eBay's Dark Secret! Are They Profiting From Classified Car Ad Scammers?

My Aston Martin DB9 Auto Trader advert was stolen by scammers and posted on eBay. But eBay WILL NOT answer this one simple question... Q: What happens to the listing fees when you close down these scam accounts? Their secret answer to this leaves me uncertain about what happened to the £19.99 listing fee obtained from the scam featuring my car.
#dadcars #ebaymotors #astonmartin

[@JayEmmOnCars]

Wow! I cannot believe how evasive eBay's responses were, this is such a common issue you would think they could give you a definitive answer. Great investigating Ben!

[@dadcars]

Crazy right! if a simple question doesn’t have the simple response… 😳

[@ToastOnToast]

@@dadcars Also, is it not partly Auto Traders duty to add something like a watermark to the uploaded images to help prevent this?

[@darrenstables4171]

Reported many blatant scams on ebay. Makes my blood boil seeing the adverts still listed 5 days after reporting

[@Mike7O7O]

Naive, much?

[@samnicholson9045]

I think the real challenge here is to get talking to a more senior/press contact within eBay, rather than their standard customer service reps. I've always been frustrated by how prevalent these fake car adverts are on FB Marketplace but as you have rightly pointed out, it's completely wrong for eBay to profit from paid for adverts that are from scammers. Really hope someone at eBay sees this video and contacts you for a follow-up to hold them to account. Great video, and for that (as a fan of Jay's videos) you've gained a new sub 👍🏻

[@crellys]

In the old dad days, you saw an ad in the local rag, went around to meet the fella, kicked the tires, quick wizz around the block and put down an honest deposit. When gentleman’s agreements meant something. I never got scammed in the 80s ! Oh how the UK has changed .

[@dadcars]

🥲

[@billymayhem]

Great Video! This exact thing has happened to me selling my Mustang! eBay kept passing to different eBay departments & people, and by the time the dealt with it I had actually PX'd the vehicle instead. The communication was dreadful the entire way through and they shun any responsibility for anything! + Some of their replies you received are copy and paste from my own - (The chat transcript requests I rarely received during). I love the fact that you have made a video about this, they really need to clean their platform!

[@dadcars]

It’s infuriating isn’t it

[@louiefc8857]

It’s honestly outrageous how people can even think about doing this also quite bad from eBay obtaining the money from the scanners. Outrageous

[@steveallely1432]

Poor customer service from eBay. They don't really care about us genuine buyers/sellers. Perhaps everyone should stop buying and selling on eBay until they get their act together.

[@Reaperman2020]

Absolutely, I am a long term ebayer both buying and selling. Hit them in the pocket until this is resolved and they will react quicker!

[@juanbugatti490]

Great video. Thanks for sharing this story. EBay is shady af, I’ve never bought something on their site and I’m planning to keep it that way.

[@andrewellis5092]

It appears to me that EBay don’t have a robust policy to deal with this specific type of fraudulent activity. If they did, they would have quoted it to you Ben. This reminds me of the many issues with other foreign owned platforms, such as Facebook etc.. These grow beyond their humble beginnings, but do not develop robust enough policies to deal with unsavoury behaviour. I guarantee that EBay will hide behind American law and have not fully risk assessed or understood the law in all of the markets it sells in. This is just my opinion, but it is a fact that many corporations will not allow business dealings through EBay, as they do not meet many GDPR policies in the UK. My suggestion to EBay would be to develop a robust UK policy in conjunction with a legal team to sort this and boost their reputation, but also increase genuine ’business to business’ transactions.

[@CarTrouble]

I think its rife amongst these massive tech companies. Facebook marketplace is brimming with car scammers, And KZbin aren't doing much either to combat the grifters making a fortune out of creators by ripping off copyrighted material.. I've had first hand experience with someone stealing my content and KZbin were opaque to say the least.. Computer says no. Well done for shedding light on this.

[@sportzntouring]

This is a great piece of work Ben! Love the way you've gone about the investigation! And thank you for sharing this with everyone so they can keep an eye out for copy paste scam ads when they list their cars legitimately.

