For Those Who Think Ebay Favors Sellers, You're Wrong
Rainman
Posts: 1,001
Disclaimer: I used to be of that opinion, mainly b/c of certain alleged/actual scandals (i.e., WIWAG, laser cutter wielding card trimmers, Mr. 1/1 in Vegas, sellers of 20 count BC/BCDP lots who take the $ and run, etc.). However, my opinion has changed and here is why:
Back in late October, I sold a basketball card to a user w/169 feedback, all positive. Buyer (who is now NARU’ed..at least under that name) paid w/Paypal shortly thereafter. I left positive feedback (unlike some sellers, I do not hold FB hostage) and shipped the card. Buyer brags about receiving the card on BMB. The next day, I get a Paypal email saying ‘funds have been reversed due to buyer using fraudulent funds’.
You would think that would be the end of the story- i.e., a costly lesson (always use DC) learned. However, I decided to pursue the person criminally as I know he has defrauded several other sellers using the exact M.O. Criminal investigation is still pending.
As I said, Ebay shut down the name he defrauded me under, as well as at least 3-5 of his other IDs. Again, you would think that would be the end of the story- i.e., costly lesson (always use DC) learned but some justice (fraudulent buyer gets NARU’ed).
Here is where the story gets more interesting. Since late October, the SAME individual has registered AT LEAST 30 NEW Ebay IDs, ALL of which contain FALSE contact info, most of which are offensive (see my feedback if you want to see one of his user Ids). He uses these new/false IDs to SABOTAGE my auctions and the auctions of other sellers by: (1) bidding on items he NEVER intends to pay for and/or (2) bidding on items simply to leave NEGATIVE feedback. While I report each and every one of his ‘new’ Ids to Ebay’s safe harbor, he simply creates a NEW ID, sometimes multiple new Ids daily. I could/have created a new Ebay ID, but should not have to do so. Not to mention a low feedback seller of high end sports cards often gets much lower bids than a high feedback seller of high end sports cards. I followed Ebay’s advice which was to use its ‘seller preferences’ tools to restrict my listings to: (1) users w/Paypal accounts (which costs me legitimate bidders who do not use Paypal); (2) users who do not have unpaid item strikes; and (3) users who do not have feedback of -1 or lower. As you know, Ebay currently does NOT have a way to automatically block 0 feedback users. How/why this buyer STILL has a paypal account despite clearly using fraudulent funds to pay myself and other sellers is beyond me. Of course, I'm equally baffled as to how/why EBay cannot/does NOT prevent this individual from continually registering new user IDs.
I offer this story as a cautionary tale for all sellers.
Back in late October, I sold a basketball card to a user w/169 feedback, all positive. Buyer (who is now NARU’ed..at least under that name) paid w/Paypal shortly thereafter. I left positive feedback (unlike some sellers, I do not hold FB hostage) and shipped the card. Buyer brags about receiving the card on BMB. The next day, I get a Paypal email saying ‘funds have been reversed due to buyer using fraudulent funds’.
You would think that would be the end of the story- i.e., a costly lesson (always use DC) learned. However, I decided to pursue the person criminally as I know he has defrauded several other sellers using the exact M.O. Criminal investigation is still pending.
As I said, Ebay shut down the name he defrauded me under, as well as at least 3-5 of his other IDs. Again, you would think that would be the end of the story- i.e., costly lesson (always use DC) learned but some justice (fraudulent buyer gets NARU’ed).
Here is where the story gets more interesting. Since late October, the SAME individual has registered AT LEAST 30 NEW Ebay IDs, ALL of which contain FALSE contact info, most of which are offensive (see my feedback if you want to see one of his user Ids). He uses these new/false IDs to SABOTAGE my auctions and the auctions of other sellers by: (1) bidding on items he NEVER intends to pay for and/or (2) bidding on items simply to leave NEGATIVE feedback. While I report each and every one of his ‘new’ Ids to Ebay’s safe harbor, he simply creates a NEW ID, sometimes multiple new Ids daily. I could/have created a new Ebay ID, but should not have to do so. Not to mention a low feedback seller of high end sports cards often gets much lower bids than a high feedback seller of high end sports cards. I followed Ebay’s advice which was to use its ‘seller preferences’ tools to restrict my listings to: (1) users w/Paypal accounts (which costs me legitimate bidders who do not use Paypal); (2) users who do not have unpaid item strikes; and (3) users who do not have feedback of -1 or lower. As you know, Ebay currently does NOT have a way to automatically block 0 feedback users. How/why this buyer STILL has a paypal account despite clearly using fraudulent funds to pay myself and other sellers is beyond me. Of course, I'm equally baffled as to how/why EBay cannot/does NOT prevent this individual from continually registering new user IDs.
