Same buyer, multiple accounts, keep buying my items. Blocked them, but why can they still "follow"?

[cleaning.the.attic]

A buyer messaged me asking about lowest price I'd take on two similar items. Got many messages from them, one wanting to know where I got items and what I paid for them originally. So.. I looked at their profile and they leave a LOT of negative feedback for sellers. I added them to my blocked buyer list. I guess they attempted to buy items (at full price) and got a popup from ebay that this seller has blocked you (they sent me a screenshot of it). The block apparently enraged them, and they sent some nasty messages heavy on the F word. Within an hour of the nasty messages, the more expensive of the two items they wanted sold to a brand new ebay account. New as in joined ebay that very day. I ship next day, so I called customer service asap to see if they could tell me anything. New buyer had a very similar zip code as person who had sent messages. They were from two towns in NY four miles away from each other. *Gasp*. So I cancelled the order, selected 'something wrong with buyer's address' like CS rep said to. And put this 2nd account on BBL.

Next day I relisted the item. Within a couple of hours BOTH items sold to a brand new account. This address was a town 10 miles away from 1st town. And the email from 3rd account matched member name of 1st account. (It's confusing isn't it?) So I called CS again, they had me talk to safety and security or something. They said it'd take 24-48 hours but they'd look into it and boot all 3 accounts if it is in fact one person with multiple accounts. 

I cancelled the sales again due to 'problem with buyer's address'. And get a message from the original problem member asking what the ____ is wrong with me, what kind of scammer am I, I am delusional, etc. And then a string of more messages from each of the 3 accounts, telling me how horrible I am, and why don't I just sell her son his stuff, blah blah. So I guess account #3 is Mommy trying to buy for her foul mouthed (grown man) son. 

So I still haven't relisted my 2 items, because I noticed that I have a new follower: Account #1 that never bought but just sent all the messages. So I guess even though I have them on my BBL, they can still "follow" me and if or when I relist the items, they'll be the first to know. And they're decent priced items, and the holiday season is my best time for selling. I don't want to block 0 feedback buyers, because I get a lot of business from them, and they are usually pleasant, perfect transactions. 

I guess if I relist, I'm going to have to google-map any buyers with 0 or low feedback scores. And any buyers from NY... 

That's ridiculous that putting someone on your BBL doesn't prevent them from following you. And that they can still even see your items, and get a pop up that tells them hey this seller won't let you buy their stuff. Why doesn't it just block your items from them? 

Am I missing anything? Is there something more I can do, because I get the feeling that CS isn't going to look into it toooo hard, and I'm going to have to fend for myself.

[emerald40]

100% agree.

In the past if a buyer circumvented your block, then he could be penalized.

You cannot block 0 feedback buyers anyway so that would not work.

I would have told you to just not relist for a while until they got tired of you and went onto someone else.

But it is the holidays.  And it infuriates me when people are afraid to leave their homes or have to have bars on their windows and doors while the criminals run free.

In your case be ever vigilent. 

But be careful how you cancel.  Use Problem with address.

Do call ebay each time and try to get the addresses linked.  Ebay may suddenly find this is a problem and throw them off the site.

As far as the messages, send them to ebay to bolster your claim that this buyer is harassing you.

[*eponymous*]

For the OP

eBay is on to sellers who are dishonest about the reason for cancellation. Without a message from the buyer requesting same, you will get a defect.

Read up on how many defects you can have before losing selling privileges.

You can only block a username, not the person behind it who can have multiple accounts. The BBL gives sellers a false sense of security.

[emerald40]

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@*eponymous* wrote:

For the OP

eBay is on to sellers who are dishonest about the reason for cancellation. Without a message from the buyer requesting same, you will get a defect.

Read up on how many defects you can have before losing selling privileges.

You can only block a username, not the person behind it who can have multiple accounts. The BBL gives sellers a false sense of security.

_________________________________________________________

And that is why I suggested trying to get the addresses linked.  Ebay allows you to cirumvent if you mean no harm.  The emails with the F bombs would prove otherwise.  That is why in this case, ebay might do something and remove this buyer themselves.

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[cleaning.the.attic]

I'm sorry, are you saying I was dishonest because of the reason I chose? "Nutball buyer" isn't one of the choices they give you. The CS rep told me to select problem with buyer's address, because the problem was it was too close to the blocked buyer.

Do you have a better suggestion as to what to do? I hope...

[emerald40]

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@cleaning.the.attic wrote:

I'm sorry, are you saying I was dishonest because of the reason I chose? "Nutball buyer" isn't one of the choices they give you. The CS rep told me to select problem with buyer's address, because the problem was it was too close to the blocked buyer.

Do you have a better suggestion as to what to do? I hope...

_______________________________________________________________

Go a step further and try to get addresses linked and upload F bomb emails.

