There's no easy way to report fraudulent sellers like this (and how do they do it anyway?!)

[ashleedawg]

My son and I buy a lot of super-cheap "stuff" on eBay, mostly since he has so much fun getting packages in the mail all the time, sometimes lame, sometimes cool.  We both know "you get what you pay for", as in, sometimes the 5¢ thing takes 6 months, or doesn't show up at all or is broken.  We don't make a fuss about it and in fact we give perfect feedback anyway.

However when I come across sellers who are blatantly trying to deceive buyers, blatantly breaking multiple policies, I figure it's my duty to take the time to click "Report", to "give back" and help "protect the community".

But then there's the cases like shown in the attached image (hopefully the image is legible, 'cuz it's frikkin' huge!)

I've seen this multiple times, and I'm kind of perplexed...  Today as an example:

- We checked the Arts & Crafts category, sorted by "ending first" with "free shipping only".  Oh look, a bracelet-thing, 1¢, Free Shipping, Ending in 15 seconds, with zero bids.  Click - Click - and we just spent ~$4.

- We clicked back to the listing, and shipping's listed as almost $4. Clicked back to the search results, and it says Free Shipping.

- Maybe it's an anomaly, no biggie... then I look at the next 38 Listings, multiple sellers but identical items,and all say "Free Shipping" in the search results but $4-ish (CAD) in the listing.

Question #1 : HOW do they do this?  Some of the ads appear to have been "updated" 15 minutes before the auction closes, but others have been like that for hours. Surely the website has measures in place to prevent stuff like this.  Is there hacking going on?

I did notice that the time zones are a little weird on some of the ads (ie., Auction Ending in PST but updated in EST)

Reporting this is practically impossible unless I had the patience to go through that Report form 38+ times, try to keep them organized, etc. 

Question #2 : How come the absolute only, no-matter-what, method of contacting eBay for anything is by phone? I understand how it improves customer service in most ways, but there is the occasional time that it would be helpful to send them an email...  like the attached image, so they can do whatever they decide to do, but they have the facts in front of them. 

I did call in once previously about a similar issue, and it ended up being almost an hour-long call with the agent because I basically had to read and re-read dozens of item numbers, dates, prices, etc.  Even the poor agent said it would save everybody time & effort if there was an email address for certain situations (perhaps with an email-auth-code like when calling in)

Anyhow, I'm just a little frustrated, so in lieu of emailing that image to eBay I posted it here,

(Sorry it's one giant image, but it will only let me attach one file.)

free shipping But Not.jpg ‏499 KB

[laurenmichau-0]

I might not be the best person to answer this, and it's been without reply for a long time. But hey. Here's some insights.

There's an option you can select that is called "report a buyer" or "report a seller" after a transaction is made. You can send whatever you want via this option. They won't reply, but they do check your report.

Also, in several pages, there's a blue link at top right of the screen called "tell us what you think". You can use this to send a message. You can say whatever you want, in less than 500 characters, and once again, they won't reply.

Overall, Ebay seems to live in the stone age. They seem to invest as little time as possible in solving problems. And even when you call them, they tell you they can't do anything for you 50% of the times. It's ridiculous how stupid their procedures are. I will stop selling on Ebay very soon for this reason. Even if you have proof of something, they don't care. It's shocking. 2 times I offered solid proofs of fraud, and they ruled for the thief anyway. They even ruled for someone who refused to return an item. And I was offering to pay for return with tracking. It did look like a case of fraud from the inside. Their decision never made any sense.

And yes, there's hacking going on. Some competitors are opening fake accounts, or use stolen accounts; to crush your reputation. They make fake purchases to take your items out of the way when theirs have trouble selling. And once again, Ebay disengage systematically. They want profits. They don't care if their decisions are bad. And they stick with them like an old stubborn mule. They've lost my respect. And I stayed with them way over my limit cause I took a 1-year contract. It's about to end, finally. I have no more patience.