A cautionary tale of eBay
Sep. 5th, 2008 02:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shalannaYeah, yeah, I know . . . I was warned. People told me I'd be ripped off, that I'd get crappy merchandise, yadda yadda yadda. But--
That's not what happened. I haven't ever gotten anything that wasn't pretty much as represented (although I have misunderstood what I was looking at in photos, and that was my own fault.) I've had pretty good luck with eBay *sellers*.
It's eBay itself that decided last night around midnight that my money wasn't green enough and that they didn't want me shopping there any more. I had logged on around 11:45 and had paid for an auction item through PayPal and was returning to my eBay page when I got the "alert" that I had an Unpaid Item Strike. Now, I had not gotten any kind of preliminary email or reminder, so this surprised me. I looked at the list, and there was one item (a few jewelry findings that I wanted so I could make more charm necklaces--but that's another entry that I can't make until later) where the seller had entered a complaint. How long had this sat around unpaid? Two days.
But anyway, I clicked to PayPal that one and then went to the Dispute Console to enter the info about how I had paid and to politely suggest that they send an email warning people that they would get a strike if they didn't pay soon--rather than just entering a strike. I thought that was their policy.
As soon as I exited that console, I got a page telling me that my information was temporarily unavailable and to try again later. I decided to go on to bed and finish paying for the other three things in the morning.
But this morning when I tried to log on, I couldn't. I got a page telling me that my account had been suspended and that I would heretofore be blocked from any transactions. The "explanation" page told me I would have to pay all my seller's fees before I could be reinstated. Well, because I have never sold anything, I was dubious. Yet I clicked over to that page, and it told me I didn't have fees but should clear up all complaints.
I clicked on the live chat help button and got a representative who was mystified. She sent me to a billing rep, who said I didn't have any fees but that my account was blocked. He sent me back to a regular rep who sent me to another ebay page that let me send email to customer service. However, you have to log in to do any emailing on that system, and here's what I get when I go to ANY ebay page now:
Your account has been suspended
[ID]'s account is now blocked.
You have been indefinitely suspended from eBay because our records indicate your account was involved in activities that violate our policy governing eBay use by temporarily or indefinitely suspended members. Learn more about this offense.
"Offense"? Good grief. I clicked around and it finally told me that my account was "linked to another suspended account." The only way that could have happened is that I must've bought something from someone whose account is now suspended.
I went back into live chat and they sent me to a page where I could finally email customer service. I described the problem and said that I needed to pay the other auctions or else my account really WOULD be in violation. The page says that they take 24-48 hours to answer. No answers yet.
At this point I don't WANT to buy anything more from eBay, but I did want the jewelry findings and the little fish charm that I had already won. However, I can't get to the checkout page or go to PayPal with those auctions because I'm locked out. I tried to contact the sellers to tell them why I hadn't paid, but the system said my account isn't authorized even for that.
To hell with ebay anyway--Dallas is a shopping mecca, the stores are practically giving junk away (except for groceries and gas, which have both gone up!), and there are tons of flea markets where I could probably find this stuff just as cheaply. I don't HAVE to have jewelry findings anyhow. I was just makin' these charm necklaces because I had a ton of charms that I thought would be cool on necklaces. I have a few of the findings I need, anyway, so I could do a necklace without the stuff. But still . . . it seems like a random targeting for whatever reason. Makes me angry.
Here's the ironic part. Since I sent out all this "help me" mail, I have gotten a bunch of email messages telling me that I have unpaid item strikes for everything I was trying to pay for (and remember, these auctions JUST ended or ended a day or two ago, so they are NOT seven days old!) This means that my account is now eligible for suspension . . . BECAUSE they made it impossible to pay for the stuff by suspending it for no reason. I had to roll my eyes.
Anyhow, I had heard that eBay had gone way downhill and that it had started being really strange, and now I know what was meant by that. They target you for some minor thing (that they SAY is not going to be a problem in their policy) and then it snowballs.
So that solves my problem of buying things I don't need, anyhow. The Universe took action! And although it does seem strange that a company would want to zap someone who had been a good customer and had spent a few hundred dollars there over the past few months, hey, whatever--they're free to refuse service to anybody. They just lost MY business.
What great customer service, eh?
I was gonna do a post today about how to make a charm necklace and show you the one I made, but now I've got to go do some other stuff. Will take some photos later and do that post, just in case you might like to make one. They are kind of neat. I never wear bracelets 'cause they bang against the keyboard or the piano or the desk . . . you know the drill. But necklaces--yes!
