eBay

digital*ghost · ‎14-08-2021

I'm posting in the hope someone has some advice on what to do when there is a seller known to be operating a triangulation scam here on eBay.

For those unfamiliar, this is when the seller lists multiple items they don't have and can't genuinely supply, a buyer purchases from them and the seller purchases the item(s) from another seller and has it shipped directly. So, this part is basically dropshipping. The scam comes when CC chargebacks on the actual seller of the item, either they raise the chargebacks themselves or (probably more commonly) used stolen credit cards and the cardholders raise genuine chargebacks.

The eBay buyers are obviously none the wiser in most cases, as they receive the items they purchased without issue, so getting eBay to do something about it has proven very difficult.

The seller in question has hundreds of listings - all stolen from various other eBay sellers / websites, and to add insult to injury (or more accurately, more injury to injury) if these other legit eBay sellers start getting a high number of chargebacks, it could mean more than just a financial loss on the orders they fulfilled, so time feels very of the essence here, and I would love some advice on what to do.

(Note: I am not one of the sellers this is happening to, but I want to help put a stop to it ASAP).

p9games · ‎23-09-2021

I feel this post deserves consideration. I personally have never had this issue, have I been lucky?

digital*ghost · ‎23-09-2021

I figured the lack or response meant no one has any idea what measures to take, though there are probably a number of sellers who have unknowingly experienced this (eg the affected seller may only get the genuine buyer's details [more so if it is a website purchase], so they contact them and say "why have you initiated a chargeback?" and they only get the "I haven't", or some variation thereof).

The scammer is still operating, sadly, though they removed the items listed that came from the seller I'm in contact with (partly copyright issue, partly knowing they were never going to be able to successfully complete a purchase of those items again). The other affected sellers were contacted, but they weren't overly concerned for some reason - their items are still being listed / sold, but maybe no chargebacks yet. 😕

the4masters2013 · ‎23-09-2021

Many of us don't know, or are unaware of what steps can be taken to fix this problem.

The thing is, you have opened up our eyes and hopefully we now can avoid any major problems.

thank you!

danieh_6 · ‎23-09-2021

I've dropshipped stock for many "sellers" over the years both large and small. Not really any issues but I usually block them if they file a dispute of any sort.

"why have you initiated a chargeback?" and they only get the "I haven't", ... only ever had this issue once and we won because it was Unauthorized and we only send with tracking,

p9games · ‎24-09-2021

I think I've dodged this bullet by virtue of the market I am in. Each day about 70% of my orders are from existing customers, some of whom order multiple times during the week.

Couple of years ago when Ebay did nothing to validate ship-to addresses I grew tired of checking addresses all the time. So I built a script that I use to bulk print my address labels that checks a database containing all ship-to addresses I've ever sold to. I add all new addresses to the database with any corrections or formatting improvements so I only have to change it once. Because of this I'll notice a change of address or use of multiple user accounts.

Mostly though I think I've avoided this scam because I'm not selling to a huge market. Chances are if I was selling pots and pans or something Id rarely see orders from repeat customers in order catch these scams. Only time I've drop shipped is when a competitor has had a stock issue and they buy from me and drop ship to their customer. Oh, and I refuse to ship overseas too which I bet helps cut down on scammers

digital*ghost · ‎24-09-2021

@the4masters2013 wrote:
Many of us don't know, or are unaware of what steps can be taken to fix this problem.

The thing is, you have opened up our eyes and hopefully we now can avoid any major problems.

thank you!

All good, I have no idea either, aside from involving the buyers who ultimately, but unintentionally, receive stolen goods. The seller has low FB but it's at 100% right now - one buyer 100% knows the seller who sent the goods lost both money & items and that they now have items that were technically not paid for, but care factor is pretty much zero, sadly.

I thought at least the third party fulfillment policy should apply but how does someone only remotely involved in the transaction report that to eBay, and what would they do anyway? 😕

@p9games - this seller has currently curated a range of clothing from other eBay sellers, most of it novelty stuff, the kind of things that definitely tend to be one-off purchases for most.