
06-21-2023 01:33 PM - edited 06-21-2023 01:34 PM
I do have a listing selling online codes at $0.99 for a trading card game. Unfortunately people only buy those to get feedbacks. I have a buyer who bought like 3 codes with 2 different account. I send them and moved on. Few hours later i come back on eBay and i see he bought something like over 15 codes, with 7 different accounts. All different details names, same buyer (it's the same adress). 2 accounts in the lot isnt registered anymore, probably got banned. I did not send anymore yet and waited a day to see if they all would get banned. Today i log in, they are not, he did more and keep going... Every single account was created on the same day in 2021, and has 0 feedback. He's like at 25 purchases with over 10 different accounts. This is very very weird.
Should i be worried? Should i send codes and move on normally? Mark as shipped and not send anything? What happen to funds from accounts banned? I'm scared this weird activities may fall on me. Should i take down the listing? No idea how to deal with that right now. If anyone has suggestions.
06-21-2023 01:57 PM
For sure I would call the support folks (but remember I have the special Anchor store support CSRs who seem to be a lot better).
Certainly it makes sense to check with support in some form because if some accounts at that address are banned, it should mean there is something wrong with ALL accounts at that address. It is odd that they can create new accounts when some have been banned, I was under the impression if one gets banned one can't make new accounts for that address, apparently I'm wrong.
Keep us updated as to what happens!
06-21-2023 02:05 PM
Sounds like a thrill bidder.
Are you getting paid?
If so, ship.
If not, open an Unpaid Item Dispute as soon as possible. Two or more UID Strikes will basically put the source bidder out of business, since most sellers have set up an automatic Block against deadbeats with Strikes through Seller Preferences /Buyer Requirements.
And of course, Block any of the names you spot.
Now.
Two things you should know.
There are companies which order for their customers (mostly in Japan) and do freight forwarding for them.
American sellers often panic about these and a very few* of the customers are sketchey, so the forwarders, a respectable business, often have bad google reviews.
The forwarder has hundreds if not thousands of customers, but they all have the same US address, usually in a coastal city with an airport. Check Google Maps. Are they in Delaware, Florida, or Oregon?
OTOH- Because digital items cannot be proven to have been sent or recieved, they are not covered by the Money Back Guarantee nor by Seller Protection.
On the third hand- Are you selling these with Immediate Payment Required? That will discourage nitwits who are just messing around.
On the fourth hand- Digital items don't need a freight forwarder, so it would be unusual for an overseas customer to use one.
*Because: people.
06-21-2023 04:03 PM
Every single account got banned. Marked as shipped and won't bother myself more than that.
This was very weird.
06-21-2023 07:43 PM
it should mean there is something wrong with ALL accounts at that address. It is odd that they can create new accounts when some have been banned,
Freight forwarders though.
Do we still need a different credit card for every eBay ID?
06-23-2023 06:47 PM
So i just received an ebay message. They are reviewing my account and my money is on hold... I have $400.00 on my eBay. I'm pretty sure this is because of this buyer weird activities... Can't believe this is hapenning. After reading some articles, i'm not 100% sure the digital codes were in rules to sell. There is hundreds and hundreds listing selling those codes. If i'm getting ban for that, while i never received a single negative feedback, claim, or defect in 2 years and 1000 sales, i'll freak out.
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06-23-2023 07:02 PM
Actually i contacted the support and they told me it had nothing to do with this buyer and it was a random review. I have high doubts about that... 2 days after that hapened. If so this is highly coincidental.
06-23-2023 09:18 PM
I agree, I suspect the bots saw that you had a bunch of new buyers who became banned in a short period of time, although you didn't do anything to ban them.
I'm not sure how a seller could use a situation like yours to benefit the seller but then it seems (fortunately) I don't have a criminal mind....keep us updated!!!
06-25-2023 09:21 AM
It may not be what the item was or who was buying it but rather the number of sales in a short period that triggered the hold. I don't know your average sales volume but if you typically sell a few items a day and then 25 items in a day that may be the trigger they consider "changes in your selling activity".
As ricarmic says keep us posted, hope it's lifted for you soon.
06-28-2023 06:29 AM
It may not be what the item was or who was buying it but rather the number of sales in a short period that triggered the hold.
Could make sense. Clearly it was a unusual selling pace. He bought like 2 per hour for 2 days.
They removed the hold i'm free. Got scared to be banned or something. I did read more than one story about sellers getting banned for no reason. And it's scary cause they do not listen after and you're locked banned for life.
06-28-2023 01:47 PM
After reading some articles, i'm not 100% sure the digital codes were in rules to sell.
EBay allows the sale of digital items.
But.
There is no Money Back Guarantee or Seller Protection on the transaction because, as I understand it, there is no way to prove that any product was sent or received.
So both buyer and seller are working on trust.
There was a hot market back in the early days of eBay, when Feedback was very important, selling digital prints (for screensavers?) at penny.
The seller would have a "feedback on payment" note in the description.
Another reason why eBay stopped using FB as a measure of member accounts.
06-29-2023 06:12 AM
I'm done selling those anyway, people only buy them for feedbacks. It's free money since most don't even wants the codes, but it's not worth $0.40 profit to deal with weird profils. You maily deal with suspicious sellers trying to raise back their scores or making new accounts to dodge their bad ratings