Scammers

Question

Recently I have purchased 5 products from eBay. Every one turned out to be : not in stock, or shipped to wrong address. My thoughts are: these are scammers trying to get credit card info?

I've been using eBay since their first days, never to have it this bad. What gives? I really feel unsafe giving out my credit card info here anymore. Can someone enlighten me ?

Thanks !

eburtonlab · Answer

Sellers do not get your credit card information.

If a seller cancels as out of stock, the seller's account gets a costly defect. A few such defects and the seller will lose selling privileges.

If tracking shows delivery but nothing arrives, check to make sure the correct address appears in your order history, then check with the shipping service to determine if the tracking number corresponds to a delivery to that address.

If not, you may be the victim of a false tracking scam or the seller may have given you the wrong tracking number by mistake. Either way, see here for some good instructions about what you can do about it:

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Shipping/What-do-you-do-when-ebay-support-will-not-help-you/m-p/340803...

How are you choosing your sellers?

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. Avoid doing business with new or inexperienced sellers, sellers with a pattern of troubling feedback, sellers that show indications of being drop shippers or not having actual stock on hand, or sellers that have large gaps in selling history or that have drastically changed the sorts of items they sell.

inceptions · Answer

Some may be scammers, some may be bad sellers, but you don't have to worry about your credit card information. Sellers do not even know how you paid (bank, credit card, gift card, PayPal, etc.) much less have any of your account numbers.

Be sure you are vetting your sellers well. Don't just look at their feedback percentage, but review the comments also to see what others are saying. Look for experienced sellers with exceptional feedback.

From looking at the feedback you've left, it appears that all you've had are great buying experiences...