Ebay FRAUD LOOPHOLE

velissaria

RFW wrote: »

I'm sure the police here and in Hong Kong would be able to get the address from the Ebay information, even if you couldn't. As for being involved in serios crimes, that's a big assumption unless you have any information you'd like to share? I'd be surprised to learn that the international arms trade was flogging $2 rings on Ebay.

... If you had know Ebay's rules then by opening a dispute before 45 days were up you would have helped get the seller booted off.

I said "...little dodgy sellers (like this one, with multiple IDs etc.) are sometimes connected to a lot more serious crimes". I stand by this because yes, I have discussed extensively with police officers who work or worked in fraud units. Read some of the links I've posted in this thread about selling items very cheap, building a lot of positive feedback very quickly etc. and more info can be found online in news websites on dodgy trade and human, weapon, or narcotics trafficking.

I found about the seller's multiple IDs later. So, according to you, if you realise that somebody is dodgy after a certain time limit and you still report it, the regulatory body should turn the blind eye? How nice! Refund or no refund, they still should have investigated the case. And judging from the huge amount of complaints online re- fraud from both sellers and buyers, and the fact that ebay's reaction to me was "contact your local police for $1.98", ebay is obviously rubbish at self-regulating. It's just happy at making money from your seller's commission fees.

velissaria

techspec wrote: »

Are you for real. Its highly likely your item was lost in the post. As you stated - they had good feedback. I agree the seller should have then refunded you - but they probably get scammed all the time - and were just trying to allow for the post delays. Some companies prefer to wait for a claim to refund - some prefer to protect their account and just pay out. You had 45 days - more than enough time for an arrival from Hong Kong / China.

I have bought many items from China - and nearly ALL turned out to be the same seller. At no time did i think scammers. YOU ARE ALLOWED AS MANY EBAY ACCOUNTS AS YOU WANT!!!!!!

Are you for real? It seems that some of you are living in a parallel universe or something. Lost in the post... twice in 1 month? Even I am not that daft. Or you didn't read the part where I said that he agreed to repost, told me to wait longer and then nothing. Or is it acceptable behaviour to stop replying to polite messages from the buyer and explain your argument?

Also, don't shout at me.
http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/multiple-accounts.html
What are the guidelines?


Allowed
Users may have multiple accounts on eBay. We understand that there are various reasons why someone would choose to have more than one account.

Not allowed
Registering new accounts or using other existing accounts to avoid buying and selling restrictions or limits or other policy consequences.

velissaria

RFW wrote: »

I'll ask again, what were you going to do with details of their address in Chinese or Latin characters?

This was answered earlier. Read the previous comments before posting.

RFW

velissaria wrote: »

I said "...little dodgy sellers (like this one, with multiple IDs etc.) are sometimes connected to a lot more serious crimes". I stand by this because yes, I have discussed extensively with police officers who work or worked in fraud units. Read some of the links I've posted in this thread about selling items very cheap, building a lot of positive feedback very quickly etc. and more info can be found online in news websites on dodgy trade and human, weapon, or narcotics trafficking.

It's straying from the purpose of the thread but I've never really seen the connection between, for example, someone selling fake DVDs and International terrorism, it's a bit of propaganda spread by authorities to stop people buying them. If they aren't bothered about the criminal activity they are involved in they would do something to earn cash quicker than selling DVDs or swindling you out of $2, so with respect that's a stupid argument.

velissaria wrote: »

I found about the seller's multiple IDs later. So, according to you, if you realise that somebody is dodgy after a certain time limit and you still report it, the regulatory body should turn the blind eye? How nice! Refund or no refund, they still should have investigated the case. And judging from the huge amount of complaints online re- fraud from both sellers and buyers, and the fact that ebay's reaction to me was "contact your local police for $1.98", ebay is obviously rubbish at self-regulating. It's just happy at making money from your seller's commission fees.

You've told Ebay about it, they have to weigh up between someone with several thousand feedback, the vast majority of which is positive, and you claiming you haven't received an item. Why should they believe you and waste money investigating it? I'd be certain, given the amount of emails of yours they've had to answer, that they won't be earning anything from your transaction.

