SCAM ALERT!!
When looking for a new bike I came across a number of  2005 Felt B2 time trial/triathlon bikes, 52, 56 or 58cm frame size, all offered with no Buy Now or reserve price options, but the item description often gives the seller's desired price.  The sellers all want to be contacted through email ONLY (not through eBay's messaging system) before any bids are made.  If the seller insists that you don't use eBay messaging they're trying to cover their tracks-eBay won't have records of the conversations and can't use that to catch them.  Don't email them, it's not safe. 

The item descriptions are always the same despite minor changes made to the listings (small changes in price, using stock pictures or changing font color/size).  The listings are often (but not always) made for short periods of time, usually one day, to pressure buyers into acting hastily ("Buy NOW, ATTENTION!!! LOOK!!).  The items, bikes and others, are blatantly miscategorized, in categories like "Stamps" or "Dolls" (an eBay policy violation).  The start price is absurdly low.  Sometimes the item description says "you can get it now for only 1000 USD" or "email me for the buy it now price" when there is no "Buy It Now" option given for the auction.  This also blatant violation of eBay policy.  It appears the user(s) is/are hijacking other users' accounts, and possible creating new ones.  You may notice identical bikes listed with identical email addresses to contact the "seller," but the seller names are different-a sign that they are hijacked accounts.

The insistence on email negotiation is usually an attempt to trick a buyer into sending a Western Union cash payment or other payment form that will be unrecoverable by the buyer, once sent.  The other items listed by the seller(s) include expensive electronic devices, drum sets, keyboards, higher-end bikes, cameras and their listings keep recurring just as the Felt bike listings do.  Some of these seller email addresses also keep popping up in listings...if you see one of these emails, it's definitely a scam.  There are other emails, I'll post them as I see them.  If you recognize one of these, REPORT THE ITEM AS FRAUDULENT, OR REPORT THE USERNAME AS HIJACKED.  The more people who keep shutting them down, the better.  They'll keep trying, and maybe they'll eventually get caught and arrested.  The Paypal scammers got years in prison, remember?

powercheap @gmail.com

seneico @googlemail.com

bigsale50 @yahoo.com

boxado @gmail.com

boxado22 @gmail.com

Leroy_792002 @yahoo.com

alexandrumarius.safta @gmail.com

smekerii@ gmail.com

adrianv @yahoo.com

charmaine.belnap @gmail.com

strongfici @aol.com

brsalesus @cs.com

kibrit41 @aol.com

Brian_Torney @gmail.com

padaman @google.com

tevrajescbine @yahoo.com

rushsell @gmail.com

MordikaiJerred @gmail.com

sellpemama @gmail.com

JoelTybalt @googlemail.com

mutujm2 @gmail.com

David11Str @gmail.com

TaylorKeefe @gmail.com

companyro @gmail.com

JhonVio @yahoo.com

reynolds86 @lycos.com

FranklynBenton @gmail.com

akaza33 @gmail.com

radex2020 @gmail.com

dodytza23 @gmail.com

savedemasa @yahoo.com

sellMaaNu @gmail.com

tTorque55 @aol.com

dannyukebay @googlemail.com

client.departament2006 @googlemail.com

dumitru.shop @yahoo.com

Alexxander91 @yahoo.com

dictanul @yahoo.com

 

In one case I noted an italian username with several item listings in Italian, which appear to be valid, then 14 items listed in English, following the pattern described above.  Looks like clear evidence of a hijacked username.  Sometimes the "Felt" isn't even shown in the photo, it's a light blue Trek.  Not only are these scammers greedy, but they're stupid as well.

If you see this, REPORT it.  You can report the username as hijacked, or you can report the item as something you didn't bid on because you expected it was fraudulent.  Use the "report this item" link at the bottom of the listing page to report.  Don't be scammed!  You won't get your money back!

