eBay Sellers Consumer Reviews - Page 3

INTERNET, CALIFORNIA -- I was lucky enough to get a PS4 at launch but decided to resale it on eBay for extra Xmas money. Listed it on eBay with a buy it now price, a reasonable price and lower than everyone on eBay. But perhaps that's where I went wrong. I got the attention of others trying to sell their PS4 for a higher price. They made dummy accounts that would buy it now and not pay to get rid of my listing.

After a few days of no payment, I relist... Another dummy bidder bought it but did not pay. Keep in mind, this takes a few days each time you relist, a lot of emails trying to communicate with the bidder. Why is it so easy to make a dummy accounts and bid out your competition??? Why are there no safeguards against this?

Now comes the kicker. eBay sends an invoice even though nobody paid. Invoice was over 150 bucks. The stupid thing is eBay knows the bidders did not pay, they know those were dummy accounts to bid out their competition, yet they still charge you the selling fees as if you sold multiple items. Worst yet, you cannot give negative feedback to those dummy accounts so they can do that as much as they want.

So as soon I saw the invoice, I called customer service. Waited 45 minutes to talk to someone, then was told I needed to follow their process to get rid of their selling fees. Took about 30 minutes to walk me through the process. If you are new to eBay like I am, the process is not very intuitive and is hidden and you will need to talk to someone. I was assured everything was taken care of and I would not be billed by eBay. At this point, no harm was done because the invoice did not automatically take the $$$ out of my bank account.

A few weeks later, eBay charges me 70 dollars.!?!? This time they took it out of my bank account!!! I call eBay, wait 45 mins... I found out I missed 1 button click on my last call and that I did not receive full credit even though I was promised the issue would be taken care of and I would not be charged.

So, I had to be walked through the process to find the hidden grayed out button, clicked it and the lady on the phone said it will take 2 weeks to refund my money. 2 weeks... are you kidding me? At this point I'm mad. I demanded to speak to supervisor to see if I can get my money back sooner because I thought I took care of everything a few weeks prior on my 1st call.

The supervisor was no help, said it was my fault and that because I missed the button press there was nothing they could do. I'm sorry I don't know eBay's processes to get a refund when someone doesn't pay. So after venting for a few minutes, that got us nowhere... I hung up.

The whole process to get a refund is flawed unless you've gone through the process a few times. 2nd, eBay allows dummy accounts to bid your auctions out and then 3rd charges you for the selling fees even though eBay knows you did not get paid by the bidder. It's a scammer's dream, the whole system can be abused worse than a scammer on Craigslist. You would be crazy to want to pay for that level of service. Giving it 2 stars only because they are refunding my money... even though it will take 2 weeks to get it.

This was was my first (and probably last) experience with Ebay. There were just so many problems that it's really not worth all of the time and effort. All I wanted was to sell my iPod in the medium that I was least likely to have to deal with scammers. And I thought maybe that was eBay because they boast of the "hassle-free" process and you actually have very limited interaction with the buyer. But I was wrong.

So I list my item. A few days later, I get an email from someone trying to negotiate my price. So we negotiate, come to an agreement and I change my price. This person immediately buys my item. Three minutes later, I get an email saying they can't pay and they ask me to cancel my order. What the heck? We just spent 15 minutes negotiating the price. So I select the "report buyer" option. I wait. I hear nothing, so I send eBay an email. I wait. I hear nothing, so I re-list the item.

Second buyer buys the item. I wait a few days then send a polite email about how I'd be happy to ship the item just as soon as they pay for it. Nothing. By this point it's been a few weeks since I first started trying to sell my item. I open an "unpaid item case." I still haven't hear anything from Ebay. So I call them. (Which by the way, they make tricky for you.)

