Ebay: Help required

[mojo]

I have recently had problems as a Seller in contacting Ebay Customer Support. Trying to click help boxes just goes round in circles with no result.
Has anyone on the group had recent dealings with Ebay and can anyone offer advice as to how to contact them?
Maurice C.

[strang steel]

I have no faith in Ebay when it comes to customer support. I saw an item for sale by auction and saved the web address intending to bid nearer to the end date. However, when I looked at the item the following day it had been sold as a "Buy It Now" sale, the option for which was not there on my first visit as I would probably have bought it there and then for the price that was paid.

I emailed their complaints department, but apart from an auto receipt I have heard nothing at all and this all happened over 8 weeks ago. I think they are raking in too much money to be bothered with customer complaints.

[CVR1865]

http://contact.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI. ... tUsNextGen

try this link then contact us

I have called them before as a buyer and they were quite helpful. There has been such a shift with ebay towards protecting sellers that i am not surprised people are being put off selling but there we go.

Good luck.

[mojo]

That is the page where I was going round in circles!
You ask a question then it brings up another page which says ask another question and so on.
I have managed (hopefully) by asking 'how do I protect myself from fraud' which then got a button for contact us.
Surely you mean a bias to protect Buyers not Sellers, if so I totally agree. It seems there is little or no protection from unscrupulous buyers now.
Maurice C.

[StoneRoad]

If you have had a problem with a particular buyer being, for example, a time-wasting **** waste of space.

Try leaving some very negative feedback!

The only time I had dealings with the ebay system I had only limited success.
But the problem was solved....long story short....a guy was selling un-authourised RNLI logoed shirts, and the RNLI were able to bring enough clout to get the seller "discontinued"......

[redtoon1892]

They are not nicknamed Flea Bay for nothing, another organisation which totally disregards distance selling regulations.

[limitofshunt]

If you search for contacting eBay, or opt to choose your topic through the 'select topic' link, it's fairly straightforward to get the email and contact details.

At the end of the day eBay can't be held responsible for the actions of other adults unless something illegal's happened. It's just like buying from anyone you don't know.

[60129 GUY MANNERING]

I have no faith in Ebay when it comes to customer support. I saw an item for sale by auction and saved the web address intending to bid nearer to the end date. However, when I looked at the item the following day it had been sold as a "Buy It Now" sale, the option for which was not there on my first visit as I would probably have bought it there and then for the price that was paid.

I emailed their complaints department, but apart from an auto receipt I have heard nothing at all and this all happened over 8 weeks ago. I think they are raking in too much money to be bothered with customer complaints.

Sorry John,
but if there were no bids on the item the buyer is perfectly at liberty to change his listing and you have no complaint. The buyer could only have added the Buy-it -Now option under the above circumstances,the system will not allow the seller to do it if there is a bid.

Kind Regards,Del.

[Boris]

I recently put two books on ebay for bid and with a Buy It Now price.

They only came on with a bid, no Buy It now price mentioned

[CVR1865]

Mojo,
Yes i did mean they over protect the buyer, not the seller. It was much more exciting back in the day when you had to check a sellers feedback and then trust they would let you bid. Ohh those halcyon days....

[strang steel]

I have no faith in Ebay when it comes to customer support. I saw an item for sale by auction and saved the web address intending to bid nearer to the end date. However, when I looked at the item the following day it had been sold as a "Buy It Now" sale, the option for which was not there on my first visit as I would probably have bought it there and then for the price that was paid.

I emailed their complaints department, but apart from an auto receipt I have heard nothing at all and this all happened over 8 weeks ago. I think they are raking in too much money to be bothered with customer complaints.

Sorry John,
but if there were no bids on the item the buyer is perfectly at liberty to change his listing and you have no complaint. The buyer could only have added the Buy-it -Now option under the above circumstances,the system will not allow the seller to do it if there is a bid.

Kind Regards,Del.

Really? Can you give me a link to the specific rule which states this?

I found this on the Ebay site and it seems to suggest otherwise:-



What if a member offers you a "Buy It Now" price?

You can't add a Buy It Now price once the auction has started.

If a member contacts you to ask you to accept a final price for your item, it's against eBay rules to end the listing then sell the item to them directly. See Transactions Outside eBay.

However, you are permitted to end a listing early and sell the item to the high bidder (via the eBay website). Ask the member to place a bid at the amount they offered to you, then go to the End My Listing Early form and select "Sell to the high bidder".

Note: You should be prepared to sell the item to any other member who places a higher bid before you have a chance to sell the item to the intended member.

[richard]

My understanding (and this is what the options appear to support when you have stuff for sale) is that a Seller can add a Buy It Now option any time until a bid has been placed. Ie. the ability is lost as soon as someone places a bid. This makes sense as the Buy It Now could usurp (or gazump?) the original bid.

Richard

[strang steel]

But really this is just boiling down to an individual's definition of when the auction starts.

Is it when the first bid is placed, or is it when the item is listed?

I would be interested to see this challenged in court, but sadly I dont have large amounts of money to pay to m'learned friends.

[limitofshunt]

It's only an auction site. You didn't have the item to start with, why get so het up if you don't have the item at the end? Surely there are more important things to get upset about? I know I've certainly not got time to sulk about not winning something.

[strang steel]

What a strange comment to make.

However, seeing as you obviously like making judgements on subjects you know nothing about, I will relieve you of your ignorance.

I was never going to have the item at all. It happened to be a china piece of a design that hardly ever comes up on Ebay; in fact there has only been one other that I know of in 2010. I was going to buy it on behalf of my daughter so that she could give it to her employer as a Christmas present, because this person is trying to collect that particular design.

I needed to consult with my daughter as to how high I ought to bid, but during that time the auction was changed to Buy It Now and was sold (for a rather suspiciously low amount - certainly lower than my daughter was prepared to pay). She was thrilled when I told her that the item was for sale as she considered it to be the ideal present, so we were rather devastated to find that it had suddenly become unavailable.

That is why I became all "het up" as you so charmingly put it.