eBay has a warning on a message from potential buyer that I have them blocked but I don't
Received a message from a potential buyer today that eBay wouldn't let her buy an item because she'd already bought from me within 10 days and she hadn't. I don't have a rule about 10 days. But in the message was a warning from eBay that I have this user on my blocked list, but I don't. The sender's username was different from the username mentioned in the warning, but you could tell it was the same person who created the two ID's. The person bought it with an entirely different ID. What would explain the warning when they aren't on my list? Could it be an abuser who creates lots of accounts and they are blocked under one of a vast array of ID's? Does eBay recognize and link multiple ID's for the same person? That would be nice.
29 comments
valueaddedresource
·2 years ago@maubrn while it's always good to keep an eye out for possible scams/phishing, from your reading your posts here I think it's at least possible you may be experiencing a technical issue I've seen a few other reports of as well.
There have been multiple reports from buyers receiving that message about being blocked because of supposedly having purchased from that seller in the last 10 days and saying that is an error because they had not made a purchase.
That should only be happening if the seller has that setting enabled in their Buyer requirements and the buyer actually made a purchase or was currently winning a bid on an auction, but that doesn't seem to be how it is working, at least for some buyers right now.
Most of the other reports I've seen were in a situation like yours where the buyer was attempting to make offers (you said your potential buyer had tried to make 7 offers that day).
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Ask-a-Mentor/Error-when-trying-to-make-an-offer-on-an-item/m-p/34415686
https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Business-Seller-Board/Bugs-Bugs-Bugs/m-p/7600626#M311471
One buyer even posted on Twitter that they did not get the message on the first offer they tried to send, but when that offer was rejected, they then received the message when tried to make another offer.
That and some of the other reports make me think it's possible eBay may be experiencing a technical issue where rejected offers could be being considered by the system as that buyer "currently winning or having bought" the item, which could potentially then trigger that block.
eBay has been making a lot of changes to the Offers functionality to try to get rid of unpaid items, such as making it so an item remains active and available to be purchases unless/until a buyer who was sent an offer actually pays for it, so I'm wondering if something hasn't gone crosswise in their tweaking and testing that could be causing this kind of issue.
If someone is blocked from purchase due to those rules, their user ID won't appear in your block list - it's just programmatically done if eBay believes they meet whatever criteria is set for the block.
If that link in your message prompting you to "unblock" the user legitimately came from eBay, it may be a link to quickly add the person to your Buyer Requirements Exemption List so that the rule would not apply and they would be able to purchase.
I definitely understand your caution, especially with them using multiple IDs, and would not recommend clicking it without speaking to customer service first just to be safe, but I think it is at least possible this technical issue could be in play with what you are experiencing.
@devon@ebay @kyle@ebay @elizabeth@ebay just making you aware of this - are there any tickets open for issues with (possibly rejected) offers being treated as winning an item or making a purchase, possibly triggering buyer requirement blocks, and if not...can you get this reported to the appropriate team please?
Oh and also, can you confirm with the team who handles Messages if that warning and option to unblock is something that is legitimately added by eBay in some cases or if it would be a sign of possible phishing or scams?
maubrn
OP2 years agoI do see how the warning happened in light of all the attempted offers.
I was asking about that warning from eBay (?) that I have a user blocked whom I don't, and the IDs didn't match; the one being used, and the one eBay referenced. Another ID showed up when the user answered my question on their name on the account.
Also, that eBay warning doesn't appear in the message when I read it from eBay's Messages on site.
It's only in the message when I read the message from my personal email. Does eBay have that function to individualize/isolate a warning ? How would a phisher be able to add and isolate it ? 🤔 Never got through yesterday, am trying shortly.
valueaddedresource
·2 years ago@maubrn so in the message in the screenshot above where you see that warning from eBay - that's not actually 2 different IDs in that message, it looks like at the top eBay used the eBay user name and at the bottom (message about unblocking) they used the email (basing that on the .com at the end after the part you blurred out.) But it's all still referring to the same user, it just happens to be that their eBay name and their email are very similar but not quite exact.
Basically it would be like if my user name here was LMVAR_42 and the email I registered my account with was LMVAR42_jw @ "emailprovider" .com (completely made up just for illustration and hoping it doesn't get edited lol) - both of those reference the same user/person/eBay account, so in that case you would not be dealing with two different accounts, if that makes sense.
I know you said the person who ended up buying it *was* a different account but it seems like in that message, they gave you their name showing that they were the same person?
Some people do have more than one eBay account for perfectly legitimate reasons and if their initial attempt under one account was blocked due to the technical issue I mentioned above, it definitely could make sense to try with a different account and would make sense that might actually work if the technical issue is being caused by what I think it is.
That's not to say it couldn't be something sketchy, just that there could also be some plausible explanations that could make it make sense too.
The fact that the warning only appears in the app but not on desktop does make me think it's possibly a legitimate eBay thing - phisher/scam would have a harder time with that. It's also not uncommon for eBay to have things that are optimized for or only available in the app but not the desktop experience.
