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Has anyone else had a seller's order hijacked by apparent hacker?

As a long time seller on ebay with a perfect rating, a buyer recently purchased an item and shortly after, a message came thru asking for it to be sent to another name and address. I responded to the true buyer 'the name and address was updated as they requested' to which the buyer responded "thanks" with no mention of them not sending any change or update. The item was delivered with a proof of delivery thru the US post to the updated address. The buyer opened a case saying they never requested it to be sent elsewhere. Even after providing all of the documentation, ebay found in the buyer's favor. When I called, ebay said the updated message came from other than the buyer and that any ebay member can access profiles and contact them. This is very suspicious to me but I am at a loss as to how they knew to immediately contact me about the item and also for the loss of the sale. I'm very disappointed with ebay's decision but more importantly, that after all I provided, I wasn't protected as a seller. 

Message 1 of 14
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13 REPLIES 13

Re: Has anyone else had a seller's order hijacked by apparent hacker?

that sounds very suspicious! Possibly hackers or just thief's in general found a way to cheat sellers and get items for free. 

 

Was the updated address actually shown at your end when viewing payment history? If not, that may be where they tricked you.

 

I will only ship to the confirmed address in PayPal. 

 

Not sure what various payment options you may be accepting, but I would tighten thing up.

 

 

Message 2 of 14
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Re: Has anyone else had a seller's order hijacked by apparent hacker?

Yes any user can use the ask seller link in a listing or contact user link on feedback page..Any user can see when a listing ends


This is a user to user board not eBay employees.
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When people show you who they are, believe them
Message 3 of 14
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Re: Has anyone else had a seller's order hijacked by apparent hacker?

When printing a label it states "you will lose seller protection if you change the address' etc. 

 

Anyone watching your listing, can click on the listing after it's ended and send you a 'question'; thieves simply send you a message pretending to be the buyer so you ship to them instead. 

 

How long has the original buyer been here? What is their feedback number? Could be that they simply did not understand what you were telling them, and instead of you 'telling them' that you 'updated the name/address', you probably should have asked them if they sent a message? 

 

You can easily check the name of the message and the name of the buyer to see they are different. I'm assuming it was the Tennis Bracelet? 

Message 4 of 14
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Re: Has anyone else had a seller's order hijacked by apparent hacker?

Happens all the time. scammers watch an item ending (laptops etc) . They wait a short time then send a request for  address change.  eBay says do not do it but sellers do. Usually reships to Europe.  If it was me I would ship a bunch of old shoes to the address as they pay to reship.

Message 5 of 14
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Re: Has anyone else had a seller's order hijacked by apparent hacker?

Last year, eBay would accept a buyer request for a change of address and still cover the seller with seller protection as that was a work out in those cases where the buyer would generally tell you that they made an error or something if you the seller could show a copy of the buyer request.  

 

Recently, they changed the policy, any change by the seller from the eBay address would not be covered by seller protection no matter what the reason.  

 

They only solution is for the buyer  to contact eBay/PP and make an account change. However this will not chyange the shipping address in the shipping program on eBay or PP. The only solution, even if the buyer made an error, is too cancel the order and have the buyer re-buy, but you lose your fees(PP). So, if you change the addy per a request, you will lose seller protection. The system will not change the shipping address. Buyer errors are not fixable nor recognized by or eBay. We elected to cancel the order and lost our fees and the buyer did not repurchase the item.  We added this transaction to our "shrinkage account" and moved on as eBay  will not fix the problem. Just so you know PP had a "confirmed address" on the buyer address which was wrong.  The zip code was a different city which most shipping systems would catch. Both multiple billion companies  would not bother to fix these very simple issues.  How can both companies confirm and address with a mis-match on the city and zip codes.   Any way, we lost fees, time and the sale even after the buyer and seller stated the facts to both companies. 

