posted on January 5, 2000 08:55:19 PM new
Reposted with permission
I was ripped off on eBay, now what?
The following does not constitute legal advice and should not be construed as such. All the information herein has been freely shared, published, and compiled from archived material here on AuctionWatch, from the eBay Q&A board, from other sources, and is freely provided to those who need it. Please take the following steps as needed to recover losses:
1. Keep good notes and document everything about the transaction. Print out hard copies of:
(a) all your e-mail correspondence to and from the seller:
(b) the auction listing; and
(c) the End-of-Auction Notice from eBay.
2. Send E-mail to the seller. Be very firm, but polite, and make specific points about what you expect from seller. Set a deadline for compliance and tell the seller what it is.
Do NOT engage in any personal attacks against the seller's character or personality. Refuse to participate in any arguments that the seller may present.
Do NOT make any statements which could be interpreted as threats.
3. Do not engage in any activity that is against eBay's rules or is illegal.
Do not contact seller's other bidders or interfere in any way with seller's business. *See "Note About Contacting Other eBay User" below.
Do not post any personal information about the seller on any of eBay's or other Bulletin Boards.
This is especially helpful if you are not getting a response from the seller, because your request for the seller's eBay registration information will automatically notify the seller of your request and your user-registration information, which might provoke a response from the seller.
5. Attempt to contact seller by phone or by postal mail (and proceed as in numbers 2 and 3 above).
You are NOT required to do this, and the cost of a long distance phone call (or the effort of a written letter) may be more than you want to spend. However, many times a problem can be promptly resolved by speaking or writing to the other party, so it is recommended that you try a phone call or letter.
6. If the transaction involved the use of the United States Postal Service (you mailed your payment to the seller), file a complaint with the Postal Inspector's Office. There is a simpleform to complete, available via a 1-800 phone call, and you will be provided a postage-free envelope to mail it back.
To get a Mail Fraud Form: Call 1-800-275-8777 and ask the Operator to give you the number to call for your zip code
area. You can also go to the Postal Inspection Service Locator online, to find out your local Postal Inspector's office address and phone number:
It does help to file a Mail Fraud Complaint, because not many sellers will refuse todeliver the item or give you a refund on your payment for the item, when the Postal Service notifies them that a Mail Fraud Complaint is being investigated.
7. If the item costs more than $25.00, use eBay's online form and file a claim for reimbursement with Lloyd's of London, the insurance program. You can find the procedure and form at:
10. Another private organization, which reports consumer complaints to agencies that are interested in investigating and taking action, is The National Consumer Complaint Center for Internet Fraud, False Advertising, and Breached Warranties:
11. Contact your local
(a) District Attorney's Office and
(b) your State Attorney General's Office. File written complaints with both agencies' fraud departments.
12. Contact your local area fraud group or BBB. File a written complaint with that agency.
13. Contact the seller's local (a) District Attorney's Office and (b) State Attorney General's Office. File written complaints with both agencies' fraud departments..
14. Notify eBay of the problem and about all charges and complaints filed with legal authorities, by e-mail to
[email protected].
Also provide eBay with copies of all e-mail from seller to you, from you to seller, and all legal complaints and actions filed by you against seller by mail to:
eBay
ATTENTION: Fraud Prevention
2005 Hamilton Ave., Suite #350
San Jose, CA 95125
eBay does have an information page, Complaints About Other Users, which may be of some help:
16. Notify the seller's Internet Service Provider (ISP) of all charges and complaints filed with legal authorities, via e-mail to support@[ISP name].[com or net] or to go seller's ISP site to find the e-mail address of the webmaster of the ISP.
17. Post negative feedback on seller's eBay Feedback File.
Specifically mention what seller did. Keep it non-personal, non-emotional, and non-flamming. If it takes more than one feedback to completely list seller's acts, use another feedback and post it as a neutral feedback. Suggest in your feedback that anyone in need of more information can contact you.
It's best to NOT post negative feedback until after you have exhausted all possible means of communicating with and obtaining the item or a refund from the seller.
If you do post negative feedback, DO NOT make a web site about the seller and reference it from the feedback you have left.
Remember, you may be held legally responsible for any damaging libelous, slanderous, or defamatory remarks you publish.
18. If you are a seller on eBay, notify the seller by e-mail that you will cancel any bids made by seller on your auctions. E-mail a copy of that notice to [email protected], because if the seller bids on your auctions after you've notified them not to, eBay will suspend their eBay privileges. If the seller bids on your auctions, immediately cancel the seller's bid and notify [email protected] with a copy of your e-mail to the seller.
19. Remember, if the seller is cheating you, the seller's probably cheating a lot of other people too. There might be others who will get hurt like you did, if you do not file complaints with the proper authorities and eBay. It is very important to file a report with the proper authorities and notify eBay, because eBay and the legal authorities can only act if you report the crime.
If you provide sufficient evidence and file complaints, eBay can suspend the seller's registration and the authorities will have what they need to file charges, obtain search warrants to obtain further evidence, and prosecute.
20. Seek help and comfort from a friend. You are NOT alone and good people do care! Post a message on the eBay Q&A Board or AuctionWatch Board about your problem and ask for some moral support. Remember, other eBay users and sellers who practice good business ethics do not want scammers and criminals on eBay either.
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*Note About Contacting Other eBay Users:
In a case of obvious fraud, when all else has failed, it may be helpful to contact other eBay users who may be having a similar problem with the same eBay user.
It may be very helpful to form a support group with other eBay users who have suffered a similar problem as yours. A group action may be more effective than a single action.
Also information can be pooled about the criminal, which may be helpful in aiding the authorities to track down and
prosecute the criminal.
Moral support can be provided toothers to encourage them to file complaints and reports to legal authorities, as well as other actions which may prevent future fraud.
However, do be careful to not break any of eBay's rules or do anything to cause you to lose your user privileges with eBay.
Be particularly careful about what you write or state to any third-party user on eBay (who may not keep your correspondence confidential).
Do not make any statements which are untrue or speculative or may endanger you (such as libelous or slanderous statements).
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Phone numbers for the proper agencies to file written complaints with are available:
(1) in your local phone book;
(2) through your phone company's long-distance information or 1-800 information; and
(3) by using an Internet search engine.
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Another helpful site is 411 for eBay Users:
Many thanks to all those who originally compiled this information. I have updated and revised it, but am in no way responsible for most of the hard work that went into it!
I hope this will be of some help to all those that have sought answers, both here on the boards and through private e-mails. I wish you all the best of luck! (=
Thanks for following through on my request that you post this here.
First, I'm glad you left the text unchanged -- nothing that this is particularly useful for those ripped off on eBay.
The fact is, using a straight or standard auction, it is quite possible to be ripped off at most anywhere.
But both buyers and sellers should know that the online auctions themselves are, and have made moves to make buying and selling significantly more secure for both parties.
Our program at auctions.com is called BidSafe and it costs the buyer nothing to join. Further, it allows the buyer to use their mastercard/visa to make their purchase and provides the buyer with the undisputed right to return the merchandise to seller if dissatisfied for any reason.
It is a no-brainer, for instance, that if the 20/20 reporter had bought the Cartier watch on auctions.com, he'd have been out, not the $175, but maybe $5.00 shipping.
Let me close by saying one of the main reasons that I like BidSafe is that exercising my rights with it would take less than a half-hour, including the trip to the PO to return the merchandise.
That compares with the tedious and time-consuming task that you would face if ripped off elsewhere ... which is the subject of the post above. And, while you'll probably prevail in that somewhere along the 20+ steps, my personal opinion is that is an awful lot of hassel.