[@dadcars]

Thanks Ant 🤙 not my normal kind of video but felt worth doing 🥲

[@baheh1801]

Makes me think of the old saying crime doesn't pay but it seems more like yes it does. And eBay don't care.

[@rosscharman7633]

Excellent content Ben, Keep up the great work and it’ll be VERY interesting to see if EBay actually get in touch to hopefully clarify and rectify this current scourge of online car sales advertising 🤬

[@dadcars]

Unless a video like this went viral I doubt they will provide an answer or take any action at all to prevent it 🙁

[@Medge2sc]

Had this happen to me with my RS4… My opinion is that eBay want these cars ok scam accounts , they take the listing fee’s and then casually do something about it I used to report cars to to eBay but I don’t bother anymore , they don’t act on them

[@dadcars]

It’s just so prevalent and it makes no sense in 2024 🤷‍♂️

[@Medge2sc]

@@dadcars Facebook used to be the scam central but now eBay is just as bad

WOW only yesterday whilst sourcing some parts for a Honda I came across a Honda for way way less than market value and even thought I could buy it for parts. Thought it may be a typo but now I suspect it is another scam.

[@FRFRANKIE]

Hi Ben hope your doing good. That was a very informative video about eBay. Thank you for putting that out. Sorry you had to go through all of that. Hopefully everything will work out in your favor. Stay safe and take care.

[@dadcars]

Thanks Frank :)

[@FRFRANKIE]

@@dadcars Your welcome Ben.

[@disturbed250]

This is a great video! Very concerning and a good point of where that money goes. I've a feeling ebay are just keeping the money and the agents you spoke to haven't a clue where it goes or are unwilling to confirm they just keep it. Be good if they replied for a follow up video!

[@David-xc4us]

I see this all the time and I report but they don’t seem to be taken down. I think when they advertise loads of cars at once it’s easier to spot it’s a con, as sometimes they r not ridiculously cheap there just cheap, and I’ve seen this on older accounts with good feedback, so I always view their other listing and if the backgrounds r different then it helps prove it’s a con.

This will only destroy ebay's business. After buying something that was faulty (... and I got my money back) that was the last time I used eBay.

[@dadcars]

Yep.. it’s always put me off looking at cars on eBay, that’s even before it happened to me

[@ricado372]

This certainly isn't the first channel I've seen, talking about how eBay is full of scam sellers .

[@dadcars]

I’ve seen these scam ads for years! But when they stole my advert and you start looking into it, it’s frustrating as hell! Can’t believe it’s still going on like this

[@Erikzapp]

Interesting vid! Never knew this was a thing on eBay. Side note, wow that white gran sport interior is an incredible spot to film!

[@dadcars]

😅🤙 yeah light interiors are the best 🙌

[@MrGuardcaptain]

Ben you have the patience of a Saint. You should have just started "Hi Im Ben and Im a journalist!" Bet you would have been transferred to a very specialist team 😂 Or make a freedom of information request

[@dadcars]

Lol yeah I think I’d need to go down the formal request route wouldn’t I… if this video gets a load of views I may do it but let’s be honest, it probably won’t 😅

[@MrGuardcaptain]

@dadcars keep the faith. Make some noise. Get the tabloids involved. We've seen bigger scandals unearthed by far lesser people than you. Its a real issue you've uncovered here, Facebook too, scams are far worse there and yes the scammers arent paying to use that platform, but so many legitimate companies do, how do they feel about being associated with a platform that allows this sort of thing to happen. Stick at it Ben.

[@trollmanrs]

How very true this is, eBay are the worst, I fairly often report scam adverts as they are so easy to spot !!! I reported one 5 minutes ago, and in the comments I wrote basically what you say in this video. Not that they will care but if everyone did maybe, just maybe they might think hang on a min why are we getting all this negative feedback all of a sudden !! I have in the passed watermarked my photo's with my username, every little helps.

