Buyer scam? Why does eBay allow something like this? | Members help members

pulli43 · 2026-03-21T14:12:28.370000Z

I'd like to understand a bit more in the following context Yesterday evening someone bought something from me. So far, so good. Right after that I got a few “weird” DMs from the buyer, which immediately put the first worried question marks on my face. A look at the buyer's profile and a click on confirmed the suspicion: Most recently, gave 6 negative ratings in a row to 6 other people Of the last 14 ratings this month, 11 were negative. According to the feedback view, there have been 23 problem cases recently in total All negative ratings are in bold, in uppercase, and with lots of “!!!”. The recipient's last name represents a prominent personality from the German recipient city. First name is missing. The buyer name that appears under “Orders,” on the other hand, sounds strongly Eastern European in both first and last name. This morning at 9 I described the case to the eBay hotline and asked for advice. The lady routed me through a purchase cancellation, she recommended using the purchase cancellation reason ‘delivery address not correct’ (…) and blocking the buyer. I did both. The buyer called me at noon. Said the phone number had been given to him by eBay (I don't believe that, especially since I'm still in the phone book). Anyway, what he was dishing out I would describe as not quiet, not unaggressive, but, in my view, loaded with an enormous amount of emotion. Including threats of a lawyer, threats that my eBay account would be deleted because of this, and various other unpleasant things. Nobody who likes using eBay really needs all that. Later there was the expected negative rating from K. After my renewed call to the eBay hotline, this was removed: In addition, I received this email from eBay: “... Therefore, we are removing this rating for you, including the detailed ratings.” My quota for “free” rating changes remained untouched. And yes, in purely theoretical terms, all of these at least 23 problem cases could be 100% justified. If I now look at the negative ratings, the reactions of the other users, the scam I know involving PMs + call + lawyer, it wouldn't be unnaive to believe in 23 coincidences. Especially since there can also be more than 23 problem cases if people like me asked eBay to remove this rating, and thus it is missing from the overview. eBay's current global slogan is "Things. People. Love." or "Things people love." What happened to me and possibly at least 22 others before me doesn't really live up to this slogan: nobody truly loves something like that. Not today. And probably not tomorrow either. That only leaves me wondering: Why does eBay allow something like this? ❤️ 😉

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Buyer scam? Why does eBay allow something like this? | Members help members | eBay Germany