HN Explorer

Should I call the police on eBay?

23 points by justinzollars ↗ HN
I've been in a long standing dispute because of a charge on a fraudulent bid.

Basically a guy bid hundreds of dollars more than a computer was worth (including buying it new from the vendor) didn't pay, and ebay charged me for the fake bid + transaction.

Ebay proceeded to suspend me, so I put a bank block on them, and got the money back.

I told ebay that I was a California resident, and they must delete my banking information. They refused.

Fast forward 1 year and some how they circumvented my bank block, and charged me today.

Should I call the police on Ebay? This is crazy!

15 comments

[ 2.2 ms ] story [ 44.3 ms ] thread
logicalmonster
Have you tried contacting eBay about this new incident? How about your bank? To me, it seems logical to try that before going to the police.
justinzollars
I worked with them for a very long time last year. Communications broke down, and they changed credentials to charge my Bank Account - (from another unblocked ebay bank).

This is really a bad business.

legrande
I used eBay sparingly a few years ago and had my account suspended, so I setup another one, and that was suspended a few hours later, apparently from 'suspicious activity' which was vague. Maybe they didn't like my VPN or my email address (which was a Protonmail one at the time). I'm tired of services treating VPN users as second class citizens of the web who enjoy a bit of privacy. I am not a criminal. So I no longer use eBay because of this since there's too much hassle fighting to get an account back.
aynyc
IANAL, can you file a complaints to your state attorney general?
justinzollars
This is what I did today. The police would not accept a report. Even though it feels very wrong that they will not delete my bank account information. I had to close an 18 year old bank account with BofA to resolve this data breach.

I really hate ebay.

navjack27
Ok, let me try and understand what happened

Someone bid. Pushed up the price. You didn't pull out. You won the auction. You didn't do any action to deny winning the bid, inaction isn't cancelling BTW. You put a block on your bank for the charge. I'm assuming you didn't communicate with the entity that put up the listing. I'm assuming you just didn't actively deny receiving shipment of the auction win and that you just never picked it up or you got the package and tried to return to sender? I'm also then assuming you then communicated with eBay that you want your banking information removed while you had an outstanding charge on your account because you put a bank block on the charge of the win of the auction... Fast forward a year later and they got fed up with your shit and they just charged you again.

You don't have to make your case to me you just have to put more details in here to actually make it seem like what you said was what happened because there's too many details missing here so I have to make assumptions about your actions in the interim between other actions.

justinzollars
No I am the seller. The winning bid was a fraud, and did not pay. But ebay concluded that I was liable for a "successful auction"
ogn3rd
This is exactly why I stopped selling anything on eBay. Your competitors will do this and eBay can't help but seem to make the money on fraud. Oops.
ruskyhacker
I think you misunderstood the problem the OP is having mate!
jethronethro
Will the police be able to do anything? I doubt it.

You might, however, have a bit more luck if you contact the office of the attorney general in California. And maybe contact one or more consumer protection agencies for assistance.

justinzollars
I contacted the Attorney General Office in California. Its like a black hole, but I'll encourage others to do the same. Hopefully a case builds. Something is very wrong with eBay.
jstarfish
> Fast forward 1 year and some how they circumvented my bank block

Stop payment orders only last 1 year, not forever. eBay simply waited this period out.

billybuckwheat
I seriously doubt the police will, or will be able to, do anything about this. You need to work with your bank and, as another poster suggested, with the attorney general of your state.
Olumde
I put a car on EBay. Got loads of bids and comments while the auction lasted. As soon as the auction was over the emails stopped the winning bidder would not pay. Meanwhile I had paid EBay the listing price. I feel as though I've been scammed by Ebay bots. I no longer trust EBay.