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eBay Buyer Protection Loophole: Crypto Collectibles Scam

buyer protection ebay
Bill Sohne
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Hi Everyone
Did you know that their are Ebay Categories that are Not eligible for eBay purchase protection programs !

For example ....
The Catagory

Collectible
Virtual & Crypto Collectibles

Are Not eligible for eBay purchase protection programs .


I thought I have seen it all on ebay.....

How about a seller that list ALL their items under specific eBay category ... ....

Collectible

"Virtual & Crypto Collectibles"

As a buyer on the platform you would never notice it .... when searching for an item over all categories

FYI the definition of "Virtual & Crypto Collectibles"

Virtual and crypto collectibles are cryptographically unique digital assets—often using Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs)—that represent verifiable ownership of distinct items like art, virtual real estate, trading cards, or in-game items. Stored on the blockchain, these tokens guarantee scarcity and authenticity in the digital space.


These are for Digital based assets . ....


But low and behold .... a seller can list anything under any category ... But if you list it under
Collectible
Virtual & Crypto Collectibles

As a ebay buyer you have NO buyer protection from ebay.... Cause Ebay thinks the ITEMS are Digital Asset Based.

Any thoughts ?
Here is an example I pulled from ebay to night for a can rack .... ( NOT A DIGITAL ASSET ) Notice the fine print to the RIGHT OF THE RED ARROW on the bottom of the page !

I guess you can report suspicious seller activity to ebay.

I had a item come in damage , seller told me to report it .... I found out I cant. Nice huh?

Good Hunting and Spread the Passion

Bill
Screenshot 2026-06-04 at 10.16.11 PM.webp Screenshot 2026-06-04 at 10.16.11 PM.webp
 
dsio
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Yea thats dodgy as, eBay probably aren't even aware of it as they tend to be slow to react to stuff like this.
 
ukchrono
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22
ebay system usually deleting such listening but it can takes time
Also account can be restricted if you will repeat such things
 
Syrte
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Bill Sohne Bill Sohne
Hi Everyone
Did you know that their are Ebay Categories that are Not eligible for eBay purchase protection programs !

For example ....
The Catagory

Collectible
Virtual & Crypto Collectibles

Are Not eligible for eBay purchase protection programs .


I thought I have seen it all on ebay.....

How about a seller that list ALL their items under specific eBay category ... ....

Collectible

"Virtual & Crypto Collectibles"

As a buyer on the platform you would never notice it .... when searching for an item over all categories

FYI the definition of "Virtual & Crypto Collectibles"

Virtual and crypto collectibles are cryptographically unique digital assets—often using Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs)—that represent verifiable ownership of distinct items like art, virtual real estate, trading cards, or in-game items. Stored on the blockchain, these tokens guarantee scarcity and authenticity in the digital space.


These are for Digital based assets . ....


But low and behold .... a seller can list anything under any category ... But if you list it under
Collectible
Virtual & Crypto Collectibles

As a ebay buyer you have NO buyer protection from ebay.... Cause Ebay thinks the ITEMS are Digital Asset Based.

Any thoughts ?
Here is an example I pulled from ebay to night for a can rack .... ( NOT A DIGITAL ASSET ) Notice the fine print to the RIGHT OF THE RED ARROW on the bottom of the page !

I guess you can report suspicious seller activity to ebay.

I had a item come in damage , seller told me to report it .... I found out I cant. Nice huh?

Good Hunting and Spread the Passion

Bill
Screenshot 2026-06-04 at 10.16.11 PM.webp Screenshot 2026-06-04 at 10.16.11 PM.webp
Crazy, thanks for the warning. This loophole may be Ebay’s death knell, one of their best features is their buyer protection program.
 
blubarb
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Did not know this. Thanks for the heads up, Bill.
 
Vercingetorix
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Report for avoiding eBay fees. They will respond quicker if they are losing money. Lots of sellers try to list as used and accepts returns but put for parts or repair and no returns under the description. No returns accepted is a higher fee.
 
Bill Sohne
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9,380
Vercingetorix Vercingetorix
Report for avoiding eBay fees. They will respond quicker if they are losing money. Lots of sellers try to list as used and accepts returns but put for parts or repair and no returns under the description. No returns accepted is a higher fee.
Na, these sellers find a lopehole and making eBay an unwilling partner in this ..... really sad as this is not what eBay's intent for the category....

I just report that they are filing under a incorrect category , that circumvents eBay buyer protection programs . If eBay tuns a blind eye to it ...I would think that could up them up for more issues.

Good Hunting and spread the passion

Bill
 
timesofplenty
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I can't find the "report" button on desktop anymore, looks like they removed it?
 
140dave
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Yeah there are weird ways around protection on a few categories but this is beyond those.

Watches: I’ve seen people list them as “customized” to bypass the authentication service. Similar categories can be chosen in trading cards to bypass the authentication process but they still have the basic buyer protection.

Thanks for pointing this out, another thing to add to the list before executing a quick buy it now.
 
salesbyhelen
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2
Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We want to clarify that the situation described is the result of a technical integration error, not an attempt to circumvent eBay policies or fees.

We utilize Sellbrite to sync our inventory from Shopify to various marketplaces. Due to a mapping failure during recent syncs, our items defaulted to the first available category in the eBay tree, which, unfortunately, is Collectibles > Crypto, rather than their correct categories.

As soon as we were made aware of this error, we immediately removed all affected listings to prevent further confusion. We have been in contact with both eBay support and Sellbrite’s engineering team to identify why these categories failed to sync and to ensure our account settings are corrected to prevent this from recurring.

We sincerely appreciate the community member who flagged this; it explained why we were seeing blocked transactions and a significant drop in our sales. We take our standing as an eBay seller very seriously and are working diligently to restore our inventory correctly.
 
Bill Sohne
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9,380
salesbyhelen salesbyhelen
Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We want to clarify that the situation described is the result of a technical integration error, not an attempt to circumvent eBay policies or fees.

We utilize Sellbrite to sync our inventory from Shopify to various marketplaces. Due to a mapping failure during recent syncs, our items defaulted to the first available category in the eBay tree, which, unfortunately, is Collectibles > Crypto, rather than their correct categories.

As soon as we were made aware of this error, we immediately removed all affected listings to prevent further confusion. We have been in contact with both eBay support and Sellbrite’s engineering team to identify why these categories failed to sync and to ensure our account settings are corrected to prevent this from recurring.

We sincerely appreciate the community member who flagged this; it explained why we were seeing blocked transactions and a significant drop in our sales. We take our standing as an eBay seller very seriously and are working diligently to restore our inventory correctly.
Hi John

Welcome to Omega forums ….

Thanks for the clarity……. Looking forward to buying again from your eBay store.

It was also weird when I look at your store on the mobile app it would say “This store has no inventory available in your location”


Would also lead me to believe there is some type of internal error in the enlisting engine your using …

I also tried to contact your eBay store with a very slow reply time typically would have to wait 7 days for reply that was little help like “ just file a report “ …

Thanks again for the reply and have a great evening.


Bill
 
Bill Sohne
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T thefranciscoram
So, can people list a watch under that category?
I have seen sellers list a basket under this category … eBay does not seem to police this and it
Is obvious to me that there are no standard operating procedures to report and deal with this. …


Sad


Best
Bill
 
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