I talked to three people there, even a supervisor. None of them could see the original report I filed. They finally tell me that they DID in fact receive my email - they just haven't gotten around to it yet. It would have been nice if they had told me, "oh by the way, it takes three weeks for us to respond." But they don't. They say that they'll get to it as soon as they can. Which if you go to most sites, that's 24-48 hours, maybe up to a week if the service isn't as good. But 3 weeks? THAT'S what they mean by "as soon as they can." Seriously, give us some context. It felt like I was sending information into an abyss.

Additionally, as I am new to Ebay, I didn't realize that you could only leave positive feedback (which is stupid because it doesn't give the full story). So I tried to leave feedback on the first buyer's profile with a warning to other buyers. Ebay offers to remove my comments, but stands firm on the fact that they WILL NOT remove the RATING. Which means now, that buyer has a rating that he or she did not earn. Does eBay care? No. (And at this point, I was talking to a supervisor.)

I even told eBay that I probably wouldn't be using them anymore, and their response was "we're sorry to hear that." As in, my business is not important enough for them to care. Thanks Ebay. I'll take my business elsewhere. Bottom line: do NOT use Ebay. They have the worst customer service for sellers and they don't really care enough about your business to make any effort to retain it.

DON'T TRUST EBAY. If you are an Ebay member, or thinking of joining Ebay, think again and consider whether you would trust Ebay after experiencing this. I am in the process of closing my Ebay account and the associated Paypal Account because I do not trust Ebay. Recently a member of my family was approached through Ebay by a US citizen who wished to purchase a collector's item after it had failed to sell normally on Ebay.

Strangely this man had been a member of Ebay for almost 4 years and had never made a sale nor a purchase on Ebay in that long period of time. The item was sold to him through Ebay/Paypal for $200 and it cost $25 to post it to him registered mail from Australia. He immediately upon receipt was quite pleased with the item and gave positive feedback to Ebay, and emails outside of Ebay direct to my relative, saying how happy he was with the item.

He later did an about turn and decided he did not want the item and falsely claimed it was destroyed and not properly described on Ebay. Despite his false claims and a "No Return" policy clearly placed on the item at the time of sale on Ebay, Ebay found in favour of the purchaser who had no prior credibility with Ebay. My family member had 100% feedback on some 40 sales and purchases.

Ebay's "no return policy" on listings is not binding. It is not merely a joke. It is false advertising. Ebay cannot be trusted. The rationale for Ebay's decision in favour of the purchaser was that the only fair way out was for everyone to start again at the beginning which means refunding the purchaser $200 plus $25 postage. However Ebay did not refund the $25 international registered postage. Ebay did not refund 7.25% of the selling price they charged to sell the item, some $14.50. Ebay did not refund the listing price of $3.00 to advertise the item.

So all up my family member is out of pocket $43.00 Australian, plus Paypal fees, not to mention packaging and running around. Ebay greed does not equate to fairness. Ebay claim it is fair for a seller to lose large amounts of money based on their twisted unclear rationale.

To Add insult to injury, Ebay sent the purchaser an email in which they said, "To avoid having similar situations like this in the future, we strongly recommend you to purchase items on “ Top Rated” and “PowerSellers”. As additional option, if you haven't left a feedback to the seller for this transaction, we strongly recommend you to do so because this may prompt them to take necessary actions on your concern; also to let other buyers know about your experience so they can make informed decisions."

So it is official Ebay policy to inform purchasers only to purchase from "Top Rated" and "PowerSellers". So what is the point of normal everyday people advertising items for sale on Ebay? Despite this man's lack of credibility with Ebay they have invited him to complain about someone with 100% feedback. Is that what the Ebay brains trust considers to be fair?

No Ebay this is not fair at all. So you keep your customer with no sales or purchases happy. However you have lost my family member and myself, both active members and other relatives, associates and friends who are alarmed to learn how distrustful Ebay is to active customers who mistakenly thought they had built up credibility with Ebay. I have read other similar reviews on this site where Ebay as a matter of policy protects buyers at the expense of sellers. I agree fully with this view our family have experienced it first hand.

