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EBay Letting Fraud Slide?

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the getting-the-beat-down dept.

joebagodonuts writes "MSNBC has an article charging that EBay's tough talk on fraud is just that. Talk." To a certain extent, I can understand the problem of having hundreds of thousands of auctions, and not being able to adequately police them - but ignoring fraud, when you have a policy stating otherwise is a Bad Thing.

11 of 413 comments (clear)

  1. Been there... by Allaria · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Awhile ago (probably about 2 years), I was helping a friend buy a computer on ebay. Checked out the ratings and such, and everything was fine, so I went ahead with paying for it (she gave me the $ for it). The company apparently 'went out of business'. Right. Within a few weeks there were over 200 negative responses. And at about $500 a pop, that's a pretty good amount of cash that went to who-knows-where. And ebay did *nothing* about it. Absolutely *nothing*. I'm willing to bet that whoever was selling just changed their name and did it all over again. That's why I stopped using ebay. And I felt really bad about telling my friend that her money disappeared into a bottomless pit.

    Maybe they'll actually get a nice swift kick. Or maybe they'll just turn the other way again. And aren't they in kahoots with paypal. Yeah, that should explain *everything*.

    --
    If a and b in c, and a can create b, and a can create a, and b can create b, and b cannot create a, then a created c.
  2. Ebay has no power to Police by arakon · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Ebay is a vendor, just like any other store they have no power to police, the only power they do have is over your account with them; Everything else product recovery/monetary reimbersement, has to go through the proper law enforcement channels. This gets even hairier when you consider different auctions in different countries quite possibly have a different set of laws that pertain to them. You complain to Ebay, they complain to the government; the government simply doesn't have the resources to pursue the mass counts of Minor fraud that ebay creates.

    Remember when dealing with people; they lie, cheat and steal to get what they want, so anything that requires you to trust an unknown party is at your discretion. Work retail once and you will understand the lengths to which people go to steal that 2 dollar pack of baseball cards and the power you don't have to stop them.

    --
    "If I were bound by all laws everywhere I'm sure I would have committed a capital crime somewhere."
  3. Fraud? by Mabidex · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Fraud? what... from Paypal.. I mean eBay?

    I think they'll be pushing paypal and fight fraud through paypal's current policies, of course they will guarrantee if your transaction is ONLY through paypal.

    It only makes sense to do it this way since Paypal has really got a good rep with folks.

    I have personally vouch for the fraud dept at paypal, I was a charged $200 fraudulently, and paypal reimbused me for the charge on the debit card 5 days later.

    Ebay on the other hand has a terrible reputation for following up on fraud.

    I just hope they don't make Paypal have a rep as crappy as eBays by changing the policy at paypal.

    Mabidex

    1. Re:Fraud? by mosch · · Score: 5, Interesting
      I will personally vouch against using paypal, at all. They froze my account due to 'suspected fraud' (There was none, in any direction). Their action left me unable to send money that I had been sent back to the originator, OR to withdraw that money. They just stole it, and provided no reasonable way for me to unlock my account.

      Then, after one or two comments asking for help with the matter, they disabled my ability to use their 'so you have a problem' web form.

      They don't have a phone number on their site either, so you can't call.

      I advise you strongly, do not use paypal if you don't feel like having your money stolen. Use c2it instead. The most common transactions have no fees associated with them at all, and it's run by citibank, as a real bank.

      The fact that you had one good experience doesn't mean that the countless people who've had their money stolen by paypal aren't worth consideration.

  4. But do people really, really care? by bunyip · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Yes, the title is provocative.

    How many people will read this article, or the posts on Slashdot byt the people that were ripped off, then go and buy something from eBay? Clearly, eBay knows that the majority of you will.

    Your credit card provider doesn't help you, the small losses they get are covered by fees and interest rates. If it were a major problem, then Visa or Mastercard would close eBay's accounts.

    Stores can prevent shoplifting by strip searching you all at the exit, but you won't go back. So, they tolerate a certain amount of "inventory shrinkage".

    The fraud on eBay is tolerable to eBay, they're making tons of money......

    You vote with your feet^H^H^H^Hmouse !

  5. No big shock: look at how they handle spam by wowbagger · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I've received dozens of the "U 2 KIN MAKE $$$$ ON EBAY" spams.

    I've forwarded them on to eBay, saying "I know you didn't send this, but it is trading on your trademarked name, and damaging your credibility. You REALLY should serve this guy with a cease-and-desist order".

    Every time, eBay has sent me the auto-ack message, and most of the time, a follow up saying <voice type="Goofy">"Duhhh-up Dis didn't come from us, No Sir, it didn't. Cain't do a thing about it, nope."</voice>

    eBay likes spam like that, because it encourages people to buy and sell stuff on eBay, making eBay money. As long as they have plausible deniability, and will therefor suffer no ill effects from the fraud themselves, they will tacitly allow it to continue.

    --
    www.eFax.com are spammers
  6. Amazon does it, so can ebay by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The posts you read about ebay being unable to police their auctions are totally incorrect. Amazon polices their auctions very well. If Amazon can do it, ebay can as well.

  7. Re:I'll vouch for that by swb · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It'd be nice if Ebay would run an escrow service, but that would be expensive.

    An intermediate solution would be Ebay sellers being required to submit a credit card and a charge authorization equal to their auction's estimated price. Buyers who claimed fraud would get the money the seller put up to Ebay up front. This would be the equivilent of a surity bond.

    Another option would be for Ebay to certify escrow houses and modify their terms of service so that any buyer, may, at their discretion, demand the payment and goods be delivered via certified escrow service. Seller pays all shipping to the escrow service, buyer pays all other costs.

  8. in-depth journalism or guerrilla marketing? by spoonyfork · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Irregardless of eBay's fraud issues, I take exception at the sincerity of this article.

    Let's see.. an article on MSNBC.com (read Microsoft) about fraud horrors on eBay with no comparative analysis on how eBay stands up to the other major online houses with regards to fraud.

    The "Advertising" gadget on the article's page has a link to MSN's (read Microsoft) auction partner uBid.

    Sounds like FUD with a splash of advertising to me.

    --
    Speak truth to power.
  9. Re:Buying on eBay is Folly by Slak · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Shameless plug: I work for the largest B2C auction site on the Net. We warehouse most products and everything has a tracking number.

    http://www.ubid.com

    Cheers,
    Slak

  10. Gee, that doesn't sound suprising... by Mysticalfruit · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It's normal that a company will be nice to the users who give them the most ammount of money while screwing everybody else.

    Personally, I've never been defrauded on ebay and this is how I do it.

    Firstly, If its a big purchase (like 500 bucks or more) I tell the seller to send it to me COD but to only specify bank checks, not personal checks. This keeps everybody honest. In all cases, I offer to pay the added expense and have the seller just tack it onto the total cost.

    If I'm selling something and the person wants to do it COD, the only way I do it is bank check. I've had people call me up and complain loudly how the person came to the door but wouldn't give them the package because they had a personal check. It's that old saying "Locks keep honest people honest"

    Now for smaller things, I'm confortable with paypal, provided that the person is "verified."

    --
    Yes Francis, the world has gone crazy.