Retail arbitrage attempt's on my listings

[carolinavintage]

How do I get help when I believe that there is retail arbitrage occuring? In the last 24 hours I've had several extremely lowball offers, followed by badgering messages, demeaning my products and asking for very specific details that really can be obtained in the description or photographs. Followed by messages insisting that my listing is not authentic or really as great as I said, followed by extremely low-balled offers. Then it appears they have taken the image of my items, which are very rare and currently are no other listings just like them, and then created their own listing as if they were the ones selling my items. In their new listings, they describe the item in the way that tried to tell me my item wasn't tem was actually not. In other words, they've lied to me, told me my item was not something, then turned around and posted it as their own saying that it was actually what they said it wasn't. The problem is that this activity has caused my items to not be revisable or editable. Every time I try to edit one of the items that I believe has been the victim of a retail arbitrage attempt I receive an error notice that says "lds downstream error" if I try to revise a posted item that I do not believe is a victim of retail arbitrage I have zero issue with any kind of updates. I would like to take my rare items down off of eBay to protect them from being posted by a third party without my permission. But unfortunately, I'm not able to make those changes because I'm not able to edit these items. Additionally, I'm not able to figure out how to communicate with eBay about this issue, and from Reading through these community forum posts, it doesn't sound like eBay cares. I'm personally not comfortable or okay with a third party pretending that they own my item and are selling my item. I'm not comfortable with a third party using my photos and pretending that it's their photos and pretending that it's their item. This is just dirty, bad business, and not something that I'm interested in participating in. How can I get help for these issues?

[chapeau-noir]

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@albertabrightalberta wrote:

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@chapeau-noir wrote:

I'm not sure arguing about arbitrage and what it means is what the OP is really looking for - they are just tired of their listings being tied up and want to know how to stop it. They can stop it by not using best offer and blocking the perp. All of this other stuff in the post - who knows what's going on.

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Whether the OP's opinion is valid or correct that the lowballer wants to flip a purchase for a profit, I infer that that's part of the OP's complaint too.

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"The problem is that this activity has caused my items to not be revisable or editable."  That's the root problem in the post and is stated as such. The rest is opinion, right or wrong, discussing it won't address the root cause, and this thread has gone way into the weeds over this, in an argument that seems to be ongoing here to begin with.

ETA: Granted, the OP is a bit confusing with opinion mixed in with it.

[gone.c-33]

From the OP:

Then it appears they have taken the image of my items, which are very rare and currently are no other listings just like them, and then created their own listing as if they were the ones selling my items.

It does appear as *someone* is trying to do the type of retail arbitrage that is prohibited by eBay. 

So yes, the same physical object can actually be bought and sold in two separate transactions at the same time. One sold by OP to the drop shipper/retail arbiter and one by the drop shipper/retail arbiter to their customer.

By the way, being an old woman isn’t the flex that you think it is here, these boards are frequented by many older people, many who probably have decades on you. And they all understand that it is against eBay policy to list and sell an item before you have purchased it from someone else unless that someone else is a wholesale supplier you have a purchase agreement with.

[carolinavintage]

There is in fact something wrong with it, and yes I am fully aware that he does NOT have the item (s). Clearly it has struck a nerve with you, apparently this is something that you participate in? No matter what, excuse you use, it still does not make it right. Tell yourself whatever you need to in order to sleep at night. 

[carolinavintage]

Perhaps you also misunderstood my question, my question was not. How do I change parameters for offers, I completely understand how to do that. I don't need your help with it. Thank you anyway! Do you want me to repeat again what my questions were? My questions were 1) how do I report retail arbitrage, 2) how do I edit my item now that there is some kind of error message showing up on the items that have been essentially reposted as somebody else's items?. 

[carolinavintage]

I think you misunderstood my question, I cannot make any changes to my offer amount. I am not able to make any changes to my posts that have been hijacked by inappropriate scamming. So I'm not able to change offer amounts, I'm not able to do anything because I'm getting an error message. This error message does not occur on my regular post, it only occurs on the posts that scammers have decided to take for their own. 

[albertabrightalberta]

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@gone.c-33 wrote:

From the OP:

Then it appears they have taken the image of my items, which are very rare and currently are no other listings just like them, and then created their own listing as if they were the ones selling my items.

It does appear as *someone* is trying to do the type of retail arbitrage that is prohibited by eBay. 

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Re the part in red: I would like @carolinavintage to post at least one item number showing an example of where "they" have taken the image of one of the OP's rare items and listed the item(s) as their own. I've searched quite a few listings of supposedly rare items and haven't found any that appear to be "borrowed" from the OP. 

So far, I disagree with @gone.c-33 who believes that someone is "trying to do the type of retail arbitrage that is prohibited by eBay. "

My opinion is that someone is looking for the best (read: lowest) price of the items and insulting the OP with their offers.

[carolinavintage]

Somebody ought to hire you as an editor! You'll find a lot more errors in there if you wanted to take the time to look. 

[carolinavintage]

I'm sorry that you didn't understand my question, I did not say anything about my concerns over the photos, other than they have used my photos to pretend that they have the item that I do, when they do not have that item, I have that item. A tool that they used in their scam. I sell on other platforms and I've never had this problem before. I'd be happy to just use other platforms. 

[albertabrightalberta]

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@carolinavintage wrote:

I'm sorry that you didn't understand my question, I did not say anything about my concerns over the photos, other than they have used my photos to pretend that they have the item that I do, when they do not have that item, I have that item. A tool that they used in their scam. I sell on other platforms and I've never had this problem before. I'd be happy to just use other platforms. 

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Please post some of these (your word) "scammer listings" that use your pictures and are selling the item you have in your possession and they don't have.

BTW, there's no need to snap at and be rude to those who are trying to help you and offer advice.

[carolinavintage]

Thank you for your careful articulation of this fact, it seems that most commenting here do not understand what you have so eloquently explained. 

[carolinavintage]

Thank you. My questions were not about drop shipping, and my questions were not about photos and who can use them. Perhaps you misunderstood. It also looks like you misunderstand retail arbitrage as defined by eBay. Someone has articulated it nicely in this thread if you would like to go back to learn more. 

[carolinavintage]

Perhaps you could call eBay customer service, and ask them.

[tarotfindsandmore]

Why are you here if you already have the answer to your rant?  

[carolinavintage]

Actually, ittybitnot has done a great job articulating. What seems to be so confusing for many. Take notes. If it is confusing to you that posting somebody's items, that are not in your possession and listing them for sale without their permission, as if they belong to you, is not clearly wrong, then. I hope that you get the help that you need. Appropriate drop shipping will always articulate that they are a drop shipper, sneaky under hand crap is not okay, no matter what store you want to tell yourself so that you can sleep at night. It's wrong. That's just the fact of the matter. 

[carolinavintage]

ittybitnot has done a good job explaining