fake sellers?

Question

I bought a pretty expensive item (~$740), and I didn't receive the item. When it was clear it wouldn't make it to me by the expected delivery window, I attempted to contact the seller jan-556414.

I found that jan-556414 was no longer a registered seller. They had good reviews.

How risky is to buy on eBay now? I'm getting a refund from eBay, but I am really hoping that sellers like jan-556414 aren't successful in scamming and getting money for nothing.

Does anyone have experience with this?

eburtonlab · Answer

@sscheidt77 no longer a registered seller. They had good reviews. Are you certain about that? That account was registered February 23, 2026 -- two weeks ago -- the only listing I can see from that seller sold out the next day, and the seller had neither left or received any feedback that I can see. Be sure you are not confusing item reviews, which are linked to specific products sold by anyone, with feedback, which is linked to individual seller accounts. In general, you can avoid a lot of headaches by choosing to purchase only from established sellers that have recent and past positive feedback as a seller for selling items in the same category that you intend to buy. If someone is selling a dozen apple watches, but has no feedback, or only has feedback as a buyer, or only has feedback for selling dress patterns or fishing lures (actual examples I have seen), perhaps wait until they have a track record of positive feedback for selling electronics before you buy from them. You might miss out on a good deal from a new seller once in a while, and nothing can guarantee that you won't still run into an issue anyway, but you can avoid a lot of potential problems by choosing to do business with established sellers. Anyone can put together a listing that looks nice -- it is not hard at all to simply copy an existing listing -- but it is much harder to create a history of consistent sales and positive feedback. For more experienced sellers, you can learn a lot about the sort of seller you are dealing with by checking the seller's feedback page to see where the seller is registered and to notice if the seller has any negative feedback. If you see negatives indicated in the table of recent feedback, you can choose to exclusively see each type of comment by clicking on the numbers shown in the table. Reading negative or neutral comments can often tell you if a seller has a pattern of problems with items not matching the descriptions, canceled orders, late deliveries or item location misrepresentation. If a seller has a pattern of too many serious negatives -- or just not enough positive history -- it is often better to find another seller with a better track record to do business with.