Ebay doesn't care if a seller repeatedly threatens physical violence

Does Ebay care if members abuse others and repeatedly threaten physical violence? I have to answer No, they definitely don't.  I made a small purchase and when the order arrived only half of what I ordered was in the envelope. I sent the seller a polite message and asked if he would send the remainder. He replied that he would. Shortly after I received a nessage from  Paypal telling me that I'd been given a refund. I told the seller I would have rather he send the missing parts. The seller immediately launched into a volley of fould language and threats of physical violence in over 40 emails which he continued to send until after 2am the next morning.

 

He told me he was flying up the next day to "Smash me" and teach me a lesson. He also told me he was arranging for his friends to pay me a visit. He rang my wife and abused her when she told him I was ill in bed and suddenly he assumed I was a schoolboy and my Wife was actually my Mother. He told me he was going to be waiting at the school gate the following Friday. His emails were gradually turning into more and more threats and more strange. He was flying up the day before, the following day, the following week and on Friday. I was getting the impression he had completely lost it. He informed me he was the one who would start it and it wouldn't be over until he saud it was over.

 

Things were turning into a nightmare so I rang the police. Three police officers turned and interviewed me and took copies of the emails. They showed great concern but obviously they couldn't really put my wife and myself under protection for a week.  Basically I was told there little I could do apart from getting an AVO at the local courthouse. They advised me to contact Ebay and if possible get the seller's name and address, I already knew this wasn't possible, but I did go ahead and inform them of the situation. They told me they would be taking action and in no way do they allow anyone to threaten members. My only course of action was to leave feedback telling others what had happened in just a few words.

 

I wrote to the seller as the police suggested and told him the police had been contacted. Very quickly he replied saying things like "us servicemen should stick together" and he loved me and only got upset because of his PTSD. He had mentioned earlier that he was an ex- commando in the SAS. Personally I found this hard to believe, SAS personell are taught to handle conflicts, and nothing he said earlier appeared to be done with any hint of self control. But obviously the mention of police made him change his tune, even though he said he could handle them with no worries. I'm 70 years of age and my Wife is 73 neither of us had any sleep and to be honest we were scared. The police promised to keep sending a car past our house and if anything happened to use the Medialert I have. 

 

So I left the negative feedback, I could hardly leave any positive, even though he sent me the missing parts and a full refund. At no stage did I encourage his behaviour, in fact in all I sent only 4 emails total. Ebay in their wisdom decided to remove my negative feedback and he's happily selling. Possibly because he pleaded it was his supposed PTSD which caused the problem. I'll definitely remember that one, PTSD made me do it. So Ebay believed him with no proof, just his word. It makes no difference if he thought I was a schoolboy and was silling to take me apart at the school gate. No, I'm a disable war veteran on a war service pension, confined to bed. 

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Re: Ebay doesn't care if a seller repeatedly threatens physical violence

I'm really sorry to learn you have been through such a horrible experience. My best advice is to forget it all happened and move on - it will be hard I know, but to save yourself from any more stress it is probably the best course of action.

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Re: Ebay doesn't care if a seller repeatedly threatens physical violence

I'm really sorry to learn you have been through such a horrible experience. My best advice is to forget it all happened and move on - it will be hard I know, but to save yourself from any more stress it is probably the best course of action.

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Re: Ebay doesn't care if a seller repeatedly threatens physical violence

imastawka
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I don't see anywhere where you have said that you have reported the seller to ebay for the threatening messages.

 

How do you expect them to sanction the seller if you don't contact them?

 

There is a help button at the top of the page.  Best option is to get them to call you back,

but do this in office hours.

 

I hope you have kept the messages because they can read them.

 

Also ask for the negative to be reinstated.

 

You can also get the sellers details from them for the police report.

 

I'm sorry you  struck a  mongrel of a   bad seller.

 

 

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Re: Ebay doesn't care if a seller repeatedly threatens physical violence

Perhaps you should read my post some more imastawka.

 

Why would me not keeping the messages affect anything, don't you think Ebay already has them? I gave the ploice a copy of all emails, do you really think I wouldn't have kept a copy for myself?

 

Why should I have to ask for the negative to be reinstated?, I left it after I reported his actions and they removed it, obviously due to him complaining about it. Ebay has made it's decision I would think.

 

 

 

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Re: Ebay doesn't care if a seller repeatedly threatens physical violence

lyndal1838
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I'm not sure about the PTSD making him do it.....I would say it was more likely drugs or booze.

 

Is the seller located anywhere near you....it is highly unlikely that he would come anywhere near you.   You say he was "flying up" to smash you.....he was unlikely to arrive on your doorstep overnight so I really think you were worrying unnecessarily.

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Re: Ebay doesn't care if a seller repeatedly threatens physical violence

Thanks eaglesdtp. My wife and I have found it a bit of a challenge and it made us realise our security was rather poor. So we now lock our back door at night, which we've never bothered to do previously and I've had a door bell which apart from telling us someone's at the door it also shows up who they are by sending it to my wife's phone. The alarm system I installed years ago downstairs has now been activated after a break of 10 years.

 

It's a sad world we live in when security is such a concern, especially out here in the bush. But as they keep tellingus, "that's progress." Unfortunately it's a progress we can do without.  I think it'll take some time before we forget what happened. But I must add the police have been amazing, they've rung us back a number of times keeping a check on us and we have spotted a patrol car slowing down in front of our home. I can't help wondering if our city cousins get the same attention.

