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How to protect from Scam ?
Hello ebay community!
I just did my first order on ebay for an Apple Mac Studio that suppose to ship from China. The price was to good to be true but I saw the eBay money back guarantee and felt safe to proceed . However a friend of mine that is more experienced said this is 100% a Scam so I immediately requested to cancel my order within the hour of the purchase.
I haven't heard back from the seller and I'm not able to find a communication chat with ebay support.
For people that are more experienced, is this a Scam ?
How does the eBay money back guarantee works ?
What can I do in this case to avoid the charge and how can I protect my self in the future ?
Thanks in advance.
eburtonlab
Mentor5 months ago@ngrx_77
How does the eBay money back guarantee works ?
You would have been better off asking that question before deciding to buy a "too good to be true" deal from a user registered in China; you could have saved yourself some trouble.
However a friend of mine that is more experienced said this is 100% a Scam so I immediately requested to cancel my order within the hour of the purchase.
Buyers cannot cancel unilaterally; buyers can request a cancellation, but the seller must cooperate for that to work. If the seller is a scammer, the scammer will not cooperate, obviously.
Unless the seller decides to cancel, you will have to wait and see what the tracking shows and what, if anything is delivered.
eBay's money back guarantee works well if there is no tracking showing delivery, or if an item arrives but is not as described.
https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy?id=4210
But scammers can be tricky and some can find a way to get a tracking number that appears to show delivery when nothing is delivered to you. If that happens, follow up here for advice on how to proceed.
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.
ngrx_77
OP5 months agoThank you for the prompt reply @eburtonlab .
As I said it was my first order and I thought the eBay money back guarantee would work like in Amazon.
Can you tell me more about that ? How can they do that and what can I do in that case ?
eburtonlab
Mentor5 months ago@ngrx_77
Public tracking information is limited, and eBay can only see the zip code, not the actually delivery address. So if a scammer can obtain a tracking number for a delivery to a nearby address in your neighborhood, the scammer can use that tracking number to "prove" that something has been delivered.
If tracking shows delivery but nothing arrives, contact the shipping service used to determine if the tracking number corresponds to a delivery to your address. If the name and address on the package is not yours, you may be the victim of "false tracking".
One option to deal with "false tracking" is contacting eBay via social media, specifically via Instagram. If you can get documentation from the shipping service that the tracking number is not associated with your name and address, you may be able to contact eBay via Instagram direct message, mention false tracking, and get a chance to submit your documentation.
If you cannot get documentation or if that does not work:
Since false tracking allows a scam seller to win an "item not received" case, the next step would be to file a "not as described" return on eBay and be prepared to return exactly what you received if the seller provides for return shipping, or ask eBay to step in after three business days if the seller does not refund you or provide return shipping.
ngrx_77
OP5 months agoIt’s honestly surprising how common this type of scam is, both here in the community and across the internet I'm reading a lot how little seems to be done to prevent it. I never expected a company like eBay to allow so many cases like this to slip through.
Thank you very much for all the information. The seller refused to cancel my order, even though I requested it immediately after placing it. Now, for some "reason", their account is no longer active and I can’t even contact them.
At this point, it looks like I’ll have to wait until the order is marked as delivered before I can start the process of trying to get a refund.