Letter To eBay Regarding Frequent Fraud Listings By Our Favorite Seller

EBay charges a Final Value Fee which starts at 5.25%, depending on the final sale price, a not outrageous sum.

My point was that the PowerSeller in question is costing eBay lost revenue since so many buyers have abandoned eBay due to her auctions and many more aren't becoming eBay buyers because she has scared them away due to her less-than-ethical practices. In other words, she is costing eBay more than she brings in. Further, as her shady dealings continue to become more widely known, especially outside the eBay community, eBay's reputation suffers and its stock value (the focus of my letter to eBay) decreases.

 

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This evening, I actually received a message back from eBay in response to my message of last night. I don't know if this portends more action on eBay's part in response to negative activities by Sellers such as pjd1966, but it sounds nice. We'll just have to wait and see if actions do, in fact, speak louder than words.

Hello Fred,

Thank you for taking the time to write us. Please know that your
concerns have been shared with our Trust & Safety team, and the Stamps
and Coins management team.

We share your concern, and are taking a close look at the complaints
received about this seller.

We understand that actions speak louder than words. We hope that you
will agree we are making strides in the right direction.

Thanks for taking part in the eBay Community.

Best,
Lulu
eBay Community Development

 

Fred,that is very good news.I am pleased that you finally got a reply from the crowd at Ebay.

 

hi Fred,
even if ebay suspend this ebay seller, she can easily and quickly use another account to sell the same stuff. If she is a scam artist like what you describe, I am pretty sure she has other id ready to be use in case her scam gets busted. Also, I think ebay is like a flea market, they rent the space out to seller and whatever the seller sale is really not the flea market's concern. It is the Buyer's own judgement on what they decided to buy. I think that is why ebay don't really do much about what is really going on in their website.
But thanks for your concern and warnings so that future buyers will not be taken by this seller. Hopefully ebay can find a way to stop these type of problem.

 

I agree with you...
Just today I was walking through a Flee Market and was saying I was seeing more and more "junk" then there had been there years before...the same goes for parts of e-bay....Yes I find good deals every now and then but not always.

Speedy

 

Hi Sarawakian - cute kitty for an avatar (I'm a cat person).

I think if she were to return to eBay under a different username and presuming she maintained the same high volume with the same lack of ethics and similar "Looks all good to me." descriptions accompanied by a fuzzy photo, she would be hard-pressed to disguise that she is one and the same as pjd1966 and would be quickly identified. Hopefully, she would be suspended from that user ID as well. I understand that once a person is suspended from trading, it is next to impossible to return without a major change of identity including personal name, credit cards, phone numbers, etc.

In earlier days of eBay (I've been an eBay member since 1999), eBay gave a lot more personal attention to problem sellers and buyers and more readily suspended someone from membership. With the size and volume of eBay and its transactions these days, the sheer numbers must make it overwhelming for eBay personnel to keep tabs on these problem people. With what I hope is the eventual removal of pjd1966 from eBay, a LOT of potential eBayers will be able to bid in more safety, but there are still a lot of bad sellers still out there. If newbies to eBay would only take the trouble to learn about the system before they naively started bidding, then there would be far fewer problems and sellers like Pamela would have no market. A major part of the problem is that there are tens of thousands of new members joining eBay every day and it's impossible to take each one under someone's wing to show them the ropes. It would be nice if someone could mentor each one as soon as s/he joins, but this is also impossible, so every day, there's gonna be a new batch of innocents, waiting to be suckered without knowing it.But, this isn't a perfect world, nature abhors a vacuum, so there will always be more pjd1966's to take her place.

 

We crossed posts, Speedy.

The problem with comparing eBay to a flea market is that at a flea market, one can hold the object in one's hand and examine it. On eBay, it's all done with pictures and written descriptions, both of which can be doctored or, in the instance of pjd1966, intentionally vague and misleading. Flea markets also don't have people bidding against each other.

I've run a lot of flea markets myself. They're a lot of fun, some really good bargains can be found, and, for the seller, some fast cash can be raised although most of the stuff is sold at way below true market value in exchange for that quick money. A true live auction (not just for coins) might be a better comparison wherein true market value might be approached, but they also have the tremendous advantage in which the object to be sold can be reviewed in person before purchase.

 

Keep up the good work. Had a similar problem, proof Carson City Morgan.

I no longer bid in 'private auctions' or where the feedback is masked.

I complained to that supposed organization at EBAY. They acknoledged receiving my mail but I guess after a year I should get the message.

 

Unfortunately, that is a form response to complaints about sellers. I have received it at least a couple of dozen times in the past few months.

 

Yes they just send out automated responses but I read an article about how they are going to do away with that almost completely in a month or two...but then you may never receive a response as real people will have to type their emails and just imagine how many complaints they receive.

 

Here's a more detailed automated/stock response I received this morning from the office of Bill Cobb, President of eBay North America. NOTE: I did not state nor imply that I was the injured party. Out of curiousity, I checked the Internet Fraud Complaint Center (IFCC) referred to in the message to which it seems most appropriate to file a complaint; while it appears this might be the best venue, it appears a complaintant should be the injured party although the process permits third party complaints, but this latter could be interpreted for lawyers only. I'm not in a position to buy one of pjd1966's fake coins just so that I can file a complaint against her; it seems best that an organized effort by one or several of her victims be undertaken after contact with as many of the Negative Feedbacks as possible to solicit their cooperation. I find it difficult to believe that nobody among her hundreds of victims has not done this already.

