Scam shop

[shoplovelacy]

Hi all! In the past week I have had four new accounts pop up that have stolen my listings. All the listings they have are mine and they don’t have these items. One has been deleted already by eBay and I’m still waiting for the others to be removed. All accounts were created within two days. I don’t know why this keeps happening all of the sudden. Anyone have any ideas? 

[christworks]

@shoplovelacy  What do you mean by "they stole your listings?"  Do you mean they are using your photos and copying your text? If so, those things are allowed as when you list, eBay becomes the right's owner of your photos and other listing content. They then allow other sellers to use it.

How do you know the sellers do not have the items? Are they so unique and one-of-a-kind that only you have them?

[ten_o_nine · Accepted solution]

Your listings are being targeted by "scraper" bots, a trend that remains highly active. Scammers use these bots to copy high-performing or high-value listings from established sellers and repost them on new accounts to trick buyers into paying for items that don't exist. They create clusters of accounts within a few days to see which ones slip past eBay's initial security filters before they can successfully scam a buyer.

[shoplovelacy]

I mean their entire shop was opened 5 days ago and every single listing is a copy and paste of mine. It’s a clear scam not just a picture copy. There’s been 4 separate accounts doing the exact same thing. 

[shoplovelacy]

Yes that’s exactly what is happening. It’s all the same listings and brand new accounts doing it over and over. Any idea how to stop this? eBay has only deleted one of them. 

[ten_o_nine]

Making your photos difficult to "reuse" is your strongest deterrent.

- eBay’s general policy discourages text overlays to maintain a clean buyer experience, they traditionally allow watermarks for ownership if they are semi-transparent (50% opacity or less) and occupy no more than 5% of the image area.
-Include a small, physical "prop" in your photos, such as a business card with your eBay username or a unique branded background, which is much harder for a bot to edit out than digital text.

[ten_o_nine]

Rest assured that you are not liable for scams committed by these other accounts. Because you are not the seller of those fraudulent listings, their transactions have no legal or financial link to your account.

[rosachs]

Per eBay's Help pages:

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The following are not allowed:

• Photos that don't accurately represent the item
• Placeholder images used to convey messages
• Stock photos for used, damaged, or defective items
• Photos with added borders
• Photos with added text, artwork or marketing material
• Watermarks of any type, including those used for ownership attributions

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I would not recommend using a watermark. However, the business card or background may work.

If your ID has a good history of customer satisfaction, buyers with even minimal functioning brain cells would know to go with the seller with the best performance history.  New accounts have none... unless the scammers are creating accounts to 'purchase' and then scam the feedback as well.

"When you build a better mousetrap, you evolve a better mouse"

-Bob.

[inhawaii]

The "scammer" can sell items that he does not have all day long.

Anyone who buys one of these items is protected by ebay's MBG (money back guarantee).

[kh-light]

Hi everyone,

This thread has been closed at the request of the OP.

Thank you for understanding.