I hope this does not come off as another ebay bitchin’ rant.
I recently PPal purchased a small electronic ($5) part on ebay. It was supposed to be from a USA seller and shipped from the USA. Specifically the seller was allegedly located in New Jersey and the shipping warehouse was allegedly to be in the same location. The item even had an American flag icon on the ebay pics.
Seller had thousands of feedbacks. Oddly I get a rapid ebay message from the seller saying that the item was “recalled due to quality problem” and offering a refund. The message was suspiciously worded. The message was very flowery and the wording was missing something. As an example the seller stated “What you think?” instead of what do you think. The message sounded too much like it was trying to be American English. It sure didn’t sound like it came from a New Jersey guy.
I sent a sparse reply : “refund ?”
I instantly get a message stating that I (as buyer) have cancelled the transaction, PayPal quickly refunded all payment BUT I can leave no feedback and there is NO purchase history in my ebay account for that transaction. The seller appears to have gotten my contact information (name , address etc) and whatever Paypal info is sent to them.
My ebay account is over 20 years old and I feel there is a trend here that something isn't quite right. Specific to this steam forum, I am noticing a large amount of new steam, stirling, and toy motor items on ebay lately that show USA flag icons and proudly saying they ship from USA , but is the seller located in the USA? Is there a weird data harvesting going on now?
I have NOT seen this suspicious trend yet in the auction or BIN on older vintage and antique steam related ebay items.