Ebay Fraud Alert from Tarot World Magazine

[MysticTree]

there is an item posted on Ebay.com that states it is part of Tarot World Magazine and it is not from the publisher. We have not made any agreement to provide this subscription.

Heidi Snelgrove, Editor

EBay.com item number 160177295868 is not from TWM Publishing, Inc!

[sharpchick]

I assume you have reported the post?

[Debra]

Looks to me like they set up a subscription with the winner. How dumb.

[jmd]

I fail to understand the concern... how is this fraud?

Basically, they appear to be auctioning subscriptions to various magazines and hope, over time, to sell them for more than they are bought. I would also expect them to contact the various magazines and purchase subscriptions 'en masse' at a reduced price, thereby eventually increasing their profits.

My only concern would be that the information provided is not solely used for the claimed purposes.

But 'fraud'? Only if they do not subscribe the auction winners. They certainly do NOT claim to represent the publishers of the various magazines they are auctioning.

[AJ]

They ran the same dutch auction in November with 10 winners paying between .99 cents and 1.55 each for a year subscription. Were those orders ever placed with you MysticTree?
http://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.d...m=160174524527
You have to be signed in to see the completed info in this link.

There may be more, I only went back 2 pages in their feedback.

[MysticTree]

How is this fraud? All subscriptions for TWM come from me. We have not sold nor do we have available a three year subscription. For this to be valid, they would have to purchase a gift subscription prior to the auction. Not one has sold.

As to these having already sold once, that concerns me because as I said we have no gift subscriptions sold.

Their FAQ's state that change of address or subscription issues should be taken up with the publisher. We are new and just establishing our reprepation. I don't need someone they have sold a subscription to improperly telling the world that they bought a subscription from TWM and it was not honored. That could ruin a new company.

Yes, I reported them to ebay and I put the seller on notice that I had done so. Unforturnatly ebay allowed the auction to end and 10 people think they have purchased a magazine subscription for three years.

Heidi Snelgrove

[Gayla]

Originally Posted by jmd

Basically, they appear to be auctioning subscriptions to various magazines and hope, over time, to sell them for more than they are bought. I would also expect them to contact the various magazines and purchase subscriptions 'en masse' at a reduced price, thereby eventually increasing their profits.

From a Ebay seller perspective, it seems like a very high risk to me....????

Who in their right mind would buy a supscription at a higher price than it's offered by the publisher? If the proceeds were going to a charity or school, it makes sense...otherwise, like Debra said...dumb.

But from a common sense perspective, it seems it should not be a legal or acceptable practice to sell these subscriptions on ebay if they haven't been purchased as of yet.

In essence, you are selling something you don't actually own. To me, it's an unethical and bad business practice. What is it's a small publisher and only has a limited amount of subscription avaliable per year?

Ebay should require these folks to show proof of ownership of these 25 subscriptions.

Heidi...I hope you fight this!

[AJ]

the people who have the authority to end a listing do not work on weekends. I brought this to Mystic's attention originally because I knew she was a small publisher, and because there have been shady subscription sellers around forever, way before Ebay.

The take the money for these subscriptions and because people know it can be months before a subscription starts they are long gone and started up somewhere else before the buyers catch on. Trust and safety is the department you need to talk to.

[MysticTree]

eBay has sent me a form to prove ownership of Tarot World Magazine. Slowly the wheels turn. This eBay seller was refused payment by someone else that saw one of my warnings and actually told this person that I was the fraud and she had the publishers authorization to do this.

I think we are beyond the idea of ethics here. This is willful fraud. It was not just TWM. This seller had 50+ magazines for sale some at much greater prices. They are out to get their money and run. The image used is from our listing on Amazon so I guess they just randomly picked magazine. Most are so big they will just say that the buyer is out. We are fortunate yet again for the support and care TWM recieves from the Tarot Community.

Thank you.

Heidi Snelgrove, Publisher / Editor

[jmd]

wow - so there are people who scam by pretending to sell subscriptions to magazines!?

Seems incredible, as payment is by credit card, and this would have to be refunded by credit card regulation.... or perhaps this is only local, so such is less likely to take place here.

The seller does indeed have many magazines to subscribe to, hence my initial view that this is not fraud: even if they lose out on one or two, the others should balance the coffers.

Anyhow, obviously something that foreign markets have to deal with - and hope that this kind of selling of subscription (which would be entirely legal here) does not head in a fraudulent direction in other places.

I'd be interested to hear how it pans out with both eBay, and whether subscriptions are received for the 'winning' bidders (always found it strange to call a purchase a 'win').