-/221213081261?pt=AU_Cameras_Telescop es_Binoculars&hash=item338153bead&_uhb=1#ht_1289wt_1397

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/NEW-NexStar-8-SE-Computerised-Telescope-for-Astronomy-Stargazing-8SE-/221213080172?pt=AU_Cameras_Telescop es_Binoculars&hash=item338153ba6c&_uhb=1#ht_1792wt_1397

Just thought I would share and to warn people to keep well clear of these auctions!

[carlstronomy]

Extrememly dodgy, a great test as a rule of thumb on ebay is to check out the sellers rating. As you can see by the top right he has none, never sold or bought a single item...

ebay themselves would recommend never to give money to sellers like this especially not hundreds of dollars...

I have shopped ebay for many years and I bought my SCT 9.25" but it was from an AU seller. Always be careful and remember "if seems to good to be true then it will be to good to be true"

Always great to warn people of things like this :thumbsup:

Carl

[Matt Wastell]

Bummer - I have always wanted a 99c scope!

[Ric]

Sounds like the Dodgy Brothers (A division of Fly By Night Industries) are on the the loose again.

[martyn01]

everyone should get it then lodge a dispute with ebay funny people on there

[wasyoungonce]

Good point Stefan...the sellers have zero feedback and just joined 12 Jul 2013......highly risky:eek:

[Nikolas]

He joined in the future??????

[wasyoungonce]

Ha well played:lol:...a space time anomaly....or 12 Apr 2013:lol:

[04Stefan07]

They are now selling Dobs.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Brand-New-Telescope-Dobsonian-12-/321107139272?pt=AU_Cameras_Telescop es_Binoculars&hash=item4ac37a1ac8&_uhb=1#ht_1242wt_1397

[carlstronomy]

Wow 36 kg of dob shipped to AU for free, I have got to be on that!!

[carlstronomy]

Really that dob has $11.50 on it with only 2 days to go... If it gets down to 1 minute and has less the $200 why not, what have you got to lose with PayPal buyer protection....:P

only joking

[04Stefan07]

Woah I just realised there are a few different sellers.

Have come across 3.

Seller A: 8SE and 130EQ with Motor Drive
Seller B: 8SE only
Seller C: 12" Dob

[martyn01]

lol ebay removed it said dont shop with them lol how funny good on you ebay

[04Stefan07]

Haha yeh.

It's just a matter of time before eBay ban all these sellers.

[FlashDrive]

As someone else has said ...I so wanted this to be true. :lol:

Flash.....:D

[04Stefan07]

An 8SE went for $375 + $35 postage this morning!

Last night I reported 3 of the sellers over an online chat with eBay so its just a matter of time now.

[Terry B]

Here is another probable scam.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Fully-Automatic-Coffee-Machine-Brand-New-/171024352720?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_15&hash=item27d1d885d0
A coffee machine worth somewhere between $600 and $1600 depending on which actual model it is. Hard to tell from the dubious pics. All from a seller with no rating.

[mental4astro]

I doubt eBay can do much, or PayPal. These are smash and grab scams. The scumbag starts a new sellers account along with a PayPal account (probably with stollen credit card numbers). The new seller only has a few items for 'sale' at no starting price & for a very short run time, and people's greed takes over. The account is settled through PayPal, the seller takes the money & the seller account is abandoned, & PayPal is left footing the bill to return the buyer their money. This way a scammer can set up dozens of bogus accounts & are untouchable as the eBay & PayPal machine is too slow to react - the are just too big to move so quickly. The scammers know this & exploit it.

If you look at all the dozens of Celestron 8SE scopes on sale, all have the exact same slick blurb. All of them are only 3day auctions. All the sellers only have only between 3 & 6 scopes for sale. All the sellers are all brand new accounts. And eBay & PayPal can't react fast enough before the whole thing is over.

This thread focuses on scopes. Terry mentions coffee machines. Any brand consumer goods is fair game for these scumbags. eBay is being swamped with hundreds of these bogus seller accounts all at once 'selling' every thing, scopes, coffee machines, mix masters, electronics, clothing - all big brands, all the same MO. That's a heck of a lot of money being stollen. Not a good situation for anyone.

[niko]

good summary Alexander

I guess I'll stop my finger hovering over the "buy" button :lol:

It seems such a niche market to target unlike household appliances but I guess any market is fair game.

niko

[mozzie]

you sumed it up alex....iv'e been looking at a concrete cutter and they are only getting negative feedback ie: they have been ripped off..
also happening with arcade machines.....
the past couple of weeks this seems to have taken off bulk items no feedback.....please be aware.....

[rat156]

All of this is probably true, except for the Paypal thing. Have you ever tried to get money out of Paypal? You need a validated bank account and credit card essentially. This is the small transaction they debit and credit you with. This means that they have a trail to what at least was at some stage a validated bank account, with a real person to tied it to. If the bank that has granted this account has done so without the necessary checks, that's where the responsibility should fall. I assume that Paypal simply put in a claim on the bank to reverse the transaction, the bank then tries to get the money back of the scammer, who has probably gone, so the bank wears the cost, perhaps this will encourage them to be more stringent with their security checks for bank accounts!

All up, it's a scam, it probably won't cost you anything, but you definitely won't get a cheap scope out of it. So is it worth the risk, definitely not as you will be risking your money for nothing.

Cheers
Stuart

[FlashDrive]

Just another pointer also.....I've noticed a few 'EURO Zone ' countries on Ebay now...Spain, Italy ......these are just a couple of ' cash strapped ' areas with money problems...and no doubt ' cash strapped ' people.

I for one will be avoiding them....far too risky.....!!

Flash ...!!

[04Stefan07]

It's actually getting worse. Came across another 3 new sellers. One are selling a Saxon Refractor.

[04Stefan07]

Some brand new 2013 scopes just got on eBay.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/2013-good-New-SkyQuest-XT8i-IntelliScope-Dobsonian-Telescope-ok-/251263961862?pt=AU_Cameras_Telescop es_Binoculars&hash=item3a807fcb06&_uhb=1#ht_2003wt_1220

These sellers keep popping up out of no-where!

[Ric]

No bidders as yet.

Good to see people are realising it's a shonky and not bidding.