This seller uses misleading titles to trick buyers into buying junk. I was looking for a processor upgrade for my old motherboard, which used an old Athlon chip. I need to upgrade to an Athlon XP for SSE capability. I went to eBay and did a categorical search, selecting the Athlon XP category under the CPUs for desktops category. I ran a search, and found what I thought was a good deal. The auction title: AMD Athlon XP 2400+ heatsink fan, lapped.

I looked it over. The feedback appeared to be in order, with a positive feedback score of over 95%. I checked the description, which said the AMD Athlon XP 2400+ heatsink fan, lapped was an upgrade pull from an old computer. Payment methods were normal, although the shipping charge of $20 was a bit high, but it was a relatively fragile processor.

I managed to purchase it for a little over $30, paying a little over $50 when shipping was included. I immediately sent a Money Order. Unfortunately, it took almost a month to receive the processor, with no response from my seller to my queries and the purchase status. Eventually the seller got back to me telling me I needed to give more detailed info. Never followed up, but I did receive the purchase.

Unfortunately, I did not receive a processor. Instead, I received a small package that contained a stock Socket A heatsink/fan unit, a cheap CPU cooler that was likely shipped with old AMD socket A processors. The unit was likely worth no more than $10, if that. I checked with the post office to get a shipping estimate to ship back to the sellers address, and found that shipping cost a mere $2.09. The seller had taken my money and handed me junk.

Originally, I was going to let it drop as a misinterpretation of the auction title on my part. But before I did, I did a more thorough review of the sellers feedback history, and found users repeatedly claiming they had this exact problem. Much of the negative feedback wasn't recorded, because it was either neutral, mutually removed, and removed because of an NPB strike. I eventually found that the NPB strikes were likely fraudulent.

Furthermore, I checked the category to see if I was searching in the wrong place. Sure enough, the auction was in the Athlon XP category, not the separate heatsink category it belonged in. I also found a rule under Prohibited Items called Misleading Titles, which forbid using auction titles that could be easily interpreted as two separate items. This auction title seemed to be a textbook case of the example they listed.

I sent the seller email informing them I believed that they defrauded me and unless they gave me a good reason, they would be reported to eBay for fraud. They gave me no response, but several of the mutually removed and NPB eliminated feedback that related specifically to the heatsink auctions disappeared the next day. I left negative feedback and placed an "item not as described dispute" against her the next day. Within a couple of hours, I had received negative feedback from the seller saying I refused to obey terms of service, along with a fraudulent non-paying bidder strike.

I managed to have the NPB strike dropped simply by entering my money order information, although I couldn't actually confirm the seller received it at that immediate moment. Later, after the fake NPB strike was settled, I finally received proof from the post office (which is agonizingly slow when it comes to confirming money order payments - almost a month and a half in this case) which provided me with a photocopy of my Money Order with Wholesale Department (the payment recipient listed by the seller) stamped on the back.

I have no doubt this seller will not ship until payment is cleared, just like every other eBay seller. The seller knew I paid and knowingly lied about not receiving payment. This seller is a liar, a con, and a fraud who has a history of deceiving eBayers into buying junk. Worse yet, Wholesale_dealzzz will accuse you of wrongdoing should you complain. Avoid this seller.

I am adding my 3 cents worth here out of frustration. I have been scammed by eBay sellers for the last time. I wanted to share with others the different ways that I have been ripped off by eBay sellers. The most recent is an item I paid for July 25th and still haven't received. After numerous emails to the seller I realized that I was not going to receive my item. He told me if I wanted my item to go get it from US customs. It was coming from Canada to Virginia. I told him that if customs rejected it then they would ship it back to him and he could refund my money.

He then emailed me and said he was refunding all the "RETARDS" that were emailing him. His choice of words not mine. I fell this type of name calling is abuse in itself as it wasn't necessary. Contacting eBay was no help at all for a couple different reasons. They will not do anything if the item is priced below $40.00 and they will not do anything if the item was purchased over 60 days before the complaint. Both of these things you will never know until you try to take action.

