Question Re: How to report inaccurate listing? in Member To Member Support DO NOT DELETE

How to report inaccurate listing?

quantumcaffeine — Fri, 16 Apr 2021 09:17:46 GMT

Hi,

Quite often, I run across eBay listings that are inaccurate/misleading, and I have decided to start trying to report them. For example, In the heading, the condition is listed as used, but in the description the seller downgrades that to spares or repair.

The problem is, eBay does not appear to provide any mechanism whatsoever for bringing issues such as these to their attention. The report link does not include an appropriate option, and nor does going via "contact us". There is a specific list of issues that you can raise with eBay, and they do not want to know about anything outside of that list, including inaccurate listings.

How do I deal with this? Or do I just accept that people are free to list things any way they want, and profit from misleading people if they like? I've seen multiple listings for graphics cards where the heading specifies that the lot is a graphics card, but the description states that it is a *photo* of a graphics card. This is a well-known scam, but eBay does not seem to care.

Finally, what happens if I accidentally buy one of these items? Is it "buyer beware" and the seller is covered if the correct information is somewhere in the listing, regardless of what other information may be in the heading, or do I have some comeback against the seller?

Re: How to report inaccurate listing?

redwick1 — Thu, 15 Apr 2021 19:26:14 GMT

You report through the report this item on every listing page.

If buyers buy an item that is not as described then they are covered by the ebay money back guarantee which you can see on almost every ebay page.

It is also up to buyers to read the descriptions carefully before buying

You saw the problem and so should others

Do report all that you can but be aware it can be a lifetime job, As fast as somw are removed others pop up to replace them

Ebay rely on members policing the site

Re: How to report inaccurate listing?

ruby*tuesday — Thu, 15 Apr 2021 19:26:53 GMT

You are quite correct the only way to Report a Listing is by using the "Report Item" option.

As a Buyer you have No such issues. Buyers are very well looked after by Ebay. Enter "EBay Money Back Guarantee" into Help and Contact at the very foot of the Page.

Basically you have 30 days from Delivery to Return any Item which is "Not As Described" or " Faulty" in some respect. If a UK Seller they have to provide a Returns Label through the Case. EBay will then Fully Refund you once the all important Tracking shows as Delivered or Attempted Delivery back to the Seller.

Re: How to report inaccurate listing?

quantumcaffeine — Thu, 15 Apr 2021 21:59:57 GMT

Thanks for your reply. The problem is that the "Report Item" option does not seem to include any way to report an inaccurate listing. If I select "Inaccurate item description", I have to then select a detailed reason, but the only two options there are to report profanity or publishing contact information. If the listing is not profane and the seller has not included contact information, they can (seemingly) say anything else they want and I have no way to report that.

As for the eBay Buyer Guarantee, my issue is with items that are correctly described in the detailed description, but listed with inaccurate titles and in inappropriate categories. Take the example of a graphics card photo, where the description states that it is a photo, but the title simply claims it to be a graphics card and the seller has listed it in the graphics cards category. That's extremely misleading, but the description is correct. Does the Guarantee apply, or can the seller point to the correct description, ignore everything else they did to mislead people, and walk away? That's what I meant by "buyer beware": is it on buyers to spot these kinds of shenanigans, or on sellers not to get up to such shady behaviour?

Re: How to report inaccurate listing?

quantumcaffeine — Thu, 15 Apr 2021 22:06:13 GMT

As I noted in another reply, the problem is that "report item" only allows a very specific and short list of issues to be reported with listings. Profanity and publishing of contact information are included, but straightforward inaccuracy is not. There appears to be no way to deal with inaccuracy other than by complaining after purchase, which just doesn't seem very helpful to me. It also doesn't seem very helpful that people can create authentic-seeming listings for (say) graphics cards or games consoles, list them in the associated categories, then include the word "photo" in 9pt font in the description and cover themselves. If eBay's Buyer Guarantee doesn't cover cases like that, it's not with the paper (or pixels) it's written on!

Re: How to report inaccurate listing?

redwick1 — Thu, 15 Apr 2021 22:35:50 GMT

Ebays money back guarantee does cover cases like that. It does not matter what the listing says if a buyer opens a not as described for whatever reason then they will get their money back. Ebay almost always go with the buyer. You are right there is limited reasons for reporting but you just have to use what is there. As aleady said through ir members actually read the listings they would see exactly what you see. Buyers have to take some responsibility.

Re: How to report inaccurate listing?

pixiesen2012 — Fri, 16 Apr 2021 08:10:10 GMT

when reporting an item that has been listed incorrectly choose the fraudulent option