I offer this story as a cautionary tale for all sellers.
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Comments
I'm not saying it's right for him to do this (it's not), but in hindsight, it appears that you probably just should have "learned your lesson" by using D.C., and chalk it up to lesson learned (your words)......if someone is able to commit fraud, you can damm well bet that they'll try to sabotage your life, if they can get away with it!
Man...., in the cyber world, you NEVER know who you're dealing with! Just be glad his psychotic behavior is limited to your auctions only, and not your family!
It's best, in the cyber world, to leave the idiots, losers, and nut-cases alone!!!
Good luck to you Rainman - I hope this guy gets tired of d*cking around with you, or else you may have to retire your userid and start again.
Dal
Apparently what this guy would do was sell on Ebay under one name stealing many hundreds of dollars from unsuspecting buyers. Then he would buy items under another account using that same money.
This does not always work, many cases everytime you logoff line and back on your IP changes. What if the user is using a public access computer? The only way Ebay could do this is to block ISPs. That part of the IP remains static.
I told ebay live help that they should ask for more ID (like they do to free email base providers.. yahoo, hotmail) even for paid email providers like AOL, comcast. Live help told me that it's their (ebay) policy to recognize or not asked for other info like credit cards on paid email providers. If ebay don't want to ask for more info they should at least put 0 FB on their block list not just -1,-2,-3.
easttexas, sometimes it takes 4-7 days before your IP address change (from what I heard)
require ALL users to have VERIFIED contact info- name, addy, tel #, email acct BEFORE they are allowed to buy/sell
require ALL users to have VERIFIED bank/credit card/paypal accounts BEFORE they are allowed to buy/sell. An alternative to this is to require ALL users to be ID VERIFIED BEFORE they are allowed to buy/sell.
SUSPEND (not NARU) ALL users accused of fraud/auction sabotaging by BLOCKING them from buying/selling while ebay investigates. Buyers/sellers who are NOT guilty will have their privileges restored.
Allow sellers to block ZERO FB bidders.
I realize the difficulties associated w/the net, but when you have clear cut proof like in this case, something can/needs to be done. For ebay/paypal to continue have such poor security is highly distressing.
1st:
Ebay allows AOL users to sign up for an EBAY buyer's account without providing credit card info.
All you need is an AOL email address.
AOL users can creat an unlimited number of email accounts, 10 at any one time.
2nd:
AOL uses rotating IP address. So each time an AOL user logs on, AOL provides that user with a NEW IP address.
The only way to block their IP address is to block the ENTIRE range of all AOL addresses.
But doing so, you will also block innocent AOL users!
<< <i>What's the def. of "fraudulent funds"....I've never heard that term before? >>
Probably the address is "unconfirmed" by paypal and account was hacked. Not sure if Rainman deliver it to a "confirmed address" by Paypal.
My situation involved the guy scamming buyers and then sort of attempting to launder the money by buying items from other sellers with it. This guy had made 5 large purchases from me in a 3 week span so it appeared to Paypal that my account might be connected to his so when Paypal finally caught up with him, the removed the funds from the last purchase about 400 dollars. They then froze my account for about 6 months while they conducted their "investigation."
I finally got my account unfrozen, but am still looking into my options on getting my money back.
I agree. Of course, he should be given a fair trial afterwards.
DC (according to paypal) would have been proof I delivered the card..and paypal said they would have given me the $.
As for IP addresses, most cable/DSL IP addresses are STATIC. Additionally, while AOL IP addresses do change each time you log on (assuming you are not using AOL Broadband/DSL), the change is minimal- i.e. 999.22.89.47 becomes 999.22.89.48. It is far easier to track someone down on the net than most people think.
Currently ebay/paypal/the applicable authorities are investigating. To date, this individual has sabotaged over $13,000 in ebay auctions. While some may consider a sabotaged auction/negative an inconvenience, this case involves things more serious (fraud/theft, mail fraud, impersonating the President, hacking, possible identity theft, use of fraudulent funds, etc.). I am pursuing this b/c ebay and paypal both have far too many security loopholes and the remedies (i.e., let sellers block 0 feedback bidders) are not that hard to implement.