posted on October 6, 2001 09:59:45 PM
I am totally confused here. I won't go into the gory details but I was scammed by an ebay seller who accepted payment (over $500.00) from me on Oct 2. On Oct 3rd I was alerted to probable scam and reported to paypal (and tried to report to ebay, grrrr, they're 30 day policy sucks!). Later the same day the seller (using an alias I might add) negs me. Next morning (Oct 4th) I notice the neg and try to respond to the feedback but he shows as a suspended member, so I can't respond. I write to ebay and ask to have neg removed and provide them seller's differing registration names/address/phones to ebay and paypal plus his invalid email address (after payment was accepted) and point out his suspension. Two days later (Oct 6) they reply and basically say "no way jose" and say he's not suspended. So I check today and sure enough, he's now an unregistered member. How can one go from suspended to unregistered? WTF????
posted on October 7, 2001 06:42:46 AM
Care to explain how a seller gave you a neg under an "alias", when you must be involved in a transaction to give feedback???
posted on October 7, 2001 07:57:40 AM
I'm afraid you'll have to go into some gory details as to how they could leave you a neg using an alias.
Either they left you a neg from the sale or they purchased something from you & left a neg as a buyer. But there's no way they can leave you a neg for your original transaction using an alias.
Which is suspended, now NARU, the original seller or the alias person?
And one can go from suspended to NARU by asking to be de-registered. I had a customer (who mercifully paid me) but got into trouble w/other sellers. He got suspended due to the NPBs they filed, then he asked to have his account de-registered while suspended the 30 days.
posted on October 7, 2001 08:48:38 AM
The seller left neg feedback using another name, i.e. there were shades (sunglasses) next to his name on the feedback he posted.
It is the seller that was suspended and is now not registered. I have no idea what the new name (alias) is that he registered under, but I sure wish I could find out.
But I'm more confused now than ever. I just checked the feedback to make sure I wasn't seeing things (j/k, I KNOW they were there!) and the shades no longer appear on the neg feedback he posted. How can that happen? (I have a screen shot of that post with the shades there!!) Now they're not?
Also, how can Ebay de-register a seller in the middle of a transaction? Oops, I just answered my own question maybe. Because Ebay doesn't know this transaction is in dispute and won't for 30 days. This is outrageous to me! A member gets suspended and then asks not to be and Ebay grants it???? What am I missing here?
Can somebody please advise me what to do here? I tried using the Ebay complaint form and it was kicked back because 30 days hadn't passed. The contact info I have on the seller is useless - he doesn't exist at the ph number he registered with. Plus his email address is now invalid.
posted on October 7, 2001 09:17:52 AM
Okay, let's take this one at a time:
1. An eBay user cannot leave feedback unless they are involved with a transaction with you. If you saw sunglasses, it is possible they changed their user name.
2. I do not believe this user was "de-registered". If a person is suspended for violating eBay policy, you will see "(not a registered user)" next to their name.
3. eBay will not de-register an account until 30 days AFTER the user requests it. This is to allow time for any disputes to be cleared up, or for anyone involved with the user to speak up. If someone does speak up, eBay will halt their de-activation of the account.
It is my guess that the user was suspended for something, and changed their user ID after your transaction with them. You should have no problems with disputing the transaction after the 30 days have passed.
By the way, I would assume that you have the person's name, and if so, you may be able to track down their address and phone number using the web. Try:
posted on October 7, 2001 10:53:40 AM
revvassago: Item 1 - I did see sunglasses and now I don't - how is this possible? (Yes, I've read about changing names and the 30-day clause.) Does this mean the seller has multiple ebay names and is still able to conduct business?
Items 2 & 3 - Thank you for clearing that up, however, it would seem that if a member's status shows as suspended on one day, then it should stay as suspended thru this 30-day waiting period. For Ebay to change his status from "suspended" to "not registered" seems to "protect" him somewhat, especially for those of us who do not know the ebay terminology/definitions/acronyms off the top of our heads.
Thanks for your suggestion of trying to track him down, and yes I've tried. I am, after all, Cherlock!! lol (just trying to find some humor in all this). But I have one name he used with paypal, a different one he used with Ebay and a currently-invalid email address; which is not much to go on.
To think that I have to wait 30 days to even notify Ebay is, to me, OUTRAGEOUS!!!! This is not a case of MIScommunication. This is a case of a vanished seller who, it seems, is still conducting business on ebay using a different name. Possibly to scam other members??? To have to wait 30 days to report a disputed transaction is one thing; to have to wait 30 days to report a vanished/non-existent/not-registered seller (fraud) is totally another.
From what I've been able to learn, both here and from a couple other ebay members, it seems possible that the partial-scenario I described in this post could be repeated by the same person every 30 days or so. I see nothing in place so far that would stop it.
posted on October 7, 2001 05:09:35 PM
Why don't you try writing [email protected] or getting contact info and phone numbers for ebay at www.auctionguild.com ?
posted on October 7, 2001 06:42:12 PM
If the user changed their username, the sunglasses are supposed to stay there for 1 month. However, I have seen the sunglasses disappear after only 2 weeks, and in some cases, never appear at all.
Go to this link, and enter the current user ID in:
This will show you all the changes they have made to their User ID. I am sure that one of the names you see will be the person you did business with. They just changed their user name.
The sunglasses don't mean they have multiple ID's. They just mean that their user name was changed.
As far as the NARU, after reading further on the eBay site about it, I am as confused as you. Unless of course, the info that eBay has is incorrect (wouldn't be the first time)
posted on October 7, 2001 07:09:02 PM
joyz412e - thank you for your suggestion - I will do it tonight!
Revvassago - thanks again for your help and clarifications. I tried your link for ID history, but because the seller is now not registered, he just shows as NARU, therefore no history. Grrr. My gut is telling me this is a repeat performance by this seller. And he's 24 hours ahead of me.
