eBay are the real scammers (another high value purchase scam story)

[impulsive-buyer-007]

Hey guys,

It’s me again, some might remember me when I was here last time ranting about getting scammed for 2x4090 worth almost $7000 where the seller sent an envelope to the same suburb to confirm delivery and I had to go through hell to get my money back. 

Well, I’ve made countless high value purchases without any issues since, until 2 weeks ago, where I bought an iPad combo (item number: 364192206702), had sent seller a message before purchase because at the time of purchase it was $700+ off from MSRP, so was a bit sus about it but after hearing out the seller how it was a business purchase and blah blah plus their seller record of over 300+ times sold and their profile looking like a real store I went ahead with the purchase.

A few days after a label was created and tracking provided so I was happy that I was about to receive the item. As time went by I kept checking the tracking and the tracking still had not moved from the “label created” part so I messaged him a few times and no response, so at this stage I knew this had to be a scam (from prev experience), so I took it upon myself and contacted auspost a week after the tracking was provided for them to confirm it was only created the label but non of their centres had receive it for a scan.

So I waited till I could open up a case, which I did on the 4th April a day after the expected delivery, and was told to wait till the 12th April before eBay stepped in. As time went by no response from the seller, in the mean time I monitored their profile to see a negative feedback regarding another high value purchase, and as of now including my feedback left for the seller they have 5 negative feedback for high value purchases.

So today being the 12th I asked eBay to step in around 1 AM and went to bed, I only received an email a few minutes ago, and this is where the **bleep** gets wild. They sent me an email saying how they see that an enquire by the customer was lodged, and they provided me with the tracking number the seller provided, but a strange thing, they provided a courier tracking link from Auspost which says the item was “DELIVERED”, I assume when I opened the case or when eBay contacted the seller, that is what they provided eBay rep.

So I carefully check this tracking link, and this is the most infuriating part, totally different tracking number, delivered to a differ suburb RANDWICK when I live in the South West. Thats not all, this is the cherry on top, the item was DELIVERED on the 16th of March, 8 days before I even decided I wanted and iPad negotiated the terms and hit buy on the 24th March.

eBay on their email stated they’ll be putting a hold on this case to confirm delivery and wait it out and see if the item arrives, A HOLD of 10 days. Making this a month long journey.

How are eBay reps this brain dead to not even see there are two different trackings, diff suburb, and was delivered 8 days before the order was even placed.

Truly a bizarre world we live in.

[twyngwyn]

There are no matches for that item number

[twyngwyn]

Seller, also has nothing for sale.....maybe eBay has 'stepped in'??

[impulsive-buyer-007]

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.

[gutterpunkz05]

Don't know how you interpret this as ebay being scammers.

The sellers account  1 yr old,   340 sales  ( store selling pokemon type cards)  174 +FB 

 5-FB all in the last month, all for high value items, unrelated to the sellers general trading.

Accounts trading has been suspended, so would assume the account is under investigation.

If as suspected your transaction is part of a wider fraud, then there is likely to be a delay in you receiving a refund.

But Hey, lets just blame ebay, bloody scammers!!!  (Note:  Ebay are not going to compromise any security/fraud investigation, by providing info to a single buyer/victim)

[impulsive-buyer-007]

I'm calling them scammers because they are the enablers, sellers can provide false tracking, blatant fake documents, tracking thats irrelavant to my case, delivery that was delivered a week in advance to a different suburb and they ask me to wait another 10 days to see if the item comes after I already waited over a week for it and the seller in the 2 weeks of purchase never replied once.

Again as of when I made my first purhcase from this seller there was no negative reviews, and seeing they were pretty active selling on eBay whether it be pokemon cards or something else.

This is not my first time where it feels like I have been fkd by eBay, my first $7000 that was scammed from me was refused by eBay so I had to go a deeper extent for them to even contact Auspost to verify because they wouldn't even do that. Same with this scenario, what sort of training does eBay provide their staff that they can't distinguish between two different tracking numbers, two different suburbs, two different purchase/ delivered dates.

[gutterpunkz05]

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.

[countessalmirena]

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.

[davewil1964]

They didn't check in the first place because they were hoping to scam you. Luckily eBay's buyer protection kicked in.

Given your history of alleged eBay scams on high priced items maybe stop buying here, or anywhere online for that matter.

Helpful hint: for items over $750 the seller has to use Signature on Delivery to be covered.