First time user and skeptical about using Ebay in near future

[artmarr0]

I purchased several item last year from EBAY coming for China starting in October. Did not have any issues for the majority but 4-5 items I purchased I am questioning the way EBAY handles things. When I purchased the items - the prices were amazing and several sellers were offering very similar prices. When I placed the orders - I received a few days later a message saying that the seller was no longer an EBAY member and attached a message from EBAY saying that if I have paid for the item not to worry as the item was sent and should be delivered. Being my first time I went ahead and waited for the items to be delivered. The other items I received some came within 2 to 4 weeks - a couple took a little longer but got them - even though we had the post office debacle. I waited for the items and waited and never got them - I received a full refund from EBAY no questions asked - This was great on EBAY's part.

My concern is --- if a seller is no longer an EBAY member for whatever reason why would EBAY not refund the money right away - or the seller. All packages had tracking numbers and was told not to worry. When the time of delivery expired and no item I received the same massage that the tracking number was not a valid number. Could this not have been verified at time of delivery. So my biggest concern is --- I now have no item - and to buy the item now, I will have to pay more as the price has increased. In some cases doubled. Also the refund is based on the exchange rate back in 2018 and the rate is now higher which I have lost some money due to this.

If the sale would have been cancelled back then, I would have had the chance to buy the item elsewhere at a similar price and would have had the item. I have 9 items on my EBAY cart but won't complete the purchase because I don't want to go through the same thing. The sellers from whom I bought these items had great feedback so I trusted the seller. Would you have a solution or thoughts about my situation. I am disappointed about this process and hope that maybe something can be done in the near future for myself and for other buyers. What do you have to say about this... is there a way to discuss further. Thank you

[femmefan1946]

the prices were amazing and several sellers were offering very similar prices.

This is dropshipping. The seller has no product but contracts with a supplier, often overseas, to ship when he gets an order.

I received a few days later a message saying that the seller was no longer an EBAY member

EBay had spotted the seller (and probably the others you saw) as fraudulent and closed the account.

if I have paid for the item not to worry as the item was sent and should be delivered.

Legalese and weasel words.

Sometimes this actually is true. EBay also closes accounts when an honest seller's credit card expires and eBay cannot collect their fees.

I received a full refund from EBAY no questions asked

This surprises me.

No Dispute opened?

How did eBay know you did not receive your purchases?

All packages had tracking numbers and was told not to worry.

That's why eBay was not concerned. International tracking is expensive and if it is purchased, it is unlikely that there is a scam going on.

Really dirty scammers don't send anything and don't pay for tracking.

I will have to pay more as the price has increased. In some cases doubled.

Yes. Vapourware is cheap, since it does not and never did , exist.

The real items cost more, as does real tracking.

I would have had the chance to buy the item elsewhere at a similar price and would have had the item.

Well, not likely.

All those similar cheap listings were from the same supplier, if not the same seller.

None of those products existed. They were all scams.

The sellers from whom I bought these items had great feedback so I trusted the seller.

If you can find those sellers, look at the feedback again.

There is a good chance that there is a gap of months, probably years, since feedback was last left.

Those were abandoned accounts that were hacked by the scammers.

What to do?

• If the deal is too good to be true, it probably isn't true.
• Feedback under 99% is poor feedback.
• Read feedback, especially negative, for patterns of low quality, slow shipping, poor communication. Remember that some people will never be happy.

EBay is at fault for reassuring you that your item was probably on its way. Legalese and weasel words.

I'm not sure any online site is any better.

Shipping from China takes 30 days. If the seller says it takes longer, don't buy from him.

You can open a Dispute for Item Not Received in the Resolution Centre at the bottom of this page for 30 days after the last estimated date for delivery that eBay gives you.

PAYPAL gives you 180 days from payment to open a similar dispute.

If you back your PP account with a credit card, the card's chargeback policy is your third line of Buyer Protection.

[rose-dee]

I am sorry to hear this happened to you on eBay, especially as a first-time buyer.   (Did you know that you're on the Seller Central board, by the way?  No worries, I'll try to answer anyway). 

There are many reasons a seller may suddenly become no longer registered on eBay (NARU = "not a registered user").  Some of these are internal eBay decisions, due to perhaps too many policy violations of one kind or another on the seller's part; sometimes a seller will just leave eBay for one reason or another that you'll never know.  I'm glad that eBay stepped in and refunded you in this case, but I understand that it doesn't give you confidence to buy again from Chinese eBay sellers. 

Are you located in Canada?  If this failure to deliver purchased goods occurred recently, I'm wondering whether the current legal/diplomatic tiff between China and Canada over the Huawei executive being held in Vancouver had any influence on your purchases?  I'm just speculating about this, but remember, China is a country with total autocratic control.  I wouldn't put it past the Chinese government to prevent or control shipment of online purchases to Canadians at the moment, or even to shut down eBay sellers dealing with Canadians, or force them to leave. 

