Linden Dollars On Ebay
|
|
Giannia Rossini
Registered User
Join date: 20 Mar 2007
Posts: 145
|
04-23-2007 19:09
I think you have alot of nerve coming here asking other people to help you, when you have ignored my IMs about how the blackjack machines at your Amerika3 Casino have ripped me off for over 500L, by not paying off on blackjack.
|
|
Fred Serapis
Registered User
Join date: 20 Sep 2006
Posts: 6
|
So who are these guys?
04-25-2007 10:25
Can you please identify the eBay sellers in question? It would be good to have fair warning posted. From: Rusalka Renoir Beware, beware of eBay Linden sellers. There are reputable Linden dealers on eBay. However, there are a lot of scammers and theives as well. I know from personal experience.
I purchased Lindens on eBay at below market price. Note that I purchased from two people with a good deal of eBay feedback and a 100% positive rating. Nothing at all was suspicious about the seller. After purchase, they both even left me a positive feedback rating - something scammers don't usually do. I have been purchasing on eBay since it was born - and I've never made a bad call on a seller yet - until now.
A few days after purchasing the Lindens and having them deliverd, my account was suddenly disabled with no explanation or notice given. It took repeated calls to Linden Lab to finally get someone to even tell me what was going on. Finally they told me that the avatars that had delivered the Lindens to me had been purchasing Lindens from LindenX with stolen credit cards. Thus, they froze me out for having received the stolen Lindens.
Originally I was threatened with having my account closed and all funds and land taken unless I agreed to pay back 150% of the amount of the Lindens to Linden Lab. After a very long, and somewhat distraught conversation - they backed off with the understanding that I was a victim as well and that this was the first time anything weird had ever happened to my account.
However, they also told me that if anything like this ever happened with Linden purchases affiliated with my account again - I would be cancelled and everything in my account - Lindens, cash balances and land would forfeit to Linden Lab. With no possible recourse on my part, period. They advised me not to purchase Lindens on eBay, period. Two strikes and you are out, no arguements, no exceptions.
So, yep - if it looks too good to be true - it is.
And for those of you still thinking about purchasing - the two people I purchased Lindens from that were indicated as the theives - are still auctioning Lindens right now. Linden Lab and eBay are investigating them, but so far no action has been taken to shut them down. The seller likely is using multiple avatars, multiple eBay IDs and multiple stolen credit cards. |
|
Rusalka Renoir
Registered User
Join date: 25 Jan 2007
Posts: 45
|
05-01-2007 11:57
From: Fred Serapis Can you please identify the eBay sellers in question? It would be good to have fair warning posted. As the sellers in question are part of an ongoing investigation, I do not feel it appropriate to post the names here. However, I will say that they are non-US sellers and they have comments in their feedback about this (unfortunately additions to formerly positive feedback so they don't show as negatives). I advise anyone buying Lindens from eBay to scroll through ALL feedback. It may show 100% positive because the item was delivered and they got positive feedback - but then later crap like this happens and the only thing you can do is ad an additional comment to the feedback. |
|
Hydra Zenovka
Font of Wisdom
Join date: 13 Mar 2007
Posts: 97
|
05-01-2007 12:40
You have to understand that Linden is justifiably concerned about uncontrolled currency trading with L$. They are already operating a barter economy and If the IRS or Secret Service had any issues with Tax Evasion, Money Laundering, Credit Card Theft on a large scale they will be shut down very fast.
|
|
AWM Mars
Scarey Dude :¬)
Join date: 10 Apr 2004
Posts: 3,398
|
05-02-2007 02:32
If this 'off world' exchanges through the likes of ebay grows, it could seriously effect the overall economy (for what it is) within Second Life. If the fraud departments suspect money laundering, they could well ban any transactions out of game, into world economies. Second life will then become a blackhole for your CC's and the economy will fail for us all.
I have seen this on other games, for the most part, for several years, bots were setup to ravage certain goods and they would be sold on ebay and other 'fansites'. Those that had money to spend, gainned the most, for those that didn't, they were kept opressed and a dual economy developed. The makers of the game, outlawed the ability to bring ingame currency from 'fansites' but it did not stem the tide as it had been allowed to develop over a long time.
Short term gains by a few maybe seen as 'commerce/good business' but can have an adverse effect long term.
_____________________
*** Politeness is priceless when received, cost nothing to own or give, yet many cannot afford -
Why do you only see typo's AFTER you have clicked submit? **
http://www.wba-advertising.com
http://www.nex-core-mm.com
http://www.eml-entertainments.com
http://www.v-innovate.com
|
|
Phantom Enigma
Registered User
Join date: 18 Nov 2005
Posts: 25
|
rigged game?
