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.

eBay The eBay Empire • eBay • PayPal • Bill Me later • StubHub --- News • eBay Buys Bill Me Later • eBay: Where Recalled Items Live Forever • eBay Ignores Scam Victim • Class Action Against eBay • Sunday Times Reports Widespread Shill Bidding on eBay • Boston Man Charged with Hacking eBay • Consumers Question eBay's Security • Recalled Products Routinely Listed on eBay • eBay Faces Shilling Suit --- More eBay Complaints • Merchandise Not Received • Misrepresentation • eBay Motors • Shilling • Miscellaneous Complaints • Sellers Complaints • Defenders

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:

Robert of Long Beach, MS April 17, 2009

Robert of Long Beach MS (04/17/09)
Is Ebay the handwriting on the wall that foretells a disastrous era of consumer abuse in the USA? For 3 months I have fought like a midget David against a Goliath of organizational insensitivity and incompetence in trying to get Ebay to unblock my account. For three long months Ebay persistently and ignorantly claimed that I had failed to pay sellers fees of less than 4.00, although I faxed to Ebay copies of my cancelled payment check, appealed to Ebay CEO John Donahue (who never replied), and to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

The more I protested and appealed, the more frequent (almost daily) and annoying became Ebays dunning notices to pay up, or not use your account again?. I have encountered hard-nosed business firms before, who operate on the premise that the customer is always wrong, but Ebay is in a class by itself when it comes to arrogance. Thats the problem. Tell your congressman and senator that our Federal Government needs legislative authority to compel megabucks conglomerates like Ebay, which operate across state and national borders, to set up an internal watchdog ombudsman office to handle customer complaints.

The most frustrating part of my experience with Ebay was not having an intelligent, responsible representative assigend to deal with me. Instead I was confronted by a Kafkaesque bureaucracy of constantly changing names, file numbers, components, email addresses, which made evident that no one at Ebay felt responsible for resolving my complaint. It was the proverbial buck passed around and around, apparently in anticipation that I would eventually wear out and shut up.

And now, the rest of the story. Yes, I finally got Ebay to credit my payment of January 2009 to my account in April, 2009! So, now I can use my account. Oh, happy day. But I would be a fool to do so and risk another 3-month tussle with a mindless Goliath. I can use my time and energies better writing to my electoral representatives. Now they are people that Ebay does have to listen to still.

Wasted time (too many hours to count) and money (for fax, postage, etc.) and disappointment at the state of consumer protection under the new administration, which seems not much better than under the previous one.

Debbie of Boardman, OH April 16, 2009

Debbie of Boardman OH (04/16/09)
On December 24, 2008 I went on eBay and did a US only search for a pair of UGG boots. The US only search is a feature that eBay has so that only products being sold in the US show up on your search. I found an ad for a pair of UGG boots. In the ad the seller was listed as kikeuriarte and the location of the item was Chula Vista, CA, United States. The ad stated Brand NIB Classic Tall Ugg boots Size 8 US Black. So I bought them through PayPal for 120.00. This ad had PayPal's buyer protection on it also.

What I received on December 27, 2008 were fake UGG boots from a seller named x. xinwei, and they came from Bejing, China. I contacted the seller to inform him that I did not want his fake boots and that I wanted a full refund and for him to pay the shipping costs to send the boots back to him. He informed me via email that he would not pay for the shipping. I contacted ebay to file a complaint. eBay told me via email to contact the seller by phone to work things out. They also said that if talking to the seller wasn't working out then to file a Significantly Not as described item dispute directly through PayPal. They told me that since I used PayPal to purchase this item, PayPal Buyer Protection covers up to the full purchase price and original shipping charges.

Well there were no shipping charges for me to receive the item. eBay also suggested I file a complaintwith the Internet Crime Complaint Center and to leave feedback to the seller. That was eBay's extent of rectifying the problem. So I tried to leave the feedback for the seller, but surprise, they were no longer listed on eBay. I contacted PayPal and they said that they would refund my money once I shipped the item back using a vendor that had online tracking capabilities. So I tried that and found out that it would cost me 165.00 to ship the fake UGG boots back to Bejing. That is more than what I was charged for the boots.

I can't understand why I should be out of pocket to ship an item that was not what was advertised to a seller I did not by from who does business outside the US which I specifically said I did not want. eBay will do nothing further to help me get my money back. PayPal said the only option left to me is to contact my credit card company and put a stop payment on the purchase. I did that but since I did receive an item from someone who is somewhere they will not credit my account. eBay should be more responsible for the sellers who pay eBay to list their items and they should do more for the buyers when they are wronged.

I am out 120.00 for an item that was misrepresetned. they are fake and that is not what the ad stated.

Alan of Lakehills, TX April 11, 2009

Alan of Lakehills TX (04/11/09)
When relisting an item a NEW ITEM TITLE and a STOCK PHOTO are AUTOMATICALLY CHANGED AND INSERTED. This is a TRICKY way and truly unethical way of making item titles what you want them to be so they will work with your best match search as well as hoping the person who relist's the item does not notice the STOCK photo that you conveniently inserted (without my permission by the way) just to garner an additional .15 cents. Sure, it's not much but .15 multiplied by the number of users who do not know is a lot of money that eBay is cheating it's own customers out of. eBay preaches about ethics and doing good business. What kind of example are you setting? Regards

nothing, just an automated pastie as usual

Charles of Branchburg, NJ April 10, 2009

Charles of Branchburg NJ (04/10/09)
Tried to lodge neutral feedback for 2 sellers, I was not allowed to complete the feedback. I have 750 positive feebacks as a buyer for the last 5years and never encountered this problem. I ask is Ebay trying to secure it's income by disallowing neutral or negative feedback? My browers and various computer systems exhibit no problems, so I am left to believe that when I tried to leave feebacks as stated previously the funcion of the HTML button has been de-activated although it appears on the webpage, therefore leaving no choice but for the buyer to leave positive feeback.

Misty of Fredericksburg, VA March 29, 2009

Misty of Fredericksburg VA (03/29/09)
A few weeks ago I listed a Mary Poppins movie, brand new still in the plastic. A private bidder bid on the DVD up to 25 and when time came to pay, they did not. I filed a complaint and waited the 8 days and after no response from the private bidder I was refunded my listing fees. Again today my auction ended and the purchaser, after I researched, has 5 different accounts all of which has 0 feedback. I contacted Ebay Friday and was told that a seller cannot filter who they want to sell to, rather you have to file a complaint. They also said it's the buyers right to remain anonymous. What about the seller? We are paying fees for listing the item as well as fees when it sells and Paypal takes a chunk when you get paid through them. I think the least Ebay can do is validate the accounts when they are made.

Report Your Experience
If you've had a bad experience -- or a good one -- with a consumer product or service, we'd like to hear about it. All complaints are reviewed by class action attorneys and are considered for publication on our site. Knowledge is power! Help spread the word. File your consumer report now.

Share		Follow us on Twitter.

Back to the top |