eBay

Back in prehistoric times, bosses worried that workers were using the office Internet connection to look at pornography. After that it was Amazon.com. Now it's eBay and the other auction sites.

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Walk through any office around 8:30 a.m. and everyone's logged on and ready for another day. Only thing is, instead of reading the CEO's latest rantings, they're buying antique waffle irons on eBay and selling some left-over parts from that old Studebaker out in the back yard.

The whole thing works more or less on the honor system, which is pretty much how speed limits work. Our suspicion has been that if you held up a radar gun, you'd find a lot of people speeding -- and a lot of others (or maybe the same ones) not coming through with the merch.

Here are a few of the more recent complaints we've received:

W.d. of Cabot, AR October 28, 2008

W.d. of Cabot AR (10/28/08)
Ebay now will not let my customers pay me with check or Money Order, in order to force the use of Paypal. I call this Restraint of Trade. Those customers are MY customers not Ebay's.

Many of my customers will just disappear.

Sandra of Margate, FL October 25, 2008

Sandra of Margate FL (10/25/08)
I was unjustly suspended from ebay and did all the necessary steps to get reinstated, now I am suspended indefintely. I have proof that a live help confirmed I could sell on another account also!

I have lost hundreds of dollars, this was my income, now I could even lose my home, I truly believe I did nothing wrong

Don of Pleasant Ridge, MI October 24, 2008

Don of Pleasant Ridge MI (10/24/08)
Ebay tried to overcharge me listing services and I caught them. They deducted 15 from my bill and then added .4.74 for a mysterious Selling Manager that I never used or requested. I am trying to pay the bill that I owe but they keep threatening to turn me over to collections.

They make it very difficult to deal with anyone at their company. The person I dealt with on their chat line agreed that the bill was wrong.

billing overcharge

Janer of New York, NY October 22, 2008

Janer of New York NY (10/22/08)
I sold an item on e-Bay for 285 and it has been a nightmare trying to collect my money. First they gave me conflicting shipping addresses. I had to wait for a response from the buyer only to find that they had given me a cross between his shipping and billing addresses. Next, they put a hold on releasing the money for the item. They have given me numerous stories as to when I would be paid. First it was after they received proof of delivery via my tracking number for USPS. The buyer was not a home, so USPS left a notice asking them to reschedule. I sent 3 emails to the buyer about this to assure that he knew USPS had tried to contact them. I asked him to arrange for a new delivery time at his convenience.

Meanwhile, eBay shifted me over to PayPal about receiving my payment. PayPal said they would give the buyer 21 days to reschedule the delivery. After that, they would release the money. Today the buyer finally accepted delivery. Both eBay and PayPal have the USPS delivery confirmation and will not give my my money. Now they say I must wait for 3 business days just in case something happens. This wait time is for they buyer's protection.

So I have paid over 52 in real money for shipping charges, eBay charges, and PayPal charges. PayPal charged 9 on a 300 payment! In return I have nothing. eBay has had the buyer's payment since October 11th and it's now October 23rd. I'm waiting for the next excuse for not paying me. To boot, eBay bounced my intial listing because the shipping costs, taken from their estimator, were too high. The estimator was correct, so I had to pay an extra 10 more than my ad read in order to ship the merchandise.

I work with a group of inner city kids on a robotics team. I often buy equipment for them out of my own pocket to keep the program going. This year, the organization running the competitions changed the hardware platform. This was bad timing because money is so tight in the school system. With the economy the way it is, I can't afford to donate very much this year. So I decided to sell, on eBay, some of the extra equipment I bought last year that was never even uncrated. Whatever I recouped from the sale would be a win for this robotics program. The only one winning on this is eBay (and their pals at PayPal).

Margaret of Transfer, PA October 22, 2008

Margaret of Transfer PA (10/22/08)
This is a service complaint. I get my mail at the above address and have for some time. Ebay would not accept it and let me register as they said there was no such zip code or town. They had better bring their information up to date because I live in Transfer, PA 16154 and it does exist. I don't live in NO place.

I can't register to shop on e-bay because of their error and stupidity.

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