Is eBay the paradise of scammers?

Anonymous
Not applicable

 

 

That's a legitimate question to ask.

 

I'm honestly and accurately describing my eBay experience here so it serves other peoples, knowing it will probably be hided or buried by the moderators. 

 

Here's what I think and please take my testimony also as a warning.

 

Hopefully you are not reading this too late,  AFTER been scammed, or you are not an helpless victim of this site in search of answers. In this case, I really feel sorry for you.

 

Clearly, if you are a seller, especially inexperienced one, such me, you will come across scammers, abusers and you will lose money.


And this is fine with eBay because SELLERS are held 100% responsible by the Money-back guarantee policy.

 

Try this, go in a store, check an item you like, examine it, buy, use it. Then, for whatever reason, return it back.


If the store policy say the only condition they will take it back it's because it is red, yellow, or blue, then everyone will return the item claiming it is red, yellow, or blue, of course.

 

They will take it back, check it out, see if it is red, yellow, or blue and decide to refund or not. That's the typical way it works in real life and nobody has to read all small characters or the store policy because that's how it goes. It's called trust. 

If you don't know the definition of trust, please take a moment to check it out.

 

eBay has a Money-back policy backing buyers that can be easily abused by unscrupulous buyers, and if you were aware of the risks before, you wouldn't had, obviously, never used the site to sell your items.

 

Unfortunately, it's always newbies, like me (and most likely you), that gets trapped. And there is no chance at all that eBay will make this harder to newbies to fell for it. A simple and explicite warning before you engage in selling your things. Instead of the usual bunch of links disguised in usual boring legal stuff no one ever read.

 

Knowing the risks, many will not agree to sell on eBay after knowing what they should had known. 

 

After a misadventure of that nature, and seeking for answers, and wondering what are my options, I found an endless amounts of seller horror stories all over the place. Reddit, Quora, Youtube, Facebook, Mastodon, Discord, Google, name it, and even people have set up personal sites to join the cabal. It's impossible to read everything and you will find similar situations describing yours within minutes. 

 

As a result, I lost complete trust in eBay. It's now nothing less than corporatism scamming for me. From ridiculous listing fees insertion, final fees, and support, you feel being completely scammed. I immediately realised after the first sell, if they have a chances to take an additional dime from you, they will. 

 

As a result, you will lost complete trust in eBay too, and most likely leave, as any normal person would react.

 

You will feel so bad for not have taking the time to read annoying things. But again, it is the human nature in you that makes you trust people naturally.

 

Let's be very clear, (from what I have read and experienced after my 3rd sell only), rather sooner than later,

-you WILL lose money on ebay
-you WILL be scammed and abused in one way or another

Even if,
-YOU ALWAYS CLEARLY STATES YOUR SELLING TERMS
-YOU HAVE TONS OF PICTURES, VIDEOS and PROOFS
-YOU HAVE A PERFECT SCORE IN 20 YEARS
-YOU HAVE AN IRREPROACHABLE EBAY REPUTATION
-YOU HAVE BOUGHT OVER $50k OF GOODS ON EBAY

 

EVEN IF,

YOU SOLD TO AN OBVIOUS SCAMMER, LIAR WITH A FRESH BRAND NEW EBAY ACCOUNT...

...you will lose!

 

And this is why, I have no doubt, eBay is the paradise of scammers.

In a new YouTube blockbuster near you soon.

 

Bonus:

(they let an old thread run for 3 years, then, as soon someone post a follow up, and reactivates the thread and negative eBay reviews starts pouring in that thread, they suddenly close the thread, claiming that's an old thread)

Message 1 of 64
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63 REPLIES 63

Re: Is eBay the paradise of scammers?

yes, he opened a return claim. I have until the 21.

 

Are you serious lol. I'm writting a long text then i see that. You're screaming about getting scammed and you did not even loss a penny. Case still open. What a drama.

 

Accept return, provide label, receive item, and relist... If you fight that case or ask ebay to step in, then you risk losing everything. Once received, if item is broken or buyer did item swapped, that's another topic.

Message 21 of 64
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Re: Is eBay the paradise of scammers?

perhaps that's because you are way too busy ranting and not letting the process take its course. You say a return claim has been opened and you have until the 21st... so what is all this screaming and hollering "SCAM" all about when you have not even given the eBay resolution process a chance? There is this thing called P-A-T-I-E-N-C-E!

 

Message 22 of 64
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Re: Is eBay the paradise of scammers?

 

So, after all that, we get a...

