So I was using my friend ebay to sell some items, long story short we had some items stolen, and now we owe ebay $10k, I was using my paypal and my friend ebay, my friend is very angry and she thinks ebay will go after her, I want to know can ebay ruin her credit.
It is very likely that they will turn this debt over to a debt collector since it is so much money. The debt collector will chase your friend (and possibly you because of the Paypal account) and it could end up hurting your and her credit. You should probably try to contact eBay and local law enforcement to show what happened and explain why you are not just deadbeats trying to get away with something.
As @jrbiz stated above, this is a large amount of money so more than likely a debt collector/collection agency will get involved. If you can try to get local law enforcement involved and get a police report made then you can offer ebay what they want and see what can be worked out. eBay debts CAN affect your credit as a co-worker of mine had found out. He went to buy a house & there was something on his credit report that had to do with an eBay debt (a couple hundred dollars) from a year prior that he thought was taken care of. So you need to tr to work with eBay and get them what they want so you & your friend don't get the debt collectors to harass you.
Bingo. Ebay has now confirmed that this is the way to go. Report the theft to your local police and get that report to eBay.
Not all that sure why that would matter to ebay. He/she is going to report a crime that happened online that have taken place somewhere in the US, or even overseas for that matter. Local police cant not do much of anything, unless they find out it was a local crime, and what are the chances of this crime being local? Even though the op did not get into detail, i suspect one person or more ordered stuff, then did some disputes on what they ordered, and probably using stolen credit cards. I guess the question is: Will ebay cover your losses? that is not a lot of money to a giant such as ebay, but none-the-less they still have a business to run; In end, if they say you pay, then the bill will be yours, so yes, if they say pay up, and you dont, then I suspect the ebay & paypal account(s) will be suspended, and you will most likely would be sent to collections. Before this even happens and with this amount of money at stake, then you should immediately contact a consumer attorney that deals in this type of law, as you just do not want to take the word of ebay, unless they give you a good outcome, if they do not, then contact an attorney.
As I understood it, items got stolen before they were delivered - if not, why would eBay go after the seller? It's not that hard to prove scammers online.
I cannot speak specifically about eBay and stolen goods/bad debts because I never dealt with them for this specific issue; however, insurance companies also often require that you go to your local law enforcement and fill out a crime report to make a claim on something stolen that is covered by your insurance. For example, when I was in college, I had a wristwatch stolen from my dorm and it was covered under my parents' homeowners insurance. There was absolutely no chance that the police would actually investigate the theft since it was so small and almost impossible to figure out who did it from among hundreds of potential suspects, but I presume that they required a police report because it makes the theft "official" in that there is now a public record of it and the reporting person is now on the record with authorities and could be prosecuted if discovered to have perjured himself or herself with the statement. I suggest that you do what eBay recommended and see if that will be enough for them to "forgive" the debt. If not, @dscurlock offers good advice about contacting an attorney to get this cleared up.
OP surely did not fill in the gaps; This is what it sounds like...buyers paid for their goods, merchandise gets stolen, buyers file dispute(s), seller does not refund buyers, now ebay wants their money back... Was the merchandise stolen while still in the hands of the seller, in the shipping process, between how many buyers, how many pieces of merchandise? There just seems like a big gap of info the op is leaving out.... If this stuff was stolen out of the OP's car, I doubt ebay will want to cover anything.... Either way you look at it, seller has the money.... and leaves buyers & ebay holding the bag.... If the merchandise was stolen before getting to the shipper, then the right thing to do is just return the money.... (and you have no other insurance?) There is also another question... Is any of this even legit, or is the seller trying to figure out how to get away with scamming ebay.... This just seems unlikely that this much goods that are valued at around $10,000 were stolen in the shipping process. It is more likely that the goods were stolen while still in the possession of the seller, and the seller is trying to find a way for ebay to cover the goods.... or the seller maybe running some type of ebay scam. a profesional company or seller simply does not come on DP to ask such questions. (because legal counsel would have already been obtained)
How the merchandise got stolen can make a difference. The op never said "items where stolen before being delivered" he simply said the items were stolen. If they had been stolen during shipping then he could possibly be covered according to ebay shipping policies, and I think it is highly unlikely the items were stolen in a single batch during shipping, and what are the chances of that? Of course it maybe possible, but the seller did not indicate the items were stolen in the shipping process. If I were to believe this story, then I would believe that the items were stolen at the sellers warehouse, or sellers location, and if this is the case, then I suspect that ebay has no such policy to cover the items, and if this is the case then the seller is 100% liable, not ebay, so yes, in this type of event, then ebay would go after the seller since the seller received the funds.... If the goods were still in the possession of the seller when the theft took place, then seller is liable, and he will not win this fight with ebay. If the seller wants to continue selling on ebay, then the seller should stop trying to get ebay to cover something they will not be liable for and just return the funds. Only the seller knows the real story, and so far, his info has been vague....