Definitely curious to hear what support tells you if you are able to get through!
maubrn
OP2 years agoOh I'm terribly frustrated that I wasted 2 hours of time trying to speak on these issues with 2 foreign agents. I got nowhere. I uploaded screenshots on their doc uploaded. One guy said they only look at the messages in the eBay system, that I should delete and disregard that email from eBay with a warning in my personal email. I have no idea how that warning got there. It's a pretty good hacker if they customized things to take advantage of an innocent buyers email who tried 7 times to make offers save $2 !! Coincidence? I don't feel confident about shipping it. (:
eBay can afford to pay Americans who work at ebay! A poster said the outsourced foreign agents give wrong advice. I noticed that. On another issue, he insisted I got paid for an item I didn't get paid for. Said he sees the payment, what color I asked, he said black. I said the solds are in black, the pmts are in red. Then he said to use desktop, go to the solds, look below where the fees were deducted, in "other details", "you'll see it". I just hung up. 😱
So I didn't learn anything. Who put that warning in there and had the time to customize it to be similar to the sender's id? No answers. It will go to the IT Dept. In the earlier eBay days you could call a phone number. Getting past that chat system is a kind of torture.
valueaddedresource
·2 years ago@maubrn ugh I'm sorry you had that experience. Are you active on Facebook or Twitter at all? If so, eBay's social support channels tend to at least be staffed by US agents.
https://twitter.com/AskeBay
https://www.facebook.com/eBayForBusiness
sin-n-dex
·2 years agoBe careful with this. Many questions are answered by bots. You only get a human if a human needs to review.
I've had first hand experience talking to the bots on FB.
C.
maubrn
OP2 years agoHi, I just want to know how someone put that warning that an eBay foreign agent said wasn't from eBay, into a message another user was sending? How would that work? Is my email address compromised?
cstpos
·2 years ago@maubrnYou can go to https://www.ebay.com/bmgt/BuyerBlock and Click on Manage Blocked Buyer List and you will see a list of usernames that you've blocked. Good Luck.
maubrn
OP2 years agoYes I checked the various IDs against my list, they're not there.
What I can't find yet is how to search user ID's on my android.
broto_64
·2 years agoWho knows, the buyer could've also have you confused with a different seller... I'm not sure what I would make of it but the 10 items/ day or whatever setting is in your buyer preferences, set here:
https://www.ebay.com/bmgt/buyerrequirements
maubrn
OP2 years agobroto_64 are you able to read my buyer preferences? I hope that's private or it could be useful to the wrong .......
Would a potential buyer get that specific a message stating the 10 day rule?
sin-n-dex
·2 years agoNo, the screenshot is from his account, he's blocked out parts of it to not share private info.
No one can read your preferences, and no blocked buyer knows why they are blocked. I had some auction interference some 10 years ago and blocked anyone with less than 5fb from buying more than one item every 10 days (or whatever it was), so my interferer would bid on one item at a time, I'd cancel and block, they'd open a new account, and do it again tomorrow. But at least there was only one bid to cancel instead of 200 because this loon was bidding on everything in the store, up to the moon so no one else would win, and not paying for anything. I had him literally thrown off eBay 5 times before he learnt not to bid on my items.
C.
maubrn
OP2 years agoOMG! Glad u were able to free yourself.
a_c_green
·2 years ago@maubrn : This topic has come up before but I cannot remember now whether the message did reference the 1-purchase-every-10-days limit, or if we figured it out from the circumstances.
One other thing you might want to check is your Buyer Requirements Activity Log, which will show you who's bounced off your Requirements settings recently, and why:
https://www.ebay.com/bmgt/blockedbuyeractivities
Too Many Unpaid Items violations do not identify the culprit (but they do give you his Feedback count and date of signup). "Buyers in countries to which I do not ship" are identified. Not sure what other violations may be listed, but see what you find on yours.
sin-n-dex
·2 years agoI just checked mine - I have 11 pages of them! It's the same people trying to bid 15-20 times on the same single item, usually countries I don't ship to. If the people with too many strikes contacted me, I'd probably exempt them as long as they're not really low FB.
C.
maubrn
OP2 years agoThanks that's good to know. She made about 7 offers that day and possibly a month earlier twice on a different ID if it was her. To save a couple dollars when u live in a house bought at 1-1/3 mil, SMH.
angelno9
·2 years agoHave you only received information about this "block" from messages the buyer sent you?
maubrn
OP2 years agoI received it on the first message she sent me mentioning that the system wouldn't let her buy it.
 
lacemaker3
·2 years ago@maubrn,
Did you click on the "Unblock sender" link in that email?
I hope not. If you did, you should change your eBay password immediately, just in case.
[FYI - on a side note - even if the message was from a scammer, they might not have anything to do with the buyer who actually bought the shirt. On Terapeak it shows that it was sold at full price. There was also a declined offer on it.]
There are two different (but similar) user IDs partially shown in your screenshot. Are both of those user IDs still members, or do either show "not a registered user"?
That is not a kind of email that eBay normally sends, and they would not normally give you a link to unblock someone like that.
