There is a scam running rampant in the motorcycle category, and possibly other categories as well.  The listings show incredible bikes for sale, and offer a Buy It Now price around half of the true value.  If you look closely, though, there is no Buy It Now button at the top of the listing.  Bidders are instructed to either phone, or use a direct email link to contact the seller.  You can be sure that anyone trying to buy a bike this way will get ripped off!  The scammers will have you use a method other than PayPal to send the money, and then disappear, leaving you empty handed.

These fraudulent listings are easy to identify for the careful buyer.  Most are for short time periods, like 3 days.  There is no Buy It Now button at the top of the listing, but the title and text will offer it.  The listing will instruct you to use an email link or phone number (usually a prepaid cell phone number) in the text to contact them, instead of the Contact Seller button.  All of them seem too good to be true.

If you come across one of these listings, DO NOT bid on it!  You can report it to eBays Security Center, but awareness and knowledge are still our best tools against these scammers!

A final note - be careful using "click and drag" on the listing number to copy it, if you are reporting a listing to eBay.  Some of these scammers are hiding links under the listing number, so if you try to click on it, your email may try to start up, or you may be directed to another site.  Again, be careful!

If you want to see what one of these listings looks like, it's easy to do.  Just run a search for listings started within 24 hours, and look for the ones that have less than three days left.  It's almost scary how many scam listings are out there.