Ebay clearly has a problem with scammers (or maybe one particular scammer).
I see once a day (at least), sometimes more, often hundreds of postings of items for "auction" using what looks like an automated process of some kind -- all for very high value items (like high end audio, expensive camera lenses, bicycles), with quite glossy postings having multiple pictures and views of the object, offering to sell items within the text of the posting only by direct contact with a supplied email address (and warning the buyer not to use bidding or use Ebay's system to contact seller). From what I can tell somehow this scammer has managed to purloin legitimate Ebay accounts with high feedback ratings.
I report these when I see them (and shortly thereafter the items disappear from Ebay's system) but obviously this strategy is not working. Whoever the scammer is must have access to many Ebay seller accounts (as this has been going on for as long as I remember) because shortly thereafter the auctions reappear using a different seller.
If you think about the listings -- they clearly are scams (I guess the quote attributed to P. T. Barnum applies here) but I guess all it takes is one in a few thousand to bite and the scammer has a large chunk of cash.
Clearly Ebay's methods are not solving this problem and I sure am getting tired of the "whack a scammer" process at my end. If this is the best anti-scam protection Ebay has it could be their business is headed for the toilet.
