Ebay experience

[Sadie5]

When I tried to get into my ebay account on Jan. 19th I could not log in, the same with my hotmail account that I have had for over 10 years, it is the email account I use on ebay. Today I finally decided to try live chat because I wanted some answers plus I had a hunch it was some kind of ebay problem. I guess on the 19th someone had hijacked my account, complete with password, and had listed a refrigerator. This is the listing: THERMADOR 48 CUSTOM PANEL REFRIGERATOR FREEZER
Item Id: 220347393338
End time: Jan-21-09 16:04:20 PST

I informed every one of the 5 different departments I talked to that I am a buyer, not a seller and I certainly did not list this fridge with free shipping in the US. After being cleared to reenter I found 22 messages in my messages box. Some were downright nasty, others hinted at my being a crook, still others really wanted the fridge. The listing used my ebay login, but how did the fraudsters get my password? Although ebay also reported me to hotmail as a crook and had my account locked they said they could do nothing to help me unlock the account. If it is this easy to get passwords on ebay then there is a big time problem which needs fixing. Hotmail could care less if I ever get back into that account and another thing is how can ebay just freeze email accounts? On another note, I pride myself on always giving 5 star feedback as I know how dog eat dog it can be out there in the business world trying to please the public. Doesn't matter how hard you try or what you do, they still gripe.Any comments about my password theft or how the crooks managed to get it. It is not a password you can pull out of thin air.

[democraticinsurgent]

1. one possibility is phishing emails

You may already know this but many emails that look like they come from eBay are spoofs that are designed to get you to reply from your email program and then they grab your sign in info.

They bad guys have gotten so good at this that i periodically receive phony inquiries about actual items that i'm selling on eBay, referencing the item number, etc. They look just like official eBay mail.

I've been lucky not to be nailed by this, but I know others that have.

The best way to avoid this problem is to only reply to eBay messages from eBay site rather than from Outlook or whatever email program you use.

So sorry this has happened to you, and I am stunned that eBay could get your Hotmail account locked. eBay sucks in so many ways.

[Sadie5]

2. Thanks for the reply

I have bought so many great items on ebay and even had a few favorite sellers but after this ordeal I don't feel comfortable buying on there anymore.I did get to clear my account of any fraud so I guess that is as much as I can expect from them. As for hotmail, I can always open another account somewhere else.