05-02-2007 02:47
From: Giannia Rossini I think you have alot of nerve coming here asking other people to help you, when you have ignored my IMs about how the blackjack machines at your Amerika3 Casino have ripped me off for over 500L, by not paying off on blackjack. So how about it Letters, are you running rigged games? or is it a scripting or other problem. I recently played some poker machines and was wondering if it were scripted with real world (as close as possible) probabilities. In Vegas all machines have to fall within certain probability tolerances ..no such regulation in SL So how does one know what machines/casinos to avoid? I guess by posting here. So Lettlers ..care to rebutt? |
|
AWM Mars
Scarey Dude :¬)
Join date: 10 Apr 2004
Posts: 3,398
|
05-02-2007 05:56
Sadly, this is off topic and will probably result in this post being locked... guys, please take this to IM...
_____________________
*** Politeness is priceless when received, cost nothing to own or give, yet many cannot afford -
Why do you only see typo's AFTER you have clicked submit? **
http://www.wba-advertising.com
http://www.nex-core-mm.com
http://www.eml-entertainments.com
http://www.v-innovate.com
|
|
Flavio Richez
Registered User
Join date: 9 Dec 2006
Posts: 25
|
What I say about this
05-03-2007 21:14
Im have a brazilian bank, on SL, where I sell L$ to the brazlian public. When I started, all brazilian needed to use the LL system to be premium, to buy, etc. So that's my work: be the reseller  Now, there's an organization called Kaizen who "bought" the SL rights to create the Second Life Brazil. And I have noticed that they are chasing all the resellers. A brazilian bank, from a friend of mine, shut down because of them. Since the TOS dont say NOTHING about that (even the SLBrazil TOS) and since I can guarantee all the sources from my L$ that I buy to resell, should I be concerned about this? Do anyone knows another kind of history, that LL is chasing resellers that work honestly? Thanks |
|
Dnel DaSilva
Master Xessorizer
Join date: 22 May 2005
Posts: 781
|
05-03-2007 22:16
Unless you subscribe to Linden Lab's Risk API, your account is definately at risk, as are those who buy from you.
_____________________
Xessories in Urbane, home of high quality jewelry and accessories.
Coming soon to www.xessories.net
Why accessorize when you can Xessorize?
|
|
Osprey Therian
I want capslocklock
Join date: 6 Jul 2004
Posts: 5,049
|
05-03-2007 23:13
From: Malachi Petunia I've also read that eBay provides no protection at all for intangibles (like L$). If someone sells you a slice of bread on eBay and doesn't deliver, centuries of contract law come to your aid; not so for L$. I saw the Virgin Mary in that bread! |
|
yeeck Brickworks
Registered User
Join date: 29 Oct 2006
Posts: 123
|
05-04-2007 00:28
It is expected. Sooner or later, Ebay will banned any trade transaction in L$ |
|
Flavio Richez
Registered User
Join date: 9 Dec 2006
Posts: 25
|
05-04-2007 07:17
From: Dnel DaSilva Unless you subscribe to Linden Lab's Risk API, your account is definately at risk, as are those who buy from you. I will try to find more about this. Thanks. |
|
Yumi Murakami
DoIt!AttachTheEarOfACat!
Join date: 27 Sep 2005
Posts: 6,860
|
05-04-2007 07:40
The problem with the Exchange Risk API is that in order to sign up to it, you have to be the "operator of a trading service". In other words, eBay would have to sign up - and they probably won't care enough about L$ to want to do that. The innocent buyer can't access the Risk API even though, according to what's been said, it's them (and not the exchange operator) who's at risk.
|
|
Flavio Richez
Registered User
Join date: 9 Dec 2006
Posts: 25
|
05-15-2007 08:10
I sell L$ "IN GAME", not by my website.
I have my sources that I really investigate to see if are ok. My three types of sources providers are:
a) LindeX (sometimes)
b) Island owners
c) Shop owners
I NEVER bought L$ from other sources. Ok, I bought TWO times at the beggining (on december) and when I realize that this L$ might be fraudlent, I start this kind of policy to myself: not buy L$ from suspicious providers.
I have a bank which offers some services like investiments, L$ exchange (sell only) and other. To be my client (for investments) the avatars should provide me some real information. That will be my protection to avoid scammers and other.
This kind of "third part exchange IN GAME" is not prohibid by LL, right?
|
|
CyFishy Traveler
Social Butterfly :)i(:
Join date: 9 Aug 2006
Posts: 122
|
05-15-2007 09:01
I bought a batch of Lindens from a gaming site a little while ago. I paid by PayPal and was given my Lindens inworld soon after. They seem to be reliable and the exchange rate is better, but not so much better that you'd suspect a scam.
