This last weekend I stumbled across a brand new Tamiya Full Option M4 Sherman kit on ebay with about 9 hours to go and the current bid was $120 (with free shipping!). I checked it out and found that it was a first time seller, this was the only item they had ever listed, no feedback, and the seller is in the US but the item was in China. Hmmm. Well, I says to meself, if you use paypal you have protection from both paypal and ebay, so the very worst thing that can happen is that it will take a while to get a refund. Talked myself right into it, so I set a max bid of $200. I was then high bidder with a bid of $122.50. WooHoo! With about 10 minutes to go I was outbid so I raised my max bid to $300 and I was high bidder at $255 until I was outbid with 9 seconds left and it sold for $305. Oh well.

Today I checked my "Didn't Win" list and it was empty. Anything you bid on and don't win is supposed to be listed for 31 days. So, I called ebay (fortunately I had printed out the page while there was still 52 minutes to go so I had all the info). The first woman I talked to told me it had disappeared from my didn't win list because the seller removed the item the day after the auction ended. I was not at all satisfied with this answer (as far as I know a seller can't do that) so after a little arguing I went over her head and asked to speak to a fraud specialist. Only then did I learn that the seller did NOT remove this item, it was removed by EBAY. Naturally they wouldn't tell me why, and had no explanation for why the first woman lied to me and said the seller removed it. This makes me a bit hesitant to participate in future ebay auctions. What do you guys think? Has anyone had a similar experience? What do you think happened and what do you think was the reason ebay removed the item? I buy stuff on ebay all the time but I usually do the "buy it now" thing from reputable vendors and so far I haven't had any trouble. I'd just hate to have to wait to get hundreds of dollars back if something turns out to be non-legit, can ya dig it? But come on ... a full option Tamiya Sherman for $122.50? Who wouldn't want to get one of those? I guess the Wizard's First Rule really is true ... People will believe almost any lie, either because they desperately want it to be true, or because they terribly fear that it is true.

Comments? Opinions?

I've never had an issue Gary. I don't think I would of gone after that sherman to begin with but like you said, not much to worry about with paypal protection. My guess is the seller was never a legit seller. Did a quick setup and put the auction up but no personal info for shipping or how to get in contact. Ebay probably recognized this and pulled the auction and of course they don't want us to know this can happen.
As always if it's too good to be true, it probably is. Could you check bidding history? Wonder if the seller had help or used an additional account to snipe bids over ya? Or even funnier...a r/c tanker that works at ebay tried to snag it and got ass punched then had to hide his embarrassment of the whole transaction.

Yeah, it looked kinda dodgy from the start, and if it wasn't for the paypal and ebay guarantees I never would have touched it. While the auction was going on I could see bidding history but now everything has been wiped. I'll eventually get a Tammy Sherman, unless Imex gets on the stick and gets me some HVSS, but right now about the best I can do on a tamiya is $550, so it's not real high on the priority list. Too many unfinished builds as it is to blow that kind of dough on another project but a deal like that would've been would justify letting it sit on the shelf til I get to it. Maybe I'll stumble on a used Tamiya lower and build one from there. Yeah, right, and monkeys might fly out of my butt, eh?

He he. The AAF used to do raffles for full option kits. If they ever start that up again and I'm at the event I'll buy a couple tickets for ya.

Ths 'US seller with product in China' scam has been going on for years and not only in tanks. Rule of thumb: seller location not location of item, ignore it. It's also not only 'Chinese', lots of that foolishness out there.

Agreed - this has been going on for years on eBay - and unfortunately, still happens a lot.
1st Rule of thumb - if it's too good to be true then it usually is.
I know PayPal offers buyer protection and all - but you are still without the money for a month or 2 - it's not like you get it back straight away.

Ebay did the same to me on two auctions I won. I bought some Spektrum 6100E receivers from two different sellers who had great feedback. I only paid about $4 a piece from one seller so I got 6 and $6 from another so I bought two from him. A few days later, both listings were gone like they never existed. They came in so I wasn't defrauded outright, but I am wondering now if they are counterfeit. They look authentic and I will test them today to make sure they work, but I am kinda screwed if they don't...

Paypal will refund you if the seller has the money in his account. If an account is empty (ie he withdrew the money as soon as you paid) then you won't get anything.

Happened to me but luckily it was for only Ł20.

Now I buy everything with a credit card through Paypal as Paypal don't hestitate when it comes to refunding the credit card companies.

That's all good advice, Guys, so thanks a bunch. I didn't know that about paypal not refunding if the seller's account has been drained. It sounds like I dodged a bullet this time. I think I'll follow Woz's advice and start using a credit card from now on.

Cruiser, were you ever able to find out why ebay removed the listings? I hope you'll let us know how the testing goes. If there's any trouble please post the sellers names so we can avoid them, k? Oh yeah, can I get a little wager on buckeyes v wolverines later this month? It's gonna be a great game. this year both schools are really in their prime.

So now something else has happened that I found strange. I bid on a small accessory item (my max bid was only $15) and I was watching when the auction ended. I was the high bidder at $11.50, and I watched it count down all the way to zero but then instead of going to the page telling me I won the auction and asking for payment it went to a page that said "you didn't win this auction" and it showed the winning bid as $15.50 even though that bid never appeared and I watched it go all the way to 0 seconds. I'm really starting to lose faith in ebay.

There's been sniper software for years. I wouldn't put much worry into it.

I've bid on golf clubs where I'd want a two iron and there would be no bids on any, then when I bid it would go to the end and I'd be outbid. I think that's just a case of the seller not wanting to set a reserve, but not wanting to be bothered selling it too cheap either.

You're smart enough to know the scams, just avoid them. You're not going to get a Tamiya for $200 except at a yard sale.

I pretty much only use eBay's buy it now. I don't care to go through bidding, if the items good, you're going to either get beat or pay too much.

If you're watching a clock, there are so many variables, including your refresh rate, etc. If there is six guys using sniper software, they're going to be tripping over each other and results won't be shown in real time.

Thanks, Jeff. I like the buy it now, too, and try to use that whenever I can. And while I'm here, I just scored a 1/6 scale schwimmwagen for a decent price, so you might be one of the guys that gets peppered with dumb-ass newbie questions when I try to RC it.

Is the Schwimmwagen Dragon or 21[SUP]st[/SUP] Centuary

that's just the things that stop me from dealing with it. If I can drive to the seller place and look over the item then
I'll do that It's like the old saying if it's to good to be true most times it's not and yes I know most times you can get
refunded from E-bay But I just don't want to get in to a letter writing campaign I 'am glad you did not get burn in the end of it all

21st Century

This happens on a majority of bid items. If it isn't buy it now I just ignore it and move on. Unfortunately it is way too easy to get an eBay bot now to both list and buy. If you notice a ton of RC items are only sold by a few big stores, most are just drop shippers that use bots to make multiple listings across multiple accounts with varying prices for the same item. Its a shame eBay has that many bots now I just got screwed on some .99 cent WS2818 lights from a US seller myself a week or so ago...