 

 

@Anonymous"yes, he opened a return claim. I have until the 21."

 

So what is all this nonsense about?!

 

Accept the return, send a return shipping label, issue the refund when you get the item back..

 

What was the reson for his return claim, it will say that in the claim...

Message 23 of 64
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Re: Is eBay the paradise of scammers?

Anonymous
Not applicable

It think you are way far off and missing the point.

Plus, for the purpose of this thread, we don't have to transform this thread into pointless accusations.

I'm really not here for that.  You have your interpretation, it's completely fine and I can live with that. 

 

Is too much to ask from the buyer to inform me verbally or provide a photo prior to returning it.

Why should I have to call the USPS support department to know if the packages was damaged and get a confirmation?

 

That's all.

Not aligned with the written policy? Then, without knowing this, their conclusions might very well go according to their policy, but we know some people aren't this dumb enough to give any credit to their conclusions. Why not be transparent and conclusive?

 

If the policy presented to me as a legal document, by where all the parties are bound to,  why not giving full value to it with fair conclusions and supporting evidences, that cost nothing?

 

What is the condition of the item now? A)broken, B)working, C)damaged during shipping

See, I'm making it even more simple for you. A, B or C.

 

You don't have to judge me defending what any outsiders have no problem to understand.

I will assume, that eBay don't have to send me their shill bots one after another explaining me what to do, I don't need pseudo mentorship totally aligned with a policy encouraging scammers and abusers, just because eBay business model is based on where their primary source of money is; No buyers, No eBay.

 

The Money-back policy, I've read it. I've read minimum 10 cases like mine already.

 

I'm perfectly aware that I won't see anything positive arise from this thread on eBay forum. Do I have to explain why?

 

 

Message 24 of 64
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Re: Is eBay the paradise of scammers?

The buyer is under no obligation to provide YOU with photos, but eBay may require that,  since it is in their best interests to do so to support THEIR claim for a refund.

Always keep this in mind, NO return DOES NOT mean NO Refund!.

All that can be said here is for you to provide eBay what they request you provide and let it play out.

There are no guarantees in life(aside of death and taxes) and there are NO guarantees on eBay even with the money back gurantee IF due processes are followed...

There are 3 sides to the story: YOURS, the BUYER's and eBay's...

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Re: Is eBay the paradise of scammers?

Anonymous
Not applicable

I gave a thumb up for that.

 

First answer that I think is reasonable, nonetheless a bit shy of what I think too.

 

C'mon eBay community, step up your game. People are watching.

Message 26 of 64
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Re: Is eBay the paradise of scammers?

Having a problem with one sale isn't evidence that this is a scamming paradise.

There are scamming buyers and sellers here just like there are elsewhere in the internet.  To be fair, unless you now have the item back and it works fine, you have no way of knowing how honest the buyer is being. 

Even if it does work good, they may have simply changed their mind and though that  may be dishonest, it isn't being a scammer as long as you receive the item back in the same condition. 

 

Sure it's nice if they had contacted you first but they know that ebay doesn't require it.  AND there have been tons of stories of how sellers will  accuse a buyer of scamming then when they contact them so many just want to skip the contact and go right to a case.  eBay is giving you the opportunity of getting your item back so hopefully once you do, you are able to sell it again at a venue of your choice. 

 

eBay has no way of knowing what you sent the buyer, if it worked when you sent it or if it works now.  Just because of the time and manpower involved, there is no way ebay can investigate all cases when a seller says the buyer is lying.   Years ago their reps were allowed to make some judgement claims in favour of the buyers but they have gone the other way in recent years.  They want to retain buyers and unfortunately that attracts good and bad ones.

Message 27 of 64
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Re: Is eBay the paradise of scammers?

 

 

The coincidence and timing just striked me after 3 replies in a row from 3 differents person, they close the thread.

 

The thread was not closed, it was moved to a different section of the Board.

The clue is that you are still posting and getting replies.

 

Is too much to ask from the buyer to inform me verbally or provide a photo prior to returning it.

Yes.

 

Message 28 of 64
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Re: Is eBay the paradise of scammers?

Anonymous
Not applicable

Nice.

pjcdn2005 - Having a problem with one sale isn't evidence that this is a scamming paradise.

 

Good point, I wasn't aware of it either until I started to look for answers.

Yesterday, three comments on YouTube channels, few replies from frustrated sellers. 

Today, I saw 2 new threads popping up about this. Twitter and 4Chan.