I expect Ebay would put a mark against the seller and if several such incidents occur then they'd investigate. As I said it is self regulating, the more complaints via low stars the quicker the seller is off Ebay. There is a 45 day limit, you were (possibly) duped into making that run out, a simple warning to others to not do the same would have sufficed on this thread.

velissaria

RFW wrote: »

It's straying from the purpose of the thread but I've never really seen the connection between, for example, someone selling fake DVDs and International terrorism, it's a bit of propaganda spread by authorities to stop people buying them. If they aren't bothered about the criminal activity they are involved in they would do something to earn cash quicker than selling DVDs or swindling you out of $2, so with respect that's a stupid argument.

Because this is not the right place or thread, yes, let's not start discussing this. You may be anti-authority and anti-police if it suits you, I don't care one way or the other, but excuse me for saying this, it is huge ignorance or burying- head- in- the- sand attitude of how the modern "globalised etc." world works if you think what you claim. Fake goods, fake DVDs and dodgy sellers have a proven connection to human trafficking and even terrorism according to police and journalism cases. You may choose not to believe them; your problem. I think people find it difficult to believe because they think that the terrorist himself will be selling the dodgy DVDs, when in reality, it's gonna be some illegal immigrant who does it just for survival, without even realising who s/he is working for, who gets the majority of the profits etc. They are parts in global networks. You may want to research this a bit more.

RFW wrote: »

You've told Ebay about it, they have to weigh up between someone with several thousand feedback, the vast majority of which is positive, and you claiming you haven't received an item. Why should they believe you and waste money investigating it? I'd be certain, given the amount of emails of yours they've had to answer, that they won't be earning anything from your transaction.

I expect Ebay would put a mark against the seller and if several such incidents occur then they'd investigate. As I said it is self regulating, the more complaints via low stars the quicker the seller is off Ebay. There is a 45 day limit, you were (possibly) duped into making that run out, a simple warning to others to not do the same would have sufficed on this thread.

I agree that all those emails were a waste of time. They could have just replied in a more constructive way from the beginning, saying what you said above. Another point I made in my "novella" post was that eBay CS seem to reply off a standard script instead of spending 5' to carefully read a customer email and find the right thing to say. This is false economy too, isn't it? Another point I made is that by having different employees answering the same thread, the continuity is lost, and often it ends up in a loop. There must be some software to assign a thread to the same employee account... I don't know about company IT so I can't be sure.

RFW

velissaria wrote: »

This was answered earlier. Read the previous comments before posting.

No it wasn't, you said you would have needed the address to report them to the police, which you weren't doing. So what did you need the postal address in Latin characters for?

I won't carry on the other argument, I suspect arguing anything with you is pointless. I am, however, very impressed that you have managed to get from having an item lost in transit to the value of $2 to the seller possibly being involved in human trafficking and terrorism, well done:T

richto

wow @ all that for about £1.50. Your time is clearly worth a lot less than mine.

velissaria

RFW wrote: »

No it wasn't, you said you would have needed the address to report them to the police, which you weren't doing. So what did you need the postal address in Latin characters for?

I won't carry on the other argument, I suspect arguing anything with you is pointless. I am, however, very impressed that you have managed to get from having an item lost in transit to the value of $2 to the seller possibly being involved in human trafficking and terrorism, well done:T

Arguing anything with you seems pointless too, because people obviously must agree with you all the time. As for what I could do knowing the postal address of the seller, put your imagination at work. I can't keep spoon-feeding you everything :j

velissaria

richto wrote: »

wow @ all that for about £1.50. Your time is clearly worth a lot less than mine.

Clearly. I am a carer for a cancer patient and it is a quiet weekend.

RFW

velissaria wrote: »

Arguing anything with you seems pointless too, because people obviously must agree with you all the time. As for what I could do knowing the postal address of the seller, put your imagination at work. I can't keep spoon-feeding you everything :j

I'm guessing you would have arranged your friends in the police fraud squad to arrange a trip to Hong Kong for you to reclaim your $1.98, if you do go, look out for any DVDs, they can be lethal in the wrong hands.