This is one for the record books, guys. Maniac created/used 6 accounts to retaliate for negative FB

[jacevoid]

I want to start out by saying that the ONLY reason I am posting this is as a WARNING to anyone who thinks eBay will protect their account in any way from retaliatory activity, and to TAKE PEOPLES' ADVICE ON HERE AND USE A SECOND ACCOUNT FOR BUYING!!! Here is my almost month long ordeal of dealing with a real, live psychopath on eBay.

Sorry in advance for how long this is, because of all the twists and turns and how long it's been going on:

Anyway, here goes. October 29th, purchased a listing for some Microsoft software I planned to resell on eBay. A few minutes later, my order was canceled. Sent email asking why my order was canceled, and promptly received brusque reply: "I don't sell to resellers". OK, based on my experienced, that is 99% proof he is selling counterfeits.  I replied back to that effect and did not hear anything back.

Against my better judgment, later that afternoon, I left negative feedback to the effect of "seller canceled order with bogus excuse, probably selling fakes, F-".

A couple hours later that same evening, received a order of one my cheapest store items (older version of Adobe Photoshop Elements for 19.99 with free shipping). Let's say your ship to name on your buying side of eBay was your business name, like Acme Inc, instead of using your personal name. Well, this brand new buyer's ID was basically "AcmeIncsuucks" (looks like he threw a couple extra U's in there to avoid profanity filters). The only way for him to have gotten that "Acme Inc" name was to have sold something to me, namely that order he canceled earlier under his main seller account ID.

So anyway, I knew what was going on now (obviously). I waited, and then shortly afterwards, he requested a cancellation, which I granted. I think what he was planning was to order an item, request and get cancellation, and then leave negative feedback. Apparently he was unaware that this is not allowed when the buyer initiates the cancel request, but he learned quickly, as he never tried it again.

That ID was suspended at some point, I believe by eBay's automated systems (not by a real person).

Over the next week, using his REAL first name every time and a variety of made up last names, he proceeded to order more Elements software and have them ALL shipped to the same address, which was the address on that "AcmeIncsuucks" ID as well, btw. He wasn't even trying to hide, truth be told. He was just trying to avoid auto suspensions from eBay's system. For example, let's say his name was Fred. Well, one of his buying ID's used the name "Fred Frederick". He works at a subsidiary of a very well known, large HMO in Minnesota. Several of his ID's used last names made up from his company's name, like "Fred Humana", for example. The phone numbers were all just stolen out of the yellow pages, some of them from local business a couple miles from where I live. He also even used personal info like my LLC name in one of his buyer ID's.

On top of that, two of those ID's had positive feedbacks left buy the same seller that stated "won and never paid". The other three ID's had penny auction positive feedback from the SAME SELLER in NY, some jewelry dealer. Like I said, he wasn't even really trying to hide what he was doing.

At this point, I pretty much knew what was going to happen and I was talking to eBay constantly in a state of panic. All the reps said don't worry, we know what's going on, we agree this is not right, we'll take care of it. Needless to say, after "AcmeIncsuucks" was suspended, NO other action was taken on his made up accounts.

I want to point out that not all of these accounts were brand new ones. I believe two of them were literally 5 years old, like he kept them in storage in case he needed to wreak havoc with anyone.

So then the return requests started. All of them claiming the item was counterfeit, all written in the same manner (as if by the same person, obviously). Five in total. I was talking to eBay supervisors and reps several times a day. All said we're taking care of it, we're filing reports with Trust & Safety backend, etc etc. At one point, a supervisor actually got TWO of his buying ID's suspended, ONLY TO HAVE THOSE ID'S GET COMPLETELY REINSTATED A FEW HOURS LATER.

Also, around this time, HE GOT THE FEEDBACK I INITIALLY LEFT REMOVED, and I got a WARNING for feedback extortion (!!!). All the people I spoke to at eBay could not tell me why it happened except to say it should not have happened and the feedback I left was totally fine and compliant with eBay rules.

Around now, I got three escalations on three of those returns, all of which were naturally approved minutes later. He never even had to send these ones back, just got a full refund to his fake accounts and kept the items.

The chilling thing about these returns was the cordial, almost conversational tone in the buyer messages. Like you were talking to someone at the coffee stand you buy coffee from every morning. The returns even used phrases like "good evening". It distinctly reminded me of a movie where the bad guy is very polite and cordial until he slits someone's throat because of some minor thing they did to displease him.

I had it at this point. I hired an attorney and had a cease & desist letter created and mailed to his work address (where he was having the fake buyer ID's registered), and his actual home address, which wasn't hard to find. I also consulted a harassment attorney in case more action was needed. Total cost for this: $1600.

