The seller misrepresentation and the item bought never arrived

Few weeks ago I bought a bulky item ( 11 lbs, big dimensions) from what I was thinking was US based with almost 1900 5 stars review buyer. I got the shipping tracking info and was waiting for the item to arrive, it never did. The cameras never show the delivery of this bulky heavy item on a time and date , specified by the USPS tracking. Looking into this, I was surprised to find out that the seller is not the one I bought the item from, but different name with the location in Israel without any reviews. Looking deeper, I find out that this Israeli person account connected to US trusted seller account which was my seller ( I got screenshots of this connection, also when I contacted the original, as I thought, seller, my message went right to this Israeli person. As I started to suspect a fraud, especially the US seller stating that all shipments originate from WY, where the seller is located, my so -called shipment originated from OH , I started to suspect a postal fraud, that instead of bulky 11 lbs package, there was 4oz junk mail envelope sent to who knows with the address in a same city as tracking does not specify the exact address, just city. I contacted the seller 3 times, very politely asking for the shipping label to see if the address was wrong or whatever... the seller never replied ( acting in good faith?). I contacted Ebay customer service letting them know that the item never arrived, also about some identity theft? misrepresentation? hacking? as I would never would buy anything from the seller outside the US without any ratings.

They shoot me back right away, that the shipping tracking shows that the item arrived and that they are closing the case. I asked them again, if they can ( have a right and responsibility) ask the seller to provide a shipping label due to its non -cooperative behavior which is suspicious already. The answer was no, there is a tracking number avail. As I am writing this message, this Israeli account is still connected to the US seller account with each item on it. I was trying to ask questions about different items on Us seller account and every time the window opens with the Israeli account name on it. What to do? Ebay is enabling a fraud as they don't want to deal with it and there will be new victims of this fraud. I also wondering how I can recuperate my money. It's clearly Ebay fault that somehow the hacking ( misrepresentation) happened, I was led to believe that I am buying from the trusted US seller and they continue to allow it happen.

aia-976

1 View listings

Posted 1 year ago·Last reply 1 year ago

9 comments

mudshark61369

·1 year ago

"There is no such thing as foolproof, because fools are so darned ingenious" (unknown)3105 View listings

@aia-976,

"I posted a negative review on a seller's account, which disappeared in an hour after posting".

For some reason ebay has decided, when a buyer gets a refund no matter why they received it, that the seller cannot receive a negative feedback for the transaction. However, if the seller left you a feedback, you can reply to it and say what ever you like. The seller probably did receive a defect on their account and that does put them on ebay's radar.

"Does Ebay provide a material support to fraudsters? They already know for 6 weeks that this criminal is operating on their platform and even after admitting it and paying back to me, they still did nothing".

eBay has no way of determining if the seller actually tried to defraud you or just made a mistake and put the wrong shipping label on the wrong package, so they cannot just remove them over one possible mistake. If the seller does drop ship from a product source warehouse, the address/label issue may have occurred there, and it wasn't the seller's fault at all.

What you as an ebay buyer has to do, is learn to vet your sellers, by checking each ones feedback profile pages, before buying from them. One thing to look for is the seller's country of registry and compare it to the item Location, that may not always work because ebay does let foreign sellers register their businesses in the U.S.. Many of them are drop shippers, which is a legitimate method of conducting business, but has its drawbacks.

The highest number of foreign sellers who use the fake tracking scam, are China based, they are all drop shippers. Open the link below and click on the Go To Best Answer button. There you will learn how to check a feedback profile as well as weed out chinese or other foreign sellers, who have one thing in common with U.S. based drop shippers, they all sell items in many diverse categories.

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Ask-a-Mentor/Item-advertised-as-quot-located-in-US-quot/m-p/34773467#M783417

aia-976

OP1 year ago

1 View listings

Thank you for your response and all info. In my case, there are lots of "red flags" for Ebay to react. First of all, refusal of seller to communicate. If any honest mistake is made, the seller certainly will try to communicate to fix it. Second, I was buying from " trusted US based seller" ( I specifically used platform filter to weed out foreign sellers), but by some reason my purchase went to foreign i , no reviews, based seller. These 2 " red flags" I reported to Ebay constantly without any success. By the way, I spent lots of time, effort and nerves trying to get my money back. In my understanding , they have to change their policies , first, in order to protect themselves and second, to protect buyers. What will take them to change their policies?