This is something to consider in buying from China until this international spat is resolved.  Hong Kong sellers may be less problematic to deal with at the moment, as Hong Kong has always had closer ties to the West than mainland China.  Still, you're dealing with a communist dictatorship system that ultimately has full control over everything that goes on within China.  

There has also been the big problem recently with fentanyl coming in parcels from China, which has reportedly seriously slowed down the processing at international customs.  If this is the case, some of your missing parcels may show up one day. 

In short, you might want to try to find the same or similar items from Canadian or U.S. sellers on eBay, even if you pay a bit more.   Or take your chances and rely on eBay again to refund you if the Chinese sellers you deal with don't deliver.  

Actually, if you have the time, especially since you're a new eBay user, you might want to bring up this issue on the Weekly Chat Session (see the drop-down menu under "Discussions" at the top of this page).  This takes place each week, usually the board is opened Tuesday afternoon.  Tyler, who runs the Chat, may have some insight to give you on the reasons for what you've experienced.  It certainly doesn't strike me as a normal situation.  

[femmefan1946]

If this is the case, some of your missing parcels may show up one day.

While I am doubtful that they ever will turn up, rose-dee may be right.

If you do eventually receive the missing items, you can return the refund, shocking the bejeezus out of the seller, using Paypal's Send Money service.

[maximepull]

" if a seller is no longer an EBAY member for whatever reason why would EBAY not refund the money right away - or the seller. "

" I now have no item - and to buy the item now, I will have to pay more as the price has increased. "

-----------

I feel you, I've had similar experiences. You can get pretty good deals whopping on ebay and there are some scammers!

It's not that they closed shop and closed they're account, they most likely pretend to sell a product, take your money and close the account to keep the money. Sometimes, if it's an expensive product, they will ship an item just to have an actual tracking number to fool the buyer and ebay.

I've has bad experiences both as a buyer and as a seller. But after opening disputes, I've won my cases every time so I kept using ebay and learned from those bad experiences.

As a seller, I never ship outside of Canada and the US. 80% of my international sales went wrong!

Basically now, especially for goods I buy from China, I never buy from sellers that don't have a ton of sales already! You can see that by looking at the number between the parentheses after the username eg: bob(3424) would indicate that the user bob has sold 3,424 items, then you can check the positive to negative reviews he's received.

If the transaction number is much lower, you gotta pay careful attention to the reviews and try to find patterns, for example, if you see repetitive comments from "different" users (because users will often use the same message to review all they're transactions so that's normal).

As others mentioned before, anything you buy from China will take 30 days, even if the description says otherwise, it's just not possible for them to get it over here quicker than that. That's true even if you buy from a Chinese seller on Amazon for example.

I know this seems very complicated. But the key I guess would be to buy from experienced sellers. If you have doubts, you can also write to the sellers and ask questions when you are about to but something pricey, to see if you can trust that seller.

Unfortunately though, the dispute processes are quite bad and hard for the scam victims because in the end, the money frozen and the goods are non-existent, but if your careful, it should'nt happen again!

you can also google usernames, addresses, emails, phone numbers, sometimes you will find scammers there. Or look that info up on badbuyerlist.org

Good luck!

[femmefan1946]

@maximepull 

and close the account to keep the money.

Well, no.

If a member closes her account, eBay puts it on hold until all possible financial transactions pass deadlines for Disputes.

For a buyer, that would be 30 days past the last estimated date for delivery. After that, a buyer cannot open an eBay Dispute.

For a seller, that would be 180 days past the date of payment. After that the customer cannot open a Paypal dispute.

In addition, new and questionable sellers have a Hold on cleared customer payments that can last up to 21 days, during which the seller can only access the payment to buy shipping labels. 

The Hold was specifically introduced for those "take the money and run" scammers, because eBay/Paypal were refunding unhappy buyers too often. 

Buyers have a third level of protection when they back their Paypal accounts with a credit card. The chargeback services of cards vary a lot.

[maximepull]

You seem to know a lot of rules that don't seem to work in practice. I've personally been scammed through these tactics so there's clearly something wrong with the processes you trust so much.

[maximepull]

You seem to know and trust a lot of rules that don't seem to as well as you imagine. I've personally been scammed by these tactics before so all of those "layers" of protection you mention can be circumvented.

Maybe you can use your profound knowledge to come up with several ways they could achieve those types of scams and stop replying to every single post by saying that what they report is impossible?

[kh-leslie]

Hello everyone,

This thread is getting a bit heated.  Please remember that it’s fine to disagree with others, but discussion should always remain courteous and respectful.

Thank you for your cooperation.

[a52split]

All of your former purchase have one thing in common, China sellers.  Stop buying from them and your problems will likely disappear.