I fell into a scam but item isn't covered by money back guarantee

[saladisposa]

Hi, 

I have started freeking out here and ebay live chat is closed. If someone can help me maybe I won't have a heartattack now.

I purchased an expensive camera for 1400 from France. I was trying to contact seller from the start but he didn't reply. The item is due tomorrow but seller never shipped. I know is a fraud as the same used item (photos and discription) is relisted 2 more times with different seller Id from different country.

Even though the end day I remember to be tomorrow since I want seeing a end date on my ebay purchases list I went to more actions and press the button of item not received.

I got a nice feedback from ebay that the item is not covered by money back guarantee! Why? I paid via credit card inside eBay for an item. 

That is a huge amount for me. Please help! 

Why ebay does not give me a date when to file the not received report? Why doesn't cover the item? 

[saladisposa]

Unfortunately, this item isn't in a category covered by eBay Money Back Guarantee. We don't offer buyer protection on items listed in the Real Estate category, certain Motors categories, or item listed using the Classified Ad format. Please try to resolve the issue by contacting the seller

OOH my God! How does ebay protect us here? 

I will never boy from ebay again 

[lady_madonna]

@saladisposa 

Sorry, but you're another victim of a new scam that is circulating on eBay. Ebay is aware of it and working to remove the scammers. The scammers list their items for sale in a category that is not covered under Ebay;s Money Back Guarantee.

Please contact eBay Customer Service for help on this - they are aware by now of what is happening.
Make sure they know the purchase should be covered under the Cameras  category but the seller scammed you (and eBay) by putting it in the wrong category. 

Go to this linked page, left side, click "Have us call you" or "chat with us" (live chat, not bot)
https://www.ebay.com/help/contact_us?id=4002&st=10

[hkfever456]

if you used a credit card try calling your credit card company to do a chargeback. if you have any communication between you and the seller, you will need that. time is of importance. You only have a certain amount of time you can initiate a charge back.

[saladisposa]

I just talked to ebay and they simply told me to go to the police. The police in Greece to hunt down an international scammer? That is a joke.

Ebay does not abide by their policy.

They say..

Excluded items

Real Estate Websites, Businesses for Sale Digital content, Intangible goods, Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) including physical items combined with or attached to NFTs Classified Ads

The item is clearly a camera what is different now is the category. 

But the policy doesn't say excluded categories.. It says items. 

Ebay chat guy hang up on me saying that the camera is considered a classified ad for them

The eBay refused to do anything than advise me to file a lawsuit! I mean seriously? The money back guarantee also seems a scam to me. Maybe I should file a lawsuit against ebay first to not following their policy of customer protection within their system and giving a nice platform for fraudsters.

So attention to all that reach here from Google search on whether eBay is safe... 

Ebay does not protect against fraud all the time. 

Your money are not guaranteed to get back to you if the seller is a fraud 

Ebay people do not always follow their policy even 

Ebay may hang up on you if you get scammed and ask for a way out (I have asked how to escalate this within eBay and response was: I wish you success on the future and have a great time ahead. Bye!)

I was a simple buyer, simply trusted eBay. I was wrong.. There is no trust for eBay if they don't even follow their policy for buyer protection (and again I emphasize that the protection mentions items not categories under which the seller listed the item) 

[downunder-61]

Forget eBay, they are useless in giving advice and can not help with this. 

Contact your card company right away (number on the back of your card) and get them to inititate a chargeback as soon as possible.

[soh.maryl]

Most credit cards give about 180 days to do a chargeback. 

[fab_finds4u]

There are literally thousands of cameras for sale. There are 256 cameras for sale right this minute listed in "Specialty Services" which is a category that is not covered.   If you search "specialty services camera" you will see the list of camers listed by SCAMMERS.   You happened to buy a camera and didn't pay attention what category it was in and further you didn't wonder why the MBG symbol was not in the listing. 

eBay is blaming you for not paying attention to listing details when they should be covering you against this scam and kick the seller off.  

If one of the blues in here would search specialty services they will see items are in that category that shouldn't be there.  They could have those listings removed if they wanted to. And it's not just camera sellers doing it. Steam decks are in that category, too.  There was a  couple of recent complaints wondering why their steam deck  purchase wasn't covered and I researched and told them because it was listed in the wrong category.  Now today it's a camera in the wrong category. 

Buyers that get screwed like that should take eBay to arbitration.

[hkfever456]

not all credit cards do that. plus it will take time. the faster the process is started the faster funds can be given back. the process itself can take some time. Its better for one to think their card is not a card that offers 180 days, that way they are not late.

[saladisposa]

Exactly! I feel I was scammed from ebay as well as that fraudster.

Ebay does not give any warning about the purchase not being covered by money back guarantee. 