The sellers put you off with emails hoping to make it past the 60 day mark. Ebay also gave this seller the option of keeping his negative/positive feedback private! He has over 45 negative feedbacks none of which you can view. The whole idea of feedback was so you could see what problems others may have had with a particular seller. So eBay in this case was aiding this seller to continue ripping people off.

The other eBay scam that I learned the hard way (in the pocketbook) was the sellers of Fenton art glass. This happened twice by two different sellers before I wised up to the scam. I purchased 3 pieces that were supposed to be in mint condition from a seller who insisted on the buyer to pay insurance for the pieces. I agreed because it was glass and it should have insurance on it especially because of the high price I was paying. The seller charged me way more for insurance than it actually cost.

The items arrived chipped. Funny that there was absolutely NO pieces of glass fragments whatsoever in the box or bubble wrap. The chipped glass magically disappeared. I contacted the seller and asked for the insurance papers to be mailed to me. A month later after 3 emails I get the papers. This seller was shipping from NC to VA. We are next door. I took the insurance paper to the post office with the box and items which, had been sitting on my shelf since it had arrived.

The post office said they would reimburse me because the box showed NO signs of having been damaged or mishandled. I was out the price of the items, the shipping costs, which was more than it actually cost to ship as the shipping price was stamped on the box as well as the overstated insurance price which did me no good at all. Bottom line of that transaction... I purchased worthless broken items. The seller made out like a bandit. I tried to contact the seller to let them know how I felt but they had vanished from eBay.

The next time I was scammed was over an oil painting. The photo on eBay was a little glared so the detail was hard to see. I went so far as to get the sellers contact phone number because her email address wasn't working. Ebay surprised me when they gave me the phone number but it made me think they were an up and up company. After extensive questions about the condition of the painting I bid on it and won/purchased the item.

When it arrived 2 months later! after numerous emails and excuses of not feeling well etc., I didn't know whether to laugh of cry. The painting wasn't attached to the frame because the frame wasn't for the painting. It didn't fit the canvas and it was chipped, gouged, and just real beat up. The painting looked like something she had drug out of a thrift store dumpster. It was stained and the canvas was cracked and torn. It didn't look anything like the painting displayed on eBay. I guess a glare on the photo covered/hid all the flaws.

When I tried to contact the seller to get my money back for misrepresentation she was no longer an eBay seller and wouldn't return my phone calls. Again!!! I was ripped off. The next time I was scammed was over the sale of a used 1996 7th grade math book. I'm a homeschooler. Well I won the book for like $5.00 but I was charged like $13.00 for shipping and $3.00 for insurance! In the item description it said the book would be shipped at book rate so I was very shocked when the email came with the final price to pay.

I contacted the seller and he said he was going to ship it priority mail which, was still way less than he actually charged me. The book took over a month to arrive as he sent it media mail for the whopping cost of $1.10 and there was NO insurance stamp. The book was in terrible shape. Again, I was totally ripped off.

I wouldn't recommend eBay to anyone now. There are too many bad sellers out there. I have lost hundreds shopping on eBay. My only regret is that I didn't quit bidding on items after the first time I was ripped off. I guess I just wanted to believe that it wouldn't happen again. I was so wrong. Jody, a NON EBAY shopper in Virginia.

I have all the time in the world as an accident put me in bed so I have looked at how and why on Ebay. EBay runs on listings. If one take a look you will see thousands and thousands of listing don'€™t sell and that'€™s why Ebay offers so many promotions like $.99 specials to generate more. Buyers are their main profit and that'€™s what keeps their other part in operation Paypal and the reason they try to lock the buyers and sellers to it - they are one of the same company.

Now you have the reason why buyers are always correct even when they lie as Ebay can't lose any if they go against a buyer - that buyer could well stop buying. So at the risk of assisting with a con, they take that risk. Ebay knows there are far too many bad sellers out there that deliberately cheat the system. Its impossible to stop or eradicate.

