[78-L] EBay Problems...

[MOMs ATTIC]

Guys:  David suggested I submit this to ya’ll for comment and advice:
 
On 8/28/2012 1:00 PM, MOMs ATTIC wrote:


David,
I'm mailing you off 78L because I don't want to step on any toes with my
assumptions. I need your advice. I know you sell on EBay; I've saved you
as a seller and I watch your listings closely.
My problem is that I bought a book that will teach me how to determine what
type of pictures/prints are in books. When I ordered it for $35.00, the Ebarf
ad said shipping was $1.00. The seller charged me another $28.00 as it was
coming from Israel and he said the shipping was comparable for it to
have come from Canada. OK, I bit the bullet on that one - not wanting to cause a scene I paid him even though it took half of that month's profits.


The bigger problem is I never received the book. I contacted the seller
and he said he tracked it down from Israel and it was delivered to my home several Saturdays ago. I'm home on Saturdays as I usually have Craigs List sales scheduled each Saturday. No book received. The 29th is the last day I
can go to the EBAy complaint department to report the missing item.
Yesterday and today I pulled up the seller's stats and saw that he has
numerous negative feedbacks but everytime he receives one, he loads up on sales and positive feedback, mostly from the same buyers.


My fear is if I leave negative feedback and report the missing book to
EBay (as deserved), he will turn around and buy something from me (I just started selling on EBay in March) and then leave negative feedback in
retaliation, or say he didn't get whatever he bid on.


So, what I've been doing all morning is looking at who he's been getting
good feedback from. And, Wow! I think I really stumbled onto something...
There are major sellers in Israel, England, Ireland, South Africa and the USA who are all using both each other and the same "schill" buyers to 1) Up their
feedback score and, 2) probably increase the value of their stock with repeated
sales to one another at higher prices...They mainly deal in stamps, books and
emphemera.


I came to this conclusion by looking at the relationship between the agents
listed most often as buying or selling with the main protagonist I was
researching. The people he used to give him favorable feedback after
negative feedback were also posting positive repetitive feedback to and getting
it back from the same groups of people. And one group would lead me to another group with a specific buyer-only account, that seems to be a schill setup – with multiple purchases from the same people several days in a row ....(conveniently increasing feedback scores)...many on a monthly basis.


So, my questions are: (and I'll keep in confidence your response...) is that
normal for groups of collectors selling on EBay? Does that sort of thing
go on all the time behind the scenes? Are there websites where one can go to
belong to such a "feedback club"?
Also, since if, as I believe, that dealers are using multiple accounts
to leave bogus feedback and inflated prices, what about my leaving negative feedback about this guy? I don't think I can ban all of his names and his friend's schill names and accounts. My list of names thus far is 8 pages long,
(and all intertwined with one another). So, what do I do? Any advice would be
appreciated. I respect you and the other members of 78L. Thank God
someone (I think it was you), mentioned the Toolhaus.org site, as that was
invaluable in researching the relationships between these sellers.


Anyhow, any advice would be appreciated. I'm still trying to learn my way
around EBay. Thanks for your time and consideration. Miss Patti.
 
 
From: David Lennick <dlennick at sympatico.ca>
Subject: Re: EBarf Miasma....Help With Advice? (Long Explanation of Problem)
To: "MOMs ATTIC" <ifoundthisforyou at yahoo.com>
Date: Tuesday, August 28, 2012, 5:59 PM
Hi Miss P..wow, this sounds like a major can of worms, and I've never run
into anything like this. I've had shill bidders, like the one clown in
England who bid high on every reggae and calypso record that was listed and
then would disappear and emerge under a new name, but I know nothing about
what sounds like feedback claques. In any case, I would definitely report
this to eBay and have them open a case. How did you pay? If you used AMEX
(even through Paypal), they go after undelivered items. I had to do that a
couple of times.

And I'd also ask about this on 78-L, or to someone like Taylor Bowie who
deals in books..I've been pretty lucky with my sales, less lucky with
purchases a few years ago which is why I stopped bidding entirely. Too many
amateurs and con artists out there at the time. Where is this guy? If he's
not in Israel, how can he be selling something that he doesn't have or on
behalf of a third party?

Sorry for the delay in answering, but this was in the spam filter. Any name
or address the system doesn't recognize ends up there the first time.

Cheers
David