Apple products - Isn't ebay staying on top of seller fraud anymore? Suspicious Postings
There are 3 postings that I've seen for an Apple iPad Air 13-inch (M3) A3269 with 1 TB memory. With that amount of memory (M3) the going rate refurbished is around $1000 dollars and these ebay listing have it at $250. Also all 3 posters are spread out across the country (DC, Florida, CA) and none of the sellers have a rating. Didn't ebay used to be better about going after fraud? It is also very difficult to report anything to ebay. This clearly seems like the same poster or group even to the way the listing is written up and "8 available".
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20 comments
kibble-net
·5 months agoJust adding my 5 cents to this thread, to state that I've seen lots of similar fraudulent listings. Lots of Apple iPhones, iPads, and Macbooks listed for 1/3 of their market price. They all have a couple of things in common, they all have stock photos and zero feedback sellers. It's a scam that can be spotted a mile away by a seasoned ebayer, but if it's your first day on the internet you may fall for it. As the saying goes, if it seems too good to be true, it most often is.
I'm not sure if these can be reported with any success. But surely these scam sellers will meet their fate sooner or later.
ryry-jj
·5 months agoThe most successful scams are the ones that are obvious. People who "buy-in" from the beginning will fall for it all the way. If the scam attempts to be too clever, most people eventually figure it out, thus wasting the scammers time. Scammers want the most vulnerable buyer from the start
grann-4629
·5 months agothus wasting the scammers time
I love doing that with phone scammers by being stupider than they are, keeping them on the line for a long time. I have been called a m*******er by more than one of them and I am proud of that!
simba6
·5 months agoApple items bring them " out of the woodwork " . Hard to keep up. Buyers should stick to factory sellers only.
msha3839
·5 months agoProblem with human greed and luck of common sense…if item sold on average for $1k, $250 would be impossible price unless it’s stolen or counterfeit…
lady_madonna
·5 months agoI would take a wild guess that none of them are registered in on Ebay in the US
mishma
OP5 months agoThey show US locations, but I would suspect that is inaccurate.
eburtonlab
·5 months ago@mishma
Scammers can list new items much faster than eBay can take them down. And it is not against policy for new users to list expensive items at cheap prices -- though buyers should certainly be very wary about such "too good to be true" listings, which are very often bait for scams. Buyers should look out for themselves rather than expecting eBay to remove every suspicious listing before anyone can see it.
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.
mishma
OP5 months agoThen new people would never be able to get a history. I reported an obvious copied fraud posting several years ago and ebay did nothing. I checked back a month later, two months, etc.
bonanza125
·5 months agoYou reported to Ebay. They found nothing wrong and didn't remove the listings. You did your part. As someone said there is no Ebay police. If someone purchases the items they have a 30 day moneyback guarantee so if something goes wrong Ebay protects them. I wouldn't worry about it or put as much time into this situation as you did. I understand you are trying to show awareness but buyers already have protection. Let Ebay deal with it. It is recommended not to deal with zero feedback sellers anyway especially with high valued items.
stainlessenginecovers
·5 months agoYes; the 4,395,924 employees they hired to 'look' at EVERY 1,000,000 listings that get listed EVERY hour....
are all currently on a coffee break.
gator08041971
·5 months ago@mishma
Well, we don't have an "item police" requirement here.
If it bothers you that much, you can report every listing you see. But honestly, its a waste of time for the most part. They are like weeds, and will continue to pop up long after you have moved on from it.
But yeah, the mods will most likely edit your post and remove the names, if you don't do it ahead of them.
soh.maryl
·5 months agoFirst of all, we're not allowed to "name and shame" here, so it's very likely that all those sellers' IDs that you listed as being suspicious will likely just go "poof".
Second, per the MBG, ANY buyer who makes a purchase then later discovers the item is not as described, can open an NAD case with eBay within 30 days of receipt.
Third, no one employed by eBay goes through listings looking for evidence of outright fraud. When a listing is reported, it seems like eBay isn't in a hurry to do much about it, possibly because they consider the reporting party might be a competing seller.
grann-4629
·5 months ago@soh.maryl
And 4th ... it's up to Apple to police the site for fake items, especially if they are a VeRO member.
kathiec
·5 months agoApple isn't a VeRO member. And I would argue that it's more impossible for Apple to chase down fakes than it is for eBay, given that Apple is one of the most faked brands worldwide. At a certain point eBay, Apple, and everyone else have to recognize the futility of shutting down scammers, especially since for every one shut down five spring up in their place. It's the reality of the world in which we live.
EBay does a good job of protecting buyers from scams after the fact, but at a certain point you have to put some responsibility on buyers to use common sense.
grann-4629
·5 months agoApple isn't a VeRO member
OK ... thanks. I just assumed they would be.
I agree with others that it would be impossible for eBay to monitor for fake items - they 'see' things the same way a buyer does and if buyers are being scammed, so is eBay. There are ways to get 100% satisfaction from eBay if you get ripped by a bad seller.
Best advice in the meantime ... pay close attention to the description, particularly where the seller states the Brand Name. If the Brand Name says anything other than Apple, don't buy it.
I don't know how a buyer who got an Apple clone can prove to eBay that the item received is not a genuine Apple product if it does say Apple under brand name, but I'm sure they have something in place.
kathiec
·5 months agoI don't know how a buyer who got an Apple clone can prove to eBay that the item received is not a genuine Apple product if it does say Apple under brand name, but I'm sure they have something in place.
With eBay's Money Back Guarantee the buyer doesn't have to prove the item received isn't genuine. They just have to say it isn't. And yes, there are plenty of cases where an unethical buyer has opened a return for a supposed counterfeit when they actually received a genuine product, then sent back a cheap counterfeit to the seller. That's why those of us who have been around here awhile scoff at people who complain that eBay always takes the seller's side.
grann-4629
·5 months agoThey just have to say it isn't.
That seems like an easy thing to do. At any rate, somebody has to pay for the item and it's not the scammer who pays. That would be considered a successful scam.
I used to think that eBay took sides with big time sellers as they generate the most revenue with fees etc. After reading many threads on this forum, I am beginning to think that eBay is in the business only to make money (obvious to everybody) and that their Policies are written to be fair to both buyers and sellers (not so obvious).
JMHO ...
soh.maryl
·5 months agoWhen/if a buyer opens an item not as described case, there is absolutely no eBay requirement that the buyer prove the item is not a genuine product as advertised.
jonathanbrightlight
·5 months ago@kathiec
You’re correct that Apple has not registered and been listed among the VeRO members, but they could still submit VeRO claims without being on that list. I have no idea if they do, but they do not have to be listed there in order to submit those claims. They may even be choosing not to list themselves there for some reason, but still be submitting claims.