Ebay: Wake Up & Smell the Coffee! Protect Us From Fraudsters Now

lovinituk

chancesare wrote: »

So what about the items that say 'processing through the network' which never update. That is perfect fodder for a scammer isn't it?

Yes it is and it does happen. I said you get 'less scammers' with recorded, not 'no scammers'.

chancesare wrote: »

I said this where exactly? No scammers? I said "there are those who do fall foul of scammers, but that is possible in any walk of life, not just Ebay".

Exaggeration on my part (pedantic on yours). You do however continue to deny it is much of a problem, imply it is rare and that it is more likely down to the fault of the seller...

chancesare wrote:

But I think the rules are clear. Abide by them or be ignorant/scammed

chancesare wrote:

I do however disagree with your statement that you can be taken for a ride

chancesare wrote:

Most of those (if this board is anything to go by) are buyers/sellers who are not aware of the rules/protection

chancesare wrote:

Most of these 'movements' for change are from people who do not take time to understand the rules. There are those who do fall foul of scammers

chancesare wrote: »

I think you mean I should just agree with you?

No, not at all - but perhaps be a little more open to what could be happening to others.

chancesare wrote: »

As for sod everyone else.......perhaps look back through the replies that both Soolin and I (and others but you only pick on us) have given to those who find themselves in situations that they are unclear of.

chancesare wrote:

Nothing is perfect or 100% secure, but I am more than happy with it

chancesare wrote:

I do not have a scammable product. I sell in the UK and overseas. All my UK is tracked but anything under £41 sent overseas is at the mercy of both the customer and the service of airmail in their country. If an item doesn't arrive, I cannot say for sure whether they have scammed me or not. But, I am covered either way.

chancesare wrote:

However, scamming on Ebay is not something I think is rife in my marketplace.

BigRedAnt

I do recall certain posters saying that the system doesn't need to change, but as has been pointed out, it's easy to take that view if you have been lucky enough to avoid scammers so far.

Just the same as someone who thinks the CSA is fair, but has no kids

I can show you an example of a buyer who destroys seller reputations yet despite various complaints Ebay won't remove him - buyer protection to the max.

porto_bello

I certainly try to avoid reputation destroying opportunists. Sometimes you can tell by the badly worded and badly tempered enquiry that they're going to be trouble and you can block them. But inevitably, you can't stop them if they're a last minute, winning bidder. As BigRedAnt says, there are some, albeit a few, who move from seller to seller, throwing grenades into the sellers' feedback and DSR ratings.

Unfortunately for the victim, it'll take them a year to shake off the damage and if they are unfortunate enough to be a new business seller, who meets 2 or 3 such characters in the same year, their account could be in real trouble - through absolutely no fault of their own.

Deliberately setting out to damage seller reputations just isn't the way to conduct yourself on ebay, just as it isn't in the real world. The fact that ebay's response is just to shrug their shoulders, explain that there is nothing that they can do other than take 10% (or whatever) convinces me that this respect, the odds are unfairly stacked against the seller.

As a private seller, I don't have anything like as much to lose as a business seller. But given that ebay effectively shows a green light to this kind of antics, I really would hate to rely on my income from selling on ebay - it's a bit like to walking through a minefield!

BigRedAnt

Do you think this person might be an opportunist, or just the unluckiest buyer in the world? Either way he has destroyed a lot of reputations...

Link Removed

porto_bello

BigRedAnt wrote: »

Do you think this person might be an opportunist, or just the unluckiest buyer in the world? Either way he has destroyed a lot of reputations...

http://feedback.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback2&ftab=FeedbackLeftForOthers&userid=harryboy001&iid=-1&de=off&items=200

Opportunist buyer? Never! You can always tell by a feedback score ... and since all ebay buyers have 100% feedback, they must all be 100% honest! :rotfl:

Seriously though, it seems ebay are completely happy to let this scammer work their way through the sellers: buying, negging and claiming and how would we ever know about this character's antics, if they chose to make their feedback "private"? :think:

I wonder how many of these buying opportunists have taken that precaution, so nobody will see the long trail of destruction or know about the problem they have on their hands ... until it's too late!

BigRedAnt

That's exactly right, and private feedback would be even worse in this situation.

This chancer has been up to it for quiite a while; my guess is that they revise the feedback as soon as they get a refund (providing they get to keep the item of course). It's an absolute joke that Ebay allow it to carry on, I would be amazed if they got away with that on Amazon.

Why shouldn't a seller be able to protect themselves from this person? Even if I could just block buyers who leave more than 50% negative, that would still filter him out!

I wonder what the previous posters who defended the status quo have to say about this type of buyer? "Doesn't matter as long as it's not me"?

mikey72

Maybe you should check the feedback left by others for the sellers.
If he was the only negative they had you may be right, but in most cases it isn't.
I agree he may be targeting buyers with poor feedback in the first place, but it's also lot of money to spend on a vigilante action if he's just going to look for trouble. It won't always work.

BigRedAnt

mikey72 wrote: »

Maybe you should check the feedback left by others for the sellers.
If he was the only negative they had you may be right, but in most cases it isn't.
I agree he may be targeting buyers with poor feedback in the first place, but it's also lot of money to spend on a vigilante action if he's just going to look for trouble. It won't always work.

My guess is he is targetting those with the most to lose; low feedback, previous negatives, etc, then using feedback and revision as a bargaining tool to get what he wants. However there are also sellers on that list who have no negative feedback other than from this guy.

I think it would be difficult to argue he isn't dodgy as hell.

mikey72

BigRedAnt wrote: »

My guess is he is targetting those with the most to lose; low feedback, previous negatives, etc, then using feedback and revision as a bargaining tool to get what he wants. However there are also sellers on that list who have no negative feedback other than from this guy.

I think it would be difficult to argue he isn't dodgy as hell.

I agree he's certainly not the average buyer, I wouldn't touch that class of seller.

BigRedAnt

mikey72 wrote: »

I agree he's certainly not the average buyer, I wouldn't touch that class of seller.

I like the way you seem to be switching the onus onto the sellers rather than the buyer.