Help - advice needed about strange email from ebay member!

suzy_hobday

I'm sorry, this is a long one!

I received the email below from a previous ebay member today and I'm very confused and I don't know what to do.

"Hello, my name is xxx, and I was an ebay member until the other day. Ebay suspended me because they said my sign up information was similar to that of another seller, from which you paid for an item and never received it. Ebay sent me your email address and the item number, and the claim filed against the person so that I could somehow work something out with you. I am not associated with whomever it was who wronged you, but ebay has left it my responsibility to resolve the problem in order to reinstate my user name. I find this to be very unfair, because I did nothing wrong, and you did nothing wrong, but someone else did, and it has affected us both.
>There are a few ways we can resolve this. You can email me back staing that the problem has been resolved. You can email ebay using the contact us link and state that the problem has been solved. If Squaretrade was involved, you can go back to the dispute and have it resolved, and Squaretrade will then email ebay to let them know. If you left negative feedback for the person you bought the item from, you can leave follow-up feedback saying the problem has been resolved. If the person issued you a refund through paypal, you can provide ebay with the email and full headers of the refund as proof. I know this is a lot to ask of you, and if you were scammed, then you probably did not have the problem resolved. I know it is unfair to ask you to say that a problem has been resolved when it really hasn't, but this is the only way I can be reinstated to the ebay community, and frankly, I think it really stinks that I have to clean up someone else's mess. If you could help me out, it would really help a lot. Thank you so much for your time and understanding."

This seems very strange to me...could ebay suspend a member just because they have similar sign up information to another ebay member who has a complaint against them? I didn't know what to make of this email but I responded as below:

"I purchased an item from xxxx (which incidentally is the same name that appears next to your email address on the email you just sent me - 'From: xxxx xxxx<xxxx@yahoo.com>' in July 2004 which I never received. I filed a complaint with Paypal who upheld my complaint and attempted to obtain a refund from the seller's account to my account. However, the seller's account did not contain the funds necessary to cover my refund so I received nothing. I am definitely not prepared to say that this problem has been resolved when it clearly hasn't. The only way I would be prepared to do this is if I received a full refund which I am entitled to for the money I paid for goods which I never received. I find it very hard to believe that ebay would suspend someone's account for simply having sign up information similar to that of another seller who has a complaint filed against them - for them to suspend an account it would have to be the same information, i.e. they are that seller. I am prepared to discuss this matter further with ebay if they wish to contact me regarding this."

I then received this email in response:

"I can send you the email from eBay in which they say why they have suspended me, and they do say because my account has similar information. We have the same name I guess. I have always gone by xxxx or xxxx, but my whole name is xxxx xxxx xxxx. I swear to you, I am not the same person though. I guess I don't know what to do then, since you are now the only one saying no to me. I have already spoken with all of the others that filed complaints against her, and they all said it happened so long ago it doesn't matter anymore, and they understand where I am coming from. I did offer to help resolve the issue since I need my account restored for my business. So I guess tell me what I can do to resolve the problem since I am now relying on only you. Thanks."

I really don't know what to make of all this. Does anyone have any idea what I should do?

I would really appreciate any advice anyone can give me...

Thank you.

Al_Mac

Contact Ebay about it, seems a bit dubious.

hard_up_and_fed_up

I would contact Ebay directly about this.
Maybe XXXX has tried to re-join and they have caught up with them.
Find out if it is true and then decide what you can do about it.
Don't agree that it has been resolved if it hasn't been. There will be other ways that this user can confirm their identity. In order to appeal against a suspension, you have to send in ID docs such as utility bills /passport and such like. They should have a different address to offender on and problem should then be solved.

sunflower_2

i find it hard to believe ebay would give out your personal information to someone with "similar details"

surely this would breach data protection?

seems to me like this person is defo the same person, and is now trying to get you to say it was resolved cos ebay have found out he/she is selling under another ID !

if i were u i would send the emails onto ebay n see what they have to say about it...

soolin

This sounds like a dodgy seller who has got caught and is now trying to wriggle out of it.

So many sellers think they can get away with not sending things and just empty their paypal accounts to stop a chargeback being made. Unfortunately all such incidences are noted on the selling account and eventually ebay will get fed up and NARU the seller.

The only way he can now get reinstated is for enough of his disgruntled buyers to withdraw their complaint so he can argue that ebay should reinstate him.

Don;t fall for it, you obviously made a valid complaint at the time which paypal upheld, why should the seller suddenly get cross because he has been caught?

Send all emails to ebay and ask them to deal with it. This problem is between the seller and ebay, he should not have tried to harrass you.

The only time i have come across this before is where buyers have been NARUd and have asked me to withdraw my NPB strike so they can get their account back. If they don't care enough while they are using ebay, why should they care enough to do better if they get their accounts back?

Soo

PASCALI

Send copies to Ebay, at the same time block incoming emails from him

His_Lordship

Seems desperate to keep his account going for the feedback, what has he/she got at the moment?

mcwarre

Avoid, like the plague! (Is that spelt correctly?)

radiocode

This appears to be phishing, As he is requesting you to use the link provided.

suzy_hobday

Thank you for your advice everyone, I really appreciate it. I have copied the emails to ebay as you suggested, will let you know what happens!