posted on March 26, 2003 08:13:58 AM new
A little while ago as an experiment, I set up a website that accepted only paypal or bidpay. It didn't have many items on it and the sales were just so, so. I shut it down this past weekend.
I had a rash of problem buyers, attempted fraud and nearly everything else you can imagine. The delivery addresses are from all over the U.S. and at first I couldn't figure it out.
I then started looking at logs to see where the problem orders were originating. 97% of them were coming from links on message boards. Users posted links to my site. I visited some of the baords and ebay is a hot topic of conversation. Some of these users sabotage sellers' auctions with no intention of paying. All of the boards are fashion boards.
I plugged in some of the email addresses from the orders into ebay. Out of the 25 email addresses I searched, 21 had negative feedback, as in their feedback was in the negative or were NARU with bad feedback.
This may be one explaination as to why the apparel cats have so many crazy bidders.
posted on March 26, 2003 09:12:52 AM new
That's completely nuts!
What I'm not sure of in your post is if you are saying someone posted the link to your website on the message boards in order to get people to attempt to defraud you, but I assume that from what you said?
Geez!
Patty
[ edited by meadowlark on Mar 26, 2003 09:13 AM ]
posted on March 26, 2003 09:30:31 AM newWhat I'm not sure of in your post is if you are saying someone posted the link to your website on the message boards in order to get people to attempt to defraud you, but I assume that from what you said?
No. What is happening is that the orders from these boards are fraudulent. I don't think they are targeting me. I think they pull it with anyone they can. Someone just happened to post a link to my site and they found stuff they liked.
From reading some of the boards, they appear to be women in their mid-teens to early 20's. Many of them also happen to be ebay users.
I am trying to find the link to the board, where they discuss sabotaging auctions.
posted on March 26, 2003 09:37:11 AM new
That is sad, people should not mess with a person's auctions or business website... figures teens to early 20's, probably have little concept of work either...
posted on March 27, 2003 10:17:16 AM new
I would really like to know which board that is, because I had something very strange happen a few months ago. I got one "I have a problem" email, and refunded that buyer, and then within a few weeks I got three more emails that seemed oddly similar, all from different buyers around the country. I thought at the time, and then dismissed it as paranoid, that there was some kind of board out there comparing notes on which sellers refunded easily and which were hard to deal with. I was a little curt with the last one, and suddenly ... no more refund requests. At the time (this was right before Christmas) I just dismissed it as coincidence.
This was craft supplies, not shoes, but I'm still curious to see if there really are "rings" of eBay fraud artists out there. Usually one board of that sort will lead you to more.
posted on March 27, 2003 10:40:49 AM new
Mscognito,
Inquiring minds want to know!
(used to be the national Enquirer's slogan on TV ads)
Yeah, where are those darn evil message boards of the devil-spawed Ebay abusers?
On the refund requests, it could possibly be a competitor emailing your customers, stirring the pot, but may just be coincidence or that Christmastime buyer's remorse thing that goes on.
posted on March 27, 2003 10:51:39 AM new
MissIncognito: I am trying to find the links. One of my employees got on my computer and I can't find anything.
Most of the boards did lead to other boards and they were geared towards fashion. However soem of the boards were just general shopping board where people exchange info about finding certain items.
You are not paranoid. That is one of the things that was happening to me. On one UPS shipment the buyer re-routed it to an unconfirmed address in another state and tried to get a refund through paypal. Within one week, I got about 11 people claiming non-delivery after re-routing packages. They all wanted a refund since it was "too late" to wear the shoes to [plug in event of choice], because the event had passed.
posted on March 27, 2003 11:23:31 AM new
There has been a whole rash of people who hate Ebay and make fradulent bids lately. Bidders with names like nightmarebidder, and I can't remember the others go in and run up anything with feature ads and then just wait to get NARU.
I think it is some kind of new game out there for the bored individuals who just like to cause trouble. But, it is going to impact us all eventually if it can't be stopped.
If you have anything featured you might want to keep an eye on the high bidder in case you need to cancel the bid. They seem to use very clear id's that point to what they are doing.
posted on March 27, 2003 02:36:24 PM new
I briefly considered the idea that it was some sabotage by "the competition" but that never seemed too likely ... without stereotyping too much, sellers in the craft department tend to be mild-mannered sorts.
I don't have the emails handy right now, but as far as I can remember, three of the four problem children claimed that something was missing from the kit. The fourth one claimed the kit had been water-damaged.(these were assorted craft kits for kids that I bought at a local crafts store that went out of business. All of them were pretty old, so I was amenable to the idea that something might have been missing.) The last email seemed really similar in tone and style to one of the "thingamabob is missing" emails. In addition, two of the emails suggested a specific dollar figure that would "make it right" by enabling them to purchase the missing item.
I do have the email I sent to that buyer, which has their email quoted in it. I was relatively sure that the kit sent to them (a counted cross-stitch kit) had everything including a hoop/frame, which usually doesn't come with these kit. If you're familiar with the kits, they come poly-bagged so it's really easy to tell if there's a hoop inside. I had to put the kit in a bigger envelope to accomodate the hoop. Here's the email I sent:
I think we have a misunderstanding ... the hoop/frame was definitely sent. I know it was in the kit when I packed this, because I had intended to send it in an 8x11 envelope and I had to buy a bigger one because the kit wouldn't fit. I think that perhaps you thought the kit came with a hoop and a frame, but in fact the hoop IS the frame. (The auction text was very clear that this was not the case.)There's lace and ribbon included to make it into a pretty frame for the finished piece, as is pictured on the front. Sorry for any misunderstanding, but I sent all the pieces included in the auction. Refunding $5 is out of the question because that's more than half the amount you bid, and considering that I had to purchase a large envelope, it would result in me essentially having to pay to send you this kit. I just don't think that's fair, do you?
(original email) Hey there was supposed to be a frame in the kit and when the kit got here no frame. It will cost me at least $5 to buy a frame so I think you should refund that much. Thank you.
Edited to add: None of them left me negative feedback; in fact, one of them left me positive feedback before she ever emailed me! There was a strong odor of "teenage girl" about the whole business.
[ edited by msincognito on Mar 27, 2003 02:38 PM ]
I know of the nickname "feebay" and all that, but seems to me you could way cut down on fraud by opening an eBay store. At least then you'd have feedback records to go by, such as they are, and are somewhat screened by eBay - stress on the somewhat.