The problem areas are sellers not having that they say they have - sellers selling the same item more than once. Sellers not describing the item correctly and deliberately misleading the buyers. Sellers bidding on their own item to get the selling auction up to a higher level, doing their own question and answer, and the list goes on and on.

There is no level playing field on Ebay as their own laws make it that way. They generate dishonesty. Australia Ebay is different from USA as I found out selling to their customers. After looking at their agreement term and talking to a legal person this was the results. IN Australia they have a Government law as protection to the public in sales by either a registered business or corporate company. It covers '€œnot as described, not fit the use as sold, faulty, and a couple of other conditions'€.

This does not cover any sales between private people selling an item or ANYONE in an auction. What they are doing in their agreement is taking this laws and misusing it as they classify everyone under these terms. This give their buyers conditions that allows them to dishonest - as my experience has been they try to get FREE items using these conditions. I have been stung more than once. Australia is the only country that I have continual problems with and it cost me every time. I have lost so many disputes and finally have to give credits for stock without getting back the items to stay online.

History tells the story if you read every complaint against Ebay worldwide it'€™s a huge problem to every seller to stay online in EBay or terminated. It only takes three disgruntled buyers and one is history. It'€™s a no Win as Ebay makes one look like a criminal to everyone and your customers respect is now history as well.

THE RULES OF SURVIVAL and they work. Operate two account at a time. That way you generate a spread of customer good feedback - not for Ebay but yourself. Alternate the sales - build them. Together, if one goes down you have the other - then start a fresh account. Every item must be loaded by 25% to cover the free ones you will get. Don'€™t argue past offering via Paypal for the buyer to return it first then a credit and keep your fingers crossed you will get it.

We in USA don'€™t have a problem with sending a tracking number or freight tracking. DO this every time But cover your cost if you can't add insurance and load that. UK and Australia sellers have a distinct disadvantage as it cost huge more for a tracking on light items so I suggest you make the load 30% on the items to cover the loss. As it will be the excuse 'œI did not Receive the item'. The other reason for the 25% is Paypal international exchange rate. It almost criminal on how they try and make you believe the rate is real. They are playing with your money.

Now one other must to keep Ebay from looking too hard have separate Paypal accounts, keeping different email address and log on to Ebay as well. Finally it real important that you have a great looking page. Be as descriptive as you can and be honest with it. Don't underplay this as it will get you a lot more sales and a lot more respect. Do not describe what you don'™t have. Use real photo€™s not someone else's. Use color back drops on the pages - made it stand out against anyone else'€™s. Remember you're not in competition with anyone. You're there to sell your product and stuff the opposition.

Here is a Real secret why I sell more than anyone on the same lines. I don'€™t sell low priced even if they do. Buyers are a funny lot. Some will buy a low cost item but the majority will take the higher price, so the load on your item will not reduce sales. Now you know how to sell within Ebay and stay away for being terminated and still retain your respect and profits. Go for it. Enjoy.

Over the past 10-12 years maybe longer I have been a seller on Ebay. I loved it. It was a significant part of my life each and every day. I firmly believe that Ebay could help me experience and achieve my personal American Dream. I struggled at first as I was attempting to navigate through the expectations of both Ebay and the buyers on Ebay. I received a few negatives along the way. Some deserved but most not. I used them as learning tools to better myself and to make me a qualified and effective seller.

I finally became a power seller for which I was very proud of. It was my intention to make a successful Ebay business a part of my retirement income. Things were moving along fine but I realized about a year ago that it was essential for future stability and success that it was important to find a steady source of good merchandise that I could sell on my site. So I began searching and researching many source for items. This is about the time that all my problems began. Let me enumerate:

1. I received a negative feedback from a buyer which made no sense. In communication with this individual it was discovered that the neg was never intended to be for me. It was intended to be left for another Ebay seller which this buyer was having problems with. I tried and I believe the buyer attempted to have the feedback removed. We were both unsuccessful in our attempts. Ebay refused to do anything about it. THIS WRONG!!!

