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Alleged eBay Scammer Pleads No Contest

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A man who sold high-end computers, laptops and other equipment on eBay Inc. (EBAY)'s online auction site pleaded no contest to allegations of fraud totaling $453,000.

Chris Chong Kim, 28, of Los Angeles entered the plea Friday to one count of grand theft and agreed to a waiver that will allow the court to consider restitution for victims.

He is accused of defrauding 26 customers of sums ranging from nearly $2,000 to $6,000. The criminal complaint alleged victims, eBay and Bank of America lost a total of $453,000.

Kim's eBay business, Calvin's Auctions, allegedly stopped shipping equipment in April 2002 but its sales continued. The Southern California High Tech Task Force investigated after complaints were lodged with the FBI's Internet Fraud Complaint Center. Calvin's Auctions was shut down in July 2002, according to Deputy District Attorney Jonathan Fairtlough.

Kim has agreed to pay $100,000 in restitution at his June 6 sentencing. He also faces three years in state prison, but Fairtlough said he will be sent to a restitution center to serve his time so he can earn money to pay his victims
http://apnews.excite.com/article/200305 ... FQKO0.html

I don't know how anyone can trust anything sold on Ebay. Especially with people auctioning absurd and frivolous crap like their virginity or possesed dolls.

Yeah maybe a $50 hard drive, but you're not going to talk me into coughing up $5000 for something on there.

ebays a scam, when you actually win something for a good price, the seller refuses to sell it, and ebay doesnt do a damn thing, whats the point? might as well goto compusa

Not true. It totally depends on what you're buying (or looking to buy) there as there ARE some very good deals and you can find decent sellers too.
Sure, there's alot of BS stuff being sold there and I'm sure a few scam artists too but if one does their homework, you'll be OK. I ran into a guy on Ebay trying to sell a normally very expensive Mac computer months ago and the add seemed too good to be true for what he was asking. It said "shipping from the US" but I e-mailed him only to see that he was really in the UK. The guy then tells me that he'd go lower on his price yet but wanted the money sent via Western Union (no CC) and I then knew he was scamming. I asked him many questions that he refused to answer so "no deal".
I've bought several home and car stereo items via retailers selling their goods on Ebay. These are usually legit business's who can sell the item cheaper on Ebay than they can at their stores. The stuff is new, never opened and with warranties. I'll first make my choice of what I want from BBs, Circuit cities, or Crutchfields sites (maybe do a visual check too) so I then know what I want and what it's worth, then find retailers selling the same stuff on Ebay for less. Many have a "buy now" feature that has the price lower than anything elsewhere and you can skip the hassle of the bidding game too (which can be a bummer when you're really want that thing now).
I always check the sellers Ebay referances as that's a way of knowing if the guy's a regular Ebayer or not and you'll see his scores. If the guy's legit, he'll have a flawless record there and those are the people I'll deal with. If I see negative ratings or no ratings, I won't buy from that guy.
I even bought a car via Ebay over 2 yrs ago. The guy had a flawless reputation for buying/selling used high end stereo equipment (like tube amp stuff.....BIG $$$$s) so I felt convinced that he was an honest guy. He was and the car was just as he said it was. That was/is my 'stang shown in my homepage link below.

I disagree buddy , Ebay ROCKSSSSSSSSSS ( JUST DON'T SLEEP , those people who were bidding on a seller with negarive feedback are so stupid , why to do it ??? HUH! !!!!! well if you know where to buy and where to sell it's a big DEal , for example you won't buy computer in ChinaTown ? or in Downtown Miami ? come on you know where to buy , but if you are rich and want to give away your money in CRomPyUSA ok ! go ahead . ebay is the place ......

I've sold and bought plenty of PC parts on Ebay (Sold more then bought though). TBH, If Im looking to get some real money for somethings, I'll turn to ebay instead of forums like these. Why? Most people here can't afford the price for what I'm selling, don't need it, or try to drop the price real low.

Last year I tried to sell a New in box 750$ RAID card with 256mb of r/w cache for something like 200$. No one bought, threw it on ebay, got to sell it for 700$. That's why I like ebay, a lot of buyers with to much cash!

I won The Lion King on lazer for $6. Best deal I got there. Also won a V5 5500 PCI card for $86 about a year ago (most winning bids for these cards were about $100 at the time).

Got screwed a couple of times, too.

The wins and losses didn't even out, so I pretty-much quit eBay. I use it as a "blue book" now, and buy locally or from friends

I think you just have to be smart. I have been buying on ebay for years, never any problems. I've just recently started selling and people have gotten some very good deals, I didn't back out on them, actually threw in a little extra for my most recent auction. You should not bid without first contacting the seller. Some people I have contacted I decided not to bid on their auctions because of the feeling I got. I believe that most people do NOT contact seller before bidding, and have no idea what they are doing. I bet if you did a survey of the people who were ripped off you would find a very small percentage of pre-bid contacts and an even smaller IQ, cumulative less than room temperature....

My 2 quid,
Planker

I've been selling there for years too and still have a 100% rating because I treat anyone like I would on the forums here. You have to use your head and look at all the facts, like the ratings and how long they've been there. Also wonder when a deal seems way too good, same goes for the forums here.

The point is that you cannot make a blanket statement that all of eBay stinks just because there is fraud there - fraud is everywhere, so that's not a good argument. Most of my issues have been with people bidding and then flaking out, not the other way around.

I buy at eBay also and have gotten great deals mostly, stuff that I couldn't have gotten anywhere else.

I buy and sell on Ebay. and like what everybod else is saying.. do your homework. the stuff i buy i normaly know what its worth so i can tell if its a scam or not... but then again who would try and run a scam with the stuff i buy/sell.