 

On 4chan they confirmed that they used this trick, and suggested to make a new account !!! because otherwise numerous false claims from same account won't work. 

 

Reddit have many, many, many threads about selling adventures on eBay.
The Money-back guarantee policy, that doesn't protect the sellers at all, is one of the main point brought up often.

 

Now I'm not even talking about all the videos, and things out there about having to debate with eBay support service.

You already said they are understaffed, that must be amazing customer support.


Just look this thread and read the answers. Seeing how eBay has responded so far and with others, that gave birth to a whole eBay unhappy sellers industry on social media...

 

How many YouTube channels on selling on eBay? 3 very large accounts, go read the comments.

 

Return fraud, buyer scams are pretty good search terms on Google.

 

Not my business, but I'd take the number of fresh new accounts or with low activities, and check if there is a correlation between return/refund from fresh new accounts vs normal eBay accounts. That's the only way to support this. 

 

Don't let the wave grow.  Act promptly and publicly address this. Don't let doubts spread amongst sellers.

But we know eBay won't go public or will pretend everyone is happy, just some troublemakers with too much free time. 

 

Message 29 of 64
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Re: Is eBay the paradise of scammers?

and you believe everything you see on UTube? Twitter?,etc....

Ok well please be aware, while there may be "some" truth to some things, not everything is as it seems...

The only "reports" you generally see are from disgruntled persons such as yourself....You rarely ever see the comments, from the millions of satisfied persons...just like reviews for hotels, etc,etc...its a wee percentage that grumble...

Well of course there is going to be a higher percentage of "scamming" against new accounts> that's exactly who scammers target!  Scammers target the most vulnerable because they know those persons are not wise to the ways of the world! Most knowledgeable persons have seen these scams over & over again and are well aware of them! Most of these types of scams have been around long enough(most have been around for several years), so anyone can do their homework and research them, but most sellers don't even bother to acquaint themselves of the pitfalls before hand.

It is the sellers responsibility to be AWARE and BEWARE! It's not eBay's responsibility to hold your hand and coddle you like a child.

You really think that eBay is the only site where scammers prey on the most vulnerable, the gullable and those not in the know?

Whatever you think this "wave" is, good luck with trying to fullfill the needs of your "Act promptly and publicly address this" when "scamming" is an everyday, common occurance on all selling sites on the internet!

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Re: Is eBay the paradise of scammers?

Anonymous
Not applicable

 

It's not my thread(this thread), and it was closed indeed. 

 

The green lock and moderator notice explaining why was at the bottom.

 

I could check my history to find the url for you if you want but it's probably unnecessary since you know by now I'm not a liar.

 

 femmefan1946 - Yes

 

I just hope you didn't go through all my rant and that's the only thing I have inspired you. If you're sorting this thread by the newest comment, maybe you are missing out more inspiring things.

 

Not even a personal comment on my lack of ability of using a spell checker.  I'm not used to that.

 

 

 

 

 

Message 31 of 64
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Re: Is eBay the paradise of scammers?

Anonymous
Not applicable

Yeah, the usual don't beleive everything you see on the internet

I don't beleive there's only happy sellers and happy buyers on eBay.

I beleive scammers are everywhere where there's money to make/save.

I beleive very much in what is going to happen.

 

 

 

 

 

Message 32 of 64
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Re: Is eBay the paradise of scammers?

No one is saying "there's only happy sellers and happy buyers on eBay.", but you seem to believe there's more unhappy than happy, but you fail to realize eBay has millions and millions of sellers and it is but a small percentage that make up the disgruntled group.

What you are describing, what you are feeling, what you "think" will be the outcome means nothing because the "end" has not yet come to pass.. so no amount of ranting is going to make one iota difference because you must await whatever the end result is, you have to await the outcome from eBay...

So it's best to just step back, take a deep breath and grab a little patience,as whatever happens, happens and perhaps in the future you will take the time to acquaint yourself with a selling site before deciding to list high value items, and learn how to spot the "real" scammers" and be able to read people and know the difference between "real" scammers" and those you "think" are scammers.

Message 33 of 64
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Re: Is eBay the paradise of scammers?

I'm not missing your points. I tried to help because you started that thread acting like you truly got scammed and lost your $1000 item. While you're only at a standard step of a return case opened, about to lose $20 on a return label... I don't need more to know you are overreacting. You not even got scammed and you act like you faced the worst situation ever. Buyer lying and exploiting the money back guarantee is based on assumptions. All your requests are indeed off rules.

