eBay - Is fraud on the increase?

[Val-E]

1 hour ago, Lego Templar said:

I am livid right now

 

I went off on the eBay customer service rep. They said sorry it's been closed. I asked to speak to someone in the United States and that can give me a refund before I get off the phone. I got transferred and explained in detail what happen (and 4-5 other negative feedback saying the exact same thing) that they didn't receive item etc.

 

Finally was told I would be getting a refund in 24-48 hours...im heated....it's like these idiots don't care and I have to fight with eBay just to get my money back like I'm in the wrong or something...

 

Also my negative feedback was removed and I doubt the money comes out of the sellers pocket....

Definitive proof that the fruitcakes are Ebay themselves.

[Darth_Raichu]

1 hour ago, Lego Templar said:

I went off on the eBay customer service rep. They said sorry it's been closed. I asked to speak to someone in the United States and that can give me a refund before I get off the phone. I got transferred and explained in detail what happen (and 4-5 other negative feedback saying the exact same thing) that they didn't receive item etc.

 

Finally was told I would be getting a refund in 24-48 hours...im heated....it's like these idiots don't care and I have to fight with eBay just to get my money back like I'm in the wrong or something...

 

Also my negative feedback was removed and I doubt the money comes out of the sellers pocket....

I was afraid of that.  I thought having the INR case opened by eBay itself would have avoid decision against you.  Sh%t sellers like this one make it very hard for the rest of us to operate on eBay

[jerphisch]

2 hours ago, iahawks550 said:

 I had a Buy It Now sale for a small amount $15.00. Buyer had 1,400 feedback but never paid. I sent an email and then opened a non-paying complaint. Buyer emailed me back and said he thought he paid for it, and then wasn't on Ebay for a week.

He then messaged me to tell me he appealed the non-paying claim and won, but would like to buy my item again. Lol

Require immediate payment on BIN, solves that problem.

[iahawks550]

29 minutes ago, jerphisch said:

Require immediate payment on BIN, solves that problem.

I did. That's all I do is BIN auctions with immediate payment. I've never had this issue before. Somehow he got cold feet and bypassed the payment system, yet Ebay still allowed two days before I could even open a case.

[Darth_Raichu]

7 minutes ago, iahawks550 said:

I did. That's all I do is BIN auctions with immediate payment. I've never had this issue before. Somehow he got cold feet and bypassed the payment system, yet Ebay still allowed two days before I could even open a case.

You lose your BIN+IPR when anyone bids on your auction, which sounds like the case here

[iahawks550]

6 minutes ago, Darth_Raichu said:

You lose your BIN+IPR when anyone bids on your auction, which sounds like the case here

This was a simple BIN. I guess I shouldn't have said BIN "auction". There was no bidding. I don't have that option in any of mine.

Everyone BIN of mine has the box checked for immediate payment required. So, maybe this was an Ebay glitch that allowed him to not buy it, yet still show it as being sold.

[Darth_Raichu]

3 minutes ago, iahawks550 said:

This was a simple BIN. I guess I shouldn't have said BIN "auction". There was no bidding. I don't have that option in any of mine.

Everyone BIN of mine has the box checked for immediate payment required. So, maybe this was an Ebay glitch that allowed him to not buy it, yet still show it as being sold.

Did you check Paypal to see if his payment went through?  Since buyer won the appeal, perhaps he did pay but eBay just did not flag as paid due to glitch

[gregpj]

This was a simple BIN. I guess I shouldn't have said BIN "auction". There was no bidding. I don't have that option in any of mine.
Everyone BIN of mine has the box checked for immediate payment required. So, maybe this was an Ebay glitch that allowed him to not buy it, yet still show it as being sold.

If you don't fully link your eBay/PayPal (i.e I require my PayPal password to be entered after a purchase), you can just close your browser before completing the payment. eBay considers the sale as having occurred but they effectively abort the payment by not completing the PayPal portion.

My guess is they sided him with because he has good feedback and probably sweet talked an eBay rep on the phone. He could have simply claimed "I really thought I paid for it" and since eBay CS can't see what happens on the PayPal side (wasn't it really clever for them to slice the businesses apart...) its his word against nobody (ie PayPal). eBay doesn't like to admit their system is flawed as we all know.

Really, it's a PITA but not overly serious in the grand scheme of jerk buyers.

[iahawks550]

I actually hadn't looked until now, but no payment.

 

 

 

Edited March 20, 2017 by iahawks550
oops

[Brickshopper]

Yes I was worried for you as well. It is best to not open a INR if there is a delivery scan in your zip code.  It is best to go the SNAD empty envelope route. Ebay does not take the time to investigate anything. Kudos to you for the hard work.

Yes I was worried for you as well. It is best to not open a INR if there is a delivery scan in your zip code.  It is best to go the SNAD empty envelope route. Ebay does not take the time to investigate anything. Kudos to you for the hard work.

