Authorities frustrated over high amounts of fraud on eBay

[mzkhadir]

The BBC is reporting that companies and law enforcement agencies are becoming increasing frustrated and concerned at the high amount of fraud at eBay. There are reports that it can take two months for eBay to pass details to fraud investigators, and that even for companies with a 'special relationship' with eBay it can take 5 days for fraudulent auctions to be shut down. From the article: 'With all the amount of profits that eBay makes, then there is ample scope for additional staff. Frankly, it is totally unsatisfactory

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4533154.stm

 

[BigJ]

It's about fvcking time.

 

[kranky]

It's not a matter of ebay being willing to add more people.

ebay has said from Day One that they are simply a venue - they have nothing to do with the actual transaction. If law enforcement is able to hold them accountable for fraudulent auctions, then ebay might be liable for ALL the scams. That's the last thing in the world ebay wants because their liability would be huge.

They have to avoid meddling as much as possible or it could appear they are responsible for everything that goes on through ebay.

 

[trinketsummoner]

I think ebay should require a credit card for registration, and that info be verified - ie they send a letter to your home address that the card is linked to with a code on it and you enter the code to confirm. It wont help much with phishing and account hijacks but it would stop scammers setting up fraud auctions where they think they cant be traced.

 

[PingSpike]

Yeah, ebay is ass. Their fraud protection is a joke.

 

[AMDZen]

Wait until Google releases the eBay killer.

 

[BigJ]

Originally posted by: kranky
It's not a matter of ebay being willing to add more people.

ebay has said from Day One that they are simply a venue - they have nothing to do with the actual transaction. If law enforcement is able to hold them accountable for fraudulent auctions, then ebay might be liable for ALL the scams. That's the last thing in the world ebay wants because their liability would be huge.

They have to avoid meddling as much as possible or it could appear they are responsible for everything that goes on through ebay.

Yet Ebay is responsible for settling tons of fraud disputes via their auctions and Paypal.

 

[imported_goku]

Originally posted by: AMDZen
Wait until Google releases the eBay killer.

It better damn well be free, yahoo auctions was becoming free and then became retarded and began charging :roll: Man....

 

[thehstrybean]

<<<----Can't wait for google to make killer...

 

[Kibbo86]

Originally posted by: kranky
It's not a matter of ebay being willing to add more people.

ebay has said from Day One that they are simply a venue - they have nothing to do with the actual transaction. If law enforcement is able to hold them accountable for fraudulent auctions, then ebay might be liable for ALL the scams. That's the last thing in the world ebay wants because their liability would be huge.

They have to avoid meddling as much as possible or it could appear they are responsible for everything that goes on through ebay.

The authorities mentioned in the article were not asking for E-Bay to implement more fraud protection, merely that they speed up the proccess of information sharing in cases where it is neccessary.

That seems reasonable to me.

 

[jagec]

Originally posted by: kranky
It's not a matter of ebay being willing to add more people.

ebay has said from Day One that they are simply a venue - they have nothing to do with the actual transaction. If law enforcement is able to hold them accountable for fraudulent auctions, then ebay might be liable for ALL the scams. That's the last thing in the world ebay wants because their liability would be huge.

They have to avoid meddling as much as possible or it could appear they are responsible for everything that goes on through ebay.

That argument never worked for DC hubs or bittorrent trackers...

 

[Looney]

Originally posted by: kranky
It's not a matter of ebay being willing to add more people.

ebay has said from Day One that they are simply a venue - they have nothing to do with the actual transaction. If law enforcement is able to hold them accountable for fraudulent auctions, then ebay might be liable for ALL the scams. That's the last thing in the world ebay wants because their liability would be huge.

They have to avoid meddling as much as possible or it could appear they are responsible for everything that goes on through ebay.

In any other business venue this wouldn't be tolerated. If you have a flea-market and there's frequent laws and regulations being broken, they would be told to clean up their act. Or if there's a nightclub where there's lots of illegal things being done, they would be shut down.

Just as a building have fire and safety regulations, i think commercial websites should have consumer protection regulation as well.

 

[bleeb]

ebay blows

 

[czech09]

Originally posted by: thehstrybean



<<<----Can't wait for google to make killer...

Honestly some things will never change like eBay's dominance in the auction sector...Google has won popularity in many categories ie: google vids, google map etc however it has failed at alot of stuff as well google messenger etc. I wouldn't see Ebay doing anything to help either way...

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: czech09

Originally posted by: thehstrybean



<<<----Can't wait for google to make killer...

Honestly some things will never change like eBay's dominance in the auction sector...Google has won popularity in many categories ie: google vids, google map etc however it has failed at alot of stuff as well google messenger etc. I wouldn't see Ebay doing anything to help either way...

google messenger has 'failed' because, being a respected company and not a hack outfit, it doens't work with AIM. if it worked with AIM i think many many more people would use it.

auctions do not have the same sort of network effects problem that an instant messaging client does.

