OT: My Ebay Account Was Hijacked

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Posted By: Mark

It happened to me too.... Ebay said they suspected "suspicious activity" which is completely bogus. Nobody hijacked my account. They apparently have some new monitoring system that determines (in its infinite wisdom) whether your password is secure enough. They wanted me to change to a more complex password.

Just another example of ebay screwing things up, and shooting themselves in the foot. I had four failed snipes via Just Snipe (first time ever) because of this. The proud Ebay Phone Rep (Big Brother) also proclaimed that Ebay is now monitoring which computer you are using. If you are on a "suspicious" computer (ie. one at a hotel or library, as opposed to your home computer) you are subject to being shut down at any time!

As if people never use ebay away from home! I travel almost every week, and use ebay as much (or more) on the road as at home. I wonder how many more thousands of dollars of revenue they are costing themselves with this gem of a policy? Not to mention the revenue they have lost/are losing on all the failed snipes... if I was a stockholder, I would be furious.

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Posted By: barrysloate

I always use the same computer, I've never used a snipe service- and my account was not closed.

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Posted By: Frank Wakefield

Luddites and dinosaurs won't have this problem...

I'm a bit old fashioned about it all, and like Barry I try to use the same pc, no snipe companies... I have enough pc difficulties without attempting something fancy and compounding potential problems.

I do hope you guys get your matters addressed. It would be hard to take, having a snipe placed with a service, only to have it blocked and your account suspended while everything sorts out.

No doubt that a fella could find lots of stuff to bid on when his account is temporarily blocked...

Good luck with it all, guys.

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Posted By: Red

My guess is that there's a large percentage of auction items won by bidders using a sniping service than those who bid manually. That would also mean there's a lot of underbids coming in via sniping services that will increase the selling price. The higher selling price benefits Ebay because they'll collect more money. A higher selling price benefits the seller who maybe now won't lose as much and might list more stuff to sell. Ebay has been working very hard to come up with new ways to drive off sellers. Now they're working on ways to drive off buyers.

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Posted By: Anthony S.

Frank,

Why would a Luddite be using a computer in the first place?

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Posted By: davidcycleback

What eBay should do is send the user an email said a different isp has accessed the ts okay that anoaccount, and explain that it could be a sniper, office computer or someone malicious. The user can than think about if any other computers are allowed to access the count. If you placed a bid on that Tuesday while on vacation in Hawaii, you'll know it's okay. If you use one and one one home computer, you'll know the new access is not okay.

When I get a new virus/spyware program on my computer, for each new (to it) computer program that starts up, it will ask me if it's okay to let this program start and I say yes, no or not now. From my responses over time, it knows which programs are okay and doesn't ask me about them anymore. This security is about the computer owner being notified of new activity. In and of itself it's not a fail safe system (computers users don't always know if a strange named program is good or bad), but it is a system where a program can't start up without the owner's knowledge and permission. Even if a spyware or virus is sitting in your computer, it can't do anything if it can't start up.

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Posted By: D. Bergin

Jeez, I wonder if this explains my auctions I had ending last Sunday. I had 20 items going off and all had bids going into the last day. Normally I get a nice spike at the end from snipers. 20 Auctions and not a single bid on the final day. That's never happened before in my memory.

Also, I'd hate to think I'd wake up one morning and all my auctions are canceled because Ebay caught a snipe or I logged on from somewhere else the previous night.

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Posted By: Jim VB

"Why would a Luddite be using a computer in the first place?"

How else would said Luddite find and purchase vintage baseball cards? We've already established that vintage dealer store fronts are disappearing. Local and regional shows are almost gone. That leaves only ebay.

Although I suspect that all Luddites in good standing are required to use a Commodore 64, with at best, a dial up connection and a 1200 baud modem.

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Posted By: Red

Actually they're mailing their bids into Ebay's corporate office.

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Posted By: Frank Wakefield

Why, Anthony...

1- target practice
2- bookend
3- boat anchor
4- doorstop
5- footstool
6- to fool his friends

after a day at work that's about all the old brain can generate...

