Victim of "Off-Platform Fake Return Label" scam by seller – regular support won't help because tracking is missing.
Summary: rgeng is seeking advice on dealing with a scam involving a seller on eBay who sent a fake return label via an expired external image link. Despite having opened three cases starting soon after receiving the item, the appeals have been auto-closed because the return tracking number is unavailable. mudshark61369 suggests that if the purchase was over a year ago, eBay's support may not be able to assist, especially if the purchase was made from a seller in China, known for extended warranties. kathiec explains the usual process for returning items and notes that recourse might be limited due to time elapsed since the purchase. rgeng reiterates that all appeals were denied due to the missing tracking information.
Hi everyone,
I am trying to get an old transaction manually reviewed by a high-tier support agent because I was scammed by a high-volume seller.
Instead of generating an official eBay return shipping label through the platform system, the seller messaged me an image file of a return label. Because this transaction happened over a year ago, the external image link they sent inside the eBay message system has expired and shows a dead camera icon placeholder.
The tracking number they sent via that image turned out to be completely bogus/untrackable, so the return package was lost/never arrived, and I never received my refund.
Standard customer service bots and frontline phone agents keep auto-closing my appeals because they require me to provide the return tracking number. I physically cannot see the number because the seller deliberately bypassed the official system by sending a faulty, off-platform image attachment that has since expired.
I have screenshots of the official eBay message from the seller showing the broken image icon. How do I get a human member of the eBay leadership/appeals team to look past the automated system block and investigate this seller for mail fraud and fake tracking manipulation? Any advice or help from community mentors or eBay staff would be greatly appreciated.
mudshark61369
·2 weeks ago@rgeng ,
Even if there were such a thing as an eBay high tier support system. They could not help you now because of when you made the purchase.
"Because this transaction happened over a year ago, the external image link they sent inside the eBay message system has expired and shows a dead camera icon placeholder."
If you were relying on the seller's stated 1 year warranty to protect you more than 30 days from the item being delivered, you were no longer able to get a return shipping label through eBay.
Did you check the seller's feedback profile before buying from them and notice that they were located in China? Is that where the label you were sent was addressed to?
Those sellers often offer extended past ebay's Money Back Guarantee warranties, and ebay cannot force them to honor them.
Since it has been so long since you made the purchase the time frame for getting a refund by going through your credit card provider, if you paid with a card, has probably lapsed as well.
rgeng
OP2 weeks agoI've opened three cases on this, starting 3 days after receiving the item.
kathiec
·2 weeks agoIf you're doing it correctly it's impossible to open more than one case. The correct procedure is to go to the item in your purchase history within 30 days of receipt, click Return this Item, and select that the item was not described as the reason for the return. EBay would have given the seller three business days to send a label. If they didn't you would have gone back to the case and asked eBay to step in. At that point they usually refund without requiring a return. The entire process is fully automated.
Since you have no further recourse on this purchase you might want to review the Money Back Guarantee, which is linked in every listing:
https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy?id=4210
rgeng
OP2 weeks agoThey denied all three, in a row, for the reasons I listed in the post.
kathiec
·2 weeks agoBecause you made the mistake of trying to do it through customer service rather than using the automated MBG system. Please read the link I gave you so you know the right way to do it if it occurs again.