I've been dealing with this scheme for over three years, and all I ever hear from eBay is some reiteration of, "Be sure to report them so our team can look into their account and have them removed from the platform if they find the user is breaking policy."
I have provided eBay with evidence time and time again of this scam, but they have yet to implement any effective measures to stop it. Keep in mind this scam more so pertains to higher volume sellers who have persistent listings where they continue to sell a product, not single quantity listings. There is no short version of this so bear with me.
Note: Below this explanation of the scam I have included flags to look for before shipping your orders so you can stop the scam before it happens, and some information to provide to eBay when fighting one of these fraudulent returns.
Seller A, a legitimate eBay seller, has a product listing that makes sales frequently with a price of around $100 to $200. Seller X, the scammer, copies Seller A's listing using the same photograph, item description, and item details with the occasional exception of the brand name. Seller X will usually make their listing with a quantity of three items available, and a price that undercuts Seller A by around 5% to 10%.
Once Seller X receives an order for their listing, they will then place an order with Seller A using their buyer's shipping address. To do this, Seller X continuously generates new eBay accounts to use for placing the orders with Seller A. I refer to these as burner accounts as they are usually deactivated shortly after the scam is completed. Seller X may ship some small item of little to no value to their buyer and upload that tracking to the order. They will later message their buyer with the real tracking number that they received from Seller A.
At this point all that has happened is Seller X has used Seller A to dropship their own product. The scam continues with Seller X using the burner account to now request a return with a seller faulted return reason to require Seller A to pay for return shipping. Once Seller X has received the return label, they digitally alter the addressee name (in my experience they usually change the name to eBay Commerce Inc) and street number. This altered shipping label is now used to return a different item of little or no value. I've seen all sorts of items returned, such as a facemask, a paper plate, fertilizer pellets, and outdated phone screen protectors. This random item is returned to an address near Seller A, so tracking will show a delivery scan in their city. This prompts eBay's return system to instruct Seller A to inspect the return and refund the order.
Note: You must be vigilant and check your returns on eBay every day, not only when a return is delivered. If you do not notify eBay of an issue within two days of a return being marked as delivered, the order is automatically refunded.
I have been successful in not having to issue refunds once I knew what to point out, but eBay will usually portray it as them doing you a favor by covering the refund as a courtesy. Something that they can choose to do or not do at any time. Even in instances where I have had a return request and determined that it was an order by a scammer, eBay usually refuses to acknowledge the scam when given decisive evidence. The standard reply is that we need to provide a return label and if we do not get the item back, then contact eBay again to resolve the issue. You will lose your return shipping cost which in my case is usually around $20 to $40. Under eBay's Seller Protection policy when eBay determines that a buyer made a false claim, they state, "We will subsidize the return shipping label cost up to $6.00 per return. "
Sellers are losing money and time even if they successfully fight the fraudulent return. EBay is losing money as well when they are forced to cover a chargeback. When the return is not refunded the scammer files a chargeback, and without fail eBay will notify you that "The buyer's payment institution sided with the buyer. However, since this dispute qualified for seller protections, nothing was deducted from your funds." The scammer will usually sell three of the item, and they only need one successful refund for it be profitable.
I have reported several sellers over the past, and only one has been shut down. Even if they are shut down, they simply make a new account to sell with. EBay could have their system automatically flag an order when two orders are placed with two separate accounts to the same shipping address. Then it should be able to detect the copied listing.
Here are some flags to look for to stop the scam before it happens and ways to defend against a fraudulent return.
1. Check your orders in eBay before shipping. In the "Manage orders awaiting shipment" screen, you will be able to see the buyer's eBay ID followed by their feedback count in parentheses. The burner accounts used to place orders with you will typically have 0 feedback, but I check anything with 3 or less.
2. If you see an order from a user with 0-3 feedback, click "View order details". The buyer's name (not ID) will be listed under the Order info on the right side of the screen. If this name does not match the name on the shipping address, that is a red flag. Now check the area code of the phone number they have provided. In the case of a scam order, this phone number will be for a different state than that of the shipping address.
3. Once you have found an order that matches the above criteria, you will want to copy the title of the sold listing and search that title on eBay. Select the "sold" filter and look for a recent sale that looks like your listing. They will have the same photo and more than likely they same exact title. You can see the sales history of that copied listing will align with the scam order you received. Your order and the scam listing's order is usually a day or two apart. Do not ship the order. Contact eBay at this point and provide them with the item ID of the copied listing and your order ID. They will not confirm as they are not allowed to, but you can tell them to look and see that the shipping address is the same for both orders and let them know you are cancelling the order you received as it is a scam.
4. If you have already shipped the order and you have received a return request that you suspect is a scam. Check for the above flags, and if needed contact eBay providing all the same information. They may or may not close the return for you. It's up to them. You may be required to send a return label, and will have to fight it once you do not receive the item back.
5. If you have already shipped the order and you have received a return request that says it was delivered back to you, but you did not receive anything. You can collect all the information above to provide to eBay, and also point out that the return tracking originates in a state different than where the order was shipped to. This will usually result in eBay not requiring you to refund the order.
