Ive caught ebay literally working with a scammer

[smarts-gaming]

I actually can't believe what I'm seeing with ebay today, it beggars belief. Please read til the end.

I was on ebay this morning browsing new videogames that had been uploaded when I noticed a seller uploading a new one every few seconds. He was listing hundreds. Every single one was labelled "pre-owned" yet used a stock photo, which is against ebays terms and conditions :

"Stock photos can be used for new items, provided they accurately reflect the item’s condition and details. For used items, you must use photos that show the actual item for sale.”

Every single description is also the same, saying the item is in excellent condition. I checked his shop and wow. He has 29k listings, all with stock photos. He must have the biggest warehouse going, because he has every single videogame known to man. And it doesnt stop there. He has every single DVD, every single console including all limited editions etc. Many of his items are incredibly rare, but he apparently has managed to source them all, hes got millions of pounds worth of stock apparently. All preowned, every listing using a single stock image from google images. He is also charging at least 2x market value on every single listing. 

Checking his feedback, I noticed many complaints and a pattern emerging. 1. Items being sent very late if at all and 2. The item not being in excellent condition as described. It is quite obvious to me and anyone with a working brain that he does not actually possess any of the items he is selling. He charges an extortionate rate as a cushion so that he can ensure he has enough money to order the item himself, wait for delivery, then send it out himself, hence why all of his customers complain about 2 weeks to deliver (or longer). 

Of course that is technically just a theory on my part, but it is quite obviously the truth imo. 

I reported this to ebay. Fair enough if they dont believe hes doing what I said, BUT it is still against the terms and conditions literally stated on ebays website so his listings should either be removed or he should be forced to upload photos to all 29 thousand listings. 

But no. Despite blatant evidence of a breach of the terms, ebay got back to me and said it was reviewed by a human staff member and no breach was found. I literally sent them their own policy and they still said nothing found.... *bleep*?

Now wait, it gets even worse. Because ebay are actively working with this guy and promoting his listings!!! I was again checking his listings in disbelief and thats when i seen if i buy now, i get a 10% off voucher. I already had a 5% off voucher yesterday, so I was surprised to get another so soon. I wanted to know what it was for so I clicked on the terms and conditions of the voucher. Its a 10% off voucher if you buy from one of their selected sellers... so they have literally seen this guys listings, and not only found no problem, they are promoting his listings by offering vouchers to those who buy from him!! *bleep*!!! 

I guarantee ebay are making a killing from this guy scamming people with his insane prices and their share of the fees hence why they refuse to take action.

The one part of the scam i dont understand, is who are the people buying from him at 2/3x market value with just a stock image to go on? For example I looked at a listing of his for a sega megadrive bundle with games. It states it comes with the boxed console plus 3 very cheap common games. Its over 200 pounds. I have had the same boxed console with 3 much more sought after games for 86 quid listed for months now... yet his listing says 3 sold already. I just dont believe that. The only image to go off is a basic stock image off google and I have proper photos of the actual products etc. How has he sold 3? It makes 0 sense at all. Can anyone help me explain this part?

And as for ebay, absolute shame on you for allowing this. I am keeping a record of everything as I actually think this could illegal. 

[coyotetower]

ebay are as bad as fb these days tbh. I had threatening emails from a buyer who was trying to scam me. I reported it but they said it wasnt breaking rules. Prob cuz he didnt actually use a swear word...

[bzmotman]

It almost sounds as though he is money laundering. Do his buyers have plenty of feedback or are they mostly fairly new accounts buying just from him? The complaints would obviously be genuine buyers just caught up in it.

If Ebay suspect money laundering they are under an obligation because they handle the payments to report it but also not to make the "seller" aware of the suspicions which could account for the nothing to see here response. On the other hand Ebay could just be coining it in and turning a blind eye anything dodgy.

[kath3735_wxmjn]

The big question is - is he listed as a private or business buyer??

[*help_no_brakes*]

---

@kath3735_wxmjn wrote:

The big question is - is he listed as a private or business buyer??

---

Buyer?

[cobwebcottage]

All the clues align to them being a Business Seller. Vat registered. 99% positive FB. 

