Amazon now better than eBay
I have been participating for over 20 years buying and selling on eBay-with less and less enthusiasm the last few years as I see how it has changed. eBay now manipulates buyers and sellers and with the last few stunts, I've finally had it. Unless i absolutely have to find or sell on eBay, I won't anymore. Amazon is guilty of some of the same practices, but the more I participate, the more I'm deciding to go back to "brick and mortar" stores whenever i can. Case in point one of eBays "most reliable and best" sellers just stiffed me by sending my package to someone else, which I had to find out about by contacting Fedex and USPS directly and getting no cooperation from the seller who doesn't seem to understand English too well. I reported this to eBay and they denied my claim-stating the tracking number was valid and showed my item was received-which I documented directly with USPS was shipped to someone else and I have the address to prove it. So I challenged their denying my claim which is being reviewed. and this seller pressured me to close my case even though I never received this item. Then the seller posted a Fedex tracking number which also showed the item delivered-twice! but not to me, the seller was using the same tracking number for 2 separate items, seems shady to me. I have a claim filed with Fedex too. what a waste of time. To add insult to injury-eBay removed my negative feedback, which I left after discovering many buyers had the same problem with this "American" company and after the buyer refusing to cooperate. So now I'm pretty much done with eBay, fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.
mudshark61369
·1 year ago@blackhawkjdb
"Case in point one of eBays "most reliable and best" sellers just stiffed me by sending my package to someone else, which I had to find out about by contacting Fedex and USPS directly and getting no cooperation from the seller who doesn't seem to understand English too well... To add insult to injury-eBay removed my negative feedback, which I left after discovering many buyers had the same problem with this "American" company and after the buyer refusing to cooperate"
First off, Because of the fake tracking number scam, these days you have to check each seller's feedback profile page before buying from one, besides looking for comments about items being shipped to different addresses, there are other things to look for as well to weed out chinese sellers who may be registered in the U.S.. The chinese sellers are responsible for about 90% of the fake tracking issues that are posted about on these boards.
If you open the link below and click on the Go To Best Answer button you can learn what to look for to avoid buying from U.S. registered chinese sellers. If you see that a high volume seller has close to or less than a 98.6% rating, either avoid buying from them or carefully check their feedback profile.
FYI, Top Rated one of ebay's most reliable... is based on sales numbers not actual performance or feedback percentage. Most high volume chinese sellers have Top Rated status.
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Buying/Item-location-in-USA/m-p/34803428#M506234
"I reported this to eBay and they denied my claim-stating the tracking number was valid and showed my item was received-which I documented directly with USPS was shipped to someone else and I have the address to prove it. So I challenged their denying my claim which is being reviewed. and this seller pressured me to close my case even though I never received this item."
Closing the case means your appeal will be turned down. You never close a dispute until or unless you get a refund. Also because you lost the initial dispute it prevents you from leaving a negative feedback that will stick. The seller winning the initial dispute was the reason why your feedback was removed. The negatives you saw on the seller's profile were left by those who did not file a dispute, the positives saying the same thing could have been removed as well.
The fake tracking scam is successful because the scammers know that ebay cannot access any more information than you can by using a shipper's tracking number. That's because of the privacy policies of the shipping agencies. Even you as the buyer couldn't get the actual delivery address or package size/type/weight info from FedEx or USPS. Only a general statement saying the item was not shipped to your address.
If you paid using PayPal you can try filing for a refund through them. However, do not file an Item Not Received claim or it will be declined as well. They have an option for Fraud Fake tracking scam Shipped To Wrong Address.