Ebay on buyer protection mentions items that fall in MBG or not, not categories of items. 

The simple buyer (like me) cannot be expected to know all the possible ways the scammers work through the system, but ebay is expected to know and protect the users like it claims it does. For a popular way of scamming like you are telling me eBay has let and keeps letting such fraudsters to take peoples money is simply unforgivable!

I think I'm done with this untrustworthy platform. Even the Chinese guys are more credible! 

[mudshark61369]

@saladisposa,

You wrote in reply to fabfinds...

"Ebay does not give any warning about the purchase not being covered by money back guarantee.

Ebay on buyer protection mentions items that fall in MBG or not, not categories of items".

On every listing page there is a This item is covered by the MBG  Or This item is not covered by the MBG.  Items listed in the Specialty Services categories are not covered.   So you can tell by looking at those things.

"For a popular way of scamming like you are telling me eBay has let and keeps letting such fraudsters to take peoples money is simply unforgivable!"

There is no way ebay can check each of the millions of new listings posted each day from around the world for authenticity.  This scam is new and maybe ebay is working on a program that could block items from being listed in Specialty Services that do not qualify for that category.   As a buyer looking at the categories items are listed in and for the MBG coverage box on every listing, is part of their due diligence. 

Since you are located in Greece, I do not know if this will help or not, but you can try contacting ebay on Facebook.  The reps there know more about the scams than the live chat or call center representatives, and may have more power to help you.

When you contact them have the eBay item number, your order number and the seller's username ready.  Explain that you bought a camera that was falsely listed in the Specialty Services category, to avoid MBG protection.  You will need to provide ebay with your real name, the email address you use for ebay, and possibly your phone number.

https://www.facebook.com/eBayForBusiness

[saladisposa]

I have provided all three info to ebay rep. They are simply not willing to help even though they see that is a scam. The length of their measure was that the banned the seller (who appeared also with different ids). But nothing about the lost money.

This is not OK! For eBay to not scan automatically for the scams. It is not OK to expect the user to know the scam ways.. 

Ebay should take responsibility of the scam through their platform and give the buyer protection it promised. 

And no. MBG acronym I learned today, I only knew the term money back guarantee for physical items.. And the camera is a physical item. When the item listing refers to that it should be protected. 

Their system /platform is not flexible enough to protect us. The fraudsters take advantage of the loopholes. That I understand. But when taking this to a real person that sees the fraud and still he doesn't want to solve this (even to take it further to his superior if he personally can't) then this means that eBay doesn't just have a bad system but also people that give a.... About the users. 

At the end I was asking what to do, how to escalate and he wished me luck on the future... Jesus 

[glasser]

100% responsibility on eBay here. For all you who say that the category was not covered by MBG, it is foreseeable that scammers would use this work around. eBay has to be aware of this. It is easy to see if a camera belongs in a certain category or not. eBay policies' all kinds of policy violations around listings. This would seem no harder than many.

eBay listings are poorly designed. Counting on buyers to weed through them to find MBG or not and other pertinent information is a weak excuse for denying a claim. 

[mudshark61369]

@saladisposa,

Scammers always look for loopholes to get away with their scams. This just happens to be a new one that we started hearing about in the last couple of weeks.  It is going to take ebay some time to come up with a solution, it always does, because they have to react to new scams. 

  "I only knew the term money back guarantee for physical items.. And the camera is a physical item. When the item listing refers to that it should be protected". 

Unfortunately, that is the loophole scammers have found. Listing a physical item in a category that does not cover most of the listings in it, which are services or digitally delivered items.  You have been an ebay member long enough to have seen the Money Back Guarantee box on listing pages.  It should have been a warning if the box had the message "This item is not covered by the MBG".  That is something you cannot blame anyone but yourself for not looking. 

I have to ask one question, was the €1400 price low or too good to be true, for the camera you wanted to purchase?  If it was, that is usually an indication of a scam.  That with a (0) feedback seller doubles the scam risk.

Hopefully, if you can go the Facebook route, I mentioned, you can get a refund.

[pburn]

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@hkfever456 wrote:

not all credit cards do that. plus it will take time. the faster the process is started the faster funds can be given back. the process itself can take some time. Its better for one to think their card is not a card that offers 180 days, that way they are not late.

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@saladisposa 

All credit card issuers are required by the Fair Credit Billing Act to give customers a minimum of 60 days from the date of the statement on which the charge appears to file a chargeback. 

Fair Credit Billing Act 

Most credit card issuers are currently offering a 120-day window for customers to file a chargeback.

Don't Run Out the Clock: Understanding Chargeback Time Limits 

I've only filed two chargebacks, both within the last couple of years. My account was credited immediately for the purchases, with the understanding the amount could be debited again if the case was found in favor of the merchants.