Buying Tri Gear question - EBAY

I use ebay quite a lot and have never seen anything like this.

How expensive are we talking?

i've bought some random tri stuff on ebay (pedals & shoes) + craigslist (my bike), and i've never been asked for something like this.

admittedly... the little warning bells went off in my head... but i'm just generally a skeptic!

sorry i can't be more helpful.... but ebay & private sales have been good to me so far (but i've never experienced a sort of odd "middle man" situation such as this!

proceed with caution...?

I'll also add: I've bought and sold a LOT of stuff on CL. It's pretty simple: I have this. You want it. You give me cash (or we use PayPal or whatever). I give you item.

Fair enough. 

Guess I will fall back on what my dad always said, "if it seems too good to be true, it probably is"

I used to work at eBay. This is a scam. In order to receive anything from eBay, you'd have to actually purchase the item on eBay - i.e., have an eBay account, bid/buy it now, etc.

Even then, eBay wont send you an invoice, and does not offer an escrow service (the type of service he's claiming you're going to get by sending "eBay" the money and then confirming to them that the item is what you want).

eBay also never suggests you pay with cash or with western union money orders, as it's almost impossible to track/return your money, unlike with a CC.

Basically, if you send that guy money, you'll never see the item, and you'll never see your money again.

It's the same technique the stupid Nigerian scams do. If you want to hand out your personal info, go right ahead.  I would suggest then that you wouldn't do it before actually talking to someone at Ebay.

I just returned from dreamland.  I am out.  Thanks for the advice.

Usually if it is to good to be true...its not. IMO...pass...it may be legit but just has all the warning bells .

What is the good deal??

REEKS of scam. I believe the number one rule is to never give out your address and phone number on Craig's List. That's the first flag. He will contact Ebay? Flag number 2. Cash to Ebay? Flag number 3.

So you deposit your money in "an EBAY ACCOUNT???" and wait a few days and your item doesnt show up. You contact Ebay and they don't know what the hell you are talking about. Then what? You're out the cash and don't know where it went. Need I continue?

This is where you can tell it's a scam.

This guy wants you to send him information...so he can contact ebay.  Yeah right...he's just going to use that information to send you a bogus email pretending to be eBay so you can send the cash directly to him.  Then you'll never see the item, or your money again.  When you call eBay to ask what's the problem...they'll have no idea what you're talking about because they were never involved.

You did the right thing by calling eBay.  If this guy was legit...then he would simply post an auction on ebay, and you would navigate to ebay's site on your own, search for the listing, and bid/buy it now. 

Main warning for me is who offers refunds on kijiji/craigslist?