How do I report a scammer to eBay?

[hannahneal]

The person who bought my listing has an account with a lot of positive reviews, so I figured they were trustworthy. I messaged them about payment, and told them I’d ship the item after payment was received. They messaged back with a screenshot of their “payment” that LOOKED real, but eBay hadn’t notified me that the buyer paid. And the screenshot was slightly distorted which is usually a dead giveaway of tampering. Then I received a very fake-looking email from “PayPal” (obviously not the actual PayPal) saying I’d received money. But the email was sent to the email address associated with my eBay account - not the email associated with my actual PayPal account. And it looks nothing like an official PayPal email. It says “you’ve got cash” at the top. And towards the bottom it says “Simply click the link below and complete PayPal's one-page registration form to claim your money:” followed by a link. I know this isn’t how payments through eBay work. And eBay still has the listing marked as “buyer hasn’t paid”.
Yeah, clearly this is someone attempting to scam. I want to report this evidence to eBay, but when I go in to the “report a buyer” section I can only pick from a few pre-selected options and I can’t select anything about reporting a scammer. My only options pertain to the buyer sending me spam messages, threats, or claiming that the item wasn’t received, etc. I would like to be able to report a person attempting a scam & send screenshots and explain what happened to eBay, and I feel like it’s really strange that I can’t do that? Is there something I’m missing, or is this just not an option eBay offers?

ALSO on the buyers profile it also says they’ve had the account since 1998 - which I find odd? How come they haven’t been removed for scamming yet? Or is there a way to fake the age of an account? (I’m sorry, I don’t know anything about this).

Thank you for the help! I’m kind of new to selling on eBay, but I know a scam when I see one.

[gracieallen01]

Yes, it is a scam.  It is an old scam, but it still works, it seems, with new sellers, in particular.  There have been a couple of threads lately about trying to report scamming buyers and not being able to. 

Try this:

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/resolving-buyer-issues/reporting-issue-buyer?id=4084

[hannahneal]

That's what I tried, but under the "Report a buyer" page there's no option for reporting suspicious behavior/scams. Which is really unfortunate, and seems to be a huge security issue on eBay's behalf...

Thank you for commenting anyway.

[gracieallen01]

Oh well.   Perhaps someone will be along who has had success reporting.

[myboardid]

It is probably  hi-jacked account taken from a genuine buyer who unintentionally gave his password to the scammer.  There is no point in contacting eBay about this since there are thousands, if not millions of these scammers out there trying to scam new sellers.  We're glad you caught on before you gave out any information and lost your item to him.  Lust ignore him - don't reply to any of his messages - and open an Unpaid Item Dispute to get your fees back.  After it closes, relist your item and be on the lookout for more of these thieves.   

[japan-treazures]

@hannahneal 

You can try contacting eBay, keep your messages. 

You can send an email message to eBay. Not sure if email is working. It is hit and miss due to COVID-19.

Here is the link: 

https://www.ebay.com/help/account/contacting-ebay-customer-service/contacting-ebay-customer-service?... 

The email option is at the bottom of the link. 

Or you can reach out to customer service using social media: 

eBay on Facebook

eBay on Twitter 

Social media worked for me. Got an answer and resolution to my issue fairly quickly.  The CSR ended up calling me. It wouldn't hurt to leave a contact number.   

Hope this helps!

[gracieallen01]

tyler@ebay

Is there a link, that works, to contact ebay and report buyers attempting to scam a seller?  If so, where/what is it, please?  If not, can you mention why?

[farttot_0]

Since there was no sale there is nothing to report as this falls under taking transactions outside of ebay. That is  why those warnings exist. Perhaps familiarize yourself with all the documentation ebay has provided in regards to selling, at least you didn't ship as several others have, if you ask me you might actually have a future selling here.

Happy selling

[iwin2700]

I had a seller scam me by imitating Amazon packaging, and including a card inside directing me to send a review to an email address provided on the card. This seemed wrong. I reported this to ebay, and left a factual yet negative review on the seller's site. Ebay Deleted my review!! Ebay seems to just let us be scammed, and cover up the scamming. I don't know why.

[simba6]

Many years ago there was a report button with a choice of buyer tried to pay with fake funds. However, that went away over 15 years ago.

[gracieallen01]

I don't believe it is an 'off-site' offer if the buyer contacts through 'Make an Offer' and asking for gift card(s) and immediate shipping and requesting 'off-site' contact - that would be through ebay's messaging.  It would seem that there should be a way to notify ebay of the buyer's scam attempt.

[iwin2700]

After I reported a phishing and spoofing Amazon scam to ebay last month (July 2020), ebay deleted my negative review of the seller! So, 1. ebay did nothing to help me and 2. They covered up the scamming by erasing an honest yet negative review.  Now I know if I am scammed or cheated by an ebay seller, ebay allows it. Therefore, why buy from ebay any longer?

[gracieallen01]

@iwin2700 

Unfortunately,  as well as there being bad and/or scamming buyers, there are also bad and/or scamming sellers.  Measures are lacking in respect to limiting both.  I say 'limiting' because I highly doubt that either can be completely eliminated.  However, a visible and diligent effort would be nice, to say the least.

[tyler@ebay]

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@gracieallen01 wrote:

tyler@ebay

Is there a link, that works, to contact ebay and report buyers attempting to scam a seller?  If so, where/what is it, please?  If not, can you mention why?

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Hi @gracieallen01 - the quickest way to report a buyer for this type of behavior is through the Resolution Center (link here) using the pathway: Buyer demanded something that was not offered in my listing > Asked me to take the sale off  eBay. 

Screenshots below. 

Thanks!

Visit the Resolution Center (link at the bottom of most pages)Select the buyer from the list and choose 'Continue' at the bottom of the pageSelect the appropriate options and input any comments in the box, and then use the blue button to submit the report

[gracieallen01]

Thank you, very much, Tyler.