Fraud and no response from Ebay! Be careful.
Summary: silberos warns other users about a scam on eBay and notes the lack of response from the site. He encourages caution when using the platform.
I would like to warn other sellers about a situation that happened to me on eBay.
I have been a seller for many years and always operate in accordance with the platform’s rules. I also sell items of very high value.
In my case, the buyer filed a return request. In accordance with the procedure and eBay support’s recommendations:
I refunded the full purchase amount,
I refunded the shipping costs,
additionally, I sent the buyer money for the return shipment, because due to an eBay system error I could not generate a return label.
After receiving the money, the buyer:
did not send the item back,
did not provide a tracking number,
did not respond to messages,
did not answer phone calls,
completely cut off contact.
As a result, I was left without the item and without the money.
The worst thing about this situation is that eBay — despite many reports, case numbers, and full documentation — did not resolve the problem. I only received automatic responses along the lines of “we will contact the buyer,” even though the buyer had long since stopped responding.
The platform, which charges fees for transaction security and controls payments, did not secure the funds in the buyer’s account and did not compensate me under seller protection.
In practice, this means that:
the buyer kept the money and the item,
and the honest seller bore the entire loss.
I am writing this as a warning to others:
- when it comes to expensive items, exercise maximum caution,
- do not refund money without the item being physically returned,
- document every conversation,
- do not trust assurances that “the system will handle it.”
Unfortunately, I trusted the procedures and got scammed.
If anyone has had a similar situation or knows how to effectively deal with cases like this — I would appreciate any advice.
