[fractal]

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Has anyone been having trouble with ebay lately?

I accessed my Australian account from China yesterday to bid on an item and after a short time the bid disappeared. Anyway i had recieved an e-mail from them yesterday saying a third party had tried to access my account. I checked it out and i was required to punch in a pin which i had to retrieve from a call they would make to my registered phone number when i requested it. This morning I got my father to answer the call back in Melbourne and he gave me the pin number. The pin worked, however, the account was still blocked. I got onto live help and they told me the only way around this is to send to Australia; bank statements, photocopy's of drivers ID, bank cards etc. I mean really what a joke. I'm guessing this is because i tried to access the account from China. And they called my parents place in Melbourne at f*^king 3:30am in this morning! Seriously pissed off.

Anyone had any similar problems?

[X Man]

Yeah, you.

I mean, really. You access ebay from China, logging into an Aussie acct. That's suspicious. So, ebay does it's job and blocks a potentially compromised acct. The solution to un-block the acct is valid ID. Yeah, what a joke.

Now, suppose somebody had actually jacked your acct and sold an imaginary FA 300mm f2.8 for $1,000 BIN, thereby trashing your acct. Imagine how seriously pissed off you'd be then.

Regards,
Mike

Has anyone been having trouble with ebay lately?

bank statements, photocopy's of drivers ID, bank cards etc

I would not send that kind of financial info to anybody anymore... If ebay was asking me for that much info... I would cancel the account.

Sending a photocopy of you drivers license and bank statements/credit card #s is asking to have your every bit of your money stolen... and your charge cards maxed out... I dont even let my bank write my DL on my statements when they check my ID...

A fool and his money soon parts...

PS... I am paranoid

[fractal]

X man i see where you are coming from, but after my inital anger i still consider this part overkill. So if any person was to travel abroad and try to use their own account to bid then the same thing would happen. The 'live helper' could not even give me a brief explanation about this. To get an explanation i STILL have to send all my ID away back to Oz.

Well obviously i cannot cancel the account because i am being treated like a 3rd party intruder. To cancel the account or to bid on anything means either catching a plane to Melbourne to answer the phone call to verify my identity OR sending all my ID to Melbourne in the post. Bugger that.

Well being paranoid is not such a bad thing nowadays.. i guess that is what ebay is doing.. although, from what i have read they usually don't give two sh*ts about shill bidding and other illegal activity of the likes.

[Gooshin]

whenever i travel overseas, i call my credit card company and tell them where i am going, then call them again when i come back.

this is standard procedure,

and if its overkill its only because you didnt take the necessary precautions.

what is it with these posts lately people baging on paypal/ebay

also when you provide ID, you can white out your government issued number,

all they need is a name

[lithos]

Gooshin, I'd imagine that eBay works a little differently in Canada to how it does in Australia.

And this is a internet auction site that's asking for as much ID as is needed to steal it.

What would be worse than selling a non-existent FA 300 on eBay would be if someone got a fake passport with all the info and was later found fighting for Al Qaeda in Afghanistan...

[Gooshin]

lets all put our tinfoil hats on.

one thing you have to have is TRUST, that ebay maintains an air tight privacy policy.

if you cannot trust ebay with that, then either dont use it.. or, i dont, throw your hands up in the air and complain on a forum.


the more the world opens up the more transparent YOU have to become, and put more trust in the system.

the only way against that is to simply not use the service.

as for terrorism, you guys are silly

much like car theft, identity theft will happen if someone targets YOU, specifically, and you cant do anything unless you are somehow part of that initial system.

otherwise its picking cards out of a hat.


i use an email address were i signed up with a name "john smith" living in Iowa.... except that anyone who traces my IP and hacks rogers (if they feel like it) will find out my exact address. If someone serious was to go after me, i'm screwed no matter what.

the only way then is to actually have a second set of fake documents if you really wan to protect you identity.. only who do you become then?

and seriously, i dont know about the Australian passport or drivers licence

anyone that can make a fake Ontario Drivers Licence and a Canadian Passport gets my ****ing kudos, that shit is crazy protected.


and like i said, just whipe out your passport number or drivers licence number, or bank account number when you send them your documents

they want PHOTO IDENTIFICATION, to prove that the person they are speaking with is the person in their database.

if you dont trust email, use fax, dont trust fax, send them a letter, however all 3 methods could be intercepted if someone is actually sitting there waiting for it!

so unless you got some serious enemies or you owe someone alot of money, stop worrying so much, go out and enjoy the sun, sheesh.