 

I'm convinced it's all over, but this Ebay thing gives me cause to worry. The more I think about it the more I'm convinced everything they do relates to how much they'll lose or make. The almighty dollar rules even when they say what happened was something they won't tolerate. Obviously they do.

 

My wife said thank you for your post. 🙂

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Re: Ebay doesn't care if a seller repeatedly threatens physical violence

Hi Lyndal1838,

 

I don't think distance would have made any difference to someone who's convinced himself he should threaten us, when someone's  completely lost it distance isn't always a problem, once they get it into their head they want to do something, they will and we had no idea what was in his head. At that stage all we knew was he claimed to be ex-SAS and he was going to use what he learned on me. I think it was the reference to me being a schoolboy which really bothered me. After all, how many adults would openly threaten a schoolboy? The entire matter was continually taking on a weird direction, he'd lost all sense of what day it was, at one stage he was arriving the day before and he told me tomorrow, Friday, next week. He was acting the perfect mentally deranged person.

 

I guess it's something you have to experience first hand. I went from , he's joking, to he must be joking, to is he joking and finally to heck, I don't think he is joking. His command of the English language took a plunge toward illiteracy and he was virtually raving about me saying things which were never mentioned, it was almost as if he had someone else sending him messages. I certainly wasn't, although toward the end, just after 2am from memory, I did ask him if he could clarify exactly when he was coming. I didn't fancy the idea of waiting more than a week to find out. I asked him to stop making silly threats (I didn't demand) only to see if he would answer simple questions, he never did, but I recall the final message of the night, "Just arranging some friends to pay you a visit" He had my home address, he went through the phone book to find me, so how was I to know if he didn't have friends just down the road?

 

Anyway it's over and I'm hoping we'll hear nothing more about it, but my main concern now is the fact Ebay did absolutely nothing and removed the negative, that was a slap in the face I didn't like. After being with Ebay ever since they arrived in Australia, I expected a little more from them I guess.

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Re: Ebay doesn't care if a seller repeatedly threatens physical violence

I apologise for not seeing in your post about contacting ebay, but to be honest, your post was a bit rambling, understandably.

 

If you rang ebay about it then you would have gotten their Phillipines staff, and I don't think they'd much care.

 

But if you get them to call you back (it will only be maybe a 5 min wait), then you will get

Aussie staff who will view it differently.

 

I would persist with this, if it were me.  I've seen negs removed and reinstated by an irate buyer up to 4 times.  They weren't letting go of it.

 

The seller is all bluster and won't come near you.  He's achieved what he wanted, and that was to make you very afraid.

 

You must know if he's interstate or not.  The mates coming to get you is a common threat.  He didn't need to go through the phone book, he had your address from the sale.

 

Please persist with ebay, because he shouldn't get away with it.

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Re: Ebay doesn't care if a seller repeatedly threatens physical violence

Over the years that I've been active on the help forums there have been quite a few threatening messages sent to members from buyers/sellers, none of them have eventuated in any actual physical harm as far as I'm aware.

 

So there's very little chance that anything will happen in this case, especially as the seller is aware that the police have been informed about what's happened.

______________________________________________________

"Start me up I'll never stop......"
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Re: Ebay doesn't care if a seller repeatedly threatens physical violence

Believe me I'm not going to let him ruin what I do on Ebay. I've just received a hard drive I purhased on Sunday, the seller sent it Monday and it arrived this morning. 2 days is an absolute record for anything to arrive here. It's sometimes up to 10 days.

 

I'm sorry if I gave the impression of "rambling" Perhaps it's how you read my first post, I'm usually very careful the way I write and I can't say I've ever been accused of "rambling"

 

The girl I spoke to was American I believe, bery pleasant and understanding I thought. In fact it was she who rang me, when I tried to ring them I was assked to leve my number and they'd get back to me, they did, very quickly.

 

I don't believe I didn't tell you where the seller was on purpose, it simply slipped my mind, I was distracted by an email I had just received. He lives in a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria. But since when did distance make any difference.  I recall living 50 miles the other side of Melbourne and driving to Sydney every weekend for 14 weekends in a row. 1,200 miles leave on Friday 4PM and arrive back 6am Monday morning ready for work. I must admit I made sure my surgery didn't have too many patients booked in every Monday and more than once I admit I had a quick nap in the dental chair. From where he lives to here is an overnight drive for someone dedicated to his cause, but somewhat tricky by air, he would first have to fly to Sydney and then to here by another flight. I was more concerned about his "friends" to be honest. 

 

I recall a number of years ago I did  favor for a couple of bikers who had a collision not far from home. I put them up for 2 daysand helped get their bikes shipped back to Sydney. At the time I was getting hassled by the town's drug dealer and I was told by the bikers just as they were leaving, they would happily help me "erase" any problems I had, all I had to do was phone a number thay gave me and they'd ride to wherever my problem originated and fix it for good. If they said that to me, and I'm convinced they meant it, how would I know who he knows?  OK maybe a little far fetched, but at the time a lot of things pass through your mind. 

 

OK I hope I didn't ramble too much for you, I'll put your suggestion to my wife and we'll decide whether to let it go or again contact Ebay, I'm just not sure about making this a revenge scenario by insisting they reinstate the feedback.

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