[@nekite1]

I remember years ago trying to buy a campervan on ebay - a sizeable percentage of the adverts were scams with all sorts of excuses why you couldn't see the vehicle in person before buying. Ebay did bugger all about the ads that I reported to them.

[@dadcars]

Still nothing has changed today 🤷‍♂️

[@nekite1]

@@dadcars What does one expect nowadays from companies such as Ebay - as long as they are making money, nothing else matters to them.

[@Bluebottle_GB]

On the one hand, hard to con an honest person. On the other hand - I hope eBay are at least paying full tax on any slightly dirty profits.

[@stuartmurray132]

I think that this is happening across all classified ads on eBay, scammers gathering contact details to sell on it would guess at? I reported it but bother appears to be done about them.

[@dadcars]

Most of us can spot them a miles off and are so used to it we just accept it… but there are vulnerable people who do fall for these scams and eBay are doing little to protect those people, zero support for them 😑

[@jkb19893]

Fair play for being going hard. Investigative car journalism! Was like an episode of panarama 😂

[@dadcars]

😂

[@LukeH-pg4kg]

Great video Ben. Couple of thoughts. Firsty, I wonder who owns the intellectual property on your car advert in this situation? Is it still yours, or does it belong to Autotrader? Not sure if it makes any difference, but I wonder whether it would be worth contacting Autotrader to ask whether there's any pressure they can exert regarding the stolen ad - after all, this isn't great for their business either. And eBay shouldn't be profiting from crime, but neither should the scammers be refunded. Ideally eBay would change their terms to state that any listing fees for removed ads would be retained and donated to charity. It's sad how many firms are unable/unwilling to accept responsibility. Maybe you could raise a grumpy dads campaign group? 😉

[@dadcars]

If you put anything online it’s impossible to stop anyone from taking it sadly 🤦‍♂️

[@Mariazellerbahn]

eBay even scams sellers. They offer 75% off listing fees for initial listing .... it doesn't sell because they make sure very few people can see the listing. It then gets relisted at full price. Another thing that happened to me recently ... an item I had listed got a bid. At the end of the auction the bidder wanted to cancel ( I thought you could only retract a bid ... with good reason .... 12 hours before auction end). eBay charged me 7% final value fee instead of the full 13% even though it didn't sell.

[@Reaperman2020]

Outrageous!

[@bm7760]

Are the banks complicit too? If you could provide the bank with the scammer's details could they not involve the police?

[@Graham-rc1cp]

The listings will be placed using cloned cards

[@tomfurie2996]

Great job Ben! For those who go through this in the future, always ask what the name of the “special team” is each time. If everyone documents in this way you will find the circle they deliberately put you through. Just transferring you around to maybe three different departments who’s sole job is to deflect and wear you down so you just go away. The worst situation is if they refund the scammers! This might be characterized under US Federal law as “racketeering”?

[@dadcars]

Yeah I honestly don’t think the customer service reps knew the answer so just wanted to pass the buck… can’t blame them, it’s on eBay for not having a clear answer to this 🥲

[@tomfurie2996]

@@dadcars Maybe the first or even the second rep. But after that it is pure dodge, deflect & wear you down. Make them sweat Ben!

[@brianiswrong]

Ebay have decided to do sod all because they know facebook market place is even worse.

[@blacker1000000]

Scammers are listing as garages as well (they look very convincing), I'm sure many people are being fleeced.

[@dadcars]

EBay give zero support to victims of their platform… it’s disgraceful

[@italsounds001]

I doubt the scammers are using their own accounts, even if those accounts are setup fraudulently, they use other people’s accounts. My account was used for just this thing, albeit not on eBay, and it was down to me to notice that and report it, at which point my bank refunded the amount. Crazy thing, after my card account was closed and a new one opened, I got notified of the scammers trying to use my old account again, twice. I notified my bank, and the online site they tried to use it on, neither were interested in following it up.

[@dadcars]

This makes sense… maybe the turnover of money is so much from these types of activities they’d notice a drop if they stopped it?

[@ianfoster1]

The fees are most likely paid for with stolen or cloned credit cards….

