Database Users

[Q] Is this a scam?

I found yesterday on ebay a canadian seller who had an auction for a Samsung Galaxy S2 new unlocked international version.
So I did the usual send a message if he could end the auction for 280+Shipping
because that's what I have in hand.
This was the messages:
-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Me: Hi I would like to buy your phone I have 280+Shipping
Seller: Hi there, yes i can do a buy it now for 280+20 shipping to Honduras. Send me your paypal email and i can send you the invoice that you can pay and i will ship out asap. thanks
Me: my paypal address is ***********@*****.net
Seller: Just sent you the invoice for 300. Please let me know when you have paid and confirm your address. thanks
Me: Hey I saw you didn't ended the auction and it got sold for 432!
Seller: No i have 2 phones that i am selling. You can still pay the invoice i sent you. I will still sell you the phone for the agreed price
So then I received a paypal invoice of 300$
-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
So do you think this guy is a scammer or not? Seller has 5 feedbacks and he is canadian, should I send the money? Would I be protected by paypal?
Item is going to be shipped to Honduras.
What do you say should I go on and buy it or not.

If it's an invoice you should be good, file a dispute if you don't get it
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium

not a scam

280 is impossible
Sent from my LG-P920 using XDA App

Lol, if you had a phone that just sold for 400 plus why would you sell another one for more than 100 less?
Sent from my SGH-T959 using xda premium

Never ever deal with an ebay seller through email. Your purchase will NOT be protected and the guy knows this. Keep that $280 man!!

754boy said:
Never ever deal with an ebay seller through email. Your purchase will NOT be protected and the guy knows this. Keep that $280 man!!
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It actually is still protected by paypal.
Sent from my LG-P920 using XDA App

he send you invoice, you pay it, you dont get item, you dispute gg

There is nothing special about buying it with ebay really, if anything ebay screws over the seller! They charge so much in seller fees (in my opinion). I would just make sure the invoice is legit as I have gotten fake invoices before.
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk

I just sold something on eBay for 400 and the fees were over 65.00 and if you have less than 25 sales they hold the money for 21 days or 3 days after its delivered with a tracking number. eBay sucks to sell stuff now. So its not really 100 less than his last sale.
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk

awca22 said:
I found yesterday on ebay a canadian seller who had an auction for a Samsung Galaxy S2 new unlocked international version.
So I did the usual send a message if he could end the auction for 280+Shipping
because that's what I have in hand.
This was the messages:
-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Me: Hi I would like to buy your phone I have 280+Shipping
Seller: Hi there, yes i can do a buy it now for 280+20 shipping to Honduras. Send me your paypal email and i can send you the invoice that you can pay and i will ship out asap. thanks
Me: my paypal address is ***********@*****.net
Seller: Just sent you the invoice for 300. Please let me know when you have paid and confirm your address. thanks
Me: Hey I saw you didn't ended the auction and it got sold for 432!
Seller: No i have 2 phones that i am selling. You can still pay the invoice i sent you. I will still sell you the phone for the agreed price
So then I received a paypal invoice of 300$
-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
So do you think this guy is a scammer or not? Seller has 5 feedbacks and he is canadian, should I send the money? Would I be protected by paypal?
Item is going to be shipped to Honduras.
What do you say should I go on and buy it or not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you must also check whether the device is in perfect condition !!
also the seller may bluff you by not sending the desired item or he may send anything else even a cheap clone or something !!
pls confirm via pics or video and then go for the transaction !!

you could even ask him to create another auction on ebay with a buy it now price that you agreed to and have him send you the link.

ekz13 said:
you could even ask him to create another auction on ebay with a buy it now price that you agreed to and have him send you the link.
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A seller did that for me for an item that he accepted my offer on. It worked very well.

280 no way! The phone is worth around $600.
Sent from my T959 using xda premium

I believe seller can create a private sale through ebay to buyer and ebay will give you buyer protection.
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk

When a deal sounds too good to be true... perhaps its too good to be true. I wouldnt do it.