2. Not long after this I received another Negative. I accidentally switched items while packaging up items for delivery. The immediate upon receiving the item left negative feedback. I replaced the item for her and allowed her to keep the wrong item at no cost to her. She was very happy. She realized that she had responded too quickly and want to change the feedback but wasn't allow by Ebay to do so. This too doesn't seem right at all.

3. Then I received a third negative from a buyer who tried to scam me. They tried to say that they hadn't received an item that they had purchased. I told them I would replace it for them. At the time the Tracking on this item hadn't shown delivery. Just before sending the replacement I checked it once more and it was showing that it was indeed delivered and had actually been delivered prior to the buyer informing that they had not received the item. When I confronted the buyer they became very Hostile demanding that I send the replacement, although I had proof that it was received. They attempted to stop payment that was sent through Paypal but Paypal side with me. The buyer left the feedback and was allowed to by Ebay even though I was in the right. So now I have three Negatives that I did not deserve which were now affecting my standings with Ebay and it was affecting my DSR. My feedback was 98.2 now which is still good. My DSR readings were all in good standings.

4. Now my other problems began. In my Search for wholesale outlets I ran across DHGate. I purchase some items for resale. The first was some Chanel Sunglasses whose I thought were Authentic. My first listing was removed for violations. It turns out that they were unlawful copies. So I did not relist or sell the remainder of these. I gave them away.

5. I also had bought some Coach Bags Through DHGate. I thought I better check these out before listing them. I took them to a local Coach store who said they were very good replicas but that they were not the real thing. So again I did not attempt to list them as I did not wish to destroy my standings with Ebay.

6. I did some research on Ebay looking for what was Hot. I noticed that there were about 10,000 DG Designer Sunglasses for sell on Ebay and they seemed like they were doing well. I found a distributor, Olympic Eyewear in Utah. I purchased some. Listed them and they were doing well as I expected. Then out of the blue I had a couple removed by eBay for Trademark violations. I researched it and it appeared they felt that they were violating Dolce & Gabanna's Trademark. The email that I got from eBay indicated that if the listing did not totally disappeared that if they appeared in my closed listing they could be relisted if done so properly. I did research with other sellers who advised me to be certain to list them As Designer Glasses (the brand Name and DG was what they were Known by. I checked with Olympic Eyewear who sent to me a copy of the Trademark registration. So I thought I was fine as long as I had the proper info in my listing. So I listed them again and all was well and then I had three more listings remove. Within a day of this I received an email stating that my account was suspended. Then a few Days later It was blocked completely.

7. Since that time I have taken time to do some research. This is what I discovered.

   * DG (Designer Glasses) Was registered (Reg. No. 2,582,314) in 2002 With an overlapping DG as their mark and in Word DG as their written Trademark.

   * Dolce & Gabbana Registered their Trademark D&G in 2006. Their registration No is 3,108,403.

   * At present the two companies are locked in legal negotiations. D&G was trying to have the Trademark of DG cancelled. However they were thus far unable to do this. Present as of 2009 they have been attempting to work out a settlement but nothing has been agreed upon.

   * Basically at this time both Trademarks are registered and are legal. Use of the Trademark is legal when advertising the sell for the product they represent.

   * My selling and listing them on Ebay Was Legal and in conformity of the related trademark.

What has Happened representative of Dolce and Gabbana Have come into the Ebay community and have begun Identifying listing that they do not want there and telling Ebay they are Violating their Copyright Which they do not as the courts have not ruled in their favor. Using the Designation DG Sunglasses is OK and perfectly legal. This I found out in less than an hours worth of research. Ebay chooses to take D&G word as gospel and is systematically removing listing of DG Sunglasses and in many cases unjustly removing and blocking good legitimate sellers from Ebay accusing them of unlawful activities and the violation of Trademarks.

This is being done with no investigations on their own part. I'm considering what actions I must take including possible Legal resource in order to correct the injustices place upon me in regards to my right to operate within the Ebay Environment and for the unjust accusation against my character and reputation in the auction environment. I would like very much to hear from others that have experienced the same on eBay and face the same feels of dismay and frustrations that I have felt.