[emazers]

I have had a few Big Buck sets bought with stolen and hacked credit and paypal accounts, now I always got my money back, so what I been doing now anything over $400 I will get the buyers contact info and call them and ask if they really did buy it, I sold a SSDS yesterday and called the person to confirm that they did purchase it, since January I called 2 winners on a SSDS and 10212 and both said they didn't purchase it and had there paypal account hacked.   Ed

[jaisonline]

I actually do the same on my large eBay purchases.

Two years ago, I purchased a NISB Tower Bridge on eBay w/ eBay bucks that arrived shipped by Amazon.  When I went to ask the seller about it, his account was closed.   Decent enough feedback. Turned out he used 'stolen' Amazon gift cards and my name with an address since PayPal provides a mailing address. 

Thus, many types of scamming can 100% happen with buyer accounts also. 

Look, i hate calling people to verify a purchase as it feels totally stupid and creepy doing it.  however, better safe than sorry.   i would hate losing a $900 SSD to a scammer.

5 hours ago, emazers said:

I have had a few Big Buck sets bought with stolen and hacked credit and paypal accounts, now I always got my money back, so what I been doing now anything over $400 I will get the buyers contact info and call them and ask if they really did buy it, I sold a SSDS yesterday and called the person to confirm that they did purchase it, since January I called 2 winners on a SSDS and 10212 and both said they didn't purchase it and had there paypal account hacked.   Ed

 

[Guest TabbyBoy]

I'm surprised how busy this thread has become within a month and thanks for your stories and comments. We live in sad times and need to keep our eyes peeled so I now contact buyers to confirm every >£100 purchase. Please note that scammers are just as likely to buy 10x smaller sets off you rather than say, 1x £500 set, they are sneaky buggers!

[Highlander]

5 hours ago, jaisonline said:

I actually do the same on my large eBay purchases.

Two years ago, I purchased a NISB Tower Bridge on eBay w/ eBay bucks that arrived shipped by Amazon.  When I went to ask the seller about it, his account was closed.  Decent enough feedback. Turned out he used 'stolen' Amazon gift cards and my name with an address since PayPal provides a mailing address. 

Thus, many types of scamming can 100% happen with buyer accounts also. 

Look, i hate calling people to verify a purchase as it feels totally stupid and creepy doing it.  however, better safe than sorry.   i would hate losing a $900 SSD to a scammer.

 

If they hack an account, can they also change the contact number?

[ravenb99]

34 minutes ago, Highlander said:

If they hack an account, can they also change the contact number?

I've had an ebay password hacked twice in 18 years.   Once was long ago (probably 15 years ago) and it was back when they ran the programs that just kept trying passwords and it happened to get it.  Just called and they reset everything for me.    Last time was about 4-5 years ago in Nashville at a large hotel.  Logged in on wifi and didn't log out, got back to room and couldn't log in.  Again just changed password and everything was fine.  With the security measure in place now it would be hard to do much.  Just a new or different computer will flag many operations you try to do with an email or text verification to go any further.

Never had paypal hacked yet...    Did just have my debit card hacked this week , believe it was a gas station skimmer as that was only place I had used my card that week and it wound up being used at Sam's club on other side of town.  They tried to run 2 and the 2nd one got them denied.  One good thing of paypal locking up cards easily at certain stores.

 

 

[Darth_Raichu]

41 minutes ago, ravenb99 said:

I've had an ebay password hacked twice in 18 years.   Once was long ago (probably 15 years ago) and it was back when they ran the programs that just kept trying passwords and it happened to get it.  Just called and they reset everything for me.    Last time was about 4-5 years ago in Nashville at a large hotel.  Logged in on wifi and didn't log out, got back to room and couldn't log in.  Again just changed password and everything was fine.  With the security measure in place now it would be hard to do much.  Just a new or different computer will flag many operations you try to do with an email or text verification to go any further.

With the way security is setup on eBay, logging in to your account from the same network on a regular basis should decrease the chance of somebody else taking control of your account.

[Clintonjoseph]

Has the address of 600 Markley Street in Port Reading New Jersey been mentioned here yet?

On Saturday morning I sold an Arctic Icebreaker for $160, they paid immediately and so I quickly packaged it up and headed to the post office before they closed at noon-just made it. Then, around 7pm I got a message from eBay saying it was a fraudulent purchase which had now been cancelled and to not ship the item. Well crap. I tried calling the post office- that went nowhere, couldn't get a human as it was after hours. Called eBay, they said to just call the post office on Monday morning, should be enough time to stop the shipment. Ok. This morning I do that- turns out I just need to go on the usps website and initiate a package intercept, which costs about $13. I do that and think 'good at least I'll get it back'. I keep checking the tracking number and about 4 hours later it says 'delivered'. What the heck.
Then, I get an alert I've sold an item. Yay. Oh wait... It's a different name but the SAME ADDRESS! Nope! You're not getting my last Jabba sail barge you bastards! I call eBay and explain it to them, they tell me to cancel the order which I do.
I get home tonight and plan on calling Paypal, I hope they will cover the cost of the Arctic icebreaker I shipped. But first I decide to google the address to see if this has happened to anyone else... Yup. Lots of people. Buyers having their accounts hacked and addresses changed to 600 Markley st. Sellers like me shipping things to that address and then the payment being refunded to the hacked "buyers" once it's discovered it's fraud. It's been going on since at least July 2016. You'd think there would be a way to flag that address in ebay's system so sellers wouldn't keep getting scammed. Apparently it's some kind of warehouse that ships the packages overseas.
Well, hopefully I can get PayPal to cover the cost of set since the post office couldn't intercept it for some reason. I'll call them in the morning.
Just wanted to warn everyone here to watch out for that address!