 

I asked how not helping a buyer work out an error on his part would help their #1 priority and they had no answer as apparently they would use the resources to solve the problem. 

 

They would rather spent billions buying their own stock

Message 6 of 14
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Re: Has anyone else had a seller's order hijacked by apparent hacker?

Hello,
Just happened to me today, except I didn’t ship it because payment was not made yet. It’s crazy we have to be so careful as sellers.
Message 7 of 14
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Re: Has anyone else had a seller's order hijacked by apparent hacker?

You lost because you shipped it to a different address than PayPal told you to ship it to.  If you get a message asking to send it to a different address you're supposed to tell them your're REQUIRED to ship it to the address that came with the payment.  The buyer is shown the shipping address when they pay and they can change it before hitting the final submit payment button.  If they fail to change it but want it shipped to a  different address you cancel the transaction citing problem with the buyer's address and relist it.  Then they can rebuy it using the correct address.  

 

Contact the USPS and have them investigate the mail fraud.  It's illegal to use USPS to defraud someone.   Or send cousin Vinnie to that address.  

Message 8 of 14
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Re: Has anyone else had a seller's order hijacked by apparent hacker?

This has nothing to do with hacking. You got scammed. eBay and PayPal policy is to ONLY ship to the address that is listed.

 

Next time you have someone request to change address, offer to cancel the order and have them repurchase it with the correct address.

Message 9 of 14
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Re: Has anyone else had a seller's order hijacked by apparent hacker?

Hello

Eight months ago I sold a doll to a lady she gave me good feedback and time passed I continued selling then the other day I got a message from Paypal saying a case had been brought against me because the card she used she was not authorized to use.  The next thing I knew $76. and change were taken out of my paypal account.  I know she received the doll I have tracking proof, I did email her as suggested, no answer she just changed her ID I believe she is a scam artist...  So to make a long story short paypal said they could not help me it had been to long and they did not know how this happened.  She will not refund me or send back the doll so I'm out the money and the doll.. 20 years selling this is a first for me 

                                                                 Mjap47

Message 10 of 14
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Re: Has anyone else had a seller's order hijacked by apparent hacker?


@lilyofiris wrote:

This is very suspicious to me but I am at a loss as to how they knew to immediately contact me about the item and also for the loss of the sale. I'm very disappointed with ebay's decision but more importantly, that after all I provided, I wasn't protected as a seller. 


 

Scammers watch certain items and as soon as they sell, they send seller a message about changing the address.

Don't know why you would be disappointed about Ebay's decision, it was your decision to change the address.

 

 

 

 

Want to wish everyone a Safe and Happy Independence Day.
Message 11 of 14
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Re: Has anyone else had a seller's order hijacked by apparent hacker?

eBay says only use the shipping address when paid and do not change it.  scammers send an email shortly after the sale saying sorry but can you change it and the seller thinks it's coming from the real buyer because of the time frame.  scammers  use a mail forwarding service to Europe.  scammers will send out a 100 emails to sellers after a sale, 5 nice sellers will change it for him. Very big scam. 

Message 12 of 14
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Re: Has anyone else had a seller's order hijacked by apparent hacker?

This happened to me about 2 weeks ago, I was the buyer. I bought an expensive camera lens, several hours later I received a cancellation notice from the seller. I messaged the seller why he cancelled my order, he stated he would not ship to an unconfirmed address and cancelled my order if he wouldn't send as I requested. I had no idea someone posed a letter to the seller trying to hijack my package. I informed the seller my address was confirmed address but received no response. I checked listings and found out the seller relisted the item I had purchased and cancelled on me. The lens was a good price so I purchased it AGAIN! To shorten the story...The seller sent me a screen shot of message he received from a different ebay id trying to trick him to send my package to a mail forwarding address in Delaware. 

Message 13 of 14
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Re: Has anyone else had a seller's order hijacked by apparent hacker?

Never do that they will always side with the scammer.

 

Message 14 of 14
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