Hello Mr. Stevens,

Thank you for writing to Bill Cobb. My name is Kaytlin. Bill has asked
that I respond to your email today on his behalf and to assure you that
he will review your suggestions personally.

I am sorry you have had such a frustrating time with this seller. It is
our genuine intention for every eBay member to have a successful
experience. We at eBay believe that people are basically good. Within
the many good buyers and sellers on eBay, there are a few who stray.
Your upset over their attitude and actions is understandable.

I want to assure you that eBay is working on improving site security and
making the site safer for everyone. For instance, we introduced a new
dispute process which I encourage buyers to pursue. The Item Not
Received or Significantly Not as Described process is a new way to help
buyers and sellers communicate with each other and resolve disputes when
a buyer experiences a problem. The process takes the mystery out of what
to do when a buyer:

- does not receive an item, or

- receives an item that is significantly different from what was
described in the listing.

More information about this dispute process can be found on the
following help page:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/tp/inr-snad-process.html

Lastly, about the factors we look at for disciplining sellers on our
site; eBay uses a number of factors to determine when to take action
against sellers. These factors include member reports, the seller's
feedback, complaints filed through the eBay INR/ODR process, reports
received from law enforcement agencies, and a number of other factors.
Also, although we are unable to initiate formal proceedings against the
seller beyond eBay, we will cooperate with any inquires and requests
from law enforcement agencies, and we encourage buyers to pursue these
matters through the appropriate agencies and organizations.

In this case, you may want to consider filing a complaint with the
Internet Fraud Complaint Center (IFCC) if you have not done so already.
The IFCC is partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation and
the National White Collar Crime Center. The IFCC will review and
evaluate complaints and refer information to the appropriate local,
state, or federal agency. You can file a complaint with the IFCC at:

http://www.ifccfbi.gov/index.asp

You may also want to consider contacting authorities in your area and
where the seller resides. At their request, we will gladly help Law
Enforcement with any inquiries they would have.

The investigating officer can contact us by visiting the link below;

http://pages.ebay.com/help/confidence/isgw-fraud-ebays-role.html

and clicking the "report information to eBay" link on that page.

Please have law enforcement include the following information:

1. The case number
2. The officer's name
3. The officer's telephone number

To find the name of a local law enforcement officer that can help you,
please refer to the following link:

http://www.usacops.com

Mr. Stevens, I want to thank you for your email once again. We are
always looking for new ways to improve the site and process on eBay. As
you know, Bill values the feedback of the eBay community. I hope you
continue to work with us, to make our trading community a better place.

Regards,

Kaytlin Meyers on behalf of Bill Cobb
President
eBay North America
______________________________
eBay Inc.
The World's Online MarketplaceÆ

 

If that response doesn't convince you that no one is paying any attention to what you write, I don't know what will. It's what we lawyers call "boilerplate" langugae, designed to more or less respond to a category of complaints; not a specifically drafted response to your complaint.

The place to report fraudulent coin listings is well hidden, in a link at the very bottom of a page, in what I believe to be a deliberate attempt to keep the number of reports down while piously proclaiming that they are really concerned about the problem.

Bottom line - analyze every EBay auction with a presumption that the seller is out to defraud you, and require solid evidence to the contrary before bidding. (A high feedback rating isn't much evidence, given the factors that have been beaten to death in this and other threads.)

 

Of course it's boilerplate; I didn't expect anything else and I don't think anyone else does either. The point is that it is a start toward the shutdown of pjd1966 and others like her. EBay eventually will take action, but it's gonna require many, many such complaints followed by successful legal action. While I am certain many more similar complaints have been filed against her, it will still require many more and perhaps not just a few legal actions against her.

I also think the most effective short-term and perhaps the most efficient means to force change at the corporate level is through the media, especially a respected investigative news organization such as 60 Minutes.

All this takes time of which I don't have a terrible lot to spare, probably like most people on this list. Nevertheless, I am not yet ready to fall into a state of despair.

 

pjd1966 has finally been NARU'ed. It may only be a tmporary suspention though so we need to keep our eys open and if she comes back we need to hit'em again.

 

Conder101,she tried to get back onto Ebay again under another identity,but she was busted again.

 

This is why I have stopped purchasing on E bay, I have been a member since 1999 and have seen the crooks come aboard, I hope it stops soon.
Thanks for this information!!

 

Pamela -pjd1966- was the worst one, at least in coins, but she's now off eBay, possibly permanently thanks to the repeated efforts of a lot of people. There's still others out there, but it just takes a sharp eye and a little investigative effort to ferret them out. Some are pretty obvious, e.g. selling a lot of personally-certified coins through junk grading "services" such as CRC, PGS, FSG, NNC, and NTC to name just a few; arrogant responses to negative feedback and too much negative feedback;fuzzy pictures of only one side of a coin; and, of course, "private auctions", to name a few indicators.

The point is that eBay did respond and NARU'd a high-volume Power Seller. EBay is still the one of the best venues for coin purchases since there are far more honest sellers than not. All it requires to prevent fraud and buyer burning is a little buyer education; I only wish that eBay REQUIRED Buyer 101 before permitting someone to bid.

 

She's Back!

Only a 30 day suspension!

 

Hmmm I'll have to check that out. I'd imagine that most bans of this nature are only temporary as they are missing out on their fees the more they are off.

 

Keep on them Fred, I to hate seeing hard working honest people getting ripped off.I am a regular on the ebay board and Lia will usually respond but if not write her again.