Hi everyone! I just wanted to inform you of a mostly limited to Honda eu2000i compact generator scam thats out there;

 a while ago I was browsing eBay for a Honda Eu2000i generator I've been looking to buy for awhile now (but w/in my price range) & stumbled across a seller that claimed to have the item located in NH (within reasonable driving distance of Cape Cod, Mass. where I live) & had a poorly adversted listing [1 darker pic, no gallery or on some listings no pic at all, & out of catagory, like selling a Generator in the arts & crafts catagory, & many had little or no bids w/ even hrs to go] but since the seller seemed to have a red star FB rating w/ good feedback I thought that this might just have been a mostly buyer & still a rather inexperienced seller or someone that might have had limited funds, resources, etc. or the like].

  so I naturally contacted him (using the eBays ask a seller a question even though he/she had a separate email in the listing) & offered to buy if he/she delivered part way as these generators have sensitive inverter electronics that can get damaged in shipping if not carefully packaged] & pickup in person I'd prefer, so I emailed him/her & w/ min. received a somewhat officially looking [but the typos were the giveaway - like a header that simply said that this message did NOT Originate from eBay so how stupid could someone be to do that?] TKO Account Suspension notice email that had a link [to likely a dummy eBay page setup by the scammer] that you should click on to reenter your CC & personal info to reverify who you are & restore your account (since my account was fine & I did not find a message from eBay about this [other then a safety alert message warning me later after apparently they found about the issue] I quickly realized that this was a scam! & that the seller WASEN'T SELLING GENERATORS, but RATHER PISHING FOR YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION by means of scaring you while in a different state of mind to re-enter your info so that person could take your identy, hijack your eBay account [as he/she may have done already including the buyer/seller that I was responding to but got diverted to this person or persons] or the like. So here are some safety steps you should follow:

1.) always use the Ask a Seller a Question link when asking about an item that looks fishy [exceptions are when is some cases the the eBay email system isn't working correctly but atleast try first],

2.) look for red flags like an item in a non related catagory like a generator in a crafts catagory or car in baseball cards.

3.) check the sellers feedback & I MEAN CHECK THE SELLERS FEEDBACK! thourghlly - you should click from the feedback page on that link that's "From Buyers" & there you should look at the page when did the seller sell something last, & how long ago was the sale & what feedback was received?

4.) watch your account & if you don't log on to eBay often still log in atleast once a month to make certain that no one is using your account [hence the term hijacking your account]

Some additional info for sellers;

5.) as a seller, particularly if you are a high volume one (by high volume I mean having hundreds or thousands of listings at any one time), look for discrepancies on your account as well as listings that you didn't create, as I heard that scammers often "Piggyback" some high volume sellers account hoping that he/ she will not notice a few of those listings.

*********UPDATE: I noticed a lower helpfulness rating within the last few days after a positive trend for over a year, (perhaps from the scammers I'm tring to expose???) So I wonder =)************** 

So all in all there you have it, enjoy eBay, & hope that this helps you stay safe, Dan