BUT ... there have been a number of hacking scams that have happened recently, which started when a seller receives a message from a member, saying that the seller has to make some change in their account to allow the member to purchase, complete with a helpful link to make the change.
But the link goes to a phishing website, not eBay, and the hacker steals the seller's login information that way. They end up hacking into the seller's account, and most often (at least recently) they send an extremely low offer to another buyer to steal something that the seller has listed for sale. [Of course, the hacker could potentially do a lot of other nasty stuff after they hack the account.]
Here's one seller's story about this:
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Hacked-and-Scammed-by-a-buyer/m-p/34412473#M2385989
maubrn
OP2 years agolacemaker3, thanks that was very interesting! I felt a little wary by the two different ID's, eBay had one, she had one, she sent 2 different emails with possibly 2 different IDs, and I remember one had no feedback, then there was 4 feedbacks. I asked her what was the name on the account that wouldn't let her buy it. Her answer showed yet another user Id- screenshot enclosed. And the message giving her name that I asked for was very sweet, and almost too much info. For "not trading on eBay very often" she sure has a lot of user IDs. I'm not mailing it until I speak to eBay. Too many IDs, too little feedback, and a weird note from eBay. I'll ask if they sent it and post what they said. No I didn't click on that "unblock user" that seemed bizarre, and that weirdness fits the scam dynamic you shared about.
I am trying to figure out how to search user ID's on my android and haven't figured it out yet. Going to try to check the address against my BB's.
I reduced it in the listing by $2 and told her so, so she did get her disc yet it shows full price.
I had Terapeak in the late 2000's and it was free or cheap. Now it's expensive but I miss it badly. Do you get your money's worth from it?
 
lacemaker3
·2 years ago@maubrn, thanks for letting us know that you didn't click the link!
I'm not certain that the one who bought the shirt in the end, was the same person who sent the phishing link. I can't see enough of the buyer's user ID to see if it is similar or not. The scammers are not really interested in buying anything at (or close to) full price. They may have been planning to steal something else that you had listed, they wouldn't necessarily contact you from the item they were planning to steal. Or they might have wanted to hack a selling account for other reasons.
Terapeak is now free for any account that is registered as a seller, so you should be able to use it again. It's in your Seller Hub, under the Research tab.
https://www.ebay.com/sh/research?marketplace=US
sin-n-dex
·2 years ago@maubrn
eBay didn't send you that message, both messages are from your "buyer". (I think that's what @angelno9 was asking you).
Don't click links, it's a hack. Clicking "unblock seller" will give you a page to log in to eBay and they'll have your password.
The scammers are getting much more sophisticated in trying to steal passwords to give themselves access to your account (possibly to create coupons).
Unknown if the person who bought the shirt is the same person who messaged you, if it was two different IDs, it's probably not the same person. But if you do speak with eBay by phone they can look into the messages you received, advise it's not from them, and confirm if that person who sent you the phishing link bought your shirt or not.
C.
maubrn
OP2 years agoThank you that's excellent to bear in mind. Am calling them soon. If buyer put a phishing link in there I don't want to ship to them.
maubrn
OP2 years agoYes there was just that one warning message from eBay on the first message she sent me.
ckimodog
·2 years ago@maubrn
It could very well be someone with multiple ID's and yes it could be that person. I would heed eBay's advice. They probably caught up with the buyers IP number and that's why they may be contacting you. Did you receive the notice thru eBay messages? I would definitely take their advice. My guess is that this person has been problematic with other sellers as well. Don't chance it.
Happy Selling
maubrn
OP2 years agoWell she bought it with a different buyer id. I posted a screenshot of the message with the warning in answer to Angelo, maybe I shouldn't have posted it (?) I was going to call eBay but she bought it before I could. I think I'll call them before I mail it. I wish I'd copied down the addresses of buyers I've blocked to compare. Can addresses be retrieved that are from a year or two ago?
ckimodog
·2 years ago@maubrn
That's what I figured. It is my belief that this person has caused issues with other sellers and eBay is just giving you a heads up. Don't waste your time calling eBay. They are outsourced overseas agents who do not work for eBay. Most of the time their replies and info are either incorrect or completely false. Should you need more info from a reliable source go here:
https://www.facebook.com/ebayForBusiness/
These agents are US CS eBay employees and may better serve you and your situation. Many positive posts with their ability to be helpful. In the past they were helpful concerning my issue at hand. I would reach out today if this continues to be a concern. They're very good about getting back to you as well. It may be 24 hours, but they do respond. Give it a shot.
Good luck to you!
maubrn
OP2 years agoThat link you provided brings up the "content not available" message.
a_c_green
·2 years agoOnly if you saved the purchase payment notifications that are copied to your email address (i.e. the offsite email address that's tied to your eBay account). Those will show the Shipping address received with the payment.
Regarding blocks and such, eBay tracks accounts by their internal ID number, not by whatever text name the user picks at any given time. Otherwise, of course, users could evade your blocklist by simply changing their username, which can be done every 30 days, if I remember right.
I have not seen such a warning given out before, but this might be something new.