false, misleading and fraudulent listings

[davoe291]

What is eBay's policy on sellers misrepesenting items for sale; making false and fraudelent claims about the item? I would have thought that consumer protection laws apply to advertising and sales on eBay too, but apparently not. I can find no reference to this in eBay's policies, and certainly there is no appropriate category to report an item.

A seller repeatedly lists items for sale at inflated prices (e.g. 20-30 times actual value). There is no law against this - you can ask any price you like - but he misrepresents the items as being old and antique when they are not. An elaborate story is concocted relating to where the item was found and to make it sound like the items are genuinely old. Despite being warned about this practice numerous times by a number of specialist collectors he blatantly continues these listings. Several items have sold to (presumably) novice collectors at inflated prices. I realise that eBay is "buyer beware", and you need to do your homework on things, but unscrupolous sellers like this prey on gullible people who believe the pack of lies told in the listing. This is just plain wrong!

What can be done about this?

[tazzieterror]

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@alexhome007 wrote:

I purchased a USB stick from a selled in NSW. Got the item quick but the stick was a fake size 250gb It's been formated to that but only 32gb.

The problem is I will get a refund, but then I cant warn other ebay with feedback, because I got a refund.

So others will do the same as me, there rating will sill be good.

Others buyers wont know its a fake untill they use it passed 32gb. So they give good feedback untill one day they use more than 32gb and there data goes missing. (It's a low act to sell this stuff on ebay)

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1. Obligatory 'You've resurrected a thread that's over 6 years old - let dead threads rest in peace and instead start a new one' reply.

2. You are incorrect in thinking feedback cannot be left for a refunded purchase - indeed it can be. Go see the 'Purchases' tab of the following page and you should be able to see the refunded item there:

https://www.ebay.com.au/fdbk/leave_feedback 

Good day to you!

[south.coffee]

More recent USB stick thread:

https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/Buying/Fraudulent-products-coming-from-China/m-p/2293237#M108207

[jeniedreams03]

Hi...Yes...and not only this, but even if a Seller is fraudulently listing say: "3 pce..." & a Buyer then clicks on that 3 item set, but they are forced to choose 1 x sized piece, or pay double for the SET of 3 pieces, that the 3 were listed at...there's NO WAY to ACTUALLY report the fraudulent listing!  Ebay's "Report Item" categories" are SO restrictive that  there is NO WAY to actually complain  of the "fraudulent hook" that entices a Buyer to even look at the listing.  Further to this, if you wish to narrow the search to, say "Australia only", doing so results in SO MANY CHINESE listings, that you were better off before you clicked on the "Australia only" filter...THEN...check the feedback for at LEAST 50% of supposedly "Aussie" Sellers, and you find they are BASED in CHINA...EBAY MUST BE RUN BY CHINA.  I love Ebay, and have bought several HUNDRED items via Ebay, BUT, I am losing faith in Ebay RAPIDLY...I NOW only use Ebay to compare, and select...Ohhh...Ebay...such a shame...all the technology in the World, but you can't get the basics "down pat".

[imastawka]

No one is 'forced' to buy anything - the choice is all yours.

Plenty of ways to report fraudulent listings, but if they're a Chinese seller, then it's pointless.

[gmsolutionsau]

I am still wondering why ebay itself falsely advertises all products with multiple options in the recommended/suggested etc categories. you see a good price for something, click on it and it takes you to item page with a selection of options. the price displayed in the advert is never the price for the product there is usually some small add on like a cord or plug that is the price shown in the advert but you select the product you wanted and the price has gone from $5.20 to $120. (hmm this advert says 50x atmega328p chips for $25 but click on the link its a usb cable for $25 the 50x atmega328p chips are $300 ie $6 each instead of the reasonable $0.40c each)  it seams to me the ads are always associated with the lowest value options in the listing  regardless of whether its the actual product displayed in the advert or not and it seams to me that ebay itself is liable for the false advertising.  i have never used ebay as a seller so i dont know how all this works but it seams to me that all you need to get around the false advertising policy's by throwing an unrelated product in as an option so its price is display instead? is this intentional on ebays part to force people to navigate false advertising links to generate sales and impulse shopping or is this just an unscrupulous un policed behaviour? all if not all advert links to a product with options are advertised like this going back as far as i can remember. i am not the first and i am not the last to be **bleep** off with this and certainly not the first or last to complain about the hours and days wasted sifting through these adverts till the right product at the right price is found.

[kh-stanley1]

Hi everyone,

Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread HERE if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thank you for understanding.