Fake accounts with hundreds of positive reviews and sales history
Someone told me something that seems kind of ridiculous to me, that you cannot fake reviews on ebay. It seems like every scam account that offers or bids on my items have hundreds of positive reviews and sales history on their accounts. Doesn't really seem possible to accept any kind of offer or create any kind of auction in most cases. My latest auction had literally three fake bidders, all with hundreds of positive reviews on their account, one account even had a tremendous sales history.
My mother was complaining quite a bit about how a previous fake buyer made us believe that he bought a two-thousand dollar painting from us, and ebay sends us an email about how they canceled the sale due to the fact that the buyer's account is suspicious... and to this day their account is still on ebay.
Tell me, should I be cancelling these sold items on my account or just leave them be? Even when ebay sends me the suspicious buyer email saying that the sale was canceled, the item is still not technically canceled on my account. Far as I am aware it does not count as a defect, but if I were to cancel a sale when a real person buys an item and doesn't pay, wouldn't that count as a defect?
fashunu4eeuh
·2 years ago@iamcara wrote:
â€â€¦but if I were to cancel a sale when a real person buys an item and doesn't pay, wouldn't that count as a defect?â€
Hi @iamcara No, it would not count as a defect in this case because after 4 days with no payment, the seller can cancel the transaction with the reason “buyer didn’t pay.†This is a valid reason to cancel. It gives the buyer a non-paying strike on their account, prevents them from leaving feedback, and effectively cancels the sale. Since the seller was not at fault, no defect is given. Such a scenario is not a poor reflection on the seller.
However, a seller can get a defect if he alone initiates the cancellation of a transaction, and does so without one of eBay’s valid reasons. If the buyer has not requested the cancellation, and the seller decides to back out of the sale, eBay feels the seller could be disappointing the buyer and creating what eBay has termed a “Bad Buying Experience (BBE).†This is a poor reflection on the seller and eBay considers it one of the worst offenses a seller can do on its platform.
Below is the link to the policy with more information.
(PS—what do you consider a fake account to be? Can you clarify what defines it? Thanks.)
https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/member-behavior-policies/order-cancellation-policy?id=5298
iamcara
OP2 years agoAfter reading these replies I have realized that some accounts that seem suspicious could in fact be real. Often times they have repeated reviews, the same word for word from the same account or a different one. It just didn't seem real because the first account that we encountered an issue with had the same kind of patterns with the reviews on their account. The buyer did not pay and ebay had sent us an email saying that the account was suspicious, hence the potential confusion.
It is still quite a mystery to me but I will wait it out until drawing conclusions.
It is not a far fetched idea that a user would be involved in a network of "scam accounts" or "bot accounts" that give each other good reviews in order to set themselves up to scam others.
downunder-61
·2 years agoIt is not a far fetched idea that a user would be involved in a network of "scam accounts" or "bot accounts" that give each other good reviews in order to set themselves up to scam others.
A lot of work, far easier to hack an established account with great FB that has been dormant for a while.
reallynicestamps
·2 years agoOften times they have repeated reviews, the same word for word from the same account or a different one.
EBay supplies a number of boilerplate Feedback for the use of members who are happy with their purchase but lack skills in English composition.
While your paintings are very good and reasonably priced, I am sure you know art is a slow sell, even for very well-known artists.
Since scammers would want to flip their ill-gotten goods, paintings would be a poor choice. Now if you were selling sterling silver (bullion value) or electronic goods (easy to pawn or sell on CL or FBMP) there would be more reason to suspect scams.
iamcara
OP2 years agoThank you for all your help. The feedback template thing really does explain why the accounts look so suspicious.
The inaccuracy of the automated scam alert by ebay is indeed very unfortunate, and seems like something that is important to know.
Thank you, they are my mother's paintings. She already sells on saatchi but they do not advertise too much so we are trying out ebay, currently raising my selling limit so that I can list more paintings.
I have even contacted the previous buyer of the painting I mentioned to see if they are still interested and/or legitimate.
fashunu4eeuh
·2 years ago@iamcara wrote:
“It is not a far fetched idea that a user would be involved in a network of "scam accounts" or "bot accounts" that give each other good reviews in order to set themselves up to scam others.â€
Thank you for your response—much appreciated. I agree it could happen that crime rings might form as you described. I also agree with @reallynicestamps that you would be an unlikely target for scammers. They would be more probable to prey on new low-feedback sellers of high dollar goods that are easier to fence, pawn, sell etc.