To beat a possible future fake tracking scam, you should sign up for the Free enhanced tracking info
Provided by; USPS - Informed Delivery, FedEx - Delivery manager, UPS - My Choice. Those services have information in them that can cause a dispute to be won, by going directly to ebay's social media sites. The reps who field questions / disputes on them are actual ebay employees, (not contracted 3rd party phone/cat operators) who know about the fake tracking scam, can review information and have the power to issue refunds. (links below) FYI, if you called a number you looked up online you never spoke to anyone connected with ebay at all. Depending on the form of USPS documentation you have, they may be able to use it. Emails are not generally accepted, since they can be faked.
https://www.facebook.com/eBay/
https://www.instagram.com/ebayforsellers/
https://x.com/askebay
You will need to have the ebay item number and seller's username, write out what happened and add links or attachments to the message sign it with you ebay username and real one.
blackhawkjdb
OP1 year agoThank you! You have shared some very valuable advice which I will follow up on. I am also saving your response in my "archives" to remind me-as this is the first time I have been a victim of a scam seller, and I am ever careful, so this must be a new level of cheating buyers. I also just received a denial of my claim with Fedex-they stated that the buyer agreed not to file claims with Fedex! Talk about a shady way of doing business. I will blacklist arias club and yes I will follow through with the social media links you sent. I only lost 10.90, but I imagine if this shady seller can get away with this, they can do much more damage to others this way, and they probably have. It's pretty poor that ebay protects these sellers like this, I guess this is where most of their revenue is coming from now. Too bad, as it has substantially lowered the "bar" for at least me. With my perfect track record for over 20 years, I guess eBay just doesn't care. I thought they might take that into consideration when looking into the details of this case I sent them, but apparently this vendor is cagey enough to cover his crooked way of doing business. Or they are just careless. Either way, they've lost me. I just finished buying over 400.00 worth of merchandise from Amazon in the last month, largely out of necessity-successfully without a problem-and over 400.00 in legitimate car parts from actual US auto parts manufacturers, instead of the counterfeit parts I see every day on eBay. So ebay has successfully encouraged me to change my "business model"-away from eBay. If they want to run eBay now as a source of cheap/counterfeit/poor quality merchandise, that's fine with me but no longer as a buyer. I also see how this vendor purchases from Walmart, and re-sells it on eBay. I'm no lawyer, but i am thinking this must violate all kinds of trade laws in the US, and is fraudulent as reselling an item purchased elsewhere and listing it as new is clearly fraud. And this seems to be pretty common practice with many of these Chinese vendors. I'll leave it at that assuming eBay will "vet" my comments anyway. but again thank you for your very helpful info.
ittybitnot
·1 year ago@blackhawkjdb
You are apparently a victim of the most popular and successful scam going on this site presently. There are things you can do to get a refund regardless of what the eBay "bot" decides. More importantly, there are things you must not do as well. Please read some of the following threads by the latest victims here for more options:
Jan. 2025
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Buying/Laser-TV-Item-Not-Received/m-p/34862223#M509687
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Buying/I-got-scammed-out-of-999-for-an-RTX-4090/m-p/34865219#M509806
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Buying/Ebay-support-and-money-back-guaranty/m-p/34870558#M510126
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Buying/Package-delivered-to-wrong-address-by-usps-no-refund/m-p/34871240#M510140
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Buying/Tracking-number-fraud-within-EBay/m-p/34872627#M510235
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Buying/EBAY-is-ALLOWING-a-delivery-address-switch-scam-to-continue/m-p/34873630#M510315
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Buying/Mail-fraud-switching-tracking-numbers-with-addresses-in-the-same/m-p/34873069#M510341
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Buying/Refund-due-to-seller-sending-to-wrong-address/m-p/34880629#M510871
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Buying/I-just-got-scammed-out-of-a-baking-dish/m-p/34881587#M510926
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Buying/Another-quot-eBay-Refuses-to-Honor-Money-Back-Guarantee-quot/m-p/34887210#M511279
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Buying/Fake-Tracking-Scam-by-seller/m-p/34889174#M511418
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Buying/Seller-False-DELIVERED-quot-Waybill/m-p/34892946#M511649
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Buying/eBay-says-item-was-delivered-but-it-was-not/m-p/34897201#M511855
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Buying/I-think-this-listing-is-a-scam-and-I-bought-two-of-these/m-p/34897101#M511849
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Buying/Delivery/m-p/34903692#M512289
