Scammer-alert!
you've nothing to lose by bidding on it! PayPal protects the buyer very well, and if it doesn't show up on your doorstep you've lost nothing.
- Worst case scenario: Your money is tied up in the dispute process for a month.
- Best case scenario: You get a decent 5 pound roaster on the cheap.
Worst case scenario: Your money is tied up in the dispute process for
4 months, then they close the dispute on a technicality.
BELIEVE ME, I have been through this...
One of their tricks is to get you to make an additional payment, for 'insurance' or 'additional packaging' or something. If you make two payments for one shipment, buyer protection is VOIDED. Note that on this particular auction, there is an optional cart. If you make a second payment, that could be used to trigger the 'two payments' clause.
A savvy scammer will send you
something with tracking/signature, and then use that number to contest it, and say that
you are scamming
them. During the entire period of the dispute, there are lots of hoops to jump through, and if you inadvertently miss one, you might find yourself screwed, blued, and tattooed.
Even if you used a credit card, you risk having PayPal freeze your account if you reverse the charges before they have closed the dispute, or put a sudden hold on funds (that may have a cascading effect).
As peter inferred, if something looks too good to be true, it probably is. Folks don't just appear on eBay with such an auction immediately upon registering,
unless they have been out there before, and don't have their original account
for some reason... An additional note: the return policy is 'not specified'. That means that the guy could send you pieces and parts of this roaster, or even a poster of it, then when you complain he could have you return it at your expense for a refund
minus shipping and a restocking fee. This is another scam that gets used, because if the seller agrees to a refund, then the onus is on you to return the item, have him sign for it, and then if you have done everything properly you can still be dinged with fees (PayPal allows this). 15% of $1500 is $225 - so there is a pretty significant risk here...