Scammers on eBay

[gail.schultz]

I bought three fruit trees on eBay about a year ago. They were very short, thin sticks without any leaves. I just found out that they were not fruit trees from someone who knows well about nurseries. I filed a complaint on eBay and was told that they could not do anything about it because it was over 90 days old. During the year, I spent a lot of money, labor, and time on growing the trees. Because I don't know what I got, how do I know I was duped? Don't they know that they are protecting the seller from being exposed by continuing the scam without doing anything about it? Please see the attached pictures for a comparison. The first three are the trees I purchased. The last one is the true shape of the leaf for Fuyu persimmon trees.

eBay responded my complaint that I filed with BBB insisted their 30 day policy. However, eBay return policy for selling trees is inapplicable because trees require time to grow in order to determine what they are from the very thin, short stems without leaves. You give buyers no chance to post their feedback because you don't allow them to do so after 30 days. By doing so, eBay has successfully protected scammers like the seller. Therefore, the seller has been able to keep 95 percent of the positive ratings on eBay to continue scamming people.

[soh.maryl]

ALL eBay buyers owe it to themselves to read the MBG and understand it as it applies to them.

A buyer has 30 days to open an item not as described case with eBay.

Paypal gives you 180 days to open a case if that was your payment method.

Last chance:  Most credit cards give you an extended length of time also to do a chargeback. 

[soh.maryl]

And, not that it would have made matters any different in this case, but eBay gives you 60 days to post feedback.  

[mudshark61369]

@gail.schultz,

Some things should not be purchased online unless a buyer knows exactly what they are getting. Something like a cutting that has to be rooted, would be one of them. 

There isn't one 3rd party online retail site that is going to offer buyer protections for a year.  eBay is not going to allow feedback to be posted after 60 days from the date you receive items, because too many people would use it improperly.  You cannot say for certain that what happened to you wasn't just a simple mix up, but you want to be able to say the seller scammed you, without proof.  Allowing that to happen would open ebay up to being sued for allowing libel to be committed. 

[ed8108 · Accepted solution]

 Re: MBG

 Selling certain items on the internet apparently may help some sellers avoid having to deal with a unhappy buyer 

[soh.maryl]

Uh, no, not exactly.  eBay offers the Money Back Guarantee for buyers which is really quite good. The catch is that the buyer has to read it, understand it and use it in a timely manner.  In this instance, that doesn't appear to have happened.

"Certain items"? What would those items be? Trees, as in this case?  

[gail.schultz]

I have no idea why eBay has to limit the number of days to post buyers' feedbacks. What would happen if they allow customers to do it without a limit as long as it is a legitimate buyer and have factual comments?

[soh.maryl]

No idea.  But I am aware that all of us here are required to play by the current rules.

You are certainly free to suggest to eBay that they modify that deadline.

And FB doesn't actually resolve the issue, but you already know that.

[gail.schultz]

Why does eBay allow sellers to sell items that are not supposed to be on eBay? How do people know which item they are not supposed to purchase? What bad things would happen if there were no restrictions on posting buyers' feedback? If the seller is simply mixed up, why didn't the seller respond to my repeated contacts?

[gail.schultz]

Obviously, he meant the fruit trees that I have bought. How do I know which items I should not purchase? Why does eBay sell if they are not supposed to do so?

[gail.schultz]

Exactly! Sellers and eBay work together and use the 30 or 60 day policy to stop buyers from posting their complaints and feedback and to protect scammers from being caught. That's why the seller can continue scamming people with a 95 percent rating. Do they have a policy for dealing with scammers other than this, which is only good for regular transactions?

[soh.maryl]

eBay does not sell anything, as you know.  eBay does not see anything that's sold by an eBay seller.  eBay offers protection via the MBG.  For some reason, you failed to use the protection offered by eBay.  You had 30 days to open an NAD case with eBay.

You had about 6 months to open a case with Paypal.  You had a significant amount of time to do a credit card charge back.

You did not do any of these things.   Don't know what else to tell you, except that you needed to read the MBG and use it.  

[gail.schultz]

Right, eBay does not sell anything, but it can protect sellers from being punished using the 30 or 60-day policy. How do I know that the fruit trees I bought were counterfeit when, in fact, what I received were only extremely thin sticks, less than one foot long, without leaves? By the time I found out, 60 days had passed. The seller did not respond after I repeatedly contacted him. eBay used this 30 or 60-day policy to reject me. Is the 30 or 60-day policy for regular transactions or for dealing with scams and fraud? They are separate issues, right?

[bonjourami]

As others mentioned, you had six months to file a case at PP or with your cc, you didnt do that.That should have been enough time to to tell these were fake trees, or whatever they were.Beyond Ebays thirty day MBG, there are back up protections available. 

[stainlessenginecovers]

---

@gail.schultz wrote:

I have no idea why eBay has to limit the number of days to post buyers' feedbacks. What would happen if they allow customers to do it without a limit as long as it is a legitimate buyer and have factual comments?

---

Many people have unreal expectations of things and most everything 'stops working' or etc. one day or another. 

So a sellers reputation should be dinged by a negative 5 years later because the socks they bought lost their elasticity?