Getting screwed over for months as a seller on on an blatant purchasing scam transaction. Need help.

[tikiauctions]

Getting royally screwed over by eBay and need suggestions.

I’m an experienced seller and member since 2002 and I’m flabbergasted how eBay CS has treated me and botched an obvious scam by a buyer.

On October 15th 2023 I sold a brand new and sealed Google Pixel phone to a buyer in FL with low feedback. A day after it was delivered he told me he wanted to return it since it was “broken.” I told him it was under warranty through Google or he could even exchange it at Best Buy if he wanted to, but I’d also accept a return (I knew his “broken excuse was **bleep** but eBay ALWAYS sides with buyers)

So, he ships it back to me and once it’s delivered eBay closes the return and issues him a refund. One HUGE problem. He didn’t use eBay’s label, he (or whomever running the scam) shipped “something” with USPS tracking from NYC (not Florida where I originally shipped to) to a suburb outside of Chicago (my return address is in Chicago) 

I spoke to 10 CS agents and escalated the issue showing proof I never received my item back, and they all agreed with me and flagged they buyer’s account and told me to also report and block them, but the “manual appeal team” keeps turning down the manual aka human review appeal for unknown reasons, but what I keep getting told is it’s because the case had already been closed because a refund had been issued and the seller sent tracking which showed the item had been delivered to a town about 20 miles from me I have NO affiliation with. This makes zero sense to me as that’s what a HUMAN reviewer is supposed to take into account. The item should have been delivered to my return address. I can't even get ahold of tracking as eBay says they don't keep records?! It's all automated...

3 Months now and I keep getting the runaround. I am at my wits end. Can anyone offer advice? I am told there is no one else to escalate to. I am out $630. Thanks!

[tikiauctions]

Oh, and the first CS agent I spoke to suggested I drive 20 miles to the town's post office and see if they could help me LMAO. **bleep**.

[toomuchstuffagain35]

I know it's a long shot, but ebay are WELL aware of this fake tracking scam, on both a seller AND buyer's end.

Have you tied contacting the reps on the ebay for Business Facebook page by sending  them a message there?

[tikiauctions]

I have not... I will look into it.  Thanks for the tip!

[reallynicestamps]

I spoke to 10 CS agents

The phone reps have a terrible reputation for getting you off the phone as soon as possible even if that means giving you the advice you want to hear instead of the advice you need to have.


https://www.facebook.com/eBayForBusiness/ — Message button in upper right on landing page.

https://www.instagram.com/ebayforsellers/


https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/How-do-I-contact-Customer-Support/m-p/32016431#M1783851 -> Automated Assistant, type AGENT -> enter. You will then get more options.


The social media Chat accounts are covered by trained eBay employees with some authority.
And you get a transcript so you can compare what you heard with what you were told.

the first CS agent I spoke to suggested I drive 20 miles to the town's post office

Twenty miles? That's like a 15 minute drive?

Wow. Totally unacceptable .

You'd even have to talk to a Real Person. Face to face,even.

The horror. The horror.
 

[tikiauctions]

Thank You!!

[tikiauctions]

My friend, 20 miles in Chicagoland is an hour drive. No idea where you live. And why should I have to go to a random post office to ask them where a scam package was delivered? If it isn't MY RETURN ADDRESS or at least the return zip code, there's an issue. I have no idea how the buyer was able to generate and use his own label and that was accepted by eBay.

[a_c_green]

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@tikiauctions wrote:

My friend, 20 miles in Chicagoland is an hour drive. No idea where you live. And why should I have to go to a random post office to ask them where a scam package was delivered? If it isn't MY RETURN ADDRESS or at least the return zip code, there's an issue.

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Actually that is the issue, for which eBay should have found in your favor: the package (regardless of its contents) was not returned to the City and ZIP of your Return Address. Thus the refund should never have occurred.

[ittybitnot]

. I am at my wits end. Can anyone offer advice? I am told there is no one else to escalate to. I am out $630. Thanks!

@tikiauctions 

Sounds like another run of the mill Ebay fake tracking return scam (aka cheap trinket return scam) .  Did you ship this to a freight forwarder in Miami?  Goggle the address.  

Buyers that use freight forwarders void the opportunity to use the eBay Money Back Guarantee. However, eBay will never inform you that this is a freight forwarder situation, and proceeds as it is a regular claim. 

That results in auto denial by the bot system AND the regular outsourced Customer Service foreign call center reps you get in a call back or chat.  You get the usual mantra "buyer provided tracking that shows you received the return (case closed, you lose).    It is up to the SELLER to point out that this was a fake tracking return scam used by an international buyer using a freight forwarder.  A recorded delivery of anything "somewhere" is enough to get you lost in the eBay denial process. Nobody will check.

Keep in mind this is  is nothing new. In one form or another it has been going on here for years.  There is an appeal process that rarely works.  The situation is best addressed through one of eBay's social media portals.  These a operated by actual eBay employees in the US, and they are very familiar with this issue.  They also are not always "stuck" in denial mode.  