Just don't bother to buy the stuff on eBay. Do a search and you'll find plenty of great shops that do business on their own websites. Be sure to comparison-shop, as the split rings and spring rings that I used can vary widely in price from site to site.
Sheesh . . . ebay. *grumble*
That's not what happened. I haven't ever gotten anything that wasn't pretty much as represented (although I have misunderstood what I was looking at in photos, and that was my own fault.) I've had pretty good luck with eBay *sellers*.
It's eBay itself that decided last night around midnight that my money wasn't green enough and that they didn't want me shopping there any more. I had logged on around 11:45 and had paid for an auction item through PayPal and was returning to my eBay page when I got the "alert" that I had an Unpaid Item Strike. Now, I had not gotten any kind of preliminary email or reminder, so this surprised me. I looked at the list, and there was one item (a few jewelry findings that I wanted so I could make more charm necklaces--but that's another entry that I can't make until later) where the seller had entered a complaint. How long had this sat around unpaid? Two days.
But anyway, I clicked to PayPal that one and then went to the Dispute Console to enter the info about how I had paid and to politely suggest that they send an email warning people that they would get a strike if they didn't pay soon--rather than just entering a strike. I thought that was their policy.
As soon as I exited that console, I got a page telling me that my information was temporarily unavailable and to try again later. I decided to go on to bed and finish paying for the other three things in the morning.
But this morning when I tried to log on, I couldn't. I got a page telling me that my account had been suspended and that I would heretofore be blocked from any transactions. The "explanation" page told me I would have to pay all my seller's fees before I could be reinstated. Well, because I have never sold anything, I was dubious. Yet I clicked over to that page, and it told me I didn't have fees but should clear up all complaints.
I clicked on the live chat help button and got a representative who was mystified. She sent me to a billing rep, who said I didn't have any fees but that my account was blocked. He sent me back to a regular rep who sent me to another ebay page that let me send email to customer service. However, you have to log in to do any emailing on that system, and here's what I get when I go to ANY ebay page now:
Your account has been suspended
[ID]'s account is now blocked.
You have been indefinitely suspended from eBay because our records indicate your account was involved in activities that violate our policy governing eBay use by temporarily or indefinitely suspended members. Learn more about this offense.
"Offense"? Good grief. I clicked around and it finally told me that my account was "linked to another suspended account." The only way that could have happened is that I must've bought something from someone whose account is now suspended.
I went back into live chat and they sent me to a page where I could finally email customer service. I described the problem and said that I needed to pay the other auctions or else my account really WOULD be in violation. The page says that they take 24-48 hours to answer. No answers yet.
At this point I don't WANT to buy anything more from eBay, but I did want the jewelry findings and the little fish charm that I had already won. However, I can't get to the checkout page or go to PayPal with those auctions because I'm locked out. I tried to contact the sellers to tell them why I hadn't paid, but the system said my account isn't authorized even for that.
To hell with ebay anyway--Dallas is a shopping mecca, the stores are practically giving junk away (except for groceries and gas, which have both gone up!), and there are tons of flea markets where I could probably find this stuff just as cheaply. I don't HAVE to have jewelry findings anyhow. I was just makin' these charm necklaces because I had a ton of charms that I thought would be cool on necklaces. I have a few of the findings I need, anyway, so I could do a necklace without the stuff. But still . . . it seems like a random targeting for whatever reason. Makes me angry.
Here's the ironic part. Since I sent out all this "help me" mail, I have gotten a bunch of email messages telling me that I have unpaid item strikes for everything I was trying to pay for (and remember, these auctions JUST ended or ended a day or two ago, so they are NOT seven days old!) This means that my account is now eligible for suspension . . . BECAUSE they made it impossible to pay for the stuff by suspending it for no reason. I had to roll my eyes.
Anyhow, I had heard that eBay had gone way downhill and that it had started being really strange, and now I know what was meant by that. They target you for some minor thing (that they SAY is not going to be a problem in their policy) and then it snowballs.
So that solves my problem of buying things I don't need, anyhow. The Universe took action! And although it does seem strange that a company would want to zap someone who had been a good customer and had spent a few hundred dollars there over the past few months, hey, whatever--they're free to refuse service to anybody. They just lost MY business.
What great customer service, eh?
