[unhappy]

I am interested to know, does ebay have a duty of care to its customers? Protect them from fraud and provide a safe site to trade at. Also how can ebay allow a person to register with a fake name and list an item that does not exist. I am a victim of a fraud; I have lost $1800.00 for an item that was listed by exactly as I said, fake seller and a fake item. It all appeared so legit, item had 22 bids, seller replied to my emails before and after the sale so why has it all gone wrong? Ebay states that cannot mediate, make decisions for a member, take sides, reimburse a member, force a member to live up to their obligation after the end of the listing. As I understand, when you bid for an item, you are entering into a binding contract. So if you pay, you expect a product or service in return.

eBay recommends we pay by PayPal and not bank deposit, why? So they can control us, that’s taken our rights and choices away, we have the right to pay any way we like and be protected. Why does PayPal have buyer protection and bank deposit doesn’t? It’s buyer protection for both payment methods or no buyer protection at all. Not everyone can pay by PayPal.

I paid by bank deposit for the item I did not receive as I don’t have a credit card or anything to do with PayPal. I have been using eBay for 7 years, always paid by bank deposit and have over 100 transactions with no previous problems.

So, any suggestions out there will be much appreciated into what I can do to recover my money. I am not giving up, eBay is accountable for the fraud on the site and innocent people are getting ripped of.

[snr_sword]

Dear Unhappy
eBay are not accountable legally unless they are aware of fraud having been committed and allow it to continue. Unlike a conventional auction house, your contract is with the seller. So you need to appoint a lawyer and get them to contact the destination bank, etc. Ultimately, eBay is an advertising medium, not an auction house.

It is a matter of some irony that eBay UK has a verification process involving checking the person's land line phone number and a credit or debit card; eBay com - anyone can open an account and just put pure BS. What is more you can buy feedback on eBay from sellers with private auctions (so when they leave you positive feedback it does not actually specify what you bought). This is being used to get past the PayPal instant withdrawal limits, plus of course it makes them look like good honest eBayers.

eBay have the means (as illustrated by their UK example where the laws are tougher) to stop the fraud so why don't they? It seems the answer is $$$$$$

[unhappy]

Hi snr_sword.,

Thank you for your comments.

My case is not the first fraud case on ebay, therefore this would make them aware that fraud does happen on the site. So why haven’t they got a verification process to check a seller is legit? Why haven’t they placed more secure measures to prevent fraud knowing fraud happens?

Ebay has duty of care; they are providing a service to customers that link buyers to sellers and visa versa. Ebay is the service that has created contact with the seller therefore that makes them accountable as well.

Ebay is doing it’s best to say, no it’s not their fault but they are responsible. I refuse to sit back and let ebay get away with it. I will do everything legally possible to recover my money from ebay and the seller. This includes reporting my story to the media and making it public.

People out there are who have been scammed because of ebay need to stand up against them, or they will just getaway with it. I’m a small one person against a giant but I will not give up without a fight.

[snr_sword]

Yes, eBay do have a legal duty of care but this is a very hard one to legally prove they are not taking "reasonable measures" to do this. You would need a good lawyer to be able to stand up to their exceptionally good lawyers. They would argue that they can not have such tight security based on your IP address etc. for when people use public computers to access eBay, which I think means they should stop allowing people to use public computers! Not least as you do not know if your username and password is being logged when you are using something other than your own PC. You and I know they are fobbing people off with BS but it is proving it that is the problem. As I said, in the UK eBay have really tightened up their act because the UK has much stronger law enforcement, such as Trading Standards.

So then the question is "Why doesn't eBay want to protect people in the way they technically are able?". Unfortunately there seems to be only one answer; greed. The more stuff sold, no matter how fraudulently, the more money that buyers pay sellers, the more eBay makes. Remove your card details from "My eBay" and see how long it takes to get suspended!

Regrettably the way to go is to either a) use a more trust worthy site or b) insure against the fraud as best you can (only use a credit card with PayPal, get contact details you can verify from sellers before paying them, etc.). I think that so many people know eBay is a good medium for perpetrating fraud that you really need to change the way you look at their service.

I had a problem with a seller I left negative feedback for and filed a PayPal claim against (which I won). They had tons of additional eBay accounts and then hijacked and ruined many of my auctions. I knew it was them because of the timing, the threats and common misspellings they kept using as these "different" users. I even sent a one cent test PayPal payment to one of these user's email addresses and got the PayPal dispute screen regarding the PayPal claim I made; when I paid a test one cent payment to another PayPal account I knew was not associated with this person, it did not happen. So I knew it was the same guy and wanted to sue him for the money he owed me (remember eBay's statement "You are entering into a legal contract blah blah when you bid"? What did eBay and PayPal do, they refused point blank to provide me with the IP addresses, cookie information I needed to take this guy to court. EBay said this violated the Data Protection Acts but I checked and got written confirmation it did not, but they said it did and refused to give me the data. Why? Well the guy is a BIG seller on eBay; perhaps that is the reason?!!

I thought about suing eBay but in the end decided to launch my forum (here) and auction site (v bid me - currently being developed). I have the satisfaction of owing eBay a considerable sum of money (they charged my card but I got it back, much to their annoyance) on the basis my claim against them for compensation is greater than their charges to me. Plus, I decided to play a covert yet legal game to pay eBay back. When my auction site is ready, perhaps I too will find time and reason to abuse the fact it is easier than hell to create multiple fake accounts on ebay.com!

I / friends are considering selling photos, etc. on eBay of items for sale on other auction sites! All perfectly within their terms and conditions yet exposing their own "security" (greed) issues.

[unhappy]

Of course it’s all greed that is what ebay is all about, just profit and nothing else. Ebay does not do anything to protect it’s buyers as they don’t have to pay fees to buy items. Their response to my case is, they take fraud very seriously, yet they will not tell me what their investigation is and the results, this tells me one thing, they did nothing,

The seller’s account got suspended, he is not going to care, it wasn’t his, he used fake details to register so he will come back again and open another account with fake details again.

Cops don’t care, they are not interested, banks don’t care either, this person opened a bank account with fake details, took the money and closed it with no questions asked, yet the bank knew there was a problem with account when I reported it, yet they allowed the person to close it.

The only way to hurt ebay is by telling my story to the public, on television and online, perhaps people will think twice about using ebay.