Thinking the same
oatterzonxda said:
When a deal sounds too good to be true... perhaps its too good to be true. I wouldnt do it.
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Had the same thought, then seen your post. I agree.
Tony

Do not buy from simplyelectronics.net!!!!!

Wow...stay away from this company as far as possible. Trying to deal with them has been harder than performing brain surgery in the dark with one hand tied behind my back.
Ordered a white Note on January 25th. They needed extra identity verification (aka the documents they need to defraud me a month from now). I order from B&H all the time with orders exceeding $2,000 without having to verify my identity.
Fine, I played their game, January 28th rolls around and it can't ship till next week because they are backed up. I tell them forget it, to cancel it, and I will get it from someone else who can do business professionally.
Between January 28-30. I have FOUR comfirmation email cancelling my order from TWO diff reps and from the [email protected] email. Now today, February 3, I receive an email that my order has shipped and here is your tracking number...
Scammers folks. Terrible customer service. Been sitting on the phone for ONE HOUR trying to talk to someone live....no one will pick up. No one is returning my emails. I just filed for fraud on my credit card, I will refuse the package when it arrives, telling you guys here, and also prepping my attorney for anything.
SimplyElectronics.net is not professional, not prompt, sketchy, involved in fraud throughout Europe, and by far the worst company I've ever dealt with.

Wow - sounds absolutely awful...
Sorry to hear about your miserable experience, but thanks for the heads up.

Almost ordered a Galaxy Tab from there at Christmas, but found out about Note and bought it from Finland. After hearing this i am glad i didn't choose to buy the Tab there.

why do you people send your money to shady non trustworthy companies. Just to save a couple dollars.
I must be weird to shell out a extra 50-100 for a little peace of mind
Sent from my Galaxy Note using xda premium

They are based in Hong Kong, look at their address on the terms and conditions tab on their website.
I made the mistake of ordering from them before and looked into the company. They were taking ages to dispatch so I asked for a cancellation. They agreed to the cancellation but after about two weeks of not receiving my money back on to my card, I sent a chaser email which they responded to and I managed to obtain my refund after another few days.
Their website is very deceptive because when you go to it, everything is in UK currency, and even their phone number is a UK one.
Any warranty claims seem to go to a UK mail forwarding address who then probably ship it back to Hong Kong.
Definitely stay away from this company.

Dont you think it is enough with one thread on this subject, since you also posted one in the "Q&A" section?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1478659

This is why I stick to Amazon. Not always the cheapest but you know what you're getting.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium

intruda119 said:
why do you people send your money to shady non trustworthy companies. Just to save a couple dollars.
I must be weird to shell out a extra 50-100 for a little peace of mind
Sent from my Galaxy Note using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll pay another $20 to $30 extra for a little peace of mind, but $100 is kinda steep (IMHO).
--For the record, I bought my Note from a Top-Rated seller on eBay for $629. Transaction was excellent, and so is the phone.

I ordered from simply electronics and had no issues, and that was in the run up to christmas, took exactly a week to arrive. I think there were excellent, always replied to my emails and was miles cheaper than anywhere else. I think you just need patience when ordering from a company based in Hong Kong. I'm used to it get a lot of stuff off ebay from Hong Kong, and a lot of it takes about a month to arrive. Which I'm told is because they have very strict outgoing customs over there.

ericshmerick said:
This is why I stick to Amazon. Not always the cheapest but you know what you're getting.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium
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+1000 !!!!!!!!!!

