Return abuse leaves a record. SafeBay makes sure the next seller can read it.
A buyer who sends back their old broken part instead of yours, or claims a delivered box never came, usually does it again at another store. SafeBay is a shared, evidence-backed blacklist of eBay buyers: report with photos and tracking, the AI grades the danger, every member sees the risk level, and the buyer's next order in your store arrives flagged.
- Evidence, not opinions
- Buyers can appeal
- Usernames only, never personal data
- Free, and it stays free
"Returned a corroded W10130913 pump with a different serial than the one I photographed before shipping. Tracking shows my box delivered on the 4th."
Every seller learns about the same buyer separately. That is the whole trick.
eBay decides return cases one at a time, store by store, and a buyer with a clean-looking account wins most of them. The seller who was just swapped a dead board for a working one blocks that buyer and moves on. The next store has no idea. SafeBay gives the buyer one record that follows the username: the report, the evidence, the danger grade, and how many other sellers have seen the same thing.
Four stores, four first times
- Store A, MarchOld pump returned, refund forced
- Store B, May"Never arrived", delivered per tracking
- Store C, JuneChargeback after a refund
- Your store, AugustYou ship. It happens to you.
One buyer, one record
- Store A reportsPhotos, serial, tracking. Risk: Low
- Store B reportsSecond seller. Risk: Medium
- Store C reportsChargeback, graded high. Risk: High
- Your store, AugustOrder arrives flagged. You decide first.
Two minutes from the order to a warning every member can see
- Pick the order
- Evidence and tags
- AI danger grade
- Attest and submit
- Community risk updates
- Next order flagged
Evidence first. The AI grades it, you sign it.
Start from the order and the buyer's details fill themselves. Add the photos you took before shipping and the ones of what came back, the serial numbers, the tracking. Pick the issue tags that apply. The AI reads all of it and proposes a danger level and any tags you missed, then you confirm the report is truthful and submit. Nothing is written until you do.
- Twelve issue tags, from Return dispute and Item Not Received Claims to Chargeback filed and Linked accounts
- Photos are normalised and stored with the report, never lost when eBay closes the case
- Prefer to stay quiet? Block the buyer for your store only, with no public report
- Reporting from a Messages thread pre-fills the danger level and tags the AI already saw
The warning shows up where you ship from
Every order in SafeBay is checked against the community record as it syncs. A reported buyer's name turns into a risk badge on the orders list, with the reporter count behind it, so the decision to ship, add signature confirmation, photograph the serial, or cancel happens before the label is printed. Whitelist a buyer you trust and the badge stays off for you.
- Risk badge on the orders list and in the order details
- Public buyer check for anyone, by eBay username, before you accept an offer
- Your personal block list and whitelist override the community view for your store
- WhitelistedGE WR60X10185 Evaporator Fan Motormkellerman42 · $64.20
- High risk · 4 sellersWhirlpool W10130913 Drain Pumppartsflipper_88 · $58.90
- Medium · 2 sellersSamsung DC97-16350C Drum Spiderdlopez.parts · $41.00
- No reportsBosch 00754011 Control Boardjrepairs_ohio · $186.40
The buyer who returns a third of what they buy from you is already in your orders
The Buyers CRM reads your own order history and does the arithmetic: anyone with three or more orders and a return rate of 30 percent or higher is recommended for your block list, anyone with a clean record for your whitelist. Kept revenue counts what you actually kept, with refunds taken out. One click either way.
A blacklist is only worth trusting if it is hard to abuse
The rules that keep one seller's bad day from becoming a buyer's permanent record.
Attested reports
Every report is filed under a statement that it is truthful, by a seller account with orders behind it.
Graded by evidence
The AI sets the danger level from photos, serials and tracking, not from how angry the comment is.
Risk needs agreement
High risk takes a high-danger grade, four reporters or six reports. One report alone reads as Low.
Appeals with teeth
A buyer proves the account is theirs, explains, and signs. The reporter withdraws, replies with evidence, or hands it to SafeBay.
Strikes for bad reports
A report that does not survive an appeal earns the seller a strike. Repeat offenders lose the right to report.
Usernames only
Names, emails, phones and addresses from orders are never indexed or shown to other sellers.
Three levels, computed the same way for everyone
The level on a buyer's record is recalculated whenever a report is added, withdrawn or lost on appeal. It comes from how many different sellers reported, how many reports there are, and the highest danger grade among them.
Free for every seller. Forever.
A shared shield with a paywall would have holes in it, so this one will never have a price. Every store that joins adds what it saw to the record, and every store that ships checks it. The seller who reports today is protected by the seller who reported last month, and protects the one who ships next week.
- Personal block list and whitelist, free
- Community risk levels and the public buyer check, free
- Reporting with evidence, order flagging and appeals, free
- On the Free plan today, and on every plan we ever add
Questions sellers ask about eBay return abuse
The patterns sellers report most: sending back a different or broken part than the one that was shipped, claiming an item never arrived when tracking shows delivery, opening "not as described" cases to force free returns, chargebacks after a refund, and repeat returns across many purchases. Each report carries an issue tag such as Return dispute, Item Not Received Claims, Chargeback filed or Frequent Returns.
It is SafeBay's own list, shared between sellers. eBay's block list is private to one account and holds no reason. SafeBay records who reported a buyer, why, with what evidence, and lets other sellers see the resulting risk level before they ship. With the Companion extension, your SafeBay list can also be mirrored into your eBay blocked buyer list, so eBay itself refuses the sale; the original list is backed up first.
Risk is computed from the whole community, not one angry seller. High needs either a report the AI graded as high danger, four or more different sellers reporting, or six or more reports in total. Medium needs a medium-danger report, two reporters or three reports. One report on its own reads as Low.
Every report is filed under an attestation that it is truthful, with the seller's account behind it. The AI grades the danger level from the evidence rather than the seller's mood. Buyers can appeal, and a seller whose report does not hold up receives a strike against their reporting. Reports without evidence carry less weight than reports with photos, serials and tracking.
A buyer can look themselves up and see the risk level, the issue tags and how many sellers reported them, never the sellers' identities. They can file an appeal with proof that the account is theirs, an explanation and a signed statement. The reporting seller can withdraw, reply with evidence, or hand it to SafeBay to decide.
The public buyer check works on eBay usernames only. Real names, emails, phone numbers and addresses from your orders are never indexed or shown to other sellers. Evidence photos are visible to SafeBay and to the reporting seller, and only summarised for the community.
All of them, including Free, and that will not change. Seller protection only works if every seller is in, so the personal blacklist and whitelist, community risk levels, reporting with evidence, order flagging and appeals are free on every SafeBay account, forever.
The next seller should not have to find out the hard way.
Report with evidence. Check before you ship. Free for every seller, forever.