The typical updated version of the scam (should you be ignorant of the fact a freight forwarder was used)  would be for the "buyer"  to actually use the label you send from the forwarder address back to you, ALTER addresses  and simply send a parcel to an alternate address in your zipcode.    Had you known sooner, this could have been possibly prevented at the outset.     Plenty of these 'return parcels'  have been dropped in a box in NY when the return address should have been FL. The buyer is in another country and cannot use that label.  Most of these scams involve PHONES+eBay+Freight Forwarder addresses. 

While buyers that are victims of the "fake tracking scam" can file a credit card chargeback, sellers are at the mercy of eBay who controls the money and the outcome.  Do not waste your time with the outsourced foreign  call center reps that you get on an eBay chat or callback.  

Use the blue message button at the top of this page: 


https://www.facebook.com/eBayForBusiness

OR one of these

https://twitter.com/askebay

https://www.instagram.com/ebayforsellers/

Let them know you need help with a fake tracking return scam for an international buyer that used a freight forwarder. They may require you to submit a written document from your carrier (hopefully, your post master USPS) confirming the parcel was not intended for you. You do not need to know where the parcel is delivered, only that it was not addressed to you.  USPS will often provide you with the photo of the label used against you in eBay's denial campaign.  FedEx or UPS, will basically not do this, and ebay knows that.  

BTW, if your buyer has zero feedback, you won't be able to see their country of registration. 

Use this link: 


https://pages.ebay.com/services/forum/feedback-login.html

You will also be able to see if they are "still a registered user" which will help your case if they are not. 

Good luck and let us know how it turns out. 

[tobaccocardyahoo]

Have you filed a complaint with local law enforcement in the destination jurisdiction and with the postal inspection service?

You should, You should copy Ebay on those complaints and the response you received.

IMO you have an Ebay sales strategy which is high risk and should rethink whether you can afford to be a scam victim. You cannot expect Ebay to accept any evidence which is not supported by specific documentation by your carrier and law enforcement, they are not a court or a law enforcement organization, and do not wish to be a party to any lawsuits which arise from your sales. This limits your ability to obtain actions which you seek.

[a_c_green]

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@ittybitnot wrote:

The typical updated version of the scam (should you be ignorant of the fact a freight forwarder was used)  would be for the "buyer"  to actually use the label you send from the forwarder address back to you, ALTER addresses  and simply send a parcel to an alternate address in your zipcode.    Had you known sooner, this could have been possibly prevented at the outset. 

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That's true, though in the OP's specific case here, it's even more blatant: the package wasn't even addressed to the City and ZIP of the seller's Return Address. It went somewhere completely different, something that eBay should be able to see for themselves with the existing evidence to date, once the OP can locate a live human to look at the tracking. Hopefully the eBay for Business crew can handle it.

[ittybitnot]

, once the OP can locate a live human to look at the tracking. Hopefully the eBay for Business crew can handle it.

@a_c_green 

Good point, but in the past eBay has not been interested in where the return originated, only the final destination.  That may have been the regular CS, though. 

It used to be that the "scammer" would simply by a cheap trinket from Amazon, or etsy, and have it delivered to the seller's Zipcode, and all was good for the bots and regular CS to be satisfied a return is made.  They didn't care where it originated.  (After all the buyer that actually lived at the forwarder address, just probably went on a vacation to Coney Island, and dropped the parcel off there???LOLOLOL)

The "buyer" cannot use the label, since they are in another country.  They likely don't fear any repercussions from the US Postal Inspectors, or law enforcement.  As is suggested to you in another thread, it appears that there is a new "cottage industry" in play here that adjusts the labels and ships a packet with a couple of packing peanuts to the seller's local gas station, library, or KFC.  I read these threads all the time here, and on other ecommerce groups.  I think the 'cottage industry' guys might have met with some backlash mailing parcels from NY with the appropriate still present return address of the forwarder in Miami/Dade, Delaware, or Oregon etc.  So now they seeming often  change the return address as well (to some other empty lot or local business). 

Nobody will see it unless the USPS has a photograph and a complaint is made. ????

[a_c_green]

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@ittybitnot wrote:

, once the OP can locate a live human to look at the tracking. Hopefully the eBay for Business crew can handle it.

@a_c_green 

Good point, but in the past eBay has not been interested in where the return originated, only the final destination.  That may have been the regular CS, though. 

It used to be that the "scammer" would simply by a cheap trinket from Amazon, or etsy, and have it delivered to the seller's Zipcode, and all was good for the bots and regular CS to be satisfied a return is made.  They didn't care where it originated

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Right; I'm not talking about where the package originated; I'm talking about where it was delivered. I don't think we are disagreeing here, but I'm not sure that you're getting my point, which is that in this particular case, the OP is stating that the returned package didn't even arrive in his own City or ZIP: it went to someplace completely different, 20 miles away.

Thus it should be a slam-dunk finding in the seller's favor, using the tracking evidence that is already present and visible to eBay. Neither the City nor the ZIP of its eventual delivery match those of the seller's Return Address.

[12345jamesstamps]

So a buyer can return without the eBay shipping label and still get a refund?...just because it has tracking?

I will address this at the next open forum next month where eBay employees can answer this on posting here.

Usually its around the first week of the month.

[ittybitnot]

So a buyer can return without the eBay shipping label and still get a refund?

@12345jamesstamps  

Yes.  Buyers have never been required to use them either.   Sellers don't have to use them either.