[@dadcars]

Yeah this makes a lot of sense actually

[@LRSTGS]

Ben, a possible different approach: You took those photos, you own the copyright and distribution rights on them. eBay have profited from them (19.99). Demand to be paid for the use of your photos. If they won't pay, threaten to sue for copyright infringement. They've published your "work" without your authorisation and they've profited from it. You're legally entitled to be compensated.

[@dadcars]

Honestly with TikTok and other social media it’s nearly impossible for individuals to copyright their own pictures and content… giant repost accounts on Insta profit all day long from taking others peoples content

[@Reaperman2020]

It still isn’t right and I bet a real pit bull of a lawyer could take them to the cleaners! Maybe on of your viewers is just the man for the job! (not me sadly.)

[@geoffrey6557]

Great job. Absolutely shocking resp from eBay

[@michaelhill7677]

I have seen this occur on multiple occasions on eBay, it's not isolated. The scammer normally has multiple cars advertised and all at £9995. I try to contact the original seller if possible, to alert them. Other than that, I always insist on seeing the car in the flesh, usually then the scammer doesn't reply. Or they will ask for a deposit for shipping as they are out of the country. Basically, don't buy what you can't see in the flesh.

[@davedewey868]

Came across the same thing when looking for vw caddy last year. Nice vans, multiple motors for sale all under priced. In the space of 3 months the motors re appeared 3 times under 3 different traders. Same pics and descriptions... reported to ebay and havent seen the listings again..

[@autobahnproven]

I sold a nice Porsche Design watch on eBay last month, buyer paid through Paypal straight away. He and I both have hundreds of only positive reviews. eBay is holding my funds (four figures worth) until January 11th as I didn’t use their postage form and hadn't sold anything in a while. Actually managed to speak with a person from eBay but they won't budge.

[@dadcars]

Yet they’ll happily take £680 and let 34 scam car listings go live from an account with zero feedback without question 🤷‍♂️

[@autobahnproven]

@@dadcars Exactly.

[@Reaperman2020]

Completely amoral. I am fast going off eBay!

[@paulmather1980]

seen this before an old rover came up for sale knew it was a scam cos seen the original add weeks before so reported it, it took a few days to remove it but hey it popped up again with different seller so reported it again, this went on for months diffent seller again and again

[@jimc8609]

What about their world famous algorithms? Surely they would sniff this out. If they wanted to.

[@dadcars]

🤷‍♂️… this has been going on for a decade at least. Feels logical there’s another reason why they let it happen

[@Reaperman2020]

lol! Shady profits!

[@SeanButler-nt5zi]

The scammers do an chargeback

[@Reaperman2020]

I think it is outrageous and i totally suspect eBay are pocketing it, even if it just sits in an account earning interest, they are profiting from fraud!

[@neilross6227]

this is great video and hopefully it makes Ebay think about how they deal with scams..... given the amount of cash they make from them... probably not but it is a start

[@dadcars]

it would need HUGE views for them to reply to me

[@minio4444]

EBay are fraud full stop. They remove negative feedback from power sellers accounts to keep power sellers account looking clean even if the feedback is legitimate. I managed to get a phone call from their customer satisfaction manager/specialist admitting and say that they understand my frustration. Still removed my feedback.

[@neilross6227]

@@dadcars more than likely.... it really is shocking, could this not be highlighted to the ombudsman or FCA?

[@RichardHartley65]

⁠@@neilross6227 - there’s no ombudsman for auction sites and the FCA only regulates financial services. Most likely to be a matter for Action Fraud or (if you could get them interested) trading standards.

[@twowheelsoneleg5672]

I no longer buy anything from Ebay/FB marketplace that I can't go and see before buying

[@Reaperman2020]

Small items I will buy without seeing and have actually had no scams over hundreds of transactions but yes a car I want to see first!

[@Chris.1812]

Very interesting. I would never even dream of buying a car on eBay. In fact I don’t think I’ve ever bought anything on eBay. Quite funny seeing them pass you around like a hot potato. Everyone you spoke to was probably sitting in the same office 😂

[@dadcars]

That was 80 minutes of my life I will never get back 😅 I was trying to help them!

