Biased customer service for buyers
I have been embroiled in an ongoing dispute with customer service about a seemingly fraudulent seller and they have continually refused to simply check the data on the UPS shipping confirmation which showed a 0.6 lbs weight and showed a photo of an envelope on a front porch ( not my porch) when the item I paid for was a Toro lawn mower. After being refused by them I notified PayPal and they refused me because they checked with eBay and were told the "seller" had shown proof of purchase. After making enough noise with eBay I finally got a response telling me that they finally checked the tracking data and agreed that this could not be a lawn mower. Finally I thought, not so fast. I was then told that since I had taken this up with PayPal they no longer considered it their responsibility so they would do nothing even though my claim had been denied by PayPal on their say so. Throughout this saga eBay stubbornly continued to take the word of the seller and as much as called me a liar without ever actually checking the data on the shipping confirmation. I did contact UPS customer service and they confirmed that the tracking number was for an item shipped to an address in my city but not my address and was shipped from a different shipper than the listed seller It would seem that eBay has a sophisticated scammer operating and they seem content to allow it. Perhaps because they make a percentage of each bogus sale.
megafo_8472
·2 years agoStuff like this has been going on for over 20 years. NEVER does anything about fraudulent sellers - the only thing they really care about is collecting their fees. Back in 2007 they even aided a fraudulent seller, disabling user to user contact, making his FB private for him without being asked, and allowed him to continue collecting money while not sending anything for TWO AND A HALF MONTHS before he finally closed his account on his own and walked away scott free with nearly 7 thousand dollars from over 100 bidders/buyers!
Collect as much documentation as you can, and send it to the California AG's office.
grego10_4
OP2 years agothanks for your reply, I do not live in CA but if they are attempting to do something about this I will send them what I have. I used to naively trust eBay and chose to do business with them rather than Amazon. I don't know if Amazon is any better but the fact that eBay seems to be willing to aid and abet scammers so they can get a cut of thee ill gotten gains is very distressing.
tobaccocardyahoo
·2 years agoI would never use other than a credit card to pay for any online purchase.
As a buyer you get your best protection from fraud with a credit card. Sellers always complain about how credit card issuers are biased toward the buyer who is their customer.
ittybitnot
·2 years agoeven though my claim had been denied by PayPal on their say so.
@grego10_4
When you filed with PayPal did you once again choose "Item not Received"? They have a new choice in the claim dropdown SHIPPED TO WRONG ADDRESS which is what you should have selected. If you can contact PayPal, they may be able to change it for you.
Otherwise, PayPal submits your INR claim to eBay, and eBay responds with the same phony delivery confirmation and you will lose again. See what you can do with PayPal by conversing on the phone.
eBay protects eBay. Their first frontline stance is denial of the victim so long as there is a tracking that shows delivery, even though it was to the gas station down the block. The latest scammer attempts don't even choose a real address, and send it to an empty lot in your zip code so it shows "undeliverable" and eBay assumes the BUYER submitted an incorrect address which makes the problem even worse for the scammed buyer.
eBay through their social media portals will only accept a "written document" from the carrier that states the parcel was not intended for nor delivered to you. Of course, especially for FedEx and UPS, that is often impossible to obtain and likely why eBay requires it. Now that you have gone to PayPal, eBay no longer has to worry about helping you should you actually obtain what they require.
PayPal seems to be a bit more helpful with their requirements SO LONG AS YOU DON'T CLAIM ITEM NOT RECEIVED. The same will apply if you end up having to go to your credit card for a chargeback. You need to file FRAUD/FAKE TRACKING SCAM. eBay has no such choice, nor will you find any information, policies, or procedures published about this years old well known and popular scam. The eBay Money Back Guarantee will be a FAIL.
This has been going on for years. eBay knows, PayPal knows, the carriers know, and the credit card industry is well versed as well. They all seem in varying degrees to ignore the elephant in the room. It is a popular scam used against sellers as well to falsify a return has been made for a dispute. As a buyer you can go to PayPal or your credit card. A seller victim has it worse. eBay's plan is equal opportunity DENIAL.
Others have said that an alternate plan (won't work for you because you already went to the Pal) would be to file an 'item not as described" claim when you are a victim of the fake tracking scenario, typically 'missing parts or pieces'. Here the seller is forced by the same automated eBay system to send a return label to you, or send you money to pay for recorded delivery back to an international destination. If neither is forthcoming, you ask eBay to step in/escalate the case after four days and get your refund. If you get a label, you ship back exactly what you got....a bag or box of air. Often the scammer will use some phony address for the return, but that is not your concern. If you have to mail something back, just get an acceptance scan. This will not work for PayPal, in that you have to ship back on your own dime, and prove delivery. So if you get an empty lot address, and it is coming back to you a refund will not be in your future.
Hopefully, PayPal will let you change your claim to the 'shipped to wrong address' reason OR you did pay with a credit card. Good luck, let us know how it turns out.
house*of*paws
·2 years agoHi @grego10_4
eBay doesn’t appear fully equipped to deal with the ‘Fake tracking number scam’ yet.
Once you receive a statement from UPS that your name and address were NOT on the package associated with the tracking number you were given … you can contact the Fraud Department of your credit card company for a chargeback.
kensgiftshop
·2 years agoSorry, but once you went to Pay Pal, Ebay will no longer help.
Get a letter from UPS stating the package was not addressed to you, file mail fraud with USPS and file a police report.
Once you have those, use them to appeal the Pay Pal case.
Unavailable member
·2 years ago@kensgiftshop
If something was shipped UPS why file mail fraud with USPS? You mean file mail fraud with UPS right?
kensgiftshop
·2 years agoUSPS handles all mail fraud cases even if it's through different carriers.
gurlcat
·2 years ago😲......... whoa!
gurlcat
·2 years agoTHIS RIGHT HERE will henceforth be my go-to whenever I see someone griping about USPS rates, particularly when the argument is that the USPS also gets tax dollars. So, UPS and FedUp not only charge more on average for their shipping, they don't even do their own fraud investigations as part of their service to customers.
I tell ya, it's real easy to say "Big Government" like the bigness automatically means badness, but you look a little closer and the cliche loses its' ring of truth when you see what you'd be missing without government regulations and enforcement. I really WISH people who want to privatize the USPS could get a sample taste of what that would actually be like .....say for 3 or 4 months ...... especially if they have a rural address.