Please stop accusing everyone of being a scammer

[iart]

Sellers are accusing buyers of scamming. Buyers accusing sellers of the same. This does no good for eBay’s reputation and all of our sales!

A buyer paying slow or a seller shipping slow are not scammers. People with family emergencies are not scammers. Slow mail, lost packages are not from scams. Making a mistake, poor packing, bad communication are not necessarily, or even usually, scams.

We were accused of being scammers a couple days ago. Why? Because the %$#%& wasn’t smart enough to read the description – just looked at the pretty pictures.

A scammer is someone who purposely misleads in order to steal your money. As the economy tanks their numbers may be growing but they are far outnumbered by good, legitimate buyers and sellers.

Watch what happens when everyone ‘knows’ that eBay is only a place for scams. You think sales are slow now?

[donsdetour]

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@iart wrote:

Sellers are accusing buyers of scamming. Buyers accusing sellers of the same. This does no good for eBay’s reputation and all of our sales!

A buyer paying slow or a seller shipping slow are not scammers. People with family emergencies are not scammers. Slow mail, lost packages are not from scams. Making a mistake, poor packing, bad communication are not necessarily, or even usually, scams.

We were accused of being scammers a couple days ago. Why? Because the %$#%& wasn’t smart enough to read the description – just looked at the pretty pictures.

A scammer is someone who purposely misleads in order to steal your money. As the economy tanks their numbers may be growing but they are far outnumbered by good, legitimate buyers and sellers.

Watch what happens when everyone ‘knows’ that eBay is only a place for scams. You think sales are slow now?

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If you have some way of getting all them users to come here and post about the great experience they have had:

instead of finding solutions to the problems they are having: let us all know.

We on the boards see the worst: we are the volunteers that provide a great deal of eBay's CS, and for free on top of that.

[oldwestgold]

Everyone has the right to speak their mind or the truth.  What I dislike are people trying to tell me what I can do or say. Of course, that's just my viewpoint.  And yes, there is a lot of scammer on both sides of eBay.  That's a fact as I see them every day. Thanks for posting. Good luck.

[kathieskorner]

I looked at a few of your listings and could find no description beyond the title, condition,  and item specifics - yet your TOS were many paragraphs long.  Perhaps the lack of description is the reason you get a lot of SNADs.  

I've been selling  here for 20 years, and have only had a handful of SNADs.  The only scam buyer was a lady that sent me a bad check - many years ago. 

[kathieskorner]

We on the boards see the worst: we are the volunteers that provide a great deal of eBay's CS, and for free on top of that.

That has been true for the 20 years I have been here.  

[yuzuha]

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@powell-memorabilia wrote:

Not everything is well suited to be sold on eBay.  If you have a high percentage of scammers, that item isn't right for this marketplace.  Me, I've had zero scammers - and only maybe 0.3% of purchases that I'd deem as difficult - maybe a small-scale scammer, maybe just a difficult customer.  Other than that, eBay buyers are great to me.

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Agreed-- in nearly 700 sales, I haven't even had so much as a single return. If you're constantly getting returns/SNADs, that to me would be a sign that you either need to change what you're selling or do a better job photographing/describing it properly.

[divwido]

Can I add STOP SCREAMING SCAM, FRAUD AND  SHILL BIDDING!

Learn the rules, then come ask your question.

[luckythewinner · Accepted solution]

The OP never suggested that scams do not happen. 

The OP never suggested that someone who file false SNAD should not be called a scammer. 

The OP never suggested that sellers should take a beating and stay quiet about it.

The OP pointed out that there seems to be a tendancy for eBay users on both sides to inflate every problem they have (slow payers, slow shippers, lost packages, mistakes, poor packaging, bad communication) into a "scam". 

I have witnessed this on these boards.

I have seen posts where a buyer is called a scammer because he left a negative without contacting the seller first.  ("Must be scammer!  He knows I will have to send him a partial to get him to change the feedback!")

I have seen posts where a buyer is called a scammer because he asked to have a package shipped to a different address. ("Must be scammer! He knows I would lose my seller protection!")

I have seen posts where a buyer is called a scammer because he has zero feedback or had just registered his account. ("Must be scammer! He registered the same day he bought - who does that? ")

I have seen posts where a buyer is called a scammer because he asked the seller how the seller wanted to handle a damaged item instead of filing a case ("Must be a scammer! Fishing for a partial refund! Why didn't he just file a case?")

I have seen posts where a buyer is called a scammer because he filed a case instead of asking the seller how the seller wanted to handle a damaged item ("Must be a scammer! Planning to return an emptybox! Why didn't he just contact me first?")

I have seen posts where a buyer is called a scammer because he inquired about a package that had not been delivered yet ("Must be a scammer! He must already have the package and is planning to  file an INR!")

I don;t think the OP was in any way denying that scams happen, or minimizing their imapct.

I think the OP was just pointing that some people here seem to see a scammer behind every roll of packing tape. 

[fashunu4eeuh]

I agree with the OP. Some members see a scammer behind every tree when sometimes none exist. I have seen sellers hollering scam when a buyer has a legitimate issue. Or not enough info is available to adequately determine if someone is indeed a scammer.

Scams happen, that is indisputable. Some categories are more prone to scamming than others. But the forum is a place where the subject of scamming is a daily event. I’d bet that the reality is that this represents a tiny fraction of transactions. The majority of sales transpires without a problem, without reporting of such success, leaving the forum looking like the entire platform is in a scamming epidemic.

[soh.maryl]

One of my favorites would be the one where the buyer's package is a day or two late and the title of that buyer's post is "Scammer".

Or the seller did not get tracking and/or did not reply to messages from the buyer: "Scammer".

[silverstatetreasureboxes]

@luckythewinner  And those examples you gave were just last week's forum!! Good post lucky!

[ed8108]

Let's give credit where credit is due

EBay should & can do more dealing with the scammer plague

[iart]

It's obviously only scammers disagreeing with me.   🤣

[inhawaii]

I don't like the term "scammer" either.

I firmly believe that most unjustified INADs returns are not scammers. They didn't plan to rip you off. They are just not too bright.

[kathieskorner]

Who is going to define what a scammer is??    Look at the list lucky posted - I would not consider most of them "scams".  

[coolections]

Accusing someone not smart enough to read the description is just as bad as calling someone a scammer. Please if you want to keep Ebay a place for buyers to continue to come stop accusations.