Navigating eBay Scams

[metrologist]

With certainty, if you source material from eBay, you will get scammed. Fortunately, I limit my exposure and try to work with sellers. After all, most of them, if they are stateside especially, are just distributors and likely don't even know about what they are selling.

A few examples, I bought several HC-12 transceivers and LNA modules, a near field (EMF) probe set, a pack of NiMH batteries. All these items had defects in either design or manufacture, or were just outright scams.

It seems lately the sellers are becoming less tolerant of complaints. For these items, I started the refund process. For each of these, I received a notice from eBay that they could not generate a return label, that the seller is still responsible for return shipping, and I need to contact them to work that out. When doing so, the sellers want me to provide PayPal information, which is puzzling because I paid them originally via PayPal. Nonetheless, return shipping arrangements are not happening. The sellers offer to ship replacements and indicate shipping will take very long, up to 48 weeks, and that I don't need to return the item.

I've played the tango with eBay, trying to get them to exercise my "Buyer Guarantee" and that seems to go my way via our online chat (am I just speaking with an AI agent?). I am granted a 10-day extension on the case, but then eBay messages me that I need to return the item, and that 10 days will not cover the shipping time. A second round with them and am told I will receive a refund with 48 hours. Then I am getting messages from the seller that they cannot process a refund because I have a pending return, and they persistently ask me to close the case first.

It's getting tiring so is there a better way to play the game? Maybe I should just lie and say I didn't receive it. 

[bdunham7]

Where are you located?  And what are the terms of the original eBay sale?  I have had no difficulty enforcing eBays buyer guarantee but I also have decades of eBay experience and I think I can usually spot potential bad actors.  Yes, there are sellers that know that their stuff is crap and they have a preplanned strategy to cheat you even if you complain.  They are asking for your PayPal information because they want to do a 'refund' in a way that allows them to avoid bad feedback and possibly allows them to steal your money back in the future by 'accidentally' sending your refund as a payment for goods and services.  The part about asking you to close the case so they can process a refund is just a shameless lie that only eBay noobs will go for.

For the occasional bad seller that manages to sneak through my defenses, lay on the negative feedback without hesitation.  And then when you are a buyer, pay attention to feedback and that means READ it, not just look at the percentages.   

There are good sellers on eBay!  It might be more productive to make a list of known good sellers than to worry about all the trash out there.  But determining which sellers are good can be difficult.  Here is an example of the feedback for electrogirl2015 with a not-so-hot 96.9% rating:

https://www.ebay.com/fdbk/feedback_profile/electrogirl2015?filter=feedback_page%3ARECEIVED_AS_SELLER%2Cperiod%3ATWELVE_MONTHS%2Coverall_rating%3ANEGATIVE&commentType=NEGATIVE

That probably looks bad, right?  I actually didn't think so and I ordered a NOS NIB Tektronix P6015 probe that came well packaged in new condition with Freon in the can. 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/404068875835

There are plenty of idiot buyers out there as well.  Some sellers just do what they have to do to make them go away quietly and others don't.  A particularly good eBay seller for electronic odds and ends is tevatronix.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fss=1&_saslop=1&_sasl=tevatronix&LH_SpecificSeller=1

[TomKatt]

I've purchased from eBay for decades and never been burned.  Occasional shipping issues, but nothing difficult to resolve.  I think it just comes down to being judicious with whom you are dealing.  Going for the absolute lowest price is rarely the best deal overall.  I avoid sellers with less than 2 years of respectable feedback ratings.  I will often pay a few $ more for an item located in the US rather than something shipped from overseas.  And when counterfeiting is a potential issue I will spend more buying from some kind of authorized seller, even if that means not using eBay at all.

[VK3DRB]

Around 2003, I got scammed, as did many other ham radio operators and others in Australia, on eBay by a first class prick, user ID was MOTORHOUSE. I don't think the existing MOTORHOUSE is the same person. He ordered the biggest and heaviest ham radio stuff he could, COD (when it was allowed back then), delivered to a regional post office in Victoria. The post office rapidly filled up with goods because the offender gave a fake address at the post office. I lost $80 and time shipping an FT-747GX. eBay was useless. They did not care, despite all the complaints.

Some victims got him back, as they had his legitimate email address. He "subscribed"to thousands of newspapers, magazines, v1agra, meds and porno websites on the Internet. Within a few months his email address was cancelled. 

There is a cash reward for the identity and address of who owned the eBay user ID MOTORHOUSE in 2003.

[Muttley Snickers]

(snip....)
For the occasional bad seller that manages to sneak through my defenses, lay on the negative feedback without hesitation.  And then when you are a buyer, pay attention to feedback and that means READ it, not just look at the percentages.   

I intended to post in the Pet Peeves Thread in regards to shifty bait and switch Ebay sellers but a forum search revealed the paragraph above which pretty much answered my question.      

I've not had a good run of late with Ebay sellers not providing items as listed or described, and when I send a notice to relay my concerns they just issue a refund without even the courtesy of a response which also removes my ability to leave feedback and a warning for others.   

It's not about the money either, it's about the wasted fucking time spent sifting through listings and sellers for a specific item only to find out two months after you ordered something that.... if you are lucky and it does finally turn up that.... you have just wasted your fucking time again.   

What's the deal with shifty fucking chinese ebay sellers, I literally don't get it.