According to eBay Rules & Policies a Power Seller on eBay has to pass stringent "tests" and pass a monthly review process. One of the tests that they have to pass is the "Excessive Shipping Costs" policy in which they are only allowed to charge the actual shipping cost and packaging material and not add any additional fees. One reason for this rule is so that the seller could not circumvent listing fees and also provide the buyer with a meaningful refund if one is required. Buyers are supposed to trust and rely on the Power Seller status and feel secure about their purchases.

My Story: I bought a set of ink cartridges off of a Power Seller for $4.99 + $19.99 shipping & handling. The listing stated that 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed, we'll take care of it. I didn't think twice. A few days later the set arrived in an envelope with USPS postage and arrived undamaged, all was well so far. They were duds, didn't work, weren't recognized by the printer, though they were clearly marked for the printer. I have a few of the same model so I know there was nothing wrong with the printers.

I wrote a message to the seller explaining the issue, that I was returning the item for a refund. The seller did not respond. I packed them up and sent them back per UPS, sent another message to the seller with the tracking number. The shipment added another $4.05 to the transaction.

On day 10 after shipping the items I checked the tracking status and found that the seller refused shipment, that the ink was on its way back to me. The seller still not responding to my emails. I went to take a closer look at the return policy and found that the seller did not refund the shipping fees, nor mine, that the most I can get back was $4.99. Not 100% as stated. My bad. I trusted a Power Seller and did not read the fine print. Anyway, the transaction deserved a negative feedback which was as follows: DOA, No Response, Return Shipment Refused, Out $30, Bad Seller. He responded: Troublemaker, don't cause trouble here. eBay will take care of it.

The next day my account was suspended and I had to go through a verification process to get back in and find a warning letter from eBay about abusing the feedback policies. I went to look up the feedback I had left and found it simply removed, altogether without a trace. I took a look at the sellers' feedbacks and he had 53 negatives mutually withdrawn, not counting the ones that disappeared like mine did. The only way one can do a mutual withdrawal is through Squaretrade.com. SquareTrade asked for the seller's ID, and states that they have never heard of the seller.

I have been an eBay member since 2001, have a 100% rating on over 200 transactions. eBay will do nothing for legitimate buyers, but will do anything and everything to accommodate a Power Seller. I have posted several messages and inquiries into what happened and eBay is ignoring me. I have also reported the seller as in being in continuous severe breach of policy on his 2,000+ listings, and complained on the way his feedback was being manipulated to protect his status.

Avoid Power Sellers! It's not worth it! No buyer protection or recourse available! If you see Power Seller it means exactly the opposite. eBay will kick and slap you around if you dare mess with a Power Seller, and the seller knows that.

NY, CALIFORNIA -- SELLERS TAKE NOTICE...DO NOT CARRY A CREDIT BALANCE IN YOUR EBAY ACCOUNT. eBay stole $224.35 from my eBay account and customer service says only a lawyer can get information from their billing department! In February 2003 I deposited a credit balance of $250 into my seller's account via my credit card to cover upcoming fees for products I had already purchased and would be selling. However, for personal reasons, I stopped selling for more than 2 years but not before there were fees deducted from my credit balance for items I had sold.

That credit balance was in my account until September of 2004 when eBay decided it was theirs!! I admit, I hadn't checked my account often during the 2 years but the last statement I looked at in August 2004 still showed the credit. Then when I was able ready to start again in May 2005, I find my money gone and a $0 balance in my account. eBay had debited my account in Sept. 2004. I received no notification of any kind either before or after.

I opened an online inquiry (the only form of contact available btw) on May 25, 2005 requesting an explanation as to what happened to my money. After not getting a response for over 2 weeks, I resent my original inquiry via regular email on June 19, 2005. After researching for 10 days, the initial reason I was given for the "reversal" of the funds was that they debited my account as "a courtesy" since eBay never actually charged my credit card to begin with. I sent them a copy of my credit card billing statement.