[Jackson]

39 minutes ago, Clintonjoseph said:

Has the address of 600 Markley Street in Port Reading New Jersey been mentioned here yet?

 

Looks like the address might be a freight forwarder. There are probably plenty of legit orders that get sent through there and a small percentage of illegitimate ones, just like with any freight forwarder.

[brickolodon]

 

 

 

[KShine]

2 hours ago, brickolodon said:

 

 

Edited May 22, 2017 by KShine

[exciter1]

@Pseudoty sent me this link and thought this might be what you guys are trying to post?

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2017/may/21/ebay-accused-failing-sellers-buyers-manipulate-system-protection

[minicoopers11]

On 3/17/2017 at 0:50 PM, Kenxxx said:

Speaking of which, I've noticed recently shipping on eBay that they now offer both USPS insurance, and a third party insurance (forget the name) for a dollar or two more.  I don't often go for insurance, but selling some higher dollar items, there's often room in the profit margin to "splurge". Anyone have an opinion on this? Is the third party insurance any better (i.e., pay you with less waiting / hassle)?  Is insurance a sucker bet (waste of my money)? What's the claim process like?

I use insurepost as well and filed one claim (shipping damage). Easy process. I generally only insure large ($500+) orders.

 

Edit: holy comment resurrection. Sorry, just noticed date.

Edited May 22, 2017 by minicoopers11

[brickolodon]

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2017/may/21/ebay-accused-failing-sellers-buyers-manipulate-system-protection

[Guest TabbyBoy]

This is probably for UK eBay buyers only...

I'm a serious coin collector and I've noticed the huge increase in fake Kew Garden 50p coins being listed. You'll see a lot of dodgy sellers using the word "rare" in the title, but then use the words "proof copy" in the description which can be very misleading. I've spent 2 hours this afternoon reporting these listings to eBay, the Royal Mint and supplied a list of item numbers to a friend of mine who's a police officer in the fraud squad. I was lucky that my girlfriend at the time, who worked at Nat West got me over 20 rolls of these 50p coins for me which I've not sold yet. They will be sold at a genuine collector's auction, NEVER on eBay as I'd expect some buyers to keep my genuine originals and return a fake to me.

I will bring these scamming bastards on eBay to justice if it's the last thing I do!

As well as report it to eBay, report any fake item to the manufacturer and to the police. There's a huge crackdown on fakes of all kinds in the UK and those knowingly selling a fake item WILL be prosecuted.

Please, let's work together and wipe out these dodgy sellers on ALL platforms, not just eBay.

Fraud is increasing exponentially, we need to do more about it as eBay don't seem to give a rat's arse!

I've already had reports of "suspects being processed according to the law" from my police contacts so far.

Am I a grass! Too damn right if it's for good reason!

 

Edited July 19, 2017 by TabbyBoy

[mudcatsfan]

I have had quite a string of fraudulent purchases lately.

Warning signs for brickpickers:

1) item purchased buy-it-now, above market price, no negotiation, immediate payment

2) buyer quickly responds asking you to ship immediately for a birthday or because they'll be out of town

3) address looked slightly odd in paypal, but was verified. 2 of them had extra spaces, or periods in the address line

4) buyers were all low feedback, but this could happen at any feedback level

 

What I did in each situation.

1) Set your shipping policy to give you time to think about it (I pick just under the 'extended handling time' penalty, like 3 days). This allows the REAL buyer time to notice they've been hacked and contact you. Also prevents your seller rating from going down, while you wonder if you're shipping to a scammer vs meeting your 1 or 2 day shipping stats.

2) Ask yourself is this too good to be true? If so, it's probably a fraudulent purchase.

3) Ask the buyer lots of questions. If they're unable to respond after contacting you so quickly, they might be doing this many times to other sellers. Try to discern the scammer from the real mom who needs the present for Timmy by Friday.

4) Once you find out it WAS a fake purchase,  Do NOT respond to a paypal request for refund. Do the refund in EBAY first by requesting the user cancel the transaction, ebay then asks you to refund the amount. Do so HERE, not in Paypal. If you refund in Paypal first, then try to cancel in Ebay, Ebay tries to get you to refund AGAIN. This bit me, and I had to call Ebay for resolution.