Turn him into a NARU nutball.

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[cleaning.the.attic]

Thanks emerald. I told the CS rep if they read messages from all 3 different accounts it's clear that they are all the same person/couple or whatever. The original guy never bought from me, and doesn't sell anything, so I didn't know any of his info except the 1st CS rep told me the town/zip code he was in. Then I figured out his name because he emailed me outside of ebay messages. I've looked at the emails that are registered with paypal, etc. Nothing is exactly the same, but the one main guy has a business and uses the business name/website for some of his contact info. I looked him up on facebook and after the 2nd time I cancelled the order, he posted on facebook, asking if anyone had an ebay account they could use to do him a favor. Thanks for making your page public, buddy. His last name is same as 3rd account's last name. It's clear to me (confusing but clear haha) that it's one guy or one guy and his mom, whatever. But I didn't get the feeling ebay would care about it as much as I did, or try as hard to link anything. I told them mainly to read the messages, but I don't know if they will. As of now it looks like all 3 accounts are still active.

[flyinhawaiiangirl]

Relist them for more, buy it now, immediate payment required. If he wants them that bad, make him pay more for them.

[cleaning.the.attic]

I wish it was that easy. Judging from his messages, I think now it is more him being hateful, and he'd file a SNAD or something, and I could possibly lose money. He paid just under $50 for shipping alone, for the two items. Which I find odd since he was lowballing me first, and wanting cheapest, combined shipping, but then when he found out he was blocked, he readily paid full price for both items, and got the most expensive, uncombined shipping. So there is NO way I'd ship it to him. Or his mom... And when I say he leaves a lot of bad fb for sellers, I mean 25% of the time. 1 in 4. NOPE.

[flyinhawaiiangirl]

eeek. what a pita

[luckythewinner]

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@cleaning.the.attic wrote:

That's ridiculous that putting someone on your BBL doesn't prevent them from following you. And that they can still even see your items. 

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There is no way to block someone from seeing your items.

On eBay you do not need to be logged in to look at eBay items. In some cases you don't even need an eBay account to buy an item. 

The only way eBay could block someone from following you would be to positively identify every buyer through some sort of a registration and screening process, and then hide all 1.1 billion items from all window shoppers and from Google. 

There is not a snowball's chance in a blast furnace of something that ridiculous happening. 

[cleaning.the.attic]

I think you have to have an account to 'follow' another member. If this bozo is easily able to click a button to follow my account/my items, there should be an option for me to simply click a button to make it where he can't follow my items.
Speaking of which, I relisted my items, and he created a 4th brand new account/got his friend, relative, somebody to create a 4th account, same 10 mile radius in NY, and bought both items again plus another big ticket item (for me anyway). With shipping, a total of $400. THAT is what is ridiculous. What am I supposed to do? The last customer service rep I talked to told me oh, go ahead and relist your items, if they create another account we have the technology to detect it, and they won't be able to buy your items. YEAH RIGHT!

[albertabrightalberta]

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@emerald40 wrote:

100% agree.

In the past if a buyer circumvented your block, then he could be penalized.

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It's still a violation for a buyer to circumvent a block: 
http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/unwelcome-buying.html

These are the rules for buyers: 

Not allowed

You can't buy with the intent to disrupt a listing. Here are some examples: You can't place a bid that greatly exceeds the value of the item in order to prevent a sale without intending to buy that item. You can't bid on multiple items listed by a seller unless you intend to buy all of the items. You can't try to buy or bid on an item if you're on a seller's blocked bidder or buyer list. You can't use another account to buy or bid on an item if you're on a seller's blocked bidder or buyer list. As a seller, you can report a buyer  who bids on a listing without meeting the listing terms.

Call ebay again and give them the URL to the policy and read their own policy to them!! 

[albertabrightalberta]

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@cleaning.the.attic wrote:

Speaking of which, I relisted my items, and he created a 4th brand new account/got his friend, relative, somebody to create a 4th account, same 10 mile radius in NY, and bought both items again plus another big ticket item (for me anyway). 

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This is ridiculous! @Anonymous - Can you help this OP? An unwanted buyer is harassing and opening new accounts after being BBL'ed on other IDs. 

[Anonymous]

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@albertabrightalberta wrote:

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@cleaning.the.attic wrote:

Speaking of which, I relisted my items, and he created a 4th brand new account/got his friend, relative, somebody to create a 4th account, same 10 mile radius in NY, and bought both items again plus another big ticket item (for me anyway). 

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This is ridiculous! @Anonymous - Can you help this OP? An unwanted buyer is harassing and opening new accounts after being BBL'ed on other IDs. 

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@cleaning.the.attic, I recommend you contact our customer service teams to have this reviewed for appropriate action. A buyer who is circumventing your blocks is in violation of our guidelines and customer service will be happy to look into the details for help!