 

[apinomus]

Ebay is like driving. During a typical drive, majority of the drivers pass you by without you even noticing. But take 1 bad driver you see and you think everybody in town is a jackass driver. Ebay isn't so bad as long as you don't buy from obvious fake auctions. I think a lot of it is user stupidity.

 

[czech09]

Originally posted by: ElFenix

Originally posted by: czech09

Originally posted by: thehstrybean



<<<----Can't wait for google to make killer...

Honestly some things will never change like eBay's dominance in the auction sector...Google has won popularity in many categories ie: google vids, google map etc however it has failed at alot of stuff as well google messenger etc. I wouldn't see Ebay doing anything to help either way...

google messenger has 'failed' because, being a respected company and not a hack outfit, it doens't work with AIM. if it worked with AIM i think many many more people would use it.

auctions do not have the same sort of network effects problem that an instant messaging client does.

Guess we'll wait and see. With google's power it could be an instant success, especially if they make it free (which shouldn't be a problem for them I would think). However, displacing Ebay or giving it some good competition would be pretty difficult I think...

 

[Nocturnal]

Originally posted by: trinketsummoner
I think ebay should require a credit card for registration, and that info be verified - ie they send a letter to your home address that the card is linked to with a code on it and you enter the code to confirm. It wont help much with phishing and account hijacks but it would stop scammers setting up fraud auctions where they think they cant be traced.

The thing is, for most people, this would be annoying and I think they'd be turned off. Sure, some of you may say that you wouldn't mind it due to it being secure blah blah but most people out there aren't going to go along with it. They're going to say wtf, a CC to bid on something, no way.

 

[czech09]

Originally posted by: Nocturnal

Originally posted by: trinketsummoner
I think ebay should require a credit card for registration, and that info be verified - ie they send a letter to your home address that the card is linked to with a code on it and you enter the code to confirm. It wont help much with phishing and account hijacks but it would stop scammers setting up fraud auctions where they think they cant be traced.

The thing is, for most people, this would be annoying and I think they'd be turned off. Sure, some of you may say that you wouldn't mind it due to it being secure blah blah but most people out there aren't going to go along with it. They're going to say wtf, a CC to bid on something, no way.

Honestly, you have to have a CC to buy anything else online so why not on Ebay?

 

[newParadigm]

Originally posted by: czech09

Originally posted by: Nocturnal

Originally posted by: trinketsummoner
I think ebay should require a credit card for registration, and that info be verified - ie they send a letter to your home address that the card is linked to with a code on it and you enter the code to confirm. It wont help much with phishing and account hijacks but it would stop scammers setting up fraud auctions where they think they cant be traced.

The thing is, for most people, this would be annoying and I think they'd be turned off. Sure, some of you may say that you wouldn't mind it due to it being secure blah blah but most people out there aren't going to go along with it. They're going to say wtf, a CC to bid on something, no way.

Honestly, you have to have a CC to buy anything else online so why not on Ebay?

Then theyt would lose their customer base of 12 y/o kids buying action figures and legos (which i was one of waaayyyy back in the day, i can still remember sending money orders to people b/c I didnt/couldnt set up a PayPal account b/c of my age)

~new

 

[Ulfwald]

Ebay charges for their services, so they should be more responsible for their sellers. I say hold them accountable for a couple of reasons: 1: they charge for the use of their service yet offer really no protection, 2: they stall at providing law enforcement information that could help catch scammers.

 

[SVT Cobra]

Originally posted by: Ulfwald
Ebay charges for their services, so they should be more responsible for their sellers. I say hold them accountable for a couple of reasons: 1: they charge for the use of their service yet offer really no protection, 2: they stall at providing law enforcement information that could help catch scammers.

:thumbsup:

 

[Rock Hydra]

Originally posted by: BigJ
It's about fvcking time.

Agreed.

 

[Anubis]

Originally posted by: ElFenix

Originally posted by: czech09

Originally posted by: thehstrybean



<<<----Can't wait for google to make killer...

Honestly some things will never change like eBay's dominance in the auction sector...Google has won popularity in many categories ie: google vids, google map etc however it has failed at alot of stuff as well google messenger etc. I wouldn't see Ebay doing anything to help either way...

google messenger has 'failed' because, being a respected company and not a hack outfit, it doens't work with AIM. if it worked with AIM i think many many more people would use it.
.

i would use it if it worked with AIMs protocall, fvck that jabber bullsh!t

 

[BooGiMaN]

i still dont see why ebay woulnt cooperate faster and to the fullest extent with the authorities..are they somehow thining this would alienate some of their customer base?