eBay

mbgalloway13 · ‎04-05-2022

I have listed a fairly expensive item on ebay and all of the sudden I am receiving roughly one message per day from "buyers" who created an account on the same day of sending me a message, have no feedback or purchase history, wanting me to text them about my "item for sale" (note the generic reference - "item").

I have looked for a way to report these so-called "buyers" yet there is no way to report them for these scam attempts. I can only report buyers that have purchased my items in the past.

All of these messages scream "scam", yet I see no way to report them to eBay to have their accounts flagged.

soh.maryl · ‎04-05-2022

What would be the point? Anyone can change their eBay ID faster than you can change your socks.

southern*sweet*tea · ‎04-05-2022

Report the buyer https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/resolving-buyer-issues/reporting-issue-buyer?id=4084 Use the reason "asking to complete a sale off eBay". This only works if they have made a purchase. If they have not yet purchased, scroll to the bottom of that page and click the "have us call you" button to request a phone call. You can also use the automated chat. When the chat box pops up, click 'See more' the "request an agent". This bypasses the chat bot and gets you a real person if online support is available at that time. If the "chat with us" link is available at the bottom center of the page, use that instead.

You can also contact customer service here: https://www.ebay.com/help/contact_us?id=4822&st=10 In the left sidebar you can choose to chat or to have them call you.

The easier you are to offend the easier you are to control.

We seem to be getting closer and closer to a situation where nobody is responsible for what they did but we are all responsible for what somebody else did. - Thomas Sowell

mbgalloway13 · ‎04-05-2022

Yeah that's a lot of hoops to jump through when I receive these almost daily now. Seems like a filter could be implemented for these kinds of messages from eBay's side.

mbgalloway13 · ‎04-05-2022

what I find hilariously ironic is that this forum post was flagged as spam almost instantly, yet this type of flagging isn't workable or hasn't been implemented in the actual eBay marketplace?

fashunu4eeuh · ‎04-05-2022

There used to be an indirect way to report a user (that is not a seller or buyer), but that portal is gone now. It looks like eBay is not interested in pursuing these text-me fraudsters. I can see why this is the case. Too many infractions, not enough eBay employees to police the site. Plus, the scam artists have not committed a crime (yet) so very little can be done that would be effective in solving the problem.

However, these scammers are violating eBay’s rule regarding sharing contact info, so if you are going to the time and trouble to contact customer service, be sure to quote the violated policy, see link below. Good luck.

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/member-behaviour-policies/publishing-contact-information-policy?i....

gracieallen01 · ‎04-05-2022

Unfortunately, I don't think ebay considers them scammers until after the sale goes south and then they just decide , 'oh well, it's too late'.

Not saying 'NO' doesn't mean 'YES'.

The foolishness of one's actions or words is determined by the number of witnesses.

Perhaps if Brains were described as an APP, many people would use them more often.

Respect, like money, is only of 'worth' when it is earned - with all due respect, it can not be ordained, legislated or coerced. Anonymous

inhawaii · ‎04-05-2022

I guarantee if you ignore them, they will go away.

Harden My Heart - Quarterflash

dashofhappy · ‎04-05-2022

Unfortunately we live in a world of scammers/cybercrime. It would be so fabulous if they would use their skills and tools for the good of man instead of wreaking such havoc on people's lives.

There's no way to completely get rid of them because they are everywhere. They also use various methods to keep from being detected/tracked.

If you haven't already, blocking these users and setting up your buyer requirements will help weed out these types of buyers.

Buyer Management | eBay

ittybitnot · ‎04-05-2022

Seems like a filter could be implemented for these kinds of messages from eBay's side.

@mbgalloway13

There used to be a "report" button on each eBay message. It was removed because eBay said it was no longer needed since their super duper fraud filter would prevent this stuff from ever arriving in your inbox.

Basically, I think they got rid of the report button because it got used too much to report the multitude of "text me scammers", and caused entirely too much work for CS. You can only report them on site if you accept an offer from one or they are your winning bidder on an auction. Since hitting the buy button typically forces a payment, they don't do that. These criminals do not pay, but they send some very good FAKE payment notices to your phone or email if you write back to them.

eburtonlab · ‎04-05-2022

Seems like a filter could be implemented for these kinds of messages from eBay's side.

A filter could be implemented to block a particular message, but not all possible variations of that message. That is why the scammers go through such extreme measures to obscure the phone numbers by adding extra characters.

Every time eBay adds another filter, scammers respond by trying different variations until they find something that can get through the filters.

There is no silver bullet that makes it impossible for a scam message to be sent.