Unable to Report Seller

[idahospud22]

I made an offer for an item and the seller countered and then asked that we communicate directly via email so we could discuss the details of the price and shipping, etc., essentially taking the transaction off ebay. I paid for the item via PayPal and now have a problem with the product.

I attempted to report the seller using https://www.ebay.com/help/action?topicid=4022  but keep getting the following error message. It's the same on various browsers and on different days. It seems to be broken.

Any advice?

[simba6]

First what is the problem with the item?

If it's not as described, file a not as described case.  If it never arrived, file a never received the item case.

If it's not one of those, come back here and explain so we can help.

[albertabrightalberta]

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@idahospud22 wrote:

I made an offer for an item and the seller countered and then asked that we communicate directly via email so we could discuss the details of the price and shipping, etc., essentially taking the transaction off ebay. I paid for the item via PayPal and now have a problem with the product.

I attempted to report the seller using https://www.ebay.com/help/action?topicid=4022  but keep getting the following error message. It's the same on various browsers and on different days. It seems to be broken.

Any advice?

---

Your problem is a perfect example of what happens when you (both buyer and seller) take the transaction off site. 

Ebay can't help you because you didn't buy it through ebay. Unfortunately, you are SOL.

[idahospud22]

Ebay isn't rejecting my report because I didn't complete the transaction on platform - the web page is broken. The seller removed the listing because of a "listing error." I am attempting to report him to protect future buyers - I'm not asking for help with the transaction.

[mtgraves7984]

@idahospud22 

Try this link. It seems to be not broken. >> Online Customer Service - Report an issue with a seller (ebay.com)

[maxine*j]

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@idahospud22 wrote:

Ebay isn't rejecting my report because I didn't complete the transaction on platform - the web page is broken. The seller removed the listing because of a "listing error." I am attempting to report him to protect future buyers - I'm not asking for help with the transaction.

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You took the transaction off eBay so as far as eBay is concerned, you were never in a transaction with the seller.  Therefore, you have nothing to report to eBay. 

You cannot get eBay to help with a transaction, or with a seller, or take a report, or say boo, because you took eBay out of the equation. 

That meant eBay collected no fees, had no control over the sale or the seller, or was in any way involved, so there's nothing for you to say to eBay or for eBay to say to you.

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[myangelandmyprincess]

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@idahospud22 wrote:

Ebay isn't rejecting my report because I didn't complete the transaction on platform - the web page is broken. The seller removed the listing because of a "listing error." I am attempting to report him to protect future buyers - I'm not asking for help with the transaction.

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If they ended the listing it can still be reported.  If the listing was removed from the platform the seller didn't do that eBay did.  

[maxine*j]

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@myangelandmyprincess wrote:

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@idahospud22 wrote:

Ebay isn't rejecting my report because I didn't complete the transaction on platform - the web page is broken. The seller removed the listing because of a "listing error." I am attempting to report him to protect future buyers - I'm not asking for help with the transaction.

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If they ended the listing it can still be reported.  If the listing was removed from the platform the seller didn't do that eBay did.  

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Reported on what basis?  The listing ended because the seller and the OP did an off-eBay deal.  Now the OP wants to report the seller because the off-eBay deal didn't work out to OP's liking and OP wants to "protect future buyers" from the seller.  Take eBay out of the transaction and then later demand that eBay do something to make the unhappy buyer happy?  Come again?

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[ms.rodriguez*]

Ebay already warns everybody to deal ONLY in the ebay system. So no need to warn anyone. You have 0 Ebay protection.   If you used paypal, open an item NOT as described case but if you paid with FRIENDS and Family option, you do NOT have buyer protection. You are ONLY supposed to use friends and family to send money to friends and family.  If you used it to buy something you committed fraud and you screwed Paypal out of their fees and you screwed yourself in the process.

Sometimes, if you are the buyer and used friends and family and were defrauded, the credit card company MIGHT give you a refund. if you do a chargeback.   My son was reimbursed last year on a Facebook transaction.  It was about 15 dollars.  

You can't name that seller here either.   You can't shame another seller even if it's true.  Hopefully you did not lose too much money.  You can report the seller to paypal that he requested FRIENDS AND FAMILY as payment and that he defrauded you.   A few of those reports and he will be suspended from paypal.  But paypal will know that you lied and paid used friends and family.   Anyway,  soon paypal is going to charge a fee on the friends and family transactions too since so many folks are abusing it.  I don't know when that is going to start.

In the future, whatever you buy, deal within the ebay system.

[idahospud22]

I'm trying to let ebay know that their reporting system is broken. But mostly I'm just getting finger wagging and pearl clutching. 

Carry on.

[kathiec]

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@idahospud22 wrote:

I'm trying to let ebay know that their reporting system is broken. But mostly I'm just getting finger wagging and pearl clutching. 

Carry on.

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Posting on a member-to-member forum hardly seems the best way to let eBay know about a technical issue. It's kind of like posting on NextDoor that your house is on fire. And the point everyone is making is that it doesn't matter that you can't get the reporting system to work, because you have nothing to report. But if you're compelled to report the issue for the good of all mankind, I suggest you do so on the Technical Issues forum.

Carry on.

[ittybitnot]

 I am attempting to report him .....

@idahospud22 

Next time you get a member trying to take the transaction/communication off eBay, you can report it right on the eBay message.  It is found under the "Action" tab.  If using a computer, those buttons are right across the top of the screen.  

If you paid the seller directly with PayPal instead of using eBay checkout, that is not a good thing. Perhaps you can file your claim directly with PayPal? 

[albertabrightalberta]

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@idahospud22 wrote:

Ebay isn't rejecting my report because I didn't complete the transaction on platform - the web page is broken. The seller removed the listing because of a "listing error." I am attempting to report him to protect future buyers - I'm not asking for help with the transaction.

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The page isn't broken. 

The "error" message you received is the message one receives when they can't report a problem and there's no transaction or problem to report.

What you aren't understanding is that you were as much in violation as the seller was. Neither you nor the seller are supposed to complete a purchase or sale off-site.

[mtgraves7984]

"But mostly I'm just getting finger wagging..."

@idahospud22 

That's our secret handshake here at the eBay Ethics meetings. 😉

[kkells3]

I'm sorry you're being attacked like this. It's shameful that people are getting so hostile instead of reading what you actually wrote* AND instead of addressing the question about a problem** that MANY of us are encountering.

* You NEVER say you took things off of eBay. You merely - CLEARLY - state that YOU completed the sale via PayPal. This is how MANY of us pay for eBay items. (Hmmm, I have a recollection that PayPal was the ONLY way to pay for eBay items for years. I think?)

** MANY people have been reporting this same error. I've reported it many times.

I'm glad you seem to have a thick skin & that you see right through people who get hostile toward someone reporting a technical error. Still... Sheesh. Some human primates can be such ___-_____.