I did this to prevent negative feedbacks from being left, and it worked. He didn't do any of that and didn't create more ID's, but he did persist on the returns and got one more escalated (I did not approve that one because one supervisor said that particular return wouldn't be covered anyway under buyer protection, but it was bad info).

So yep at this point, NO ACTION  has been taken against any of these ID's, they are all still active and very obviously the same person (even a two year old could figure this out). My warning to you all: EBAY DOESN'T GIVE A FLYING YOU KNOW WHAT. 3k in fees every month and they just let this psychopath do whatever he wants while they lie to you on the phone and promise to take action and take care of it. About the only think eBay actually did was remove the defects for the escalated cases.

So yep I've talked to what seems like every single person at eBay, I have escalated to a dozen different "backend" departments, I have reached out to eBay's social media team (of course, they promised an investigation etc etc). Not a single thing has been done so far, all his ID's are perfectly fine as far as I can see. Ironically, if you google the ID that started all this, the one I bought from, the only result that comes up is a blog post warning people not to buy from him because he sells fake USB flash drives.

[reallynicestamps]

How did I "doxx" them???

You know his marital status, where he works, what his position is in the company and you wonder why we think you doxxed him?

This is why some eBayers use dedicated bank accounts and credit cards, and have purchases shipped to post office boxes.

[jacevoid]

How did I "doxx" them???

You know his marital status, where he works, what his position is in the company and you wonder why we think you doxxed him?

First of all, Doxxing means looking for this info with malicious intent. Not to defend myself against a maniac who started a mini war against me. I know where he works because that's the address he used for all his fake accounts. This is a controlled facility that handles healthcare information, therefore he would need to be employed there in some aspect to have access to any mail that arrived there.

"what his position is in the company "

Based on where he lives , and his age (once again, freely available public data), a very nice suburb that isn't the sort of place where single men live, and related people of similar age to him, he can't be a janitor in this company. He is obviously management.

I have every right to look this information up to see what sort of lunatic is trying to destroy my life. This doesn't even remotely fit the description of "doxxing". Should I just lie down and die while this thug rolls over my livelihood? If you have that luxury, good for you. But I don't.

Quite frankly, if this is your hobby, there are some people on death row in Texas that I'm sure were set up by their supposed victims, and are in desperate need of your advocacy.

This is why some eBayers use dedicated bank accounts and credit cards, and have purchases shipped to post office boxes.

Had I done this, I would be free of the very type of individual you are protecting right now.

[jacevoid]

You never mentioned you received the item

Had you actually read my OP post, you would have seen that the seller canceled the order minutes after I placed it. Before this happened, I had no reason to suspect anything was off about either the item or the seller.

and said you immediately cancelled after paying.

 Pay attention. The seller canceled the order, I was the buyer.

Now you say there was no picture.

I never said this. I said there was no picture of a particular area of the box that would have immediately alerted me that it was a likely fake. Since many people don't provide pictures of this area, it wasn't an immediate alarm bell.

Without a picture and no item how did you determine you bought a fake ?

First of all, the listing had pictures. I stated that I concluded what he was selling were "probably" counterfeit, based on his canceling my order and saying he doesn't sell to resellers, reports online I found about his selling fakes, and a review of his feedback that shows he sold large amounts of these items with no obvious way of sourcing them legitimately at the prices he had them listed for.

Also since you where buying for resell from one of your competitors how much less was the item to make it worth buying and reselling ?

That's not even remotely relevant to this discussion. I initially made my OP post to warn people to make a 2nd ID for buying to avoid what I went through. Now, I see I shouldn't have bothered. This board is infested by wannabe Nancy Drew's making sarcastic comments, not people who want to help (they exist, but get drowned out by scoffers like you).

Half of you people are actually more worried about this psychopath than about the people he victimizes. I bet you don't even think he did anything wrong and it was all my fault. Isn't there something seriously wrong with this picture?

[trustedbasset]

Is anyone surprised that eBay did so very little to stop this?
Most people would not have time to interfere with somebodies auctions to this extent. This guy must have a drastic mental disorder.

[jacevoid]

Is anyone surprised that eBay did so very little to stop this?
Most people would not have time to interfere with somebodies auctions to this extent. This guy must have a drastic mental disorder. 

I think eBay's system is literally not set up to handle this sort of stuff, and that's probably why it's taken 3 weeks so far and no action from eBay. They're probably scratching their heads and wondering if it's even real. I know every supervisor I spoke to was in total disbelief.

He's a psychopath. Verifiable. As far as I can tell, also quite intelligent. Which means he is able to quite easily hide his internal darkness from those around him, according to my sister, who is a psychiatrist. And I think he made the time because he was so obsessed with getting revenge on me.

[trustedbasset]

I hear what the board posters are saying about the feedback but I’m so sick of sellers cancelling on me that I am in complete agreement with you about the feedback. 

