eBay

benjwo-4189 · ‎12-18-2024

Hi! For about a month I've been getting weird email messages saying "welcome to eBay" and informing me about Air Jordans I'd supposedly been interested in, although I'm definitely not. I thought they were just lame phishing attempts until today I got a message from eBay that a Canon EF-S lens I'm "selling" has been listed. Except, I have no idea what that's about — I'm definitely not selling anything. Gmail verified that the sender was indeed eBay and the links actually go to ebay.com, so it is not phishing. I figured some malicious person had cracked into my eBay account, so I had eBay send a one-time code to my email and reset the password. But when I got in, I realized, This is *not* my account.

This is the account of somebody who likely has a very similar email address at @gmail.com as they have an identical name, but they live in Pearland, TX while I'm in Seattle, WA. (I looked them up, they're a real person.) They do not seem malicious. I think they just typed in their email address incorrectly.

What's weird is that eBay lists *my* email address as "verified" in the contact info. How is that even possible? I sure as heck didn't verify it. I'm very security conscious and would have remembered a request to be verified. Even if I didn't remember, I never delete email and there'd be a trace of it.

It seems oddly sloppy that eBay could make such a mistake. They should figure this out soon as it should never be the case that random people (me) are allowed in to other people's accounts!

Unfortunately, eBay's "Has your account been hacked? Contact us immediately!" page just links to a chatbot which was completely unhelpful. When I told it I wanted to talk to an agent it told me an agent would call the phone number on file in fifteen minutes. Well, that's fine and dandy, except the phone number on file is for my doppelgänger in Pearland. (Did I mention eBay granted me access to all of their personal information? I can't believe anybody would voluntarily trust eBay with their Social Security number!)

So, now I want to contact the person who actually owns this account and get them to change the email address to their own. I've sent them a text message, but got no response. I'd send them a message via eBay, but there doesn't appear to be any way to send a message to yourself and even if I could it'd probably just get sent to my email instead of appearing on their phone.

And that's why I am posting here, hoping someone will give me a tip for how to contact them. Failing that, I'm leaving this message here so that maybe the Other Me in Pearland will find it and learn what happened to their account and be reassured that nobody malicious has broken in and changed their password. It was just Me in Seattle trying to figure out some SNAFU that eBay has made.

eburtonlab · ‎12-18-2024

Check the Communication Preferences of that account, and see if there is an email address where eBay messages from members are sent. If so you can either email the user directly, or send an eBay message to the account from another account and the user will see it in email (though not in eBay messages, since you have reset their password, unless the user is able to re-reset the password via phone). Come to think of it, if the phone number appears in the account security, you might be able to give the user a call -- if the number is a land line, a text might not go through.

benjwo-4189 · ‎12-18-2024

The email address on file is my email address. ☹

I believe they should be able to re-reset the password with their phone number as that's still on file.

I know they have a cell phone because they logged in to eBay using an Android device. It's funny that I didn't even think about the possibility that the number might go to a landline, but that's a good point. The Pearland Other Me was born in 1973, likes classic 1980s Air Jordans, and collects film cameras, so they might be a wee bit old fashioned. ☺

If eBay doesn't fix the situation with this account soon, I'll "reach out.... reach out... reach out and touch some one" using the plain old telephone system.

kensgiftshop · ‎12-19-2024

Is it the same email address you use for your Ebay account or a different one?

Have a great day.

benjwo-4189 · ‎12-19-2024

It is a different email address. I sign in by username and had forgotten that when I signed up for eBay long ago I gave a different address that forwards my messages to gmail.

elizabeth@ebay · ‎12-19-2024

@benjwo-4189 wrote:

Hi! For about a month I've been getting weird email messages saying "welcome to eBay" and informing me about Air Jordans I'd supposedly been interested in, although I'm definitely not. I thought they were just lame phishing attempts until today I got a message from eBay that a Canon EF-S lens I'm "selling" has been listed. Except, I have no idea what that's about — I'm definitely not selling anything. Gmail verified that the sender was indeed eBay and the links actually go to ebay.com, so it is not phishing. I figured some malicious person had cracked into my eBay account, so I had eBay send a one-time code to my email and reset the password. But when I got in, I realized, This is *not* my account.

This is the account of somebody who likely has a very similar email address at @gmail.com as they have an identical name, but they live in Pearland, TX while I'm in Seattle, WA. (I looked them up, they're a real person.) They do not seem malicious. I think they just typed in their email address incorrectly.

What's weird is that eBay lists *my* email address as "verified" in the contact info. How is that even possible? I sure as heck didn't verify it. I'm very security conscious and would have remembered a request to be verified. Even if I didn't remember, I never delete email and there'd be a trace of it.

It seems oddly sloppy that eBay could make such a mistake. They should figure this out soon as it should never be the case that random people (me) are allowed in to other people's accounts!

Unfortunately, eBay's "Has your account been hacked? Contact us immediately!" page just links to a chatbot which was completely unhelpful. When I told it I wanted to talk to an agent it told me an agent would call the phone number on file in fifteen minutes. Well, that's fine and dandy, except the phone number on file is for my doppelgänger in Pearland. (Did I mention eBay granted me access to all of their personal information? I can't believe anybody would voluntarily trust eBay with their Social Security number!)

So, now I want to contact the person who actually owns this account and get them to change the email address to their own. I've sent them a text message, but got no response. I'd send them a message via eBay, but there doesn't appear to be any way to send a message to yourself and even if I could it'd probably just get sent to my email instead of appearing on their phone.

And that's why I am posting here, hoping someone will give me a tip for how to contact them. Failing that, I'm leaving this message here so that maybe the Other Me in Pearland will find it and learn what happened to their account and be reassured that nobody malicious has broken in and changed their password. It was just Me in Seattle trying to figure out some SNAFU that eBay has made.

Hi @benjwo-4189. Could you please reach out to us at askcommunity@ebay.com where we can chat more?

Thank you

Elizabeth,

benjwo-4189 · ‎12-22-2024

Did you receive the email I sent to askcommunity three days ago? I checked my spam folder and I don't see any response. The situation has not changed: I am still able to login to someone else's account.

benjwo-4189 · ‎01-01-2025

This issue is still happening and today I got a notice that "my listing has sold"! Still no response from the askcommunity email.

benjwo-4189 · ‎01-06-2025

Hello? Is anybody reading this? eBay has given me access to someone else's account and there's no way to alert them.

wastingtime101 · ‎01-06-2025

Hi elizabeth@ebay - can you please follow up with this OP? They emailed the askcommunity address as you instructed but haven't heard back yet. I realize this may have been lost in the shuffle with time off from holidays, but hopefully you all enjoyed a nice break and are refreshed for the new year.

I suggest re-sending that email @benjwo-4189 so it's easier for the community team to find. If you did not link to this thread in the original email I suggest adding a link when you re-send it and include info that Elizabeth instructed you to contact them for assistance.

GLORIOUS!