[450-262541]

A likely explanation for the '3 sold' is that the listings have been re-written. By re-using the listing , the sales history is preserved. He might have sold 3 things for £1 and then gone back and changed the title, photos and description into a totally different item to give impression that he has sold 3 of those bundles for £200 to lead buyers in.

This also happens a lot on The Jungle Website{AZ}. Sometimes you'll see hundreds sold with 5 star ratings but if you dig deep into them the reviews are often for a different product entirely.

[kath3735_wxmjn]

okay i used the wrong word, shoot me!!  I think everyone with any intelligence knew what i meant....

[kath3735_wxmjn]

as it was not specified or linked to who this 'scammer' seller was i did not see any 'clues' so could not make any deductions using them, which is why i asked the question!

[cobwebcottage]

You may not, but I did which is why I replied to you.

You are very touchy today.

[smarts-gaming]

Hello everyone, an update for you. 

I was quite incensed when ebay got back to my appeal, stating again, that the user has not broken any rules. I literally copy and pasted their own policy to them, and pointed out how all of his 30,000 listings are breaking the rules. Apparently the staff at ebay were still unable to find any wrongdoing. I can only assume that either 1. No human has ever looked at it/its an AI or 2. Ebay are complicit. 

I refuse to let this go. So yesterday morning I got on the phone with ebay twice. The first woman immediately answered with "hello i cant hear you"? Makes 0 sense to answer a call that way. The second guy was initially more helpful, until it was time to provide the item number or scammers account name, at which point he just kept repeating "im sorry i cant hear you properly". After a few attempts I told him I know its bs and hung up. I was outside, with full signal, never do I ever have issues with it.

So I decided to use the online chat instead, as then there is no way they can claim to not understand me. They were more helpful on there, or at least pretended to be anyway.

Once I had fully explained, the first guy said he couldnt deal with it, and would have to pass me up to a specialist. He did that. The specialist said hello, and then went missing for 20 minutes. I can only assume they were all scrambling about how to cover up for their scammer friend.

This guy said that he hears me loud and clear, takes it very seriously, and has passed the sellers details to a special team to look at. But in these messages he did also claim that my issue was "putting contact details in the description" 🤦🤦🤦🤦🤦🤦 at this point he asked if i was happy with the resolution. I said if i see the guys listings removed and his account banned then yes. If not, I will be back in contact in a few days.

I am keeping a record of everything and will not stop until this user is off of the platform. I wish i could provide the sellers name but its against the toc too and i dont want to get banned or this post shut down. 

I also question how I have noticed all of this sat on my bottom at home, yet ebay themselves havent. Its clear to me that something very dodgy is happening here.

[smarts-gaming]

Its a mix, some have thousands of feedback, some have less than ten, and some have a few hundred.

Ive also noticed clicking on the items he received feedback for, none of them seem to run out of stock either. If he sells an item, the listing remains active, but says "2 sold already" etc.  It always says "last one remaining" despite him already selling the item recently. It says last one remaining on all of his listings, he obviously relists it shortly afterwards.

Im almost 100% its money laundering. To be honest with the amount of scam accounts and bots etc these days, I dont think it would be very hard for scammers to have 1000s of feedback anyway because they just trade amongst themselves. This guy does and he is almost definitely a scammer so. 

[vinylscot]

There's not enough info for any of us to give a definite opinion, as we can't see the account in question.

Is it a business account? When was it opened? What is the feedback score, and how far back does the feedback go? Has the feedback been coming in regularly, or has there been a sudden recent increase?

It does seem clear that here may be something odd with this account, but that is all we can say for sure.

eBay only enforce their own rules/t's and c's when it suits them. If it appears that whatever transgressions there are, are not "doing any harm", they tend not to act. With particular reference to the stock photos issue, eBay do seem rather lenient on that when a seller has many thousands of listings (and to be honest, I think you can understand why).

If there had been a lot of complaints about this seller, (even if these were only about the stock photos issue) action would most likely have been taken. That suggests that he has only just started to "scam", or he is not scamming at all, and is just rather disorganised. Or possibly that the poster is over-reacting a bit (as this seller seems to be a competitor).

