How does ebay detect scammers posing as sellers of pick up only items?

[jummy_boy]

Purchased an item 30 Dec 2020. EBay website did not give me option to review purchase or select payment method. After clicking on 'Buy now' - nothing. No options to review purchase or confirm purchase. No chance to select payment method. PayPal receipt  appeared in email a few moments later. Payment since has been processed through PayPal with name of seller and ebay identity. Appears as a debit of $3900 on my credit card.

It was a 'pick up' only purchase valued at $3900 AUD. Item located at Bass Victoria. Seller rating 100% with most recent activity in August 2020. Another 'buy now' item for sale by same ebayer is still on ebay. Pick up only from Bass Victoria for this item as well.

Have sent numerous messages through ebay to seller but no response. I have no way of contacting seller except through ebay. I cannot pick up my purchase if I am not given an address.

This ebay transactions now appears to be the work of scammers.

Purchase details:

greenspeed  sports recumbent bike

Item price; AU $3,900.00

Item number: 254493117032

Postage service Local Pickup

[kopenhagen5]

Buyers should see seller's email address when efforts to make contact through ebay's messaging system have been exhausted.

Even if you had the email address, still doesn't mean the seller will contact you.

In fact a message in eBay is automatically sent to the seller's email so no difference.

Do as tippy and I suggest, open a case for INR when possible and just follow the procedure to get your money back.

Unfortunately, the seller won't get their PP fees back if they are a genuine seller with ill health.

[*tippy*toes*]

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@jummy_boy wrote:

Ebay's information about seeing seller's phone number or email carries the following proviso: "You can find a seller's phone number in the following places on eBay, if they've opted to share their number:"

Sellers who have not "opted to share" contact information cannot be contacted. This is a major flaw in ebay.

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It is not a major flaw in eBay. Some sellers don't want to be hounded to death by phone, when they are quite capable of receiving messages. I am one of them. If people wish to contact me, they can do it via eBay messages. I don't offer local pick up, so there is no need for my phone number to be accessible to buyers.

[eol-products]

In 15 years I have never had any issues with my phone number being available and I average over 100 transactions a month. Have only ever had one call from a customer that I can remember and that was in the days of mobiles that only sent texts or made phone calls. I do answer messages so that would be the reason no one needs to access a phone number.

This seller is not answering messages due to some unkonwn reason and having a phone number would have saved them some potential issues. The problem with messages only is that very few people have a back up plan for others to access their sign in accounts.

[jummy_boy]

So it's an invitation to scammers. No obligation to provide contact details. Buy it now and skip off with payments & goods. Ideal business plan for scammers.

[davewil1964]

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@jummy_boy wrote:

So it's an invitation to scammers. No obligation to provide contact details. Buy it now and skip off with payments & goods. Ideal business plan for scammers.

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How do you work that out?

A prudent seller doesn't release goods until paid.

[*tippy*toes*]

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@jummy_boy wrote:

So it's an invitation to scammers. No obligation to provide contact details. Buy it now and skip off with payments & goods. Ideal business plan for scammers.

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How do you figure that out? If you pay for an item, and it's not sent, or it's sent and you don't receive it, you make a claim for a refund. 99.9% of the time the buyer will win the dispute. A buyer is guaranteed to get their money back. Ebay is a haven for scam buyers moreso than scam sellers. Trust me on that one.

I used to have my contact details available. Until some moron thought it a good idea to continually ring me wanting updates on their parcel. Even after giving them the link to Aust Post with their tracking number, they kept hounding me to death. Some calls were in the middle of the night, when clearly they had been drinking. After over 30 calls in 3 days, I blocked their number and removed my contact details from eBay. You want me, you send a message. Not that hard. Doesn't make me a scammer.

Ahhhh, scammer, the most abused word of the 21st century. Whatever did we do before that word was created?

[sandypebbles]

Only if a buyer chooses not to use all the tools available to them to get their money back

Or if they choose to use an unsafe payment method to start with

Or if they think a real scammer is going to give real contact details

Or if they suspect an account has been hijacked by a scammer and does not report it as such 

If you see the seller’s name in the obituaries, are they still going to be a scammer?

[springyzone]

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@jummy_boy wrote:

So it's an invitation to scammers. No obligation to provide contact details. Buy it now and skip off with payments & goods. Ideal business plan for scammers.

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I think the main problem here is your account paid paypal immediately, and by the sounds of it, without you wanting it to.

I have one touch paypal but I have never used it on a  pick up item.

The seller would not be a scammer because in the normal course of events, I don't think a seller would necessarily know a buyer would use paypal for a pick up item. Often they wouldn't. It's not a sure thing. I know I nnever have, I just pay cash.

However, if the system somehow automatically paid via paypal when I bought a pick up item, I'd probably be like you and just message the seller for pick up address. If I had no reply within a week or so, especially considering the price you have paid, I would go straight into an ebay claim, as others have suggested before this.

Keep all your messages as they help to prove you have tried but have not been given a pick up address. I should imagine you would win and get your money back.