I was gonna do a post today about how to make a charm necklace and show you the one I made, but now I've got to go do some other stuff. Will take some photos later and do that post, just in case you might like to make one. They are kind of neat. I never wear bracelets 'cause they bang against the keyboard or the piano or the desk . . . you know the drill. But necklaces--yes!
Just don't bother to buy the stuff on eBay. Do a search and you'll find plenty of great shops that do business on their own websites. Be sure to comparison-shop, as the split rings and spring rings that I used can vary widely in price from site to site.
Sheesh . . . ebay. *grumble*
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no subject
Date: 2008-09-05 08:12 pm (UTC)I can't tell you how much of our (and every other retailer's) STOLEN merchandise ends up on EBay (hint, if it says "new with tags" it's usually stolen)
Bands of organzied retail criminals raid stores for everything from software and electronics to baby formula and over the counter medications. Sometimes by clearing shelves and bolting, sometimes by shoplifting and even by stealing entire semi trailers worth of merchandise. Other times, the merchandise is stolen by "buying" it from a legitimate retailer with a stolen credit card or counterfeit check (thus supporting ID theft rings)
EBay and Craig's list just made it easier to fence stolen goods.
They make every legitimiate purchase the rest of us make much more expensive, it costs us all BILLIONS of dollars.
*cringe*
Date: 2008-09-05 08:57 pm (UTC)Well, actually, I *had* thought it might be stolen, but I was thinking more along the lines of somebody stealing one or two items at a time, not of a theft ring. But of course that makes more sense! *cringe* That car charger may have been stolen. Ack!
The other things I always look at are memorabilia (anything from celebrities to Girl Scout jewelry or whatnot), art rubber stamps, and charm bracelets. A lot of times you'll see silver charm bracelets that are loaded with somebody's children's names engraved on those little silhouette heads, and anniversary/graduation stuff, and confirmation stuff, and you wonder, "Why would anyone sell this?" You'd think that the children, or the grands, or maybe some distant cousin would keep "the story of Joe and Darlene's life together" on a bracelet. I never bid on those, as I'm always kind of sad just looking. BUT! What if those are STOLEN out of people's HOUSES? That makes me even MORE upset.
The bracelet stuff I have gotten in the past has just been the 3D animals and so forth . . . nothing that was engraved with someone else's name, because that just made me feel creeped out anyhow. Still, I suppose some of it could have been "liberated" by the seller.
Good riddance to that whole arena, then. I'll just shop garage sales. A lot of times you'll see nice things at garage sales, although you have to get pretty grimy pawing through old clothing and potholders and church cookbooks (some of which are pretty interesting themselves) to find the good finds!
*sigh* Man, I shoulda thought more deeply about where those sterling .925 silver bracelets that cost $7 were coming from. When stores sell them for $30 to $40, depending on weight. Maybe that was a volume discount, or maybe not. $7 was really reasonable, though (!!), for an empty charm link bracelet that was marked sterling. Should have rung a warning bell.
Re: *cringe*
Date: 2008-09-05 09:00 pm (UTC)Yes, I buy celebrities as memorabilia! Old, forgotten celebrities. We have Fabian in the sunroom and David Cassidy in the back bedroom. . . .
*sigh*
I meant junk like autographed photos of Jerry Lewis, of course . . . or first edition books with signatures . . . not the actual celebrities. The shipping costs would just be too high.
no subject
Date: 2008-09-05 10:35 pm (UTC)I'm glad that most of the stuff I've ever purchased on eBay (which has been few and far between) has been either antique items or else handmade goods linked to another website.
no subject
Date: 2008-09-05 08:22 pm (UTC)i have not had any problems, yet. i did make a purchase (quite pricey) that turned out to be a stoen item. i did get my money back, the person who was selling it was doing so for "a friend", and the police got involved. arrests were made, and there was a good conclusion. so far, i continue to do business with ebay. but i have discovered wonderful places like etsy.com, who sell handmade goods, jewelry, art, crafts, handwork, sewing, etc. they have findings, they have vintage, they have a whole host of things. i love it. it is much more germane to my taste, anyways.
i hope you can either get things straightened out, or find better alternatives!
no subject
Date: 2008-09-05 09:04 pm (UTC)Etsy is a good suggestion! I am wondering now whether maybe one of the craft superstores around here might have findings. I should go look. . . .
no subject
Date: 2008-09-06 12:27 am (UTC)