I'd looked at some places on eBay, but having seen this thread, I'll be a little more cautious about that.
|
|
Ciaran Laval
Mostly Harmless
Join date: 11 Mar 2007
Posts: 7,951
|
05-15-2007 10:14
I was reading about this sort of exchange on ebay not long back. It wasn't really to do with Second Life as much as it was to do with World Of Warcraft. Ebay prohibit sales of World of Warcraft gold but they don't prohibit the sale of Lindens. It was all to do with virtual items and ownership rights. I think Ebay pulled Everquest items too.
The explanation was that they don't consider Second Life to be a game. There was also a suggestion that one of the main men behind ebay has a big stake in Second Life, not sure if that was true but that was the allegation at the time. If that were true it would be in the interests of ebay not to be seen to be endorsing dodgy transactions.
|
|
Giannia Rossini
Registered User
Join date: 20 Mar 2007
Posts: 145
|
05-15-2007 13:05
A month ago, there were Chinese people selling huge blocks of Ls on Ebay, and you could get them well below Lindex. Then Ebay cancelled some of them, cancelled their accounts, cancelled their auctions.... Now it seems that you can only list Ls for sale with auctions at least 3 days long, giving EBay time to check it out and cancell the auction if it's not legit. Now, any Ls for sale on EBay are well above LindeX rates.
There was a certain level of scamming going on, besides the liklihood that the Chinese Ls were obtained by illegal means. Kind of like selling short. Some people would sell huge amounts of Ls they didn't have at prices just below Lindex. They'd promise delivery within 24 hours of payment received. 24 hours later, if the price has gone below the bid, they buy the Ls and and transfer them. If the price has gone up, then they send you an email saying the item is no longer in stock, and refund your payment.
|
|
Xia Xiao
Registered User
Join date: 28 Jun 2006
Posts: 1
|
05-15-2007 13:12
From: Giannia Rossini A month ago, there were Chinese people selling huge blocks of Ls on Ebay, and you could get them well below Lindex. Then Ebay cancelled some of them, cancelled their accounts, cancelled their auctions.... Now it seems that you can only list Ls for sale with auctions at least 3 days long, giving EBay time to check it out and cancell the auction if it's not legit. Now, any Ls for sale on EBay are well above LindeX rates.
There was a certain level of scamming going on, besides the liklihood that the Chinese Ls were obtained by illegal means. Kind of like selling short. Some people would sell huge amounts of Ls they didn't have at prices just below Lindex. They'd promise delivery within 24 hours of payment received. 24 hours later, if the price has gone below the bid, they buy the Ls and and transfer them. If the price has gone up, then they send you an email saying the item is no longer in stock, and refund your payment. Ebay already polices Chinese listings heavily because of the fact that a lot of Chinese listings are outright scams and oftentimes people get absolutely nothing in return for their money, not even cheap $L. I'd be interested to hear if anybody that bought from the Chinese $L auctions got anything at all. |
|
Giannia Rossini
Registered User
Join date: 20 Mar 2007
Posts: 145
|
05-15-2007 13:18
I think that nobody would admit here that they had purchased such items, but word is that if you pay for virtual goods with Paypal, and they don't deliver at all, you can get a refund. I've even read that some people scam the moneysellers, by telling Paypal, or their credit card company, that they didn't receive goods which were received.
So, I think if the scammers don't deliver at all, there is nothing in it for them. Therefore, I would say it is most likely that the Chinese L vendors do deliver. Some people tell me that they have been happy with such purchases, but I'm not naming names, least of all my own.
|
|
Rusalka Renoir
Registered User
Join date: 25 Jan 2007
Posts: 45
|
05-15-2007 13:41
From: Xia Xiao Ebay already polices Chinese listings heavily because of the fact that a lot of Chinese listings are outright scams and oftentimes people get absolutely nothing in return for their money, not even cheap $L.
I'd be interested to hear if anybody that bought from the Chinese $L auctions got anything at all. Oh I'll admit it - I already have admitted it earlier on the forums and to Linden Lab themselves. I was a total dumb@@@ and just looked at the feedback ratings when I bought some Lindens on eBay. They were all 100% positive, lots of feedback, been doing business a while, sold stuff for a lot of games - looked just fine. Never even thought to look at the country they were selling from, though of course both sellers IDs sounded Asian. (Not to be discriminating here, plenty of US and other scammers out there.) The sellers did indeed deliver the Lindens. The result? My account got banned and I was informed by Linden Lab that those sellers I had bought from had originally purchased the Lindens from LindenX with stolen credit cards. Many days were spent in calling Linden Lab, giving them as much information as I could on the transactions etc. Finally they agreed to reinstate my account - this being my first ever incident of being an idiot - but if I ever had anything like this happen again - instant ban, no arguing, no nothing. Bye bye to your land, cash and everything else. Period. So, I no longer buy ANYTHING for SL on eBay and never will again. No matter how "good" and "respectable" a seller looks. |