VERY IMPORTANT:  You may be redirected to a fake sign-in page when you try to click on an auction for an item description-even after you've already signed in.  If you look at the top of the page and the URL doesn't start with https://signin.ebay.com/, DON'T SIGN IN.  YOUR ACCOUNT WILL BE HIJACKED AND IF YOU ARE A SELLER WITH GOOD FEEDBACK YOUR ACCOUNT WILL BE USED TO POST FRAUDULENT LISTINGS.  If you are trying to get to the fake auction so you can report the item, just type in any old gibberish or nonsense into the fake sign-in page and it will let you in, then you can report the item.

HIGH-END BIKES ARE NOT THE ONLY FRAUDULENT LISTINGS BEING POSTED.  Once a username has been stolen, a whole array of fraudulent auctions is placed using that seller's name.  Here are a list of other items, posted following the same pattern as above (total miscategorization, demand on email contact, violation of buy it now policy, absurdly, unrealistically low price):

4 PENN Internationsl 30TW Trolling Rod and Reel Combos

ACER ASPIRE 5672 WLMi NOTEBOOK LAPTOP CORE DUO 2GB 15.4

ACER Ferrari 4006 Notebook Computer 1gb RAM 100 GB HD

AKAI MPC 2000 XL, MPC 3000, MP 4000+SCSI ZIP, CD-ROM

Alpine Iva-d901 indash dvd cd mp3 player new

Alpine NVE-852A Satelite car navigation system DVD

B&W Nautilus 803 Speakers in Black Ash

Brand New Felt F35 56cm Road Bike

Brand New Size C Black & Gray Herman Miller Aeron Chair

Brother PR-600 Embroidery Machine Like New With Extras

Cannondale Saeco Six13 Team Edition Road Bike 2005

Canon EF 500mm f4.5 L Ultrasonic Telephoto Lens

Canon EOS 20D 8.2MP Digital SLR Camera

Canon EOS-1Ds Mark II Digital Camera Limited Stock

Canon GL2 Video Cameral MiniDV Professional

Canon XL 1 3CCD Pro DV EXTRA DVD VIDEO CAMERA MINT

GARMIN 010-00400-10 StreetPilot 7200 GPS Receiver

Garmin GPS MAP 296 Aviation GPS with Auto Routing

Garmin nuvi 350 Portable GPS Navigation System

Garmin StreetPilot 2720 GPS

HUSQVARNA VIKING DESIGNER 1LOTS OF EXTRAS

02 XDA Exec- (Jasjar I-Mate MDA Pro) UNLOCKED 3G PDA

2BLK Technics SL-DZ1200 1200 CD Turntables

2 X 13.5 inch JL Audio W7, brand new

Apple iMac G5 20inch, 1.8GHz, 2GB RAM

Archos AV700 100GB Video Recorder AV 700

B&W Nautilus 803 Speakers in Black

Brand New Roland V-Pro Electronic Drum Set (TD20)

BRAND NEW Sony WEGA KDE-50XS955 50" HDTV Plasma Tv

BRAND NEW T-Mobile Sidekick II Juicy Couture

Canon EOS-1Ds MARK II 2 Digital Camera Pro PKG EOS-1 Ds

Cobra Nav One 4500 Car GPS Navigation System

DigiDesign Digi 002

DJ mixer-Allen & Heath's Xone: 92 brand new

DW DRUMS WORKSHOP EXOTIC COMPLETE DREAM KIT

Dye DM6 GUN **Brand NEW

 

UPDATE 8/3/06:  I have noticed another scam listing, this one listing the "Felt B2" as an auction with 5 available. The "seller" has entered in the description a complaint about non-paying bidders to try and make the auction look more realistic.  Also the bidder list is hidden, but only one person has been bidding-on ALL five "bikes."  I would bet that the scammers are probably bidding on their own auctions to encourage others to bid.

UPDATE 8/10/06:  The sheer number of bikes being posted by these scammers is absurd.  It becomes even more obvious that these are fraudulent items when you see this many identical listings that violate eBay policy.  Talk about greed.

UPDATE 10/17/06  The scam is being continued using Cannondale Six 13 bikes as well.