What does EBay do to sellers who are caught selling stolen goods?

[rochesternewyork]

Someone in my city was arrested by federal government for selling stolen goods, here’s the link to the news article:

https://www.rochesterfirst.com/greece/greece-man-charged-with-selling-470k-in-stolen-goods-from-acro...

I’m wondering what eBay does about that now? Obviously they will ban him, right? But all those thousands of dollars, what a mess. Crime never pays. 

[dirk12955]

eBay has absolutely no idea of who is offering stolen goods until they are contacted

by a legitimate Police agency.

Innocent until proven guilty.

[fab_finds4u]

He is still on eBay. Good Lord, he is one of eBay's most reputable sellers according to his feedback page. He has nothing currently for sale but he has a lot of recent sales. I don't think eBay will close his account until at least 60 days after the delivery dates. I bet they're not letting him list anything else.  Time will tell. Thanks for the heads up on that scam booger.

[slati_2013]

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@dirk12955 wrote:

eBay has absolutely no idea of who is offering stolen goods until they are contacted

by a legitimate Police agency.

Innocent until proven guilty.

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 No, eBay does have an idea of who might be selling stolen goods. It is why they restrict accounts that all of a sudden start selling new high end goods, especially electronics. This guy likely got away with is because he was an established seller and had been selling these items for a while.

[eunster1313]

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@rochesternewyork wrote:

Someone in my city was arrested by federal government for selling stolen goods, here’s the link to the news article:

https://www.rochesterfirst.com/greece/greece-man-charged-with-selling-470k-in-stolen-goods-from-acro...

I’m wondering what eBay does about that now? Obviously they will ban him, right? But all those thousands of dollars, what a mess. Crime never pays. 

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Here is another resent one from your city that you missed.

Former Rochester Pawn Shop Owner Pleads Guilty To Selling Stolen Goods on eBay.
https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdny/pr/former-rochester-pawn-shop-owner-pleads-guilty-selling-stolen-g... 

[slati_2013]

Wow. $3.2 million in stolen goods sold probably on eBay? That is a major operation. What is the deal with Rochester and stolen goods?

[earthdreamer]

So all those buyers could be in possession of stolen goods.

How does that work out?

[justafemster]

Don't look on reddit.  You'll see many many 'lists' of products that buyers want.  I can guess most if not all are for sale on some online venue.  

[janet9988]

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@earthdreamer wrote:

So all those buyers could be in possession of stolen goods.

How does that work out?

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Right...and what about if they resold the stolen Items???

[dirk12955]

I thought ebay restricts new accounts selling high end good because some of those (Or most) 

are potential non-delivery scammers.

How does ebay look at a sellers listings and automatically know the items are stolen?

[slati_2013]

They do not know they are stolen. They look at the history of the seller. Usually signs are in a short time the seller sold thousands of dollars of news expensive electronics. It is why they will ask for receipts for the items. Unfortunately once eBay asks you for receipts for the items you are selling, chances are your restriction is permanent. 

[skeletonstore]

Ebay generally features such sellers and offers no fees on the merchandise they are pushing.  They turn a blind eye and say we're a venue.  It's pretty obvious in many instances but it can get complicated as the people who steal are often not the ones who sell.  It's very much like the film Lady In a Cage where James Caan's gang go to the local "Fagan" shady pawn shop character who gives them wholesale exchange of goods for cash.  It's a racket and was most prominent starting in 2020 and continues till this day.  Facebook is pretty bad too as they don't even police their marketplace.  Ebay will flag anyone trying to push very expensive things, so that's why an established company actually sells the stuff.  Before the plandemic there was heroin and fentanyl addicts who would sell other people's belongings and the shops they sold them in sold the stuff on ebay.  That continues and shoplifting and organized heists continue.  This site is full of that.  

[stephenmorgan]

Around the year 2000, I was contacted by the FBI thru eBay messages.  They wanted to know what I had purchased from a seller in New York City and the serial numbers.  The seller had like 1500 feedbacks.  I had made two purchases on different dates about a year earlier from this seller.

I called and talked to the FBI agent working the case.  The FBI stated that the seller worked for a Camara Store and had started out honest but then he started to sell stuff that belonged to the Camara Store.  FBI stated that the owner of the stolen property had agreed not to ask for the stolen items to be returned and that the FBI just needed to know what I purchased for their case.

The FBI said they were contacting everyone who had ever purchased something from seller.  I do not know what ever happened.  The FBI never said if what I had purchased was stolen or what happened with their investigation.  The only thing I could figure is that eBay did not keep very good records so they did not know what was sold by the seller.  It is possible that some people did not reply to the FBI's request.

[justafemster]

Plandemic?  Don't even bring your tin foil hat politics here. 

[coolections]

Ebay is probably the best way to sell stolen goods. I see news about that all the time. With that said Ebay has no idea if something listed is stolen. I would assume once prosecuted Ebay bans the thieves.