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.

[femmefan1946]

Don't ship until you see the money in your Paypal account-. Don't respond to any emails.

If the money is not in your PP account within 48 hours, open an Unpaid Item Dispute and close it after 96 hours more.

Don't get into any conversation with the scammer.

The Dispute is the simplest and most effective Report you can make.

And you get your FVF back too.

[ittybitnot]

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. 

tyler@ebay 

Can that format be used even if the "buyer" is not a winning bidder, or is just making an offer?  As you know, the eBay message system is consistently used for the "text/email me, with your PayPal address"  or "text/email me to arrange payment" fraud attempts.  In the past, none of the reporting features worked since since the wanna be scammer was not your buyer of record which the reporting feature required under the "report this buyer" format, and the "report this message" in the ebay messaging system was removed. 

[tyler@ebay]

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@ittybitnot wrote:

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. 

tyler@ebay 

Can that format be used even if the "buyer" is not a winning bidder, or is just making an offer?  As you know, the eBay message system is consistently used for the "text/email me, with your PayPal address"  or "text/email me to arrange payment" fraud attempts.  In the past, none of the reporting features worked since since the wanna be scammer was not your buyer of record which the reporting feature required under the "report this buyer" format, and the "report this message" in the ebay messaging system was removed. 

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Hi @ittybitnot - the method I mentioned would be if there's an actual transaction recorded. For message 'snipers' (where they haven't won an auction or had an offer accepted, no transaction in 'sold') you're best off reporting that to CS so they can escalate it internally. There is no way to self-service report that at this point in time. 

[ittybitnot]

 There is no way to self-service report that at this point in time. 

Thank you.  That is what I thought.  One can always hope.