[researcher678]

Question
Have you experienced fraud when purchasing a laptop PC on eBay?

What am I doing?
I am a graduate student researching a new technique to detect potentially fraudulent sellers on eBay.

Why did you post this notice asking for help?
1. Bluntly – eBay for business and legal purposes will not provide any data on fraudulent sellers, fraudulent transactions, etc.
2. Studying online auction deception is problematic as with other deviant behaviors the successful perpetrators work hard to avoid detection [i.e. they hide].
3. Given the millions of transactions, the number of fraudulent sales is very small which makes it hard to locate and identify them. However, this fact does not make it any less painful if you were a victim.

What do you mean by “experienced fraud”?
The term fraud applies if any ONE of the following has occurred to you when purchasing a laptop PC on eBay:
* Paid for the laptop PC and seller never sent you the unit (i.e. took the money and ran).
* Paid for the laptop PC and seller sent you junk (i.e. telephone book, brick, etc.).
* Laptop PC was suppose to be new and you received a used unit.
* Received laptop PC that did not match the seller’s description (Different model, different color, etc.).
* Parts [i.e. power cord] were missing and the seller refused to send them,
* Received a laptop PC - it did not work and seller refused to repair, replace or refund.
* Received laptop PC and it was damaged (not related to shipping) as to make it in operable or unusable.

What do you need?
At a minimum – You need to provide the eBay userid of the potentially fraudulent seller from whom you purchased the laptop PC.
If you want to provide additional details – date of the transaction, exactly what type of fraud you experienced, etc. – that would be beneficial, but is not required.

Where do you want me to send the information?
Via e-mail to researcher678@hotmail.com

Are you going to contact the seller?
No! No contact or communication of any kind will be made with any seller.

Will you be contacting me?
No! No contact or communication of any kind will be made with any e-mail sender.
Nor will any record be kept of the e-mail address of any sender.

What about confidentiality?
Any information provided will be kept confidential.
All e-mail messages will be scrubbed of personal information before being used for research.

What are you going to do with this information?
It will be used in testing a new technique to detect potentially fraudulent sellers.
If it works, the results will be published for use by online auctions companies and law enforcement agencies as a tool to identify potentially fraudulent sellers.