Why is eBay not deregistering users that commit fraud (Russian return shipping scam)?

[tsengf]

A buyer purchased a lot of two new high-end electronic items from me to be shipped to "701 Cornell Dr. Unit F9 - P646475 Wilmington DE 19801." I did not know the history of this troubled address so I shipped the item.

A few days later, the buyer claimed that the item was damaged. To enable further discussions, I asked the buyer to provide a photo of the damage and also to reach out to me to discuss next steps. Rather than responding to me, the buyer opened a case to return the item. I sent the buyer a FedEx shipping label containing 1) the Return and To addresses, and 2) the tracking number. I signed up for delivery notifications for the tracking number. A couple days later, FedEx texted me that the item incurred a delivery exception because no one was available to receive it. This was strange because I was present at the destination address at the time of delivery.

Given the strangeness of the situation and the value of the item, I requested FedEx to hold it at their ship center. A nice gentleman named Ely from FedEx called me that he has the item ready for me to pick up at the ship center. Ely advised me that something else was wrong: the To and From addresses were not the same as what I had provided even though it was the same tracking number. The only other time he has seen this was on a fraudulent shipment.

I went to the ship center to pick up the item and video recorded the transaction with Ely. Ely recited the tracking number and opened the package. Inside was a piece of cardboard. The video link is here. https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipMNWJEHzMPIG8lVPB53TVmAIPUuFQXJF-rS993INOlwH7ZbvyPYvMH1qdFj8b9L...

The buyer used the fact that the item was delivered to claim a full refund even though he shipped back a piece of cardboard. After providing eBay with my evidence, eBay withdrew money from my account to cover for the return. I had to go through hoops to claim back the money from eBay.

I reported the buyer's actions through eBay's channel for reporting buyers that return deceptive items at least 3 times. I had called and spoke to eBay customer service more than 5 times regarding the actions of the buyer. Unfortunately, a separate back office handles reviews of buyers and I do not have direct access to that office. It's been 4 weeks since the fraudulent act by the buyer, and I am told that eBay has simply given the buyer a "warning".

All the information that I have provided here, I had provided to eBay. I do not understand why eBay has not deregistered the buyer or attempted to reclaim the money back from the buyer. The system is broken.

As a seller, I do not want to go through this experience again. As a buyer, eBay is encouraging this type of fraudulent behavior because in an extreme case as this, the buyer gets a warning.

[isaiah53-57]

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@duffy4444 wrote:

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@dbfolks166mt wrote:

  ...I immediately cancelled the sale using problem with buyer's address, as I've already told eBay in my shipping address exclusions list of all the countries I don't ship to, including Russia and China. Then I added the buyer to my BBL, and eBay automatically relisted the item for me. The next day I get a message from that buyer in China saying he really wanted the jewelry item, and he made a mistake and would use another US address. I ignored him.

   The following day I get a sale for the same item from a different "buyer" with an Asian name. I clicked on that buyer's FB number, and it showed that buyer is based in the US!... But the shipping address was the exact same FF in Oregon. I cancelled that order using out of stock, so that eBay would not automatically relist it. Then that buyer went onto my BBL as well.

   I decided to not relist the item for 60 days, hoping this persistent back-door stunt to ship to a country that is already on my eBay shipping exclusions list would go away.  So far it has. I'll relist the jewelry in November.

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 Looks like you maybe unaware - When You Cancel a Sale for the Reason of "Buyer Asked to Cancel" or "Something is wrong with the address" the notice you receive has a default to Relist the Item - BUT - If you look a little Further Down, you will see where you can choose not to relist it, either by unchecking a box, or by checking a box - unsure of which one it is.

I do the same thing - When I cancel I choose not to relist for a period of time - I think its the smart thing to do... Good Luck to All

[tsengf]

I wanted to provide an update. After many attempts to reach eBay customer service which included

• >5 filed reports
• >10 calls to customer service
• reaching out to https://www.facebook.com/eBayForBusiness as suggested by downunder-61

The user is no longer registered on eBay. Note, I had the video evidence. Two of the customer service representatives and the facebook representative really understood the situation well. The rest were following their standard templated responses and actions.

This has been an unbelievably difficult task to accomplish.

[katzrul15]

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@tsengf wrote:

I wanted to provide an update. After many attempts to reach eBay customer service which included

• >5 filed reports
• >10 calls to customer service
• reaching out to https://www.facebook.com/eBayForBusiness as suggested by downunder-61

The user is no longer registered on eBay. Note, I had the video evidence. Two of the customer service representatives and the facebook representative really understood the situation well. The rest were following their standard templated responses and actions.

This has been an unbelievably difficult task to accomplish.

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Congrats to you and especially for the tenacity to get this done.  It can be daunting as you have discovered.  

[moidel_56]

I had someone purchase one of my postings (PC RAM kit) yesterday, but they didn't pay right away. I sent an invoice and they paid this morning and I was ready to print the label to ship when I noticed an odd looking address.  The address is "601 Cornell Drive, STE G11, y166026 MVR, Y166026 MVR, Wilmington, Delaware...". It looked odd, so I typed in the address into google maps and it's not a residence. In fact, it's a "business building/lot" right next to the address which you had a problem with. Google maps shows some company called AllVeganWorld.com for STE G11. I'm considering canceling the order.

[moidel_56]

upon further research, typing in the address on google search shows that a package forwarding company is listed for what seems to be three suites, G9, G10, and G11.  

[albany_sellers]

Don't declare victory yet. There was a guy who might have been the most prolific scammer I have ever seen on eBay, he has hundreds of victims, does the same thing at least a dozen times a month, and is still at it.

I got in touch with eBay about him many times, and can confirm that many others have as well. His name is all over Google as someone to never sell to as well. When I called in and spoke to eBay, they acted aghast that he was still on eBay, told me he absolutely is a scammer and should be removed.

A short time later his account was gone, and I thought I had finally won. A few days later his account was restored, and he has been scamming every single day since then. They do not care, scammers are profitable.

[wolfeye_26]

Ebay simply does not care. They must somehow make money off scammers. Ebay makes the process difficult for buyers to even report a scam yet get a refund. Ebay forces you to go through the item not received process and then they just close the case. There is no other option available and the scammer walks away with the money and is allowed to keep selling on ebay. A class action  suit will happen eventually due to ebays knowingly allowing scammers to operate after ebay was alerted an item was not received.

[kh-laura]

Hi everyone,

Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thank you for understanding.