BS from BS

[Tex]

I posted an ad for a modern bike I'm selling on Bikesales on Friday. Not one call yet, but plenty of emails...

They are all from yahooo/hotmail/gmail accounts, and no-one asks anything pertinent to the bike, just wanting to know if it's still available, final price, etc.

I haven't responded to any of them yet. Should I bother? Not one seems genuine. If I answer, am I providing confirmation of a valid email address for some nefarious purposes?

They all have mobile numbers listed but I haven't called any of them as I've heard of scams with these as well (you call and it's $100 per second, or something like that). All have postcodes listed that are just the central postcodes from interstate (e.g. 6000, 4000, etc).

I don't want to discourage a potential buyer, but so many enquiries that are so similar sounds like crap to me!

The last time I sold a bike on BS, I got an email from some clown who claimed to be in Canada!

Yes, I'm gonna remove the email address form the ad.


Tex

[redrider1]

Hey Tex

There were/are similar problems to what you described with guys selling genuine muscle cars.
In some instances the interested parties were gaining info to put a location to the vehicle, maybe for dubious behavior at a later date.
If interested parties dont bother actually ringing up to discuss what you have for sale, then feel free not to respond.

[frostype400]

yeah if they are really keen they will ring alot of people want something for nothing too.

[LWC82PE]

Always now if i have a bad feeling about this sort of thing, then chances are i am right and just go with my gut instinct. Its always right. You have got a funny feeling about it already so i would just ignore them. Ive heard of scammers targetting sellers on bike sales and just bikes before. Scammers are one thing the world doesnt need.

Also there is a thing you can do to find out where the email originates from. 'Pokey' on this forum told me how to do it once. I think you right click on the email in your inbox or something and it brings up all this data about the email and traces it to where it comes from. You can find out if its comming from Nigeria or somewhere

[Ktm181]

I just sold 2 bikes & one car on bikesales.com & carsales.com, remove your email and just list YOUR mobile number, if they are serious THEY will ring you.  I got a lot of scam emails,which i answered along the lines of " if this is serious email please phone as i have provided FedPolice your details, no emails since but i did get several phone calls all in the last week of the ads running and sold all 3!  One volvo (dont ask!) a Ktm and a Ducati.  Be realistic with the price you want and they will sell.

Remove your email address and give them your mobile only,anyone serious will enquire.

Kt

[Lozza]

Christ there hours of free entertainment  there

[Nathan S]

99% of the time, if the first contact is email, then either they're a scammer or a moron kid.

I never put an email address in an ad, and always specify no SMSes, which seems to cull most all of the time wasters (although its amazing how many SMSes you still get - sometimes even SMSes saying "I know you said no SMSes, but..."  ).
The flip side is that I never bother emailing anyone when I'm looking to buy, because I figure that most sellers are dismissing most emails as scams too.

One that nearly caught me was when I got a sensible sounding SMS about a car, from an Aussie mobile number (the number began with +6142). So I stupidly emailled the guy, and he went straight into the whole "I'm working on an oil rig and..." routine.

Serious buyers will use the fukking phone.

[Mike52]

Guys I,ve got a yahoo email account does that rule me out as a buyer, or as someone said in another thread as a forum member?
The reason I have the yahoo acc is for the same reason that annoys .
Anonymity.
I only open emails from fairdinkums and delete the BS ones. They don,t come back
Mike

[frostype400]

no it is the attitude of the email Mike if you asked for their number or pics tell them you full name and details they won't be worried but if it is a scam one that says Hi my name is Mike and I am interested in your bike where is it located and when is the shed unguarded type of email then you worry.

[BJJ]

I am a regular trader/seller on eBay, TradeMe & Sella.co.nz and for the last 10 years have operated a hot mail account to keep my anonymity.  Has worked well.  Hotmail grabs most of the spam.  I would say that the trick is 1. being able to identify true spam and being able to keep up with it.  

I run another online business that receives up to 5000 unique users per month and has an exposed MSExchange email address.  Sure we get some spam,  but not much makes it through as we update the Microsoft Junk Mail filter regularly.  Once or twice a week,  we go into the Junk Mail Folder and sort by Subject.  It is very easy to identify any genuine enquires and we act on those appropriatly. We don't even pay for software anymore,  as an IT professional I feel it unnecessary.  On the client PC's I use Microsoft's "Security Essentials" which does scheduled scans (Free).  The mail side of things are handled by Outlooks Junk Filter as per above.

Mike52 - The public or free email address is usually fine with most Forum admins.  Admins can block at an individual or domain level.  If you are blocked at an indv email level,  just email the admin,  they will usually free that issue up ASAP for you.  Admins will very rarely block at domain level  (ie [email protected])  as they would lose so much following. Heaps of peeps use Yahoo/MSN/Hotmail email addresses.

IMOA

[Slakewell]

If you put your full email in the adds then expect to get spam. THIS IS A BOT OR EMAIL SPIDER IT IS NOT A PERSON that sends emails. If just dont put the @ and put at instead serious people will email you BOTS will not.

[LWC82PE]

Yeah i was thinking that too, its not even a human sending the emails!. Instead just write your email like this john_smith at yahoo.com Most people should be able to work that out but hopefully the BOTs cant

[Tex]

There's nothing wrong with yahoo/hotmail/gmail accounts, I have one that I use all the time. In thi scase though it just adds to the dodginess.

I've just realised that in none of the emails is there any reference to the bike itself, nor any questions specific to it...

Tex

[LWC82PE]

I've just realised that in none of the emails is there any reference to the bike itself, nor any questions specific to it...

Yep thats the easiest way to tell. If its too general its a scam.

Also if if you have a wanted ad and you get someone replying and it looks like they exactly copied your wanted add subject or first few lines then you know its a scam too. Eg they say 'hi, i hear you are looking for a (then they copy and past part of your wanted add here, exactly as you typed it)' Then thats dodgy aswell. Also a classic one is when they say 'let me know your address, i will have my shipping company come to your place and pick up and pay for the goods' I get heaps like that