[jacevoid]

It was my *right* to leave the negative, but I rolled the dice and got very unlucky. And yes, I get a lot of cancellations too, for no reason. As a seller, I NEVER cancel a order unless the buyer requests, or it my house burns down with all my inventory.

So sure yep it was my right, but it wasn't the wise thing to do.

[turquoisetulips]

---

@jacevoid wrote:

I want to start out by saying that the ONLY reason I am posting this is as a WARNING to anyone who thinks eBay will protect their account in any way from retaliatory activity, and to TAKE PEOPLES' ADVICE ON HERE AND USE A SECOND ACCOUNT FOR BUYING!!! Here is my almost month long ordeal of dealing with a real, live psychopath on eBay.

Sorry in advance for how long this is, because of all the twists and turns and how long it's been going on:

Anyway, here goes. October 29th, purchased a listing for some Microsoft software I planned to resell on eBay. A few minutes later, my order was canceled. Sent email asking why my order was canceled, and promptly received brusque reply: "I don't sell to resellers". OK, based on my experienced, that is 99% proof he is selling counterfeits.  I replied back to that effect and did not hear anything back.

Against my better judgment, later that afternoon, I left negative feedback to the effect of "seller canceled order with bogus excuse, probably selling fakes, F-".

A couple hours later that same evening, received a order of one my cheapest store items (older version of Adobe Photoshop Elements for 19.99 with free shipping). Let's say your ship to name on your buying side of eBay was your business name, like Acme Inc, instead of using your personal name. Well, this brand new buyer's ID was basically "AcmeIncsuucks" (looks like he threw a couple extra U's in there to avoid profanity filters). The only way for him to have gotten that "Acme Inc" name was to have sold something to me, namely that order he canceled earlier under his main seller account ID.

So anyway, I knew what was going on now (obviously). I waited, and then shortly afterwards, he requested a cancellation, which I granted. I think what he was planning was to order an item, request and get cancellation, and then leave negative feedback. Apparently he was unaware that this is not allowed when the buyer initiates the cancel request, but he learned quickly, as he never tried it again.

That ID was suspended at some point, I believe by eBay's automated systems (not by a real person).

Over the next week, using his REAL first name every time and a variety of made up last names, he proceeded to order more Elements software and have them ALL shipped to the same address, which was the address on that "AcmeIncsuucks" ID as well, btw. He wasn't even trying to hide, truth be told. He was just trying to avoid auto suspensions from eBay's system. For example, let's say his name was Fred. Well, one of his buying ID's used the name "Fred Frederick". He works at a subsidiary of a very well known, large HMO in Minnesota. Several of his ID's used last names made up from his company's name, like "Fred Humana", for example. The phone numbers were all just stolen out of the yellow pages, some of them from local business a couple miles from where I live. He also even used personal info like my LLC name in one of his buyer ID's.

On top of that, two of those ID's had positive feedbacks left buy the same seller that stated "won and never paid". The other three ID's had penny auction positive feedback from the SAME SELLER in NY, some jewelry dealer. Like I said, he wasn't even really trying to hide what he was doing.

At this point, I pretty much knew what was going to happen and I was talking to eBay constantly in a state of panic. All the reps said don't worry, we know what's going on, we agree this is not right, we'll take care of it. Needless to say, after "AcmeIncsuucks" was suspended, NO other action was taken on his made up accounts.

I want to point out that not all of these accounts were brand new ones. I believe two of them were literally 5 years old, like he kept them in storage in case he needed to wreak havoc with anyone.

So then the return requests started. All of them claiming the item was counterfeit, all written in the same manner (as if by the same person, obviously). Five in total. I was talking to eBay supervisors and reps several times a day. All said we're taking care of it, we're filing reports with Trust & Safety backend, etc etc. At one point, a supervisor actually got TWO of his buying ID's suspended, ONLY TO HAVE THOSE ID'S GET COMPLETELY REINSTATED A FEW HOURS LATER.

Also, around this time, HE GOT THE FEEDBACK I INITIALLY LEFT REMOVED, and I got a WARNING for feedback extortion (!!!). All the people I spoke to at eBay could not tell me why it happened except to say it should not have happened and the feedback I left was totally fine and compliant with eBay rules.

Around now, I got three escalations on three of those returns, all of which were naturally approved minutes later. He never even had to send these ones back, just got a full refund to his fake accounts and kept the items.

The chilling thing about these returns was the cordial, almost conversational tone in the buyer messages. Like you were talking to someone at the coffee stand you buy coffee from every morning. The returns even used phrases like "good evening". It distinctly reminded me of a movie where the bad guy is very polite and cordial until he slits someone's throat because of some minor thing they did to displease him.

