Seller pretending to be ebay.

[cafoops1]

I have a purchased item that is overdue for delivery and I randomly received a note (obviously from the seller in China) pretending to be ebay Australia, and telling me not to open a case. 

1. Has anyone else experienced this? and

2. How do I let ebay know one of their sellers is committing fraud?

[imastawka]

It's not fraud IMO.

If you can open a case for INR then do so.

If the seller asks you to close it before they refund - don't.

You can't re-open a case once it's closed.

Keep an eye on the case and ask ebay to step in when the case allows - don't let it time out or it will close in the seller's favour.

[jellybirddesigns]

Why are they committing fraud?

The seller doesn't want a case for Item Not Received opened as they will have to refund if there is no tracking/delivery status. 

The seller can only ask - you have the right to wait longer, or open a case. However, you've been here more than 15 years, so you should know that there is only a 30 day window in which to lodge a dispute, or lose the opportunity forever.

Since it is overdue, open a case right now and do not close it under any circumstances. 

[glenbankloel]

If you feel that they are trying to delay you until the time runs out then use the eBay system, that is what it is for. Perhaps allowing a bit of extra time for delivery could be a good idea. But not excessive, maybe a few extra days?

But they are only trying to protect themselves, not you, you need to do that.  

If you receive the item then you can let ebay know via their system, and all is well.

Not surprising that the item is taking longer than anticipated, post is not particularly reliable from o/seas. 

Would't say they are committing fraud though till you are sure what is happening.      

Good luck hope everything works out for you.

[springyzone]

How is the seller pretending to be ebay? It would be helpful to see the actual message.

If they are somehow trying to pass their message off as an official ebay communication, they are pretty stupid as it would have their user name attached to the message. But even so, it would be wrong and misleading. And yes, I would report it to ebay, maybe via chat, if this has occurred.

If they just asked you not to open a case though, and said they would resolve the problem, that is different.

Their word is not your command.

If the item is overdue, open an ebay claim. Just do it.

I have had a couple of messages from sellers in the past, telling me that there could be postal delays and please be patient, but I had those message unambiguously from the sellers themselves and straight after purchase. Both items actually arrived well within their time. I will usually give an item a week or two over the due date, but that is it. After that, I would swing into a claim no matter what a seller said.

[cafoops1]

Many thanks, Sounds like a plan.

[cafoops1]

Because the seller is pretending to be eBay - they signed the note "eBay"even though the English used throughout the note was not from an English speaker.

[cafoops1]

The fraud part is the seller pretending to be eBay (that is how they signed-off the note)

[cafoops1]

They signed off the note with, "from ebay", not using their own name, but the English used throughout was not that of a regular English speaker. Definitely not from eBay.au.