If it is a business account, money laundering is rather unlikely. There are many far cheaper and less easily detectable ways to do that, and, if he is "at it", he won't last long on eBay, and he will leave a paper trail.

[suelel1968]

Hi Vinyl @vinylscot we've missed you lately. Hope you are keeping well.

I too am a little skeptical about this being Money Laundering, and i think MoneyMpie also use stock photos and class items as "preowned".

@smarts-gaming There is a lot you can do with a VAT number and address and none of it really stacks up as fully legit. I could do with an employee to help me post a few parcels a week! A sole trader with no presence on Companies house and with different addresses on the VAT registration and Ebay and also has 29000 listings on Ebay Ireland is probably a drop shipper using casual labour.

[smarts-gaming]

To the two posters above, he is a business seller active for about ten years. He has 99% positive but many of those positives state a very long delivery time, or items not turning up at all. No i dont care that hes a "competitor" (he isnt because his sales are fake). I barely even sell anything atm. I care because hes spamming his listings where I usually buy stuff. So that sorting by "new listings" results in entire pages of his fake listings, which is annoying. I also care about the odd person getting scammed not knowing what they are buying and from who. 

A business account does not make you exempt from being a scammer. In fact a business account would be absolutely necessary for any scam on ebay considering they ask you to have one after 1k of sales... 

But yes I do not have solid evidence of a scam. But i dont like that certain big sellers are pretty much exempt from ebays own terms and conditions whilst the rest of us have to play ball. Its an unfair deal to those of us who play by the rules, and encourages others to do the same. Ebay is already going to the dogs as is, imagine if everybody started listing with just a single stock image, the site would become unusable for many of us. 

[rainbow*40]

In recent months it's been brought to my attention that there are many dodgy listings on this site, unfortunately.

A couple of examples:

The same items have been on for months and months (nearly a year) - sometimes having been 'sold' previously, too.

Very dodgy stuff going on with bidding sometimes - you can have the highest bid on something for several hours and then another 'person' wins it for just a pound more - this shouldn't be possible on higher-priced items, as far as I'm aware - you'd have to enter an increment of £5 or £10 more than the highest bid.

IMO, it's bot listings to make the site look busier than it is, as I assume many people have stopped using eBay due to changes made over the past couple of years.

[vinylscot]

Thanks for the kind wishes @suelel1968  - everyone needs a break now and then. Italy is still very pleasant at this time of year.

I think the poster is just letting his imagination run away with himself here. He has no evidence that there is anything untoward going on, and is basing his complaints purely on his own limited knowledge.

eBay do not force sellers on to a business account after £1k of sales or 1k individual sales.

If the seller's listings are appearing near the top of search results, that suggests he is promoting these at a reasonably high rate, which makes money laundering even less likely. If he was money-laundering, he would not promote at all, as he would have control over sales. (eBay would notice if a large proportion of his "promoted" listings were sold organically, particularly if promoted at a high rate - they are good at that sort of thing when it affects their own income.)

The seller also has no way of ensuring his results come up first, apart from promoting at a high rate, so he is not "spamming" search results - eBay position his listings according to their algorithm. If others promoted at a higher rate, they would appear before him in searches.

I agree that the seller may well be a drop-shipper. However, that's a risky way to trade, as you will inevitably fail to meet some orders, or suffer delays, particularly if you are dealing with "middle men" conducting the stock/shipping side of the transactions. If his performance dips to an unacceptable level, eBay will take action, as they will if there are multiple complaints about the seller. It appears that neither of these things are currently happening.

I do agree with the poster when he writes "But i don't like that certain big sellers are pretty much exempt from eBays own terms and conditions whilst the rest of us have to play ball. Its an unfair deal to those of us who play by the rules, and encourages others to do the same". That is a long-running gripe from many of these forums, including myself. I'm pretty sure it is driven by pure economics. If the seller isn't causing too many problems, and is making eBay money, they will get more leeway.

As happens to many of us from time to time, I think the OP just has a bee in his bonnet about this seller.