I know it is not the first problem you have had.......

Again how do you  claim ebay are acting as scammers.    Frauds happen all over the internet,  they also use telephones etc.

So using your flawed logic, all communications Co's.  All ISP  etc etc,  are scammers.  Try taking action against your  ISP  for allowing you to access ebay........................etc etc etc.

Thesmartone1125, you must be relieved that at least the refund is being actioned.

eBay’s refunds/returns processes are automated, so the message received by you initially in the dispute seems to me to have been triggered by something apparently received in the dispute… by a glitch? by deception on the part of the seller? Something, at any rate, that needed a human to step in to assess the dispute status/response.

There’s no use you (or I or any of us) bemoaning this. eBay have made it automated in part to save costs (with humans costing a LOT more to oversee and process disputes)… so you (by which I mean any of us who buy in eBay OR sell on eBay) need to bear that in mind.

Quite simply, if the dispute process is even slightly not straightforward (including if a tracking number is wrong or fake or whatever it may be), you must be prepared to contact Live Chat with all of the correct information to hand and with all relevant documentation ready to upload to support your case.

You obviously had an awful time with that previous “infamous envelope” case… so that definitely plays in your current perceptions. In the very great majority of disputes, it is indeed quite straightforward (if the person concerned opens the correct case in time!).

In this case, a legitimate eBay account has been hijacked by a scammer. It happens; I don’t hold any particular admiration for eBay’s security and fraud preventions, but they do have policies and procedures in place for acting when such things can be determined. We can’t blame eBay for an account being hijacked any more that we can blame a wallet for a person’s credit card being stolen.

We can limit the risk of being fooled by a hijacked account.  For instance… check a seller’s previous selling activity. Has their selling style and price point of items changed recently? (Did they stop selling for a while… did they previously sell cheaper or very different items… Does their seller feedback reflect a change?) Is their feedback primarily as a buyer? 

And… I don’t to whack you over the head with it, but the fact that the item was so much cheaper than the RRP is a huge red flag. I look at prices from the various big box sellers in Australia, looking for the lowest that they offer, and that gives me an idea of what sort of saving I could legitimately expect. If someone’s offering a distinctly better deal, why are they? BE SUSPICIOUS!

 I also consider purchases in the light of … would I be willing to make the purchase of that item from that seller if I had no recourse? Am I depending on the MBG to protect me from a risky decision? Am I just hoping that all will go well even though there are red flags?

Oh, and I check sellers’ ABN and business details.

I hope that this gives some helpful perspective.

I emailed them back and called them out on sending me two different trackings, with diff suburbs and delivery dat that was 8 days prior to me placing the order.

I just got an email back, saying "Good news! Issue resolved with your full refund", said they are closing the case in my favour and will take 2-3 days to credit my account back.

Unbelievable, how they didn't even check these in the first place.