This last week I have had tremendous luck with reporting fake listings. You know the ones, the Chinese scammers listed in the Cars sub categories. Using the Report link in the listings wasn't having much success, so I started using the Report A Member link and sending an email.
Within half an hour of sending these emails, the listings would be gone and most of the fraudulent sellers NARU'd. Some hacked accounts were given back to their original owners and the recent fake feedback removed. I was feeling quite chuffed with myself thinking I could finally get quick results, meaning less loss of money for the unsuspecting buyers (usually with low feedback).
That was, until yesterday. I kept reporting new listings by replying to the emails that eBay had sent back to me letting me know action had been taken. I figured by doing that, there would be some history in each email so when each new person got my message, they would have a bit of a paper trail.
Yesterday there was only one new scam seller that I could find (apart from the dodgy costumes which they don't seem to want to remove, although it sounds like they are actually sending their items). At that stage, less than 10 buyers had bought. I sent a message off to eBay and this was the reply I got:
Hi Jane,
Thank you for contacting eBay for the report of ####. Let me help you with this.
Just like you, we’re always concerned about policy violations, so we appreciate your report about ####. I want to assure you that we already took the appropriate action based on our site rules. As you can see, the seller is no longer registered on our site.
We thank you for your report. May your future transaction with eBay go smoothly and have a great day ahead.
Sincerely,
Ivan A.
That was the seller I had reported the day before, who was NARU'd within 30 minutes of me sending the message. So, when I got home from work last night, I replied to that message stating that I knew that seller had been removed and if they had read my email, they would have seen that I was now reporting &&&&&. I asked them again to please check that sellers feedback and also expressed my disappointment that they hadn't read my email because now well over 50 items had been sold and all those buyers would lose their money due to having no buyer protection. This morning, this was the reply I got:
Hi Jane,
Thank you for getting back to us about your concern with buyer protection.
I understand that this transaction has been a not good experience for you as buyer, and also to the other buyers as well. We always encourage our members here on eBay to have a PayPal account so that you will be protected by our eBay Money Back Guarantee, we don’t allow our members to go through with a transaction if not paid through PayPal nor to Pay Mate.
We are always concern with regards to this kind of transaction, rest assured that this seller will be monitored by our Trust and Safety Team. Just a heads up once a member in eBay becomes suspended they cannot make another account anymore for the reason that our system can easily detect if that member particular member is making a new account.
To avoid this kind of situation again please do check on the feedback of the member as well as the feedback content in that way you will be guided on what type of sellers are you going to deal with.
Thank you for choosing eBay. Have a great day.
Sincerely,
Louise M.
AAAARRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!! Where in my message did I mention anything about buying one of these things???!!!!! So, I've now fired another message off and waiting to see if I get results this time. Where's Rieza B and Catherine B and Vincent O when I need them.?They actually read my reports and didn't sent a cut and paste reply!! They all revealed the results of their investigations, even though they aren't supposed to for privacy reasons.
For the scam busters, these are the ones I'm trying to get rid of 261751923062
I have to work this afternoon, so won't be able to reply to any more of their emails if they send me one. Sadly, buyers are buying and there's not a lot we can do about it.
