Permanent Suspension for returns!

Cookoospite

k3lvc said:

Cookoospite said:

theoretica said:

theonlywayisup said:

Is there a short version? 

Buyer keeps buying expensive electronics on ebay and getting refunds for scam listings etc.  Ebay no longer want buyer who is so very bad at spotting scams and expensive for them as a company.

Harsh but accurate. Everybody I brought from had good feedback and pictures. I've been pretty good at it up till now. What else should I have done?

Not continued to try and purchase repeatedly after the first bad experience - it's the repeats that have caused the issue and any retailer/platform would be likely to treat you in the same way. 'Bargains' of Apple products are few and far between - the cost, as you've found, is the time/energy/risk needed to find them

Not sure you'll recover your eBay account/status but others may be able to come up with suggestions to help - even if you do it'll be last chance saloon though 

I realise that. It’s why I’m trying to see what I should’ve done, apart from not keep trying but I thought they were genuine. I don’t see why I should be penalised for other people being dishonest when people can get a temporary suspension for fraud? Genuine question. I suppose sellers make the money. 

Cookoospite

steviebabes said:

I think the problem with Apple products is they are rarely discounted so people see them on eBay at cheaper prices and have a blinkered view. Even sellers with 100% feedback can be dodgy as feedback is easily earned from buying tack and you can't leave negative feedback for seven days. By this time they are long gone. This leaves eBay to clear up the mess of items not received and items not as described.

So I’ve cost them money? I thought they held the money for several days. I asked the sellers for a refund and then reported it straightaway so I thought the majority would’ve been pinged back. If you get me.

y3sitsm3

Cookoospite said:

k3lvc said:

Cookoospite said:

theoretica said:

theonlywayisup said:

Is there a short version? 

Buyer keeps buying expensive electronics on ebay and getting refunds for scam listings etc.  Ebay no longer want buyer who is so very bad at spotting scams and expensive for them as a company.

Harsh but accurate. Everybody I brought from had good feedback and pictures. I've been pretty good at it up till now. What else should I have done?

Not continued to try and purchase repeatedly after the first bad experience - it's the repeats that have caused the issue and any retailer/platform would be likely to treat you in the same way. 'Bargains' of Apple products are few and far between - the cost, as you've found, is the time/energy/risk needed to find them

Not sure you'll recover your eBay account/status but others may be able to come up with suggestions to help - even if you do it'll be last chance saloon though 

I realise that. It’s why I’m trying to see what I should’ve done, apart from not keep trying but I thought they were genuine. I don’t see why I should be penalised for other people being dishonest when people can get a temporary suspension for fraud? Genuine question. I suppose sellers make the money. 

It's not about whether someone "should" be penalised, that's just the rule they've come up with.  I'm sure this is backed up by data showing that customers such as yourself are disproportionately expensive to retain, and so they're better off just ditching them.

It's not really any different to Amazon and its policy on serial returners.  Many will be chancers but a few are potentially just the victims of bad luck (hitting the lottery on receiving faulty products.)  It's arguably not "fair" that they lose their Amazon account but realistically it's far too much effort (read costs too much money) to do in-depth investigations into each and every person, so unfortunately if you fit the pattern, you get the boot.

That's just life I'm afraid.

theoretica

Cookoospite said:

steviebabes said:

I think the problem with Apple products is they are rarely discounted so people see them on eBay at cheaper prices and have a blinkered view. Even sellers with 100% feedback can be dodgy as feedback is easily earned from buying tack and you can't leave negative feedback for seven days. By this time they are long gone. This leaves eBay to clear up the mess of items not received and items not as described.

So I’ve cost them money? I thought they held the money for several days. I asked the sellers for a refund and then reported it straightaway so I thought the majority would’ve been pinged back. If you get me.

Not much point being a scammer if you don't end up with someone else's money. 

Cookoospite

Obviously but I thought I’d reported in time. Maybe not

Thrugelmir

Perhaps Ebay have suspended your account for your own protection.  Despite being scammed again and again. You repeat the same mistakes. 

[Deleted User]

The frank answer here is, there’s nothing you can do, eBay or any platform or retailer for that matter can decide who to do business with and they have chosen they don’t want your business no more. 

You will have to move on and find an alternative buying platform or ask others to buy on your behalf. 

soolin

There's quite a lot of points to cover here, and I sympatjise with the OP but don't feel I can offer any real help, my only help is perhaps to stop others falling into the same trap.I apologise in advance for the length of this reply and will try and do short paragraphs so it can be skimmed.

I'm sure everyone of us has fallen at some point for a scam, I know I have and that is exactly what the ebay guarantee is for. However, as others have said ebay is automated- they don't really care about buyers or sellers- they care about how they are perceived- and basically their buyer guarantee is to ensure they fulfil their legal requirements (which they do) , but also to look good. However, a clever scammer will use the system to ensure they get their funds before any case is open against them- hence the preference for hacking established accounts, this means that where a return is undertaken if the seller has disappeared with the money then ebay is repaying out of their own pockets. U;ltimately they will only do this a few times before the buyer becomes too expensive to keep on the books.