On August 22, after another month of research and my review of my statement, I am informed that eBay did charge my credit card but they were never able to collect the $250. Customer service said it was now up to eBay to provide ME of proof they never received payment or would re-credit my eBay account.

Sounds good right? NOT... They obviously couldn't find their proof (imagine that) so this starts another long process where they want to contact my credit card company via a 3-way conference call for verification the charge did go through. Once again, if the CC company did confirm, eBay would re-credit my account. After making the phone call and having VISA confirm eBay did receive the money, it still wasn't good enough to get my money. There had to be yet further investigation by eBay.

Well, now the story is that eBay did charge my card and they did receive their money but the new reason for the money being removed is that, over a year and a half later, there was a "chargeback dispute" and VISA took back their money. After further conversations with VISA confirming there was no chargeback made and my VISA account was closed in August 2003 (a whole year before the supposed "reversal" of funds), I requested proof from eBay of their claim of the chargeback.

eBay's final customer service reply to me is quoted below: "It is possible to obtain those documents from eBay, however since the event occurred over two years ago, further researches of our stored records regarding this situation will need to be done by our Billing & Processing Operation center, which I do not have the direct ability to influence, regrettably.

However, you can have your attorney, who would have a direct influence of this request, to contact eBay's legal department to request this document. If your attorney wish to contact our legal department, please send your correspondence to: eBay Inc., Attn: Corporate Counsel, 2145 Hamilton Avenue, San Jose, CA 95125." Like any big business, it knows it will cost me more than $224.35 to hire an attorney to settle this issue. This is an UNACCEPTABLE way to treat customers and eBay needs to be very, very ashamed!!!

I very much agree with many of the reviews left here for eBay. I began as an eBay addict. I mean I got on there and bought and bought and bought, but when I thought about it, only a couple of the purchases were really 'deals' once you included shipping costs, etc. Anyway, my issue isn't even about that, but thought I'd include it.

After some buying, I kind of wanted to get rid of some of the stuff I bought as well as some of mine so I began to list item, but in addition to crazy listing fees, hidden costs, plus special feature fees, there are what is called FVF, or Final Value Fees which are calculated based upon the price your item sells for. Regardless, I thought I'd give it a go.

Well, I ran into a problem with a buyer who had AWFUL feedback and was an absolute psycho (spelling?). I sold her a coat for almost next to nothing, she didn't pay until about a month later, and then when she did not receive the coat after three days, left me bad 'feedback'. At the same time a coat (ironically) I bought, never arrived (here it is four months later and still nada). So naturally, I assumed that if I went to eBay with all the details and backup they would remove the feedback and help me find out what happened to my coat. This is where the nightmare began.

There is ABSOLUTELY NO customer service whatsoever. If you are lucky enough to link your way into a myriad of choices to send them an e-mail, you receive a 'canned' reply back with no response option and these canned replies had NOTHING to do with the issue! To add insult to injury, a couple of other buyers did not pay for their items, so I went through the normal process to get back the Final Value Fees.

First, eBay would not let me send the buyer an e-mail (required as first step to FVF back) because it had not been sufficient time for buyer to pay (two weeks, although listings all said one), but I was cool with this. Then, was able to start the process, yadda yadda. Then, to my surprise, I was still billed for these fees! So, again, I contact eBay and AGAIN, same canned replies. I mean, it is absolutely crazy! This is a company that off of just me, made hundreds, almost close to a thousand dollars in listing fees, and they can't provide adequate customer service?

Luckily, I had three accounts with them, two personal and one for my company and I take away the tiniest bit of satisfaction that I will never use them again for anything. I truly mean it, this company is hands-down the worst ever, in the whole entire world to deal with. They are racketeering thieves - I know no other way to put it based on my experience both as buyer and seller. Save yourself the hassle. SHOP ELSEWHERE.