Ebay contact email addresses

[robjones]

Hi all, I have been trying to get some action from Ebay UK on the "8GB NANO MP4" scam. It is interesting that searching for the same kind of item on Ebay.com does not show any listings. They must be stricter on this kind of thing in the USA. The usual Ebay "report a listing" process is not producing much success. I have heard that there are Ebay email addresses that you can actually use in the normal way by writing an actual email that someone will reply to. Anyone out there know of any?

[NOLA MPx Fan]

Last time I asked that question I got laughed off the eBay communities forum. ;-)

While 8GB nano mp4 only gets 260 listings (a great improvement), 8GB mp4 gets over 1000. eBay has always been a bit more attentive to keyword spamming here in the states. Of course, in this case it may have something to so with proximity to Apple and, if I'm not mistaken, a direct tie to them as well. As with the company I work for, I think Apple actually has a group whose sole job is to hunt down cases of product being sold as "Apple" and verifying them and the seller.

[robjones]

Hi Nola, Yes, I have used the counterfeit@apple.com address a few times, but they didn`t seem interested. Maybe if the scammers dont use the word "Apple" they are not too concerned. I have started to report them as fraudulant listings. There is a chance they will be ignored. I got an automated response email from Ebay to say that if it wasn`t a "fraudulant" listing the complaint would be ignored. To me they clearly are fraudulant, and many Ebayers are paying way over the odds for an 8GB MP4 player. The chances are that they are hacked as well, so they are being hit twice and could end up paying in excess of 150$ for a hacked MP4 player of unknown capacity. I was looking at the "8GB nano Mp4" listings on Ebay.com and while it is true there are about 260 listings, only about 10 of them are for players. All the rest are "with nano case" They definately take keyword spamming more seriously over there.

[NOLA MPx Fan]

I agree. Electronics is the worst category for this kind of abuse on eBay. And eBay's stance seems to be do nothing up front to "protect" the good sales out there. I think they are afraid that nailing these scammers might also sweep up legit sellers and they would lose tons of money.

I've had to deal with several scams in that category from a guy who tried to rip me off on a computer I was selling, to folks sending me electronics that barely meet the listing criteria to attempts at getting paypal payments back while keeping the product. It's horrid.

As for the counterfit@Apple thing, I'm a better bet. I've got access to the hosts on their website who will follow up on many of the issues reported there. I'd be happy to help. In fact, there was a guy who posted here a while back whose listing called the thing an iPod and used the text from a previous iPod page. Apple contacted me for more info on that one. Well, they posted that they wanted more info, but it's all the same. For the record, most of the time you get absolutely no response from that email due to potential litigation issues. You mentioning it is one thing, carrying on an electronic conversation can be cause for a subpoena at some point. They'd rather avoid that, I'd think.

[robjones]

Hi Nola, thanks for your reply, I dont want to put you on the spot, but there are some really blatant listings on EbayUK at the moment. I will send you the listing numbers to pass on to your contacts. Thanks.
These are the listing numbers.290149537892,290149545671,290149553231,290 149558300,290149564595,290149576058
290149584436,290149718399,290149789334,29014981996 6

[NOLA MPx Fan]

I'll take a look and see what the best way to pass them on is. Don't think of it as putting me on the spot. I bought stock way back when, before Microsoft made that fabulous "loan". I think it was less than $10 a share at that point.

So helping erase copyright infringement and blatant fraud is more like protecting my money ;-)