eBay Talks Tough On Fraud, Does Little

Rumors, Conspiracies, etc.

from the them's-fighting-words dept

The latest “series” that MSNBC is putting together appears to be all about online auctions. They’re starting with an “investigation” into just how well eBay responds to fraud complaints. There have been a number of articles about this in the past few months, but this one takes a look at some specific claims. The reporter believes that the evidence he saw was pretty compelling (and it sounds like it was) concerning someone who was pumping up the bid prices himself, and, despite complaints from users, eBay did nothing other than tell the guy to knock it off. They also didn’t inform any of the buyers who ended up paying more because of this. The article also quotes a former, but anonymous, eBay employee who says they weren’t allowed to mess with “power seller” accounts, even when it was clear they were cheating. eBay, of course, says they do the best they can, and look at each case on an individual basis. On the whole, I’d say both sides are probably right. I doubt eBay is as unconcerned about fraud as some people say, but at the same time, it seems clear they could be more responsive.