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New scam?
Something very odd happened to me tonight. I sold a dress and printed the shipping label. Very quickly after, I got a message from someone with a user name that wasn't valid "dannah11" asking me for a refund on the dress they just paid for. At first, I didn't notice that this username was diff from the buyer of the dress so I went back and forth a bit trying to troubleshoot their issue (they misread the listing and were afraid the dress would not fit and would I refund them?). I assured them that the dress was large for it's stated size, that I was their size so I knew the dress would fit, sent the measurements so they could check it themselves, etc... They kept requesting a refund so I offered to give them a refund on the cost of the dress but would not (initially) refund the cost of the shipping since I paid for it already and would need to void it and wait for a refund from USPS. They responded saying "I see you won't refund me, thanks anyway". This was very confusing to me since I offered a refund, but then when I clicked on their user name, it showed that they were not a valid ebay user and that's when I realized they were also not the same username as the person who bought the dress! They manage to copy that person's feedback score and place it next to their username so if you clicked the feedback score, you'd be taken to the correct user's feedback profile but if you clicked their username, you'd be shown that it's an invalid account. I'm writing to see if anyone else has had this experience? I think it's some sort of scam but am unsure.
megachickie
OP3 years agoThank you for this response. It's helpful. I woke up to a message from the actual buyer continuing on with the conversation so I don't get it? Why they were using one user name initially and then the legit one later. My concern now is the feedback they leave will be critical bc I didn't just give them a refund right away but instead tried to resolve the issue. Something is off here but not sure what. I'm hesitant to leave any feedback for them and just wait to see if they leave me any. We both have 100% positive scores so again, this is very strange and I'm not sure how this happened.
shipscript
·3 years agoCheck their feedback page to see if they have just recently changed their username. That might be one reason you were seeing two different names with the same feedback score.
megachickie
OP3 years agoAlso, I'm not sure how to report this to ebay so they can see the message trail and investigate further- any suggestions on how to reach a live person?
shipscript
·3 years agoIt is a frequent scam that someone who is not the buyer will try to get a change of address on an expensive item, which is why eBay does not cover any seller-made address changes. Trying to get a refund is an odd one because refunds can only go back to the buyer's payment method. The scam would have to request you somehow pay outside of eBay.
If the scammer is now "not a registered user", then eBay has already been alerted to their scams and has ejected them from eBay. Thus, no need to report anything.
However, if this happens in the future, eBay has an automated feature for reporting a buyer or reporting a seller, but doesn't have an automated option for reporting a member who is neither. At the bottom of this page, click the "Contact us" option and type "agent" into the chat that opens.
https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/member-behaviour-policies/membertomember-contact-policy?id=4262
Another option, if the message contains specifically violating content, like "please text me", or "send me your PayPal address", there is a link in the eBay message to report the message.
screenshot courtesy of Inceptions