I got my note from expansys USA for $689 2 months ago.
If you think $100 is steep for peace of mind vs what the op is going through then I must be crazy.
I have learnt over the years that you have to pay for quality service. My extra 100 I spent originally with expansys was worth it when I had to do a replacement. Hassle free with absolutely no issues.
Sent from my Galaxy Note using xda premium

intruda119 said:
why do you people send your money to shady non trustworthy companies. Just to save a couple dollars.
I must be weird to shell out a extra 50-100 for a little peace of mind
Sent from my Galaxy Note using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did pay extra for what I thought was peace of mind. Use google shopping. SimplyElectronics is one of the highest rated sellers according to my search result. I posted twice to warn my fellow XDA'ers. I have credit card protection and an attorney I'm afraid of. I'm not worried about it per se. I run a small business and I just get really irked by the way some companies treat their customers.

roxxy said:
Dont you think it is enough with one thread on this subject, since you also posted one in the "Q&A" section?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1478659
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No. I do not think its enough.

lol just type simplyelectronics scam into google and see:
http://fraudwatchers.org/forums/showthread.php?t=38576
sorry if this is no help, but i would of checked a few reviews. good luck getting ya cash back though

iceghost1210 said:
lol just type simplyelectronics scam into google and see:
http://fraudwatchers.org/forums/showthread.php?t=38576
sorry if this is no help, but i would of checked a few reviews. good luck getting ya cash back though
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Lol already done...

Yep. I too bought my Note from Expansys for something like 600€.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium

I think they maybe just aren't the best at keeping up with orders, i got mine fine, I paid with paypal so I knew I was covered if the thing didn't turn up. Not really any risk these days if you use the options that are there.

50 Dollars off 3 Chrome OS Devices

Hey guys,
First off i'm sorry if this isn't allowed or anything but because I'm a student I have this offer from Amazon and I'm not going to use it so I thought I would pass it on.
These are the three eligible products. http://goo.gl/cUY3v
If your interested post in this thread. I will not respond to PM's about this. Its first come first serve.
P.s I will handle this like any normal marketplace transaction except for a few differences.
You pay the Paypal fees and shipping from me to you. (It's required to be shipped to my address)
I'm asking for that because I'm doing this to help a person save some money and I'm not losing any.
For The Moderators
If this is against the rules by ANY means please send me a message or post in here, or just lock it.

Isn't this just a coupon because I see the offer and i'm able to use it as well

For me it says it's a student offer only and I gotta wait 48 hours after confirming my student account before the coupon even shows up. (in process now) lol
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Tapatalk 2

Hmm, maybe it shows up because I used that 6 month Student Prime Account offer about 10 months ago, or maybe because I'm a Prime Member still

Sparkz914 said:
Hmm, maybe it shows up because I used that 6 month Student Prime Account offer about 10 months ago, or maybe because I'm a Prime Member still
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are you still using the discounted amazon prime membership? that's probably why

Beware Ebayer oalmaguer2012 he's a scammer

If this can get stickied somewhere would be great.
This is a heads up to anyone looking to get a note 2 cheap. Beware buying anything on ebay from user oalmaguer2012 he is a scammer. And ebay user and I have already been scammed $550 by him. He will claim that paypal is holding the funds until you leave him feedback, or he'll refund the money, in order to get you to leave feedback and for him to get the paypal funds in case it really is being held.
Anyway, he will give you bogus tracking information. He'll also give you is phone number, but after 2 weeks he'll vanish with your hard earned money. His phone number is 602-481-7941 and he claims he's from Arizona. His name as it appears in paypal is Oscar Almaguer with email [email protected].
As of right now I'm waiting on ebay for final resolution as I have already filed a complaint.
Again, this is a heads up to anyone trying to buy on ebay, beware of this guy.
Mods, please sticky or post in proper thread. I posted in this forum since he was selling the international Note 2.

UPDATE: I did get my refund today as ebay made the final decision in my favor. So they returned the amount I paid.
Either way, stay away from this seller, he doesn't seem to have the galaxy note 2, I was thinking he was pooling multipe orders so he could do a group buy or something, or he's just a plain old online scammer.

bangsters said:
His phone number is 602-481-7941 and he claims he's from Arizona. His name as it appears in paypal is Oscar Almaguer with email [email protected].
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As a former Arizona resident, 602 is the area code for Phoenix .
Regardless, it sucks to get scammed. It's always good to either use a credit card or paypal, because they (most of the time) have your back.
Thanks for the heads up though!