OHH AND ANOTHER THING

if you're so paranoid, use a PGP key @ 128 bit encryption if you're really paranoid.

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Last edited by Gooshin; 03-15-2009 at 07:37 AM.

There's an old saying "A lock will only keep an honest man honest" Anything can be hacked, broken into, whatever. It all depends on the level of interest on the hacker/theif. You don't have to be a direct target. There are pas0sive ways of detecting vulnerability then exploiting it

[fractal]

Gooshin i'm not sure what precautions you are talking about.

I have used my credit card many times over here in China and not had any dramas. I even bought a diamond with it awhile back.

So i'm going to assume that the advice would be to next time inform eBay i am going travelling for some time and may want to use my account?

I'm not too fussed about large amounts of ID, just depends who it goes to and for what reason. Although, i don't plan on sending this info to eBay. Hell, i had to pretty much send the history of my life to Shanghai for my fiancee's visa.

I don't think i'd worry too much about my ID being used in a war in the Middle East.

In any case, i've got my heart set on a 55mm 1.8 Super-Takumar and this was the cheapest way to get it. I've been scouring a Chinese style eBay, which is HUGE, called taobao and is cheap as chips if you want a pair of nike shoes. However, the second hand market here is bollocks.. especially for Takumars!

Ì«¿àÂí 50 SUPER TAKUMAR 55 1.8 ¸Ä¿Ú M42 AIÁ½Óà ´øÔ*³§Ç°¸Ç-µ¥·´Ïà»ú/¾µÍ·/ÉãÓ°Æ÷²Ä - ÌÔ±¦Íø

As of today..
630.00元 = 139 AUD or 92 USD

[xjjohnno]

EEk that's expensive, Oz Ebay has had Super Tak 50mm 1.4s going for under $80 with a Spotmatic or similar body attached of late.

[fractal]

Yeah i know.. this is the item that i placed a bid on and got me locked out.. shattered. Ahh well plenty more out there i guess.

2 Spotmatics, Super-Tak 55mm f1.8, Metz flash, orig leather case, orig brochures all for 82 bucks!

2 x Pentax Spotmatic + Pentax Super Takumar 55mm f1.8 - eBay Pentax, 35mm SLR Cameras, Film Cameras, Cameras. (end time 15-Mar-09 20:00:00 AEDST)

Anyone on here by any chance?

[pop4]

Nope, no such problems when I was in China the whole of last year. I accessed my ebay account a few times, but no bidding, and that was fine. I think it's good that what you have done was flagged as suspicious activity by ebay as it shows that they've got some security measures in place, but I think what you're being asked to do to unblock your account might be a bit overboard, especially asking for all those forms of ID, in addition to the verified phone call.

Oh, and FYI, I found camera gear, and consumer electronics in general (except for Chinese brands) aren't actually that much, if any cheaper in China than Australia.

[fractal]

Accessing my account was not a drama, it was when i placed my bid on the above mentioned item that things started to turn on me. Once i am back in Australia i can contact the 'live help' dude and get him to call me on the registered landline. Once they can verify that it is me on the other end then i will not have to submit any documents.

Oh, and FYI, I found camera gear, and consumer electronics in general (except for Chinese brands) aren't actually that much, if any cheaper in China than Australia.

Yes, you are somewhat correct. The listed price for an item selling is usually MORE expensive than it would be back home but thats when the bartering system comes in.. and there is no way around it, unless you are buying at a high price to begin with at a chain store. For a foreigner who does not speak any Chinese then it is a nightmare and its better to find a Chinese friend who can help you out. Even to speak Chinese is not quite enough for a foreigner, as you have to REALLY pressure the seller into dropping the price.. using bargain tactics. The taobao site is a big winner in my books because it pretty much takes the bargaining out of the equation.. except for vintage lenses! Ridiculous bargains can be had on taobao, but then you would also need to be able to read Chinese. Anyway, Hong Kong is only a stone throw away for me and that is another story.

[wwwmorrell]

Yes had the same happen to me, you will have to provide them with the ID they request, or your account will stay locked out. !!!!!

But best to use some of your service accounts etc for ID, phone & power accounts I used, but that's a little difficult to do from China.

Best of luck & I do think it's overkill, but it's their show, their rule's.

Wal'