 

Why should I have to call the USPS support department to know if the packages was damaged and get a confirmation?

 

What is the condition of the item now? A)broken, B)working, C)damaged during shipping

See, I'm making it even more simple for you. A, B or C.

 

You don't even have the item back yet...

 

I'm done here. You answer like you're the only one to understand things while you're making a storm in a glass of water. 

 

 

 

 

Message 34 of 64
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Re: Is eBay the paradise of scammers?


@Anonymous wrote:

Yeah, the usual don't beleive everything you see on the internet

I don't beleive there's only happy sellers and happy buyers on eBay.

I beleive scammers are everywhere where there's money to make/save.

I beleive very much in what is going to happen.

 


If you spend more time on these forums, you'll discover that even many of the regular posters here have major issues they're unhappy about. This is true of basically all selling venues. Overall, eBay seems to do a pretty good job of combatting fraud. They do need to communicate with sellers better though, and they need to quit pushing code updates without properly testing them.

 

If you think eBay is bad, you should read up on the problems sellers have on Amazon. You should also read up on what happens during the return process there, how it's handled, and what the costs to the seller are. Then, stand around the customer service desk in Walmart for a little while and listen to the stories people come up with in order to return their clearly used and abused items there.

 

Also, NEVER contact the buyer by phone like that.

Message 35 of 64
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Re: Is eBay the paradise of scammers?

These forums should have a hall of fame and this thread should be in it.

You don’t want to listen to what people are telling you, you just want to rant and be right and then try to admonish the community when they don’t agree or support you? You must be a hoot at parties.
Message 36 of 64
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Re: Is eBay the paradise of scammers?

Anonymous
Not applicable

I was told to report this scam to the RCMP fraud center via their 

cybercrime and fraud reporting system


to be continued...

 

TLDR : make a new account, buy something you need with the intention of returning it, and make a false claim to avoid return shipping fees (no evidences required)

Message 37 of 64
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Re: Is eBay the paradise of scammers?

Anonymous
Not applicable

thanks,

 

From assumptions to the crude reality to seller's fault to scammers to unhappy sellers to buyer abuse, there is a broad range of critical situations here that people should be aware. 

 

This thread serves one purpose, each and every reply makes a demonstration by itself.


If you plan to sell on eBay, imagine yourself having to go through this.
You will be better prepared by starting to read and watch what's readily available on the subject before.

 

So far we have learned that you have to suffer a lost or to submit yourself to this possibility. It's not because eBay is unsafe and pose a risk, it's because you are most likely dumb. 

 

If you think sellers defending eBay clashes with the reality you are witnessing elsewhere, maybe eBay grooming sellers with badges in this forum have an effect.

 

eBay thumbs up only those who lean toward eBay, you will eventually learn the process like laboratory monkey does. Critical thinking.

 

409 views in 3 days in here indicate there is few people interested by it.

 

Suddenly moving and pinning 2 other threads above this one as soon it gains traction, is just paranoia and not an attempt to bury it, as its contain only false claims and negative publicity. Damage control is certainly not something company would do

 

If it's proving to be only noise, it will die very soon. 

If only 1 person shows up sharing a similar experience, we all know what is going to happen.

To all reading this, please feel free to add your grain of salt too.

 

Please, leave your Amazon rants out of this thread or start an Amazon rant thread of your own.

Message 38 of 64
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Re: Is eBay the paradise of scammers?

@Anonymous 

Note regarding "until the 21" really means until midnight tonight (the 20th).

 

I learned the hard way by a case being automagically closed against me at a couple minutes after midnight on the "due date" ie at 12:03 AM on the 21st in your case.

Message 39 of 64
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Re: Is eBay the paradise of scammers?

Anonymous
Not applicable

$20 😂..., not sure if just a fool or simply down playing to get your badge fix, but I'll give you a thumb up if that's just what you want.  I paid in total $320 on UPS fees to get one of my things shipped to the US. Imagine how dumb I was if tomorrow the guy changes his mind.

 

The only protection I have is the buyer made a good deal.

 

I don't know about you, but that seems to me as a very well disguised eBay protection for the sellers.

I wouldn't had taking that risk. Who would, if I'm allowed a moment a lucidity?

 

Plus, you don't have to repeatedly reminds me how dumb I am, clearly it's irrefutable.

 

I'm being warned by everyone (in here too) you shouldn't sell expensive items on eBay.

How safe is eBay for sellers then?  

**bleep**, no poll feature in here!

 

No UPS rants please

Message 40 of 64
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