Yeah a similar thing happened to me when I sold my s3 on ebay. A guy bouhht it then I get a email from paypal saying he has paid but they are holding the funds until I give them the shipping number. I forwarded the email to paypal. Guess what, fake. Ebay seems rife with this stuff at the moment. Around the buying and selling of phones anyway.
Sent from my GT-N7100 using xda premium

poplectic said:
Yeah a similar thing happened to me when I sold my s3 on ebay. A guy bouhht it then I get a email from paypal saying he has paid but they are holding the funds until I give them the shipping number. I forwarded the email to paypal. Guess what, fake. Ebay seems rife with this stuff at the moment. Around the buying and selling of phones anyway.
Sent from my GT-N7100 using xda premium
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Whoa, did the guy actually send an email posing as an official PayPal email? So he spoofed a PayPal address and sent you it?
Beamed from Jupiter on my Galaxy Note II

zkyevolved said:
As a former Arizona resident, 602 is the area code for Phoenix .
Regardless, it sucks to get scammed. It's always good to either use a credit card or paypal, because they (most of the time) have your back.
Thanks for the heads up though!
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Click to collapse
yeah good thing I used paypal. And looking at my history I think ebay knew it was a no brainer that I got scammed.
I still haven't heard from the other person who bought the same item from him though.... hopefully he got refunded as well

Ah, that's awful. Glad you got your money back. This is why I don't buy anything worth more than 50 bucks off eBay. The scamming and the spoofing is so well done these days, it's not weird letters from "Nigerian princes" anymore like it used to be.

As long as whatever you sell is listed as "As-is" and "Non-refundable" then on the selling side, you should be safe with eBay's buyer protection.
As for buying, you need to be aware of who the seller is, the previous selling history and feedback, and the frequency of sells.

AjunNg said:
Whoa, did the guy actually send an email posing as an official PayPal email? So he spoofed a PayPal address and sent you it?
Beamed from Jupiter on my Galaxy Note II
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Yep. Looked exactly like a paypal email.
Sent from my GT-N7100 using xda premium

Good end result though - Glad you got your money back mate!!

Free $25 Dollar Credit for HTC One Owners

Hey guys! Just saw this in the news! Its free $25 dollar credit at Google Play for buying the HTC One. Redeem it before July 15th!
http://us.htc.com/googleplay/

FYI It's for US owners only (and even then for a very short and specific purchase window.)
While supplies last. Void where prohibited by law. Offer valid only on new HTC One devices purchased and activated in the U.S. between 6/14/13 – 7/15/13. You must register your device at www.htc.com/us/googleplay/redeem by 7/15/2013. Limit one registration per email account. Codes will be delivered to registered email address within 2-4 weeks of registration. Information may be subject to validation. Google Play store credits must be redeemed by 11/30/2013 and may be subject to a later expiration date.

Unfortunately, the site says that its for purchases after June 14th. However, it still took my information and doesn't ask for it in the sign up page, so I tried it anyways. Will post what the email response from HTC will be. Hopefully, this will be useful for new purchasers. Thanks!
EDIT. Thanks for adding that info @snachez.

I bought my htc one from eBay. Getting g it tomorrow. T mobile version. Does that count?
Sent from my X909 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

Got mine the day of release, but gave it a shot anyways. Thanks for the heads up!

osmosizzz said:
I bought my htc one from eBay. Getting g it tomorrow. T mobile version. Does that count?
Sent from my X909 using Tapatalk 4 Beta
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Depends probably when that guy got from T-Mobile.
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2

Giving it a shot.
I bought mine the 7th of this month but I put in the info anyway. No skin off my nose if they say no.

[USA only] Free $25 Google Play Credit with Purchase
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