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Buying/Item-wasn-t-delivered-to-my-correct-address/m-p/34904083#M512306
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Buying/Problem-with-Purchase-and-Seller/m-p/34901935#M512174
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Buying/Beware-of-Anteww/m-p/34913899#M512840
Feb. 2025
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Buying/DHL-Messing-up-shipping-or-a-scam/m-p/34918930#M513039
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Buying/Item-shipped-to-wrong-address/m-p/34918657#M513034
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Buying/Fake-Tracking-Scam-how-do-I-prepare/m-p/34920656#M513092
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Buying/Seller-scamming-me/m-p/34954964#M514849
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Buying/I-just-got-scammed-and-I-don-t-know-how-to-proceed/m-p/34955823#M514900
March 2025
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Buying/Tracking-numbers-Can-you-provide-the-street-address-for-the/m-p/34964434#M515361
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Buying/Getting-scammed-by-seller-sending-tracking-info-showing/m-p/34974405#M515806
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Buying/Tracking-number-scams-why-is-Ebay-enabling-sellers-for-this/m-p/34973232#M515749
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Buying/seller-Post-remarkable-pro-is-a-scam/m-p/34971789#M515703
blackhawkjdb
OP1 year agoWow, this has got to be stopped. maybe time to get somebody really higher up to look into this since it is so widespread. I've already contacted a state attorney general about another issue, but they were unable to help me, so I reported it to a state consumer protection agency. Of course, since these vendors seem able to skirt fair trade laws among other avenues that might prevent this, not sure how this could be stopped. maybe if the right federal agency could see this as a form of security threat, There might be some "traction" possible. If enough of these Chinese vendors are managing to do this, and making money that is going overseas...I don't want to get eBay in trouble, but if the officers at eBay are looking at this, surely they must have some concerns that so many customers are being tricked, and possibly if not too strong a term, swindled out of their money. Maybe eBay can afford a loss from this, but I most definitely cannot as i am sure many others who have relied on eBay over the years cannot. I'd rather see eBay cleanup the mess, than have someone else with teeth come in and do it for them. I will study your links, thanks to both of you for helping. I'm sure there are many employees at eBay who also might wish this problem would go away. and not to get Amazon off the hook, at least they seem to be responsible for backing up what they do, depending on the vendor and whether Amazon guarantees to back the buyer (not all vendors are backed up by Amazon), you're on your own) and not the vendor although shady vendors are also playing a slick Willy game there too.
blackhawkjdb
OP1 year agoNow i am eating some of my words. I often rush to judgement, mainly when I feel threatened-I forget the warrior is best who remains calm (Zen). eBay has reversed their case and have decided (finally) in my favor. I think the turning "might" have been 1) I uploaded the USPS form that showed my item had been delivered to an entirely different address or 2) perhaps??? my spotless record here since I don't even remember when-may have convinced them I was telling the truth which I was. regardless, I feel vindicated-that if whoever in the eBay domain paid attention to what some might consider a mild annoyance-they did come through. as far as all the other info you all have been able to provide will be something I pay attention to. Amazon doesn't have a perfect track record with me either after all-substandard packing has happened more than once. But the positive has outweighed the negative in both these new online marketplaces, but this does not mean I will ignore possibly questionable practices. Buyer beware has been around since the ancients were selling rocks to each other I guess. Like many other small-time amateurs who benefited from eBay since its inception-it has been a challenge to compete with many of these Chinese vendors-however-I have the advantage since 1) I never sell junk 2) I am honest-impeccably so, and not bragging-a good reputation and possible future legacy seems worth the trouble and 3) despite the way our business models tend to work, I never take advantage of someone who may not understand or is in a lesser bargaining position than me, since that usually includes me! Like my teaching mentor told me many years ago-never do anything that doesn't allow you to look at yourself in the mirror, that and I believe in karma-watch "I Remember Earl" And I sleep better (sometimes) at night.
lkn_us_bbnf0g4zp
·1 year agoContact the higher ups. I sent a letter along with proof that a fake USPS tracking number to 5 executive and board members. 3 failed but 2 didn't bounce back. I did miss a call from my letter and they openeda fraud case. The 3 that failed was sent through the mail last week. I also filed with postal inspector but was told to report but don't expect resolution. I may just go up the chain to the director.
chevymontecarlo88
·1 year agoPros and Cons to both.
I prefer buying items that inspire (guitars) me on eBay and items that help me survive (vitamins) on Amazon.
YMMV