Scammers, scammers, everywhere

After the disastrous attempt to sell my camera on Craigstlist, I thought maybe eBay would be a better forum. Sure, I’d have to pay shipping costs and a selling fee, but at least buyers on eBay are legitimate people. Right? Right?

Alas, no.

So far I’ve had two people “buy” the camera, but each of them had new accounts on eBay that were created literally minutes before they claimed the gear. One of them immediately closed the account, and the other started texting me to tell me his Paypal payment had cleared (it hadn’t), and he was ready for me to ship the gear to his son as a birthday gift. And his son just happens to live in– wait for it– Nigeria! In the American embassy, no less. Color me shocked.

I’ll re-list the gear again, but my hopes of a legitimate sale are fading. Apparently if you want to sell any electronic gear for more than $500, you have to deal with the bots. Sigh.