I had it at this point. I hired an attorney and had a cease & desist letter created and mailed to his work address (where he was having the fake buyer ID's registered), and his actual home address, which wasn't hard to find. I also consulted a harassment attorney in case more action was needed. Total cost for this: $1600.

I did this to prevent negative feedbacks from being left, and it worked. He didn't do any of that and didn't create more ID's, but he did persist on the returns and got one more escalated (I did not approve that one because one supervisor said that particular return wouldn't be covered anyway under buyer protection, but it was bad info).

So yep at this point, NO ACTION  has been taken against any of these ID's, they are all still active and very obviously the same person (even a two year old could figure this out). My warning to you all: EBAY DOESN'T GIVE A FLYING YOU KNOW WHAT. 3k in fees every month and they just let this psychopath do whatever he wants while they lie to you on the phone and promise to take action and take care of it. About the only think eBay actually did was remove the defects for the escalated cases.

So yep I've talked to what seems like every single person at eBay, I have escalated to a dozen different "backend" departments, I have reached out to eBay's social media team (of course, they promised an investigation etc etc). Not a single thing has been done so far, all his ID's are perfectly fine as far as I can see. Ironically, if you google the ID that started all this, the one I bought from, the only result that comes up is a blog post warning people not to buy from him because he sells fake USB flash drives. OP ------------

What an ordeal ,, sorry this is happening to you .  IMO There is more than one moral to this story  and I'm sure now  in hindsight you know what they are . Never take any chances that you don't need to take  with strangers here , there or anywhere . One out of every 25 people in the U.S are living with a serious mental illness . In knowing that , it's just better  just  to walk away  unless there's a threat of physical violence . If so ,, then allow law enforcement to handle  it.  I'm not saying this is your fault ,, but just be more careful next time  and listen more closely to your gut instincts . Tulips 

---

[rfmtm]

Feedback is important for sellers like this, especially if it exposes a scammer.  Just unfortunate that you used your seller account.

I hope you had your attorney also copy ebay's legal department with any documents.  As ebay does pay attention to that and will attached it to their internal files of the parties involved for future reference.

Also I hope you notified Microsoft, who can have ebay remove all of this seller's fake listings.

P.S. Find a more reasonable attorney, that was way too much to spend for a simple C&D letter.

[webwanna]

Sorry, but where do you get off leaving a feedback accusing someone of selling fakes without having any evidence?  That is reprehensible.

You ran into a seller that wasn't going to let you get away with it without repurcussion.  Sounds like you expected Ebay to clean up the mess you created.  Not sure I blame Ebay for not prioritizing your concerns. 

I agree with you that the guy sounds like a bit of a psycho,  but he's not the only one.  ( I can hear John Lennon singing that )

Sounds like you realize now that you shouldn't have done that..... there might be hope for you.  That's a lot of wasted energy and money spent to fix a problem created because you were short tempered and didn't stick to the facts in your feedback.  You could have just left a negative saying " Seller cancelled order..."  the rest of your feedback was completely libelous.   Lesson learned I hope...

[*madison]

 I left negative feedback to the effect of "seller canceled order with bogus excuse, probably selling fakes

---------------------------------

Some people just ask for trouble..

I mean, they really ask for it..

[ersatz_sobriquet]

Sherlock Holmes wants to know why the OP wanted to buy a fake in the first place, especially since he claims he is an expert at recognizing them, and is a competitor in the same category. Seemed good with buying a fake until the seller cancelled the order? How does that make good business sense?

I'm not undercutting what the seller then did to the OP. That is another matter and ebay should shut them down if the facts are all true. 

I'm just scratching my head on the actions and choices of the OP.  

[webwanna]

---

@webwanna wrote:

Lesson learned I hope...

---

I wrote "I hope" because you seem to think the answer to this problem is to open another account so that you can continue to leave libelous inflammatory feedback for other sellers but not have to face reprisal.  

If you really learned a lesson from this experience, that wouldn't be necessary.  

It sounds like your approach is to try to emulate the "maniac".  Creating multiple accounts to target other Ebayers and to circumvent Ebay user protections.  This thread makes me sad.  

[*madison]

Right at this moment I'm 5 minutes away from his home in Baker Street.. I hate Christmas shopping..

[city*satins]

The reason those guys making comments like "I defamed him by leaving feedback about counterfeits" just annoy me so much is because they are often the same kinds of people who email me several times a day whining about how they bought a fake from someone else on eBay, got screwed 6 months later when it was detected, and the seller and all protection was long gone, and then 75% of them have the temerity to demand why THEY should TRUST me and my listings.

Have you done business with anyone on this thread?  No?  So how would you know what kinds of people are disagreeing with you, never mind that they are the same kinds of people who do whatever you just said, my eyes got glassy trying to read that chain of consciousness stuff. I was never a fan of Gertrude Stein.