ebay - This harassment must stop

[banana-posts]

There is a serious flaw in ebay’s messaging system and it must be addressed.  This psycho buyer in the USA has sent me no less than 150 messages and they keep pouring in. I sold him a phone.

Prior to the sale he asked me a few technical questions. Then a few more. Then he bought it. I promptly answered all of his questions. As soon as he paid, he began messaging me more and more. Often repeating the same questions. Is it locked, do you know the original owner, tracking hasn’t updated, is the shipping box big or small.

At the 40th message I told him I had things to do and could no longer respond to his emails. At that point, I had sent him about 8 total replies. I looked at his feedback left and the majority of it was something like ‘great seller, answered all of my questions.’ I figured maybe he has some kind of mental disability.

When I told him enough was enough, that’s when things got crazy. He started messaging me literally every 10 minutes for hours. The one right before I called ebay was asking me about my family.  The one that crossed the line. I spoke to a US rep at length. Within an hour his account was suspended. ‘No longer a Registered User.’  That account had 20+ feedbacks and was about 1.5 years old.

So what does he do, opens a new account and starts all over again. I called ebay again. Rinse and repeat for two more new accounts. His last so far and 4th account, he listed Thailand as his location.

I called ebay repeatedly. And each time they told me they would take action but sorry, we have no BLOCKING mechanism in place. Even if you put one of these scumbags in your blocked bidder list. SORRY, THEY CAN STILL MESSAGE YOU ALL DAY LONG WITH NEW ACCOUNTS ALL DAY LONG, potentially for years.

THIS IS WRONG. I explained to ebay that if this doesn’t stop I will file a harassment suit against ebay and the buyer. Ebay is just as responsible. They are the ones forwarding the buyer’s messages and it is harassment.  

The rep said she was actually going to use my case in the next staff meeting with security and bring this up. That’s great but ebay has been in business for 20 years. What the heck are they waiting for???

To not allow a message filter and allow this abuse is despicable and needs to be addressed and it needs to be addressed now. On a side note, my conversations with the reps were very positive and they took action quickly within their limited options.

I for one, haven’t done anything yet but I have the buyer’s info, if he doesn’t stop and ebay won’t stop it, I will take it to the next level. And I'm not the only one. I've seen hundreds of posts here for the same thing.

@trinton trinton@ebay or whoever you are. This is a serious problem and needs to be changed.

[gracieallen01]

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@gracieallen01 wrote:

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@lookng2015 wrote:
If they can block ALL a seller's IDs based on IP or whatever, why on earth can't they also block buyers to stop them creating new IDs for the purposes of harassment?

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Bingo!  You said the secret word!

I agree with you on that - seems that they can easily block buyers and their relatives/friends who use the same IP if any one of them messes up. 

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Ooops, meant 'sellers' (blue highlight)

[banana-posts]

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@mr_lincoln wrote:

@banana-posts  Wow, GREAT Post and I totally agree that there should be some kind of block in place OR if you call in and eBay sees that the communication is "excessive" then they put a stop to it and message the person to STOP ... additionally, onc ean ID has been blocked any other IDs existing or created should be blocked.  eBay Policy is explicite about using alternate IDs to get around blocks ... really sorry this happened.

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ebay did to all of that. They expelled his crazy rear off of ebay. After opening the 3rd guest account they emailed him to stop. He keeps opening accounts and I can't block him. It's equally as wrong that people can open accounts here willy nilly with absolutely not checks or some kind of registration. This place is a cess pool.

[llllady]

Sorry this has happened to you.

What eBay could/should do is add a button to every message that comes through their messaging system that states, "I no longer wish to receive messages from this user." 

[vintagecraze50]

No blocking mechanism for this---I believe that is true not just for people opening accounts doing this harrassing email job on you but probably no way to track multiple accounts by the same person under different alias's etc etc scams. THAT needs to be addressed as well. It seems it would be a difficult problem with people signing in at different IP addresses and other conniving.

[vintagecraze50]

Great idea, but the messages cannot stop for at least 30 days after the sale.

[llllady]

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@vintagecraze50 wrote:

Great idea, but the messages cannot stop for at least 30 days after the sale.

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Ah, yes, but that would only apply to the initial sale.  When the person gets booted and they create an other account(s) like this one, the game would be over immediately.

[*eponymous*]

@banana-posts Why can't you add each new user to the bbl and disallow communication without responding to any messages?

Call and tell him to knock it off?

[*eponymous*]

You know you can put a user on the bbl and block messages if you haven't messaged with the user, right?

[*eponymous*]

eBay already provides the way to block if you haven't replied to a message. Have you replied and then tried to block?

[southernfriedbelle]

This is a form of cyberstalking. Since eBay is not doing anything to prevent this from happening, I think you should investigate what can be done via other avenues that are familiar with this issue and are equipped to offer you some valid options for reporting the offender and taking action to put his harassment to a stop.

eBay should definitely take immediate action to do its part in giving members the ability to report harassing or threatening messages from other members. I am disturbed that eBay does not recognize the danger that not offering this option to its members presents, not only to eBay members, but to eBay itself if an incident should escalate to the point of a harassed member having to take legal action against the offender.

I cannot see how eBay would escape being held accountable in some way for providing a means for the offending action to continue unabated, since reporting it is no longer possible, except by contacting Customer Service, and blocking the offender is not even possible.

[*eponymous*]

How is eBay responsible if a user chooses to continue to respond to each new user? If you don't respond to a message and have not had a transaction with the new user, it's as simple as adding the new username to the bbl and blocking communication from users who are on the bbl.

[chrispycritter007]

Incorrect. All they have to do is search for the seller by name and send a message that way (not going through a listing). In those cases the blocks do NOT block, regardless if you've responded or not. It's a giant loophole eBay needs to address but chooses not to spend time on.... again.

[a*river*runs*through*it]

@banana-posts

Please tell me that you have no intention of sending the nut the phone.

[a_c_green]

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@banana-posts wrote:

I for one, haven’t done anything yet but I have the buyer’s info, if he doesn’t stop and ebay won’t stop it, I will take it to the next level.

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Great. However, the next level isn't here on eBay ("Okay, Sir, this time we're going to put him on Double Secret Probation!"), but at his local police department.

You would start by filing a report with your local department first, so that they can view the messages and determine that you're not J. Random Looney making this stuff up. You (or they, if you can persuade them) then contact the buyer's local PD (citing your own report number as a reference).

This is why you start with your own PD; you need their authority to back you up. Be sure you're clear on what you are and are not reporting here: you are not reporting an eBay dispute to the police (as they'll tell you it's a civil matter); you are reporting a series of harassing and stalking calls, and since you know the poipetrator, you are asking for their help in contacting the buyer's local PD, so that they can go tell him to knock it off.

[missjen831]

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@*eponymous* wrote:

eBay already provides the way to block if you haven't replied to a message. Have you replied and then tried to block?

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Actually the block doesn't block messages sent from the seller's feedback page. If the OP blocks a member and uses the communication setting as well, it doesn't block communication from the "contact seller" link on his feedback profile.