In my 15 years of selling here, i have never once been defrauded by a buyer. Now, sellers? Yes, a couple of times, but never a buyer. (My listings consist of a mix of OOAK items, collectibles, vintage fashion, and the like.) But I am cautious and shy away from the high fraud categories like electronics , smartphones, pc’s, high-dollar luxury goods, gaming, tablets, to name a few.
Wish you all the best.
eburtonlab
·2 years agoWho told you feedback cannot be faked? I can provide examples of seller accounts with fake feedback. Feedback can be faked, provided there is a non-canceled transaction involved.
Legitimate eBay accounts can also be hijacked. So past feedback might not mean much if the person in control of the account now is not the one that received the feedback. Sometimes a scammer takes over another account and uses the account for scamming. If the original account holder regains control over the account, that might explain why the account was not removed by eBay.
If someone wins an auction and does not pay, after four days the seller can cancel for nonpayment to give the "buyer" a nonpayment strike and to prevent the "buyer" from leaving feedback, with no negative effect on the seller's account because of that.
reallynicestamps
·2 years agoAll buyers have only positive feedback.
If a scammer makes 1000 purchases, and scams* on 500 of them, all the seller can do (beside theMBG/Claim process of course) is leave NO feedback.
That buyer still has only positive feedback.
But only about 40% of all transactions, honest or scam, get any feedback at all.
Feedback is about how the buyer feels about the transaction.
Reviews are about the product.
So a Bad Seller may be selling a counterfeit product but the buyer would still see positive Reviews of the (real) product on the scam listing.
Doesn't really seem possible to accept any kind of offer or create any kind of auction in most cases.
Auctions have many many more Unpaid Item Disputes than Fixed Price listings.
Which is one of the reasons less than 15% of listings are Auctions.
It is possible with Fixed Price listings to add Immediate Payment Required.
However, adding Best Offer, means that when the seller accepts the BO, IPR ends.
That's logical, because the customer may not be around when the BO is accepted, although a few hours may pass between BO, acceptance and payment.
Usually this is not a problem, unlike Auctions where the initial bid may be days earlier, and forgotten by the bidder by the time they win.
and ebay sends us an email about how they canceled the sale due to the fact that the buyer's account is suspicious... and to this day their account is still on ebay.
Well that was good.
It is possible that the account was hijacked. EBay cancelled the scam bid, but not the account held by an innocent party.
should I be cancelling these sold items on my account or just leave them be?
Leave them be.
If the buyer pays, ship.
If you don't you will get a Defect.
Quite often there is no apparent reason eBay has warned the seller, and it's not unusual for the warning to arrive after payment, shipping, and positive feedback.
You can cancel for Problem with Address if you haven't shipped yet. Don't use "out of stock" which is an automatic Defect.
but if I were to cancel a sale when a real person buys an item and doesn't pay, wouldn't that count as a defect?
That's a different situation.
You can set your Seller Preferences /Buyer Requirements to automatically Cancel transactions after 96 hours (to the second) if the Buyer has not paid.
The Buyer gets a Strike (defect).
And you can set your Seller Preferences/Buyer Requirements to automatically Block bidders with Strikes for non-payment.
*And what do you call a scam?
Non-payment is annoying, but not a scam. More like telling the supermarket cashier that you have changed your mind about buying that box of Cheerios. (Except they don't tell us, grrr.)
Not As Described where the returned product is not the one sent are a scam.
robbie31415
·2 years agoYou do what eBay tells you.
If eBay tells you to ship then you ship.
If eBay tells you not to ship then you don't ship.
Buyers have 4 days to pay, unless you send an invoice then you restart the timer.
After 4 days the option to cancel with reason 'buyer did not pay' will become avaliable to you.
Cancelling before 4 days can have negative ramifications on your account.
The suspicious account cancellation isn't very accurate. Buyers might have to contact eBay and get their account restored. Can be as simple as they were on a VPN while they purchased.