The advice from eBay's customer help sucks

[yuandonl_0]

In a recent bid, I received a message claiming he's the buyer and requested the item to be shipped to an alternative address immediately after the bidding ended. I did't realize that guy was an impersonator and shipped the item until several weeks later the real buyer open a case stating he did not receive anything.

I e-mailed eBay for help with screenshots of the communications between me and the impersonator attached. They suggested me not to refund the buyer but wait for them to step in so that they could help so I followed their advice. I was thinking maybe eBay would at least look into the impersonator but no, they did not. All they did after stepping in was merely refunding the buyer and told me I had shipped the item to a different location.

As a result, by following the advice from eBay customer help, not only I lost my item but also had my seller rating impacted. I admit I was too stupid not to check the impersonator before taking his words, but why not just advice me to refund the buyer immediately? At least my seller rating would not be impacted that way. Also, eBay's system could have displayed some sort of warning indicating the one sending messages to the seller is not the bidder/buyer. I am really disappointed at how eBay handled this case.

[the_fancy_fox]

There isn’t any thing ebay could have done. In order to be covered under the seller protections you must ship the item to the listed address.  

Now the board mods have stated if you have an email from the buyer, eBay will protect you but if this guy was a scammer they won’t. 

Sorry for your loss.

[moms**art**window**]

another good reason to get a signature something to think about,pretty good scam.sorry it happened to you

[yuandonl_0]

Update:
Now after complaining to eBay, they did remove the defect from my seller account.

I still suggest eBay should add some sort of indication to remind people the message sender is not the actual buyer/final bidder to protect novice seller like me better. Especially in the case the person writes something like 'I am the buyer' in the message.

[nfuchs]

This is one of if not the bigges scams out there.  never, I repeat never send to an address different than what ebay shows you.  If you get a message asking you to, explain to the buyer that you can not do that.  If you need it shipped to a different address (well this would only work for buy it nows, but I guess you could set one up for whatever the auction ended at) tell they buyer that you have to cancel the transaction and they can repurchase it and change the address at checkout to whatever they need.  If it is legit they will do it.

[sam9876]

"another good reason to get a signature "

How would a signature be helpful in this situation?

[myboardid · Accepted solution]

First, I'm really sorry you got scammed.  New sellers who are inexperienced and who are selling such desirable products as you were are a scammer's dream, they target you. 

Also, always come to us before contacting eBay support, because frankly, we are way more accurate and we know the rules better than they do.  We know when eBay will punish you and when they won't.  The CS reps will tell you anything to get you off the phone. 

As to notifying you if the user sending a message is actually the buyer, you have that information right in front of you.  Your MyeBay page shows you the buyer's user ID, and the message shows the ID of the person who sent it.  You just need to check it before believing it. 

For those who are selling a larger amount of items, we get many, many messages every day, sometimes every hour.  It is not practical for us to also get a message from eBay about each one of those, we just check our accounts to be sure we are dealing with the true buyer when getting a request like that. 

Be careful, online selling is full of scammers no matter how you go about it.  Be a skeptic. 

[castlemagicmemories]

I'm really sorry you got scammed, and congratulations on getting the defect removed.

But checking if the message is legitimate is part of your seller's due diligence.  It is your responsibility to be sure you know you are shipping to the right person, you just don't send it to anyone who happens to contact you telling you where to ship.  You also check your Paypal as you are required to send to the address on the payment.  Anyone can send you a message and say they are the buyer~but that doesn't meant they truly are.

There are many things one can't be protected from unless it is through their own efforts through taking responsibility.  This was one of them.  

You might want to read this Board regularly until you are familiar with policy and procedure, for your own protection.  Wishing you better luck selling in the future!  

[yuandonl_0]

I wonder if there is a way to report the scammer. If no, isn't it too convenient for this kind of behavior to take place?

By sending those messages to random sellers, with luck he could get the item and inexperienced seller will be the scapegoat. If the seller does not fall into his trap, he loses nothing and can continue to try the same trick on his next victim.