[@BeeBee3_Adventures]

I’ve bought a few on eBay as long as you are careful it’s fine , you can get scammed by a garage, I did with a faulty car and that was a nightmare.

[@rthomasbox]

Bit of a surprise from eBay. You would expect better. Seems the same as Facebook marketplace which is full of this type of adds. Mine was on facebook marketplace. Same price just a ‘0’ knocked off. The seller was using a scammed local sellers account with 100s of cars for sale. All in the small town i live in

[@dadcars]

😓

[@Reaperman2020]

😢

[@olusphone]

I think you are applying common sense to something that in fact is a matter of law. Ebay may suspect that a listing is a scam, however that is different to having proof that the listing is definitely a scam and establishing so to either a civil or criminal standard. The fact a vehicle may be listed significantly below market value does not establish that a listing is a scam. By refunding the money on a suspected listing, ebay are trying to avoid any suggestion that there is a breach of contract from their side, or from profiting from contracts( since that is what a classified listing is evidence of), which they have good enough reason to believe are criminal conduct. There is little else they can do. They are under no obligation to take steps to investigate whether a listing is a scam. This may sound counterintuitive but as a mater of law there is no obligation on Ebay at all.

[@Reaperman2020]

Interesting but you would have thought to uphold their reputation they would actually have a fraud team to counter this activity. It is just good marketing on top of going above and beyond their legal obligation!

[@olusphone]

@@Reaperman2020 you are correct and they probably do have a fraud team. I suspect alot more goes on than we as punters will ever really be aware of, but dealing with scammers is a never ending arms race. I suspect ebay will continue to do the minimum they are obliged to, and hope that talk like this on the Internet doesn't gain traction. It took legislation and changes to banking rules for high street banks to try and get a grip on fraud. Their view prior was that there was potentially greater reputational damage by tackling the problem because then you are acknowledging that your bank isn't robust enough to identify and head of scammers in the first place, and who'd chose to put their funds in a bank that acknowledged it had a problem that meant your money could be at risk? ( even if it might be your own fault)

[@Tourist1967]

I would say they are entitled to keep it. The company provided a service in good faith, albeit to a liar and a cheat. Whether it should have a tougher system for checking ads is another matter.

[@iluvfionaleggate]

I find it insane anyone is stupid enough to put a deposit down on a car they have never seen in person

[@Ghajahha]

Bro I’ve bought car in person and there’s always hidden problems and lies evo for a cheap polo the whole industry is a scam

[@theMaster...]

These platforms don't have the resources or manpower to police their own systems. You're on your own sadly...

[@dadcars]

I’d agree with that justification if they were a not for profit charity

[@Birmingham_racing]

I don't think staff get paid enough to care

[@chefinavan1]

I am not surprised at all

[@dadcars]

🙈

[@JungleJeffarnold]

I reported an advert yesterday a lexus is300h that was selling for 5k, that zero feedback account had over 300 listings I'm in the position get ripped off by a scammer or a car dealer while trying to buy something 😂

[@dadcars]

General rule of thumb is if you haven’t physically seen the car yourself, don’t pay out any money ever

[@JungleJeffarnold]

@@dadcars I bought my last car without seeing it in person, an is200 sport I had it for 4 years, Only reason I'm looking now is because someone crashed into the back of me at low speed and Swift insurance didn't want to repair it.

[@SeanButler-nt5zi]

EBay don’t care they need cash it’s down 2you not get scammed

[@tesrover]

Overall not that surprised with eBay responses. I think it would be the same on other platforms. Even with simple communication with companies I have similar responses. Ask similar question, then pass the buck to lots of people. I lost count how many times I get put onto different people. But overall it filtering through pre programmed people with selected scripts, until the 1 in 100 ratio person that might be able help it seems. It could have gone unnoticed if you weren't dad car legend on KZbin trying to help people, for them to notice. Most people wouldn't know. Classifieds need a watermark somehow that can't be copied.

