In June a bidder (John) with 28 Feedback won 5 items from me totaling a little over $600. I waited for payment and he eventually asked me to split the Invoice and he'd pay for part on Sunday and the rest on Wednesday. I did as asked and Wednesday arrived with no payments. At this point John sent an
ebay message asking me to cancel all his purchases as well as his bids on 15 of my items due to unforseen fiscal problems. I was a bit annoyed so I filed Unpaid claims for the 5 items and canceled his bids and blocked him. Since then he's opened 3 more
ebay ids, his brother (Vincent), his fiance (Allegra) and his mother. Vincent bought an item from me for $253 and immediately quit
ebay. Allegra bought 6 items from me and asked to me split the Invoices so she could pay for some on Sunday the the rest on Thursday, this is when I got suspicious and started to investigate. Allegra paid for 2 of the lower price items and left 4 unpaid. While I was waiting for Allegra to pay mom opened an account and bought 2 items and paid immediately.
I immediately added Allegra and mom to my blocked bidder list, but I shipped the items mom had paid for.
I wrote to Allegra and politely explained that it was against
ebay rules for John to open accounts to circumvent being blocked, and included the text of the
ebay rules. I reported all of them to
ebay.
By this time I had enough documentation to call
ebay. After explaining the problem I got the rep to transfer me to the "Reporting Group" (yes it does exist). I explained my problem and told the rep I just wanted to make sure it was on the record in case I suffered blowback from this deadbeat family. He was quite understanding and documented all my information. He could see the linkages between John, Vincent and mon but didn't know how I linked Allegra. I explained that I googled them and found their wedding announcement. He told me it would have been better if I'd called Monday-Friday because those guys have more powerful tools than he did but he told me he'd restrict their accounts. I can't verify it but he said he limited them to Buy It Now items and only 1 item at a time. One interesting thing he said was that it was good I called because no one in the reporting unit knows where the reports filed electronically go to.
A couple days later Allegra left me 2 Negatives. I poked around on
ebay until I found the link for Disputing Feedback and called. I got through to the proper group and asked the rep to read the record I'd establiched. He immediately removed the feedback and said this was the worst case he'd seen in months and he was going to walk over to compliance group and alert them.
A couple things to learn here.
I have my preferences set so that anyone with 2 or more Unpaid items strikes in the last 6 months can't bid on my auctions. I recommend everyone do this.
Write or respond to the
ebay nessages knowing this is the 1st place a rep looks so make your case here. I once wrote to a bidder "Wow this sounds like Feedback extortion" he responded "exactly" I won. Always be polite but make your case.
Report problems and follow up by phone if necessary. Again use the venue to make your case in a way the
ebay rep can understand.
I try and call right after 12 noon Eastern. I think there is shift change and I get good reps who just started their day.
Work the
ebay rules and system and you will usually win whether you are a buyer or seller.
Posted 08/15/2018 10:12 am
