What Can You Do When Defrauded on eBay?

zeno_lee asks: "About 55 eBay buyers were defrauded by a single high volume ebay seller. I discovered all the victims by backtracking each transaction this guy had for the past month and contacting each one individually. Everyone lost between $400 to $1700 each. I then started an email group to organize action against him and to get our money back. This guy was particularly successful because he had positive feedback ratings before he decided to jump ship. " Systems like eBay are, as most have seen, extremely popular, but the one big shortcoming is that the system only works when buyers can trust the sellers. It's actions like this that break the system and if dishonest sellers can get away with fraud, auction sites will suffer. What options are there when consumers have been frauded on auction websites?

"Most of us followed the proper procedures. You wait 30 days to file a fraud claim on ebay. Then you have the option of getting $175 at most from eBay's insurance. It softens the blow, but for many it's not anywhere close to what they lost. Contacting local authorities hasn't accomplished anything nor has filing with the FBI. Many people who paid via PayPal did get a refund, but others paid via checks.

eBay has been one of the bright spots of the internet. As a NYSE listed company, you'd expect more to be done about helping customers. I hope this question comes as a warning to be more cautious on eBay or not to bid for items on ebay over $400 without escrow protection. I've learned my lesson not to do business with anyone who doesn't use paypal or billpoint. But regardless of what we learned, most of us feel helpless because eBay has not done more to get our money back. Any suggestions?"

Comments

Paypal doesn't give you much more protection

[AmigaAvenger]

Paypal will only protect you if you pay with a credit card, and then only because you dispute the charge. (Also note that if you dispute a charge, you will get your paypal card yanked, since in essence paypal is now getting stuck with the bill)

eBay will protect you -- to an extent

[Chester K]

eBay has fraud protection guidelines where they'll reimburse up to $200 of the loss.

Postal Money Order

[Smitty825]

Pay with a Postal Money order from the United States Postal Service. (I don't know how it works outside the USA...but I'm sure that there are simliar systems in place elsewhere). Since it is sent via mail, it constitues Mail Fraud, which happens to be a Felony. I know of a friend who had to bust some seller after he realized that the seller was a deadbeat. Once my friend filed the papers with the Post Office, there was nothing the seller could do.

My experience...

[cr0sh]

I typically look at the feedback rating, and decide if the product is worth it, and if I would trust myself if I was the seller.

I also look at the positive vs. negative vs. neutral comment level - if they had a few negatives, but nothing in the last six months but positives, I consider them OK - if they have negatives that are periodic in nature, then I stay away. Also, sometimes I get the feeling that a seller has one ID, but is actually multiple people or of a company (some you can tell ARE a company, and the ID will reflect it - but sometimes it is just a "feeling"). I also look and see how long they have been an Ebay member, and when the last time they changed their ID (if they don't currently have the shades on) - this can give you an idea of whether they are trying something hinky.

For large items, though - escrow all the way. Small items there isn't much you can do about it. I once won a bid on some memory (about $35.00) - and I sent through PayPal - I never received the memory, and my emails went unanswered - then my emails started bouncing. I later found that others were having similar issues with the guy. It turns out he never claimed the money from my PayPal account, so I was able to get a check back from PayPal - so I was safe. I think he never claimed it because the email PayPal sent was to the old defunct account that was bouncing mail - so he never knew I sent the money.

I later found an email from him in an account I wasn't using at the time - I still don't know why or how he sent it to that account, but he did - asking me when the money was coming - the date on that email was within the time that the PayPal balance was available to him - I don't know why he didn't check his PayPal account (as I had alerted him in an earlier email that he did acknowledge that I was going to use PayPal).

All in all, a weird episode - but I didn't get screwed as hard as others, and managed to get my money back, plus I didn't get a neg feedback from the guy...