[@roystonvehicles9129]

You don't pay up front on e Bay unlike say autotrader, e Bay invoices you after a few weeks, basically they'll never get paid.

[@dadcars]

Classified car ads are paid for at time of listing… there is no end value fee etc

[@roystonvehicles9129]

@@dadcars well I've put a fair few on and it was invoiced later, classified ads, I've never had to pay up front, tbh I only use autotrader these days as it seems fairly (?) scam free, pistonheads, gumtree, Facebook are rife with them.

[@sorinstefan6038]

Ebay doesn’t get anything they are paying for fees with stolen cards which are eventually charged back by owners

[@dadcars]

Cash flow 🤷‍♂️

[@phillipdavid1668]

I think they can't be bothered, get forced into taking it down and refund the scammer unfortunately

[@dadcars]

🤦‍♂️

[@bladibobuk]

Aren't they just using hacked ebay accounts so infact the adverts cost them nothing?

[@dadcars]

This one had 0 feedback

[@deaks25]

I hate to say it, but Capitalism is gonna capitalism. EBay will just be taking that money along with genuine listing fees. Which is not a surprise. What does shock me is that a zero-feedback account can list list tens, even hundreds of thousands of pounds-worth of cars without a single query. That is such a massively obvious loophole that really shouldn’t exist.

[@robertlloyd7493]

😊

[@dadcars]

🤙

[@psychogobetween]

❤

[@alexbooth1982]

Few things to consider - each “fraud” case is different. GDPR is a massive thing, how would the support team know that you aren’t a scammer trying to get a genuine ad taken down? Very one sided video where you’re not taking a subjective approach to how eBay and every other online platform has to operate within the laws.

[@wayneoriordan6749]

Facebook is just as bad even worse

[@jondobbs]

Caveat emptor

[@ChrisNF]

All eBay seller fees are paid once the sale is complete and the buyer receives the item. This is verified by postage tracking, buyer feedback and an end of transaction date when fees will be released by eBay. The sales has to be complete before eBay takes money from the sale paid by the buyer, the seller doesn’t need to pay money into his eBay account. All money comes from sales. It also depends on what type of eBay seller account the seller has.

[@dadcars]

Classified car ads on eBay are different. You pay £19.99 up front to list the car

[@ChrisNF]

@@dadcars Most fees and selling costs will be automatically deducted from sale proceeds prior to payout. If funds awaiting payout are insufficient to cover selling costs, eBay charge the payment method set up for the seller account or otherwise collect fees and selling costs as set out. eBay Motors listing are different they charge an insertion fee that comes from your credit card, debit account, PayPal or funds already in your eBay account. The upfront fees are pretty small in comparison to the final fees taken from eBay after the sale . The gamble must be worth it for the seller, if it works he’s quids in

[@olusphone]

ebay dont give 2 sh!ts

[@roystonvehicles9129]

They don't get 19.95 up front bud, they credit the seller invoice wise, that wasn't getting paid anyway, all sites are hookey these days.

[@dadcars]

EBay “ we may charge the automatic payment method you've set up on your account Insertion fees and optional listing upgrade fees apply to each listing you create, are charged at the time of listing or relisting, as applicable, and are non-refundable. Fee amounts are based on the terms in effect when the listing goes live and when it renews”

[@roystonvehicles9129]

@@dadcars yes bud, but I fairly sure they don't take payment up front, a scammer has probably had a few deposits by then and that invoice ain't getting paid, so a refund of fees is just on paper, obviously you've got to have a genuine (?) card to set it up, or a bank account for DD but you can be certain e bays invoice isn't getting paid, guy I knew bought a classic bike off e Bay, paid up front, went to pick it up and it didn't exist. I seen quite a few e types on e Bay at say 9k, I've got a car sales garage and only use autotrader these days, other sites your inundated with crazy calls and messages, had an mg on pist***heads, got a guy calling saying he was head of the mg club, another scammer saying hey I want to buy it for a graduation present.