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eBay seems to be actively supporting dishonest sellers (scammers)
Summary: En la discusión, dorriesiain planteó su preocupación por el apoyo que parece brindar eBay a vendedores deshonestos, a los que califica como estafadores. red_magpie y papso22 intervinieron en la conversación, compartiendo posiblemente experiencias similares o discutieron sobre cómo lidiar con esta problemática. Aunque la conversación tuvo varias interacciones, el enfoque principal fue la preocupación por las prácticas de eBay en la protección de sus usuarios frente a vendedores con comportamiento engañoso.
Firstly, I have been on eBay for 22 years so know what I am doing, but I still got scammed three times in a month! I bought a phone from someone with 100% feedback but a week later had heard nothing and the seller wasn't responding, so I contacted eBay. They actually dealt with it OK as there was no indication the phone had been dispatched. I then bought a replacement but got worried that there was zero communication from the seller, so again contacted eBay. I got the impression they knew about him/her as they again sorted a refund even though only a couple of days had elapsed, so it seems my gut instinct was right. This week I tried again and ordered a third phone. Again little comms, although I was comforted initially by confirmation of dispatch. Today I received confirmation of delivery, which came as a surprise as I was home, so I checked UPS tracking. The package (phone or not?) had been delivered, to an address 140 miles away, and not far from the phone's claimed origin. I contacted the seller multiple times but zero response. I contacted eBay (nightmare process) and was told I have to wait several days so that the seller can resolve it. They even confirmed the address the package was delivered to, but ignore my statement that this looked suspiciously like someone sending a package to themselves or an associate just to buy time with eBay. It mattered not a jot that I had effectively provided a third £820 loan to a stranger, as that seller had to be protected. I left feedback, which was 100% honest and accurate and contained no questionable language, and eBay removed it without even contacting me. I cannot provide new feedback, and the seller's 100% record (nearly all buying) remains intact. I wonder how many other buyers had their feedback removed, resulting in me being seduced into thinking he was honest? The time I now have to wait for eBay to do something means the seller has plenty of time to empty his account of course. I am left with the very clear impression that "Buyer Protection" is meaningless as eBay goes out of its way to protect dishonest sellers. Looking at Trustpilot it appears I am not alone. Ebay is not what it was, and nor is its "Customer Service", so I will buy elsewhere in future.
tobiasd4
Mentor6 months agoIf ebay find in your favour, they will refund you and reclaim money from seller.
They are also quick to involve collection agents, so no good seller emptying bank account.
red_magpie
Mentor6 months agothe seller has plenty of time to empty his account
This is at least one thing you don't have to worry about. If eBay finds in your favour, they will attempt to recover the cost of refunding you from the seller, but if necessary they will refund you themselves and set debt collectors on the seller. Whatever the outcome, your refund will not be affected.
The less good news is that how eBay decides the case may depend upon how you know that your phone was delivered to an address 140 miles away? eBay's money back guarantee states that "If the seller can't provide proof of delivery to the address in the Order details or proof you collected your order, we'll issue a refund".
So if you have tracking roof that it was delivered to the wrong address you should get a full refund. But if the tracking incorrectly states that it was delivered to your address, eBay is likely to acceppet this as evidence of delivery. (Even when a "proof of delivery" photo is provided, we have heard of many cases where eBay won't even accept the buyer's word that the photo is not of their address!)
This was confirmed on 17 March by eBay's Marco, who responding to a similar case said that "If the tracking information confirms delivery, the case will probably be closed on the seller's favor, but if the tracking information says it was delivered to a different address, then it would be closed in your favor. If the tracking information says it was delivered to the correct address, you'd need to escalate that with the courier directly since we cannot control the courier side of things." This isn't exactly the simple assurance eBay purports to give buyers in its money money back guarantee policy, is it?
Although eBay's payment system is regulated by the financial conduct authority, eBay corporate structure has been arranged in such a way that it's money back guarantee policy is unregulated - meaning that users have no right to any independent appeal against their decisions (which the user agreement requires us to accept!). This lack of scrutiny or accountability for its decisions means that eBay can and does interpret its policies in ways which arguably make these misleading, to say the least.
dorriesiain
OP6 months agoSent from my iPhone
papso22
Mentor6 months agoIf you have actual evidence that the address it was tracked to is not the address you used at checkout, then as the ebay rep said in the other post, you have money back guarantee protection. Even if it requires an appeal.
dorriesiain
OP6 months agoEbay have checked the tracking, as I did, and confirmed the address is 140 miles away from me, quite near to the package's origin. Seems pretty clear to me the seller posted it to himself in order to con eBay into defaulting to "it has been delivered", which was their initial stance until I suggested they double check the tracking detail. Even with this information, and the fact that they can see my unanswered messages, eBay insists I must wait several days before they "step in". In the meantime the seller is free to advertise his wares with 100% feedback as I am not permitted to leave negative feedback.
papso22
Mentor6 months agoOK, so you haven't lost the case yet.
The odds are actually heavily weighted in favour of buyers by the way.
dorriesiain
OP6 months agoIain
papso22
Mentor6 months agoThat's not what the buyer protection fee is for.
The money back guarantee provides excellent protection in almost all cases but sometimes takes longer when the value is higher.
It's a bit odd here because the value is over the normal scammer limit, I.e that eligible for simple delivery.
Ebay isn't supporting your seller unless and until they find for the seller in the case. At the moment they are just prevaricating.