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Posted By: tony fryer

Got into my account as well,they started to send "off e-bay" offers,as far away as SPAIN as well! I had the same message, I ignored it as I thought it was a spoof. I couldn't get into my account,I went on "live help" I was on there 50 minutes until they believed it was me.No harm done,nothing missing from my paypal account. My hotmail was hacked aswell same time.

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Posted By: Steve

Hmm that is odd I thought I had replied to this thread.

Anyways the problem is the snipe service like mentioned.

It has been happening to many folks.

Steve

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Posted By: Ray V

Mine too and I was using gavelsnipe over the last couple days - I'm on ebay live right now hoping for some answers.

I'm on ebay live right now asking whether this is their way to shut down sniping services



Ray V

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Posted By: tony fryer

2 minutes after leaving my last message I get an e-mail from e-bay telling me my other account has been compromised!!!!!! something dodgy going on.

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Posted By: leon

I got my ebay account fixed, after being locked out yesterday due to security issues, and my snipe worked this evening...though I was still the underbidder on the E221. It was only a color variation I needed as I already have Los Angeles. Someone got a neat card.

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Posted By: Justin

I got the same Ebay notification a few days ago. I still havent gotten the Email with directions on how to change my password. Any idea how long this might take?

By the way, I use gavelsnipe, and it is the only sniping service I have ever used.

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Posted By: Jim VB

Justin,



You don't have to wait for any email. Just change your password. When I was frozen out, it was because my password had been changed, by Ebay. Log in with your Ebay id. Click on "Forgot Password". They will send you an email at once. Select a new password. Answer a couple of security questions. Away you go. Mine took 5 minutes.



If the suspicion is correct, that Ebay is doing this because of sniping services, it may well happen again. And we all could miss some important items.

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Posted By: Steve

That seems to be the common denominator Jim.


Look for ebay to roll out the ebay snipe service
soon for a fee of course.

Steve

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Posted By: Justin

Thanks for the info Jim. I've got everything working now, but I don't know if I'm confident using sniping services anymore. This is a major inconvenience for me because I'm living overseas and auctions generally end when I'm at work in the mornings, so it is tough for me to put in my last second bids via ebay. It looks like a few others are skeptical of using sniping services. Does anyone have a suggestion on how I should do my bidding from now on?

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Posted By: D. Bergin

"Does anyone have a suggestion on how I should do my bidding from now on?"



The old fashioned way I guess. Just put in your high bid and hope for the best. It's funny, I had resisted the snipe services and nearly stopped bidding on Ebay auctions until a couple weeks ago. Finally signed up for Gavelsnipe a couple of weeks ago and won a few B18's that sparked my interest. I was really liking it.

Then this happens. Oh well!

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Posted By: Jim VB

After a day or two to think about it, I don't think Gavelsnipe, or any other snipe service, is at fault here. I think Ebay installed a new screen that was looking more closely at the incoming IP's.

I think the only risk with a snipe service is that we don't control when Ebay will choose to lock them/us out of our accounts the next time.

I think if there is something you really have to have, a manual bid is the way to go.


Leon,

I know Gavelsnipe is local to us in Dallas. And I know they are somehow connected to Heritage Auctions. Do you know of anyone there to take this discussion to. Their knowledge of the situation may be crucial to their survival.

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Posted By: D. Bergin

Agree. It's Ebay cutting themselves and their customers off at the knees again.

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Posted By: David Atkatz

I've been on eBay for eleven years. I've always sniped the old-fashioned way--by hand.

It's fun!

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Posted By: Jim VB

I did too David, for a long time. The thing that tipped me over the edge was the seller's use of Turbo-Lister and other such programs. For someone who is a set collector (Guilty!), I sometimes see a seller list a string of 20-30 cards that all close within 4-5 minutes. You can't manually snipe that many items, that close together.

A snipe service lets you select which ones you want. Enter your bid. And they do the work of the rapid timing.

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Posted By: Jim VB

I just got off from a live help session with Ebay. They swear that this response by them would not have been triggered by use of a snipe service.

They won't explain exactly what happened, just that they detected an apparently large number of accounts that were "potentially compromised" the same day. They reacted by resetting all of the passwords, which locked us all out, until we reset them. Ironically, if you were already logged on, you could continue to use your service until you logged off or your 24 hour window expired (if you had checked "keep me logged on for today.)