They think that they benefit from a liability shield under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act , which protects online platforms from being held responsible for content posted by users.

However, exceptions exist: repeated failure to act on reports of fraudulent activity can expose Ebay to liability ( case Gonzalez v. Google LLC) How many users just on this board got exposed over years to this type of fraud and how many outside of this board?! If all these defrauded people and majority of them never got their money back , thanks to Ebay policies to turn down everyone, will find each other and will act The scope of this particular fraud is huge, it even took PayPal to put a special feature related to Ebay fraud The answer to this fraud- just changing policies- cleaning out fraudsters who do not communicate and not provide buyers with shipping information, it's easy . The question is how to do it?

aia-976

OP1 year ago

1 View listings

The update. Thanks to your recommendations, I got the letter from USPS stating that the weight of the shipping was 0,6 oz and addressed to other part of the town and contacted the " real customer service" via Facebook. In 2 days I received a refund. I posted a negative review on a seller's account, which disappeared in an hour after posting. The seller is still on Ebay and continue to conduct its fraud. For my part, previously I wanted to make some amount of purchases for my kitchen, now I won't because it's clearly not safe. Does Ebay provide a material support to fraudsters? They already know for 6 weeks that this criminal is operating on their platform and even after admitting it and paying back to me, they still did nothing. I waited for a week to make sure that it's sufficient time to remove this person from the platform, but nothing. Do you have any suggestions?

ittybitnot

·1 year ago

18 View listings

@aia-976

Thank you for the update. People that respond and those that just READ these forums appreciate knowing the results of the actions you choose so advice can be forwarded to others that have a similar problem.

It is by sharing information here regarding what "works" and what doesn't not only exposes the problem, but keeps the available information on what to do up to date. Appreciate you sharing your experience.

aia-976

OP1 year ago

1 View listings

Thank you very much for all information and advise !!!! I still continue working with USPS, hoping to get more info from them. They just informed me on class of the mail, but didn't sent yet other info I demanded about the delivery address and whatever they can specify about this particular mailing. I truly want to get to the bottom of this, it's not only money, although $160 is still substantial amount , it's now about the fraud itself ,loosing trust and tarnishing decent people from Ebay community. You would think it would be so easy in case like this for Ebay just to demand the shipping label from the seller and if seller is not complying, just keep the seller in fault.

aia-976

OP1 year ago

1 View listings

The update . I received results of the official USPS search and according with them, the tracking number provided by seller as a proof that the parcel with the dimensions

23.7x15.71x2.9 inch , weight 10,75 lbs was sent, belongs to First class mail , which either letter or envelope up to 13 oz weight. So, I got a proof that the seller committed a fraud, claiming that the item with described dimensions was sent in 13 oz max envelope. I contacted Ebay customer service and after 48 hours of waiting I received nothing. I also reported to Ebay on drop shipping, again nothing. The fraudulent account is operating as I write this message. What I have to do? I came to Ebay, not to some person private account under false promise of the security. All their slogans about â€œ your security important to us, money back guarantee and the other garbageâ€ just is a garbage. They provided a fraudster with the material support helping him/she to commit the crime. Providing with the platform and then , covering its crime, refusing to investigate and take measures. It was my 4 th transaction on Ebay, 3 previous sellers were wonderful people and transaction went perfectly, still I will never ever will buy anything on Ebay and will talk out anyone I know ever to come to this platform.

I still want to receive my money back and I also want to take this criminal off the Ebay as I donâ€™t want other people to get hurt. I will appreciate any suggestions.

ittybitnot

·1 year ago

18 View listings

@aia-976

Quit talking to your seller. You are a victim of fraud. It is a such a popular scam that it has been going on here for over a decade, and eBay still has no published policy to help victims. You need to get "item not received" out of your head, and start thinking FRAUD/Fake Tracking scam instead.

You are going to lose any case you make for INR once there is a delivery notice associated with your order even if it is fraudulent. Your best bet at this point, since you have some documentation of this crime, is to contact eBay through one of their social media portals. Unlike the regular outsourced call center reps you get in a call back or chat, these people are actual eBay employees that DO have the authority to help you.

https://www.facebook.com/eBay/ (use the blue message button)

OR direct message through one of these:

https://www.instagram.com/ebayforsellers/

https://x.com/askebay

There are additional options for you as well if you still get thrown under the bus. Come back any time for more choices. In the meantime, you can read about them here and especially what NOT to do to make your situation worse.

Jan. 2025