Hacked accounts should be fairly obvious but perhaps fool someone once, maybe twice but not over and over again, the fact that they need to get their funds quickly mean they have to follow an established and easily learned procedure. A poor scammer will faff about with low feedback accounts and end up with ebay retaining their money - and not leaving ebay out of pocket- so not so much of an issue where buyers are conned that way.

This secomd parto f this worries me  Don t abuse eBay s buyer protection programmes or your payment service provider s dispute processes.  Have you done any chargebacks, or fraud claims through paypal or your bank as ebay really don't like too many of them as they are out of their control- and they will shut a buyer down as soon as any bank or card chargebacks are undertaken.

This bit on its own isn't an issue but alongside the other issues may well have been the final straw '
Acceptable buying practices include adherence to the following policies. - I always have. I did ask two sellers to cancel items as I recently had to replace my boiler. But that was before the returns.  Business sellers should always take return requests, and most will cancel a sale if buyer acts quickly enough- but that doesn't mean they aren't also complaining to ebay about a buyer messing them around.

This bit is a sellers nightmare On the 6th August, I checked out a Buy it Now iPhone but due to the previous problems I emailed the seller asking a lot of questions, explaining that I had been the victim of scams and to please not waste my time. I must ve put him off because the seller refunded me in a couple of hours.  You ask before you buy, not afterwards. I would have refunded you too and reported you to ebay for this.

basically your buying history looks so unusual and so scammy that I am not surprised you were banned, and I honestly can't think of a way back for you. In fact I would go as far as to say that with your history of bad purchases on ebay - perhaps not having access to it could be seen as a good thing.

Your feedback suggests you are a very light user of ebay, yet in the past 4 months you have bought and returned or been refunded for more high end goods than I suspect anyone else on these boards. The system almost certainly picked you up as an excessive case opener, but it is also likely you have reports against you from sellers for some of your buying habits, and also your pattern of buying and reselling some high end goods either marks you down as a scammer, or at least in league with them.

It is a lesson we should all take to heart, learn about scams, don't be daft when buying, don't cancel things once you commit to buy - or start questioning a seller. I'm sorry you have learnt this the hard way. Even before your issues- just the number or cancellations and returns will have put you in danger of being suspended.

theoretica

Cookoospite said:

theoretica said:

Cookoospite said:

theoretica said:

theonlywayisup said:

Is there a short version? 

Buyer keeps buying expensive electronics on ebay and getting refunds for scam listings etc.  Ebay no longer want buyer who is so very bad at spotting scams and expensive for them as a company.

Harsh but accurate. Everybody I brought from had good feedback and pictures. I've been pretty good at it up till now. What else should I have done?

I last bought expensive electronics from ebay about 10 years ago - was no longer confident I would spot increasingly sophisticated scams.  For all but trivial ebay purchases I check that the seller adds up - what are the other listings, including completed ones. Have they suddenly increased or changed their listings and does the pattern 'feel' right.  What are the dates on the feedback history and is it for the same sort of thing they are now selling? If they should be a business seller are they?

Thanks, any ideas where I go from here? My most pressing thing is wheelchair batteries, lot cheaper on eBay and I rely on my chair. I have a friend who can order them but it’s not really a long term solution. Can I ask to speak to a supervisor/manager. I tried on the online chats but was stonewalled by all but two who were sympathetic the last gave me the email address. I wonder if they even read it or if I’m just a red X on the system 😪 

Does the company or companies you have bought from definitely not sell except through ebay?  If you post the specifications you need up in a new post - probably the 'I want to buy it' forum then people might help identify good non-ebay sources.  https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/categories/i-wanna-buy-it-or-do-it

RFW

Cookoospite said:

Thanks, any ideas where I go from here? My most pressing thing is wheelchair batteries, lot cheaper on eBay and I rely on my chair. I have a friend who can order them but it’s not really a long term solution. Can I ask to speak to a supervisor/manager. I tried on the online chats but was stonewalled by all but two who were sympathetic the last gave me the email address. I wonder if they even read it or if I’m just a red X on the system 😪 

Looking through your list I can see what Ebay have done.

That said, and taking you at your word, there are a couple of things you can try. Online chats and Ebay messaging are unlikely to help at this stage.

First try Twitter, or get a friend to do it for you.
Tweet Ebay, something along the lines of "My Ebay account has been suspended after I'd been repeatedly scammed buying Apple products from rogue sellers. I am now unable to buy batteries for my wheelchair". This will get you a contact for Ebay's managing director's office.

If that fails, and I doubt it will, then try a newspaper with the same angle. A paper would love this story. You'd get your account back in no time.