New Seller Needs Advice On How To Report A Would-be Scammer pls

Anonymous
Not applicable

Every since I joined eBay I have certainly learned a few things, mostly how hard people will try to scam you with big ticket items. I have had at least five people try to scam me out of the laptop I am trying to sell, no big surprise there, but the latest one was just laughable. I think this person is getting pretty desperate because they actually used "missionary" and "Over Sea", their spelling not mine, to ask twice in one message for my paypal email address. Oh sure I will get that to you soon as possible, right after I block your sorry A you big loser. (they want to send the laptop to their friend who is in missionary school overseas...oh and they would like me to ship it for free too.)

Here is my question and I feel stupid asking but is there no way to report this person for attempting to scam me by asking for my Paypal email address? Do I actually have to spend time calling customer service to report them? Seems like they would make it a little easier for us to report it. Any help is appreciated and Happy Thanksgiving to other Canadian members.

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Re: New Seller Needs Advice On How To Report A Would-be Scammer pls

You have to call in if you want anything to actually happen. Most of the logic for the online reporting features requires x number of reports from y number of unique ebay usernames before it even gets flagged for manual review.

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Re: New Seller Needs Advice On How To Report A Would-be Scammer pls

Did the scammer actually 'purchase' the laptop?

If there is a transaction, but no payment, go to the Resolution Centre at the bottom of this page and open an Unpaid Item Dispute.

The first suggestion (not a command) is to Contact the Buyer.

You've done that.

Move on to asking eBay to step in and escalate to a Claim.

If the scammer does not pay, you get your fees back and he gets a Strike on his account.

Two or more Strikes and he will be unable to bid on many if not most listings on eBay.

"Too many" Strikes and eBay will close his account.

The scammer will also be unable to leave feedback.

 

Did he pay?

You can cancel the transaction as "seller has an address I do not ship to" or 'problem with address" .

I've never had to do one of those so I am weak on the details.

 

I'll skip the lecture on selling high value items online when you have a small track record.

You can offer your items as Fixed Price with Immediate Payment Required.

Most transactions are Fixed Price. Auctions are becoming more and more rare. Buyers want immediate results.

You can Block countries or even continents on the Sell Your Item form and in your Seller Preferences.

You can use Seller Preferences to Block bidders with Unpaid Item Strikes and who do not have active Paypal accounts.

 

 

But if there is no transaction, eBay and Paypal will not get involved.

If there are eBay Messages from the scammers, there is a Report button on those, I believe.

 

 

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Re: New Seller Needs Advice On How To Report A Would-be Scammer pls

Anonymous
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oops, sorry. I should have been more specific. First time in the forums here but I should know better than to be so vague. No there is no transaction. They just sent me a message here on eBay requesting my paypal email address which I understand to be a violation of policy. I blocked them of course but I thought I should report them? I didn't realize that I should go with fixed price but I do have pay immediately with paypal as a requirement. Every time someone tries to scam with this darn laptop I learn something. Thank you btw for your response.

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Re: New Seller Needs Advice On How To Report A Would-be Scammer pls

You have to call in if you want anything to actually happen. Most of the logic for the online reporting features requires x number of reports from y number of unique ebay usernames before it even gets flagged for manual review.

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Re: New Seller Needs Advice On How To Report A Would-be Scammer pls

Anonymous
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Thank you. I can't even find the place to report them anyway, although I was sure I saw one. I'm not keen on having to call unless it's absolutely necessary. Thanks for your help everyone I appreciate it.

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