At my wits end from competitor harassing me

[joesshooze]

I have 4 active stealth accounts and I have what I am sure is a competitor either tying up my items with bidding which I cancel and block but even buying my items and then immediately leaving negative feedback, threatening emails that my stuff is junk and why am I selling it and not paying. I have not had any peace for the whole weekend from him. I must have blocked and changed buying requirement so that anyone with <0 for like 5 or 7 buyers across 4 accounts. Just as soon as I would cancel and block bango did it again. It was exhausting and I'm not sure what I can do? Please I am not about retribution if I even had a clue who it is their are quite a few selling this.

[jeffweico]

Report them. How could a buyer know if your items are good or bad if they buy them and immediately leave negative feedback? It sounds like you have stumbled upon an item where one or more sellers do NOT want any competition and they don't have any scruples about stooping to unethical means to stop competitors. Usually this behavior is found among highly counterfeited items such as the P90X - they want that 10,000% profit and do not want to compete on price. Back when I was selling DVD's, some sellers on Half would put all of my inventory into a shopping cart to effectively remove my listings.

But as long as your account can take the scrutiny I say report them to eBay.

[joesshooze]

My items are legit just VERO so I am extremely reluctant to report. I put this out there to get others feedback because to day was nuts and yes very unethical. Our prices are all similar and I guess this is somebody new.

[rsot]

Why don't list so that winners have to PAY right away such as buy it now? Not much else you can do block new stealth bidders...

[xxrange]

Originally Posted by rsot

Why don't list so that winners have to PAY right away such as buy it now? Not much else you can do block new stealth bidders...

*COUGH* flood with buy now listings *COUGH*

That guy is such a ass hole

[unkown5454]

I'm with jeff. Report them. With any luck, the person is an idiot and has all of these accounts they used to abuse you linked together.

[GoteBay]

When you report a buyer, eBay cares less about your product. They will instead check history of buyer. But if they keep opening new accounts, you will have to climb a steep hill to get them off your back.

[jeffweico]

Unfortunately, there is no way for you - or eBay for that matter - to stop all of the mischief that comes up on their site. eBay is the most competitive marketplace in the world and sellers quickly realize they do not want to compete on price. So, they come up with all manner of devious ways to knock out the competition. Everything from reporting other sellers as selling counterfeits to sending threatening emails pretending to be the brand owner, to what you are experiencing now. The good news is, they usually do not succeed - eBay has seen all of this many times before.

I would not engage with them at all. Just report them to eBay and set your listings to require immediate payment when using "Buy it Now". Or, just set the immediate payment option if you do not want to report them. These guys tend to go away fairly quickly.

I once got one of these guys on the phone and he was so scared he was crying. I told him I would be nice about it and NOT report him to the FBI if he closed his eBay account. He is no longer a registered user.

[GhostOfAmazon]

Originally Posted by jeffweico

I once got one of these guys on the phone and he was so scared he was crying. I told him I would be nice about it and NOT report him to the FBI if he closed his eBay account. He is no longer a registered user.

I could see that. LOL.

Jeff brings up another good option...request their info (can't remember the link...Google it) and then call the # listed on the account. If it's inactive or no longer in service, the member is in violation of eBays Terms of Use, and thereby his account can be terminated.

Chances are, unless he's a member here, most of his phones are disconnected.

[gamerguy]

With eb being a "buyers market", i don't think "reporting a buyer" does anything

have someone write you a script so you can ping this guys IP

if you feel it's the same guy, i would just refund him, without sending him anything. if it's all going to the same address, file a police report in his town, so they can pay him a visit, just for the heck of it

[GhostOfAmazon]

Originally Posted by gamerguy

With eb being a "buyers market", i don't think "reporting a buyer" does anything

if you feel it's the same guy, i would just refund him, without sending him anything. if it's all going to the same address, file a police report in his town, so they can pay him a visit, just for the heck of it

This information is just plain wrong.

The buyer is engaged in what eBay calls "feedback manipulation" which is a MAJOR policy violation. They don't care if you're buying your own items to falsely give yourself positive ratings, or if you're buying competitors items to leave them false negative feedback.....they DO NOT like it and they WILL suspend accounts with extreme prejudice if they are caught.

Further, police will not investigate someone buying items from you to manipulate feedback. It's not a crime, or at least not one any prosecutor will take seriously.

[gamerguy]

you can have someone write you a script so you can ping an IP

Eb is a buyers market or has it changed now?

anybody can create a random account and just start buying things and never pay. If joe creates 5 bs accounts to buy stuff just to piss someone off, what does he care if someone reports him?

I'm sure EB is more concerned about sellers scamming buyers vs buyers leaving negative feedback or manipulating. EB breaks their own rules all the time.

Creating a stealth account is a MAJOR policy violation. None of us here play by the rules...plz

[GhostOfAmazon]

Originally Posted by gamerguy

you can have someone write you a script so you can ping an IP

Eb is a buyers market or has it changed now?

anybody can create a random account and just start buying things and never pay. If joe creates 5 bs accounts to buy stuff just to piss someone off, what does he care if someone reports him?

I'm sure EB is more concerned about sellers scamming buyers vs buyers leaving negative feedback or manipulating. EB breaks their own rules all the time.

Creating a stealth account is a MAJOR policy violation. None of us here play by the rules...plz

Sorry, I should have been more explicit:

Yes, you can write a script or program to catch IPs. I'm not disputing that.

However, saying "eBay doesn't care if buyers attempt to manipulate the feedback system" is FALSE.

eBay is a "buyers market" in that buyer complaints are taken far more seriously than seller grievances.

HOWEVER: eBay DOES care about certain things, and feedback manipulation is one of them.

Whether or not an account is stealth has nothing to do with this situation....the OP has no choice. He can either report the competitor to eBay, or lose the account. There's no other option.

[unkown5454]

Originally Posted by gamerguy

Creating a stealth account is a MAJOR policy violation.

No. I don't think you quite understand stea.lth.

You and your script kiddie ways are useless as well. IP address means nothing and does not identify a person. Nice try. Your ignorance is showing more with every post.

You must have missed the thousands of posts where everyone here is constantly changing IPs.

[GhostOfAmazon]

Originally Posted by unkown5454

No. I don't think you quite understand stea.lth.

You and your script kiddie ways are useless as well. IP address means nothing and does not identify a person. Nice try. Your ignorance is showing more with every post.

You must have missed the thousands of posts where everyone here is constantly changing IPs.

LOL way to school someone.

[Timmy]

You should make all your listing "buy it now"

I know that the sales will slow down but here is a technique you can use to boost traffic.

Whatever it is that you are selling...

You want the best possible title so...

Find someone selling the same exact thing as you be it auction or buy it now...

Copy their title exactly and that will push you up the ranking.

Their title, price and seller performance is what has them at the top.

Try to match the tile and price and that will get you more traffic for sure.