wanaflyforless

The EBATES offer is not a scam. They get a comission from eBay based on price of item you buy. eBay probably pays EBATES 2% or 3% - EBATES is simply passing on a large portion of the referral cash they get from eBay to you.

You would be scamming eBay - not ebates. eBay does have people looking for people doing what you describe and has been known to close people's eBay accounts for fraud. When that happens, people have reported no longer being able to speak with ebay phone CS - all calls are responsded to saying you must write/email ___ fraud prevention department. Sometimes online access to your ebay accout is completely blocked while any balance owed ebay (ebay fees) is sent to collections. Other ebay accounts/future ebay accounts made from the same IP address, same mailing address, or same phone numbers may also be closed/blocked. There are threads on slickdeals/fatwallet discussing this.

A) When buyer and seller have anything in common (computer IP, address, phone, etc) - that is a flag - for an eBay rep to look closely at your activity.

B)When large items are returned - that is a flag - for an eBay rep to look closely at your activity.

C) Ebates Cashback gets cancelled when eBay informs Ebates your item was returned. Ebates can go after you for negative balances.

D) Seller could end up owing ebay fees even though buyer's cashback is cancelled.

You might get away with this fraud if you are slippery enough - I don't know - doesn't mean you should scam eBay just cause you can though.