Re:eBay, Etsy and Other Markets Now Have to Disclose Seller ...
by FireBeyond on Tuesday December 27, 2022 @11:59PM
(#34157681)
> My entire problem was ebay's pants on head stupid policy that regarded a package as delivered to me even when the tracking made it completely clear that it wasn't. I don't think the seller even had to lie to ebay: they simply had to respond "Here is the delivered tracking number: xyz".
Yup. With apologies to the BOFH comics of old... "Click. Delivered. Close dispute. Clickety-click. On to the next one."
> Back to the topic: This law would have done nothing for me. I was already able to track down the sellers identity without difficulty-- but what am I to do with that? I could sue them at great cost with years of trouble and time and a substantial risk that I get nothing-- including my legal costs-- because they're bankrupt or vanish. Honestly I would have much rather spent my time and money suing eBay since at least there would be a possibility of recovery if I won.
A month after "losing" a phone a guy calls me from a couple of states away. "Hey, I bought a phone on eBay and it's apparently yours. If you got a new one through insurance, could you unlock it for me? I mean, I know it sucks, but you got a new phone and this way I am not getting scammed too".
Set of balls on him. I said I wasn't willing to do that, because how do I know he wasn't responsible for my phone being "lost"?
So we figured something out. He reached out to the seller, asked for a refund. Seller said "pound sand". I didn't know at the time, but the seller lived -very- close to me. He says to seller. "I am in contact with the legitimate owner of the phone. Refund me or he gets all your contact details."
Seller refunds.
Buyer gives me all his info anyway.
I check out his eBay page, and it's the most blatant case of selling stolen electronics ever.
Not just "broken/parts only". But 50+ MacBooks, most "missing charger/accessories", same with phones "no accessories included, as-is". I look at the listing for mine and the IMEI is on the page, to give the illusion of legitimacy. But the last two digits are transposed, so it's not valid. To a cursory buyer, "must be legit, or he wouldn't put the IMEI on the page", to me, who lost my phone, in the event I searched the IMEI, no results. All of the IMEIs were like this, last two digits transposed.
Call the police. "Hey, this guy is selling hundreds of thousands of stolen goods".
They could not care less.
"Well, he probably didn't steal them himself"
Uhh? Fairly sure that's still a crime, especially when it's obvious from your listings that you're covering that up.
"Not much we can do. Sorry."
Whatever. I resisted the urge to drive to his house and pour sugar and water in his gas, but only just.
Yup. With apologies to the BOFH comics of old... "Click. Delivered. Close dispute. Clickety-click. On to the next one."
> Back to the topic: This law would have done nothing for me. I was already able to track down the sellers identity without difficulty-- but what am I to do with that? I could sue them at great cost with years of trouble and time and a substantial risk that I get nothing-- including my legal costs-- because they're bankrupt or vanish. Honestly I would have much rather spent my time and money suing eBay since at least there would be a possibility of recovery if I won.
A month after "losing" a phone a guy calls me from a couple of states away. "Hey, I bought a phone on eBay and it's apparently yours. If you got a new one through insurance, could you unlock it for me? I mean, I know it sucks, but you got a new phone and this way I am not getting scammed too".
Set of balls on him. I said I wasn't willing to do that, because how do I know he wasn't responsible for my phone being "lost"?
So we figured something out. He reached out to the seller, asked for a refund. Seller said "pound sand". I didn't know at the time, but the seller lived -very- close to me. He says to seller. "I am in contact with the legitimate owner of the phone. Refund me or he gets all your contact details."
Seller refunds.
Buyer gives me all his info anyway.
I check out his eBay page, and it's the most blatant case of selling stolen electronics ever.
Not just "broken/parts only". But 50+ MacBooks, most "missing charger/accessories", same with phones "no accessories included, as-is". I look at the listing for mine and the IMEI is on the page, to give the illusion of legitimacy. But the last two digits are transposed, so it's not valid. To a cursory buyer, "must be legit, or he wouldn't put the IMEI on the page", to me, who lost my phone, in the event I searched the IMEI, no results. All of the IMEIs were like this, last two digits transposed.
Call the police. "Hey, this guy is selling hundreds of thousands of stolen goods".
They could not care less.
"Well, he probably didn't steal them himself"
Uhh? Fairly sure that's still a crime, especially when it's obvious from your listings that you're covering that up.
"Not much we can do. Sorry."
Whatever. I resisted the urge to drive to his house and pour sugar and water in his gas, but only just.