I have some good information that I think might help some of you sellers who deal with scammers on a regular basis. One seller attempted to scam me twice with a different account, and as I have read here, there are many buyers circumventing a BBL list.
So say you've been scammed. You might have to refund. You might not want to escalate. There might be nothing you can do. Most scammers are either really slick and do the same things over and over again establishing a pattern, or are really ridiculous with their scams so that anyone hearing about it knows it's actually a scam.
Make sure once you refund, and have a history of communication with the scammer that you call to report this to Trust and Safety. Make sure they have put you on hold to make notes. Make sure you get a call reference number (say "if I need to call you back about the same thing"). This is key, because without this report, you might be scammed again.
eBay will allow a seller to cancel on a scammer who has attempted to buy again. But they need to investigate the scammer first, when it happens right away, not when the scammer buys from you again. If the reports have been filed and eBay has the scammer on their radar, you'll be able to cancel when they do it again.
Make sure if you have to cancel that you call eBay and keep them on the phone while you do it. Say "I want to make sure I do this correctly according to your policy". Get them to tell you what options to select. Make sure it's not "out of stock" though, in case you get a CSR that isn't well versed with policy. You do not want a defect, those are hard to remove (but come back if you get one, we can help in the forum). Make sure when you do the cancel that you check your dashboard to make sure you didn't get a defect.
Most scammers prefer to fly under the radar and won't do anything when you cancel on their second purchase. My scammer called eBay and raised a stink, then posted a bunch of nasty feedback for one single item every single day about how I lied to eBay, got eBay to remove negative feedback, etc. (Yes, eBay removed all his negative feedback. I told them since he's on the BBL - yes put the scammer on your BBL - he wasn't supposed to be buying, therefore I cancelled, and no he shouldn't be leaving feedback. That worked, but I had a script reader and it took time to get that idea across).
Make sure you get a call number on every single call to eBay (that you want to be memorialized in their records). No call reference #, and there's no record. They make records because you ask for the reference number.
In summation, the most important thing to do is report the scammer when they scam you the first time... waiting for them to do it again will leave no record, and CSR told me without some on file proof that I've been scammed, I can't cancel without a defect. I get scammed again, because I have to ship (or a defect for cancelling).
Cheers, C.
