Sam's eBay Horror Story #1

newsfe28.ams2:

The best method is to report such credit card fraud to the FBI. They are usually very interested and have the resources to cross check your information against other similar cases. (I have also unsuccessfully reported fraud to the credit card company. They generally look at such losses as just part of doing business.)

The best method is to report such credit card fraud to the FBI. They are usually very interested and have the resources to cross check your information against other similar cases. (I have also unsuccessfully reported fraud to the credit card company. They generally look at such losses as just part of doing business.)

LOL,LOL,LOL,LOL,LOL

Hi Sam,

Check with the students from U of Penn dept. of Criminal Psychology computer workshop ( I'll bet the original message came from there )...

"Except you".

So they're saying you *ARE* "just anyone". The one special just-anyone that they give the number to.

Which is also a lie: I got the same email, so there's at least two of us one-of-a-kind just-anyones.

And yes, my copy did come from eBay, not a phisher.

You Know, Sam you wont make a good law enforcement officer, Please consider don't join the police,fire,rescue,FBI,CIA because criminals would run riot

A Stockholder, and Merchant, Loses Confidence in eBay

A new test case of the DMCA--this time over an eBay auction

And all my friends wonder why I highly recommend not doing ANY business via or with E-Bay!! Seen and heard too many horror stories that eventually cost many people a lot of money and confidence.

On the whole, up until now, I don't honestly believe that there has been any real problem with e-Bay or its user community. I know many people who have been both buying and selling regularly on there from the start, who have had no problems at all. I have bought quite a lot of stuff over the years, and I have had one problem with a very slow shipment, and one where a shipment never arrived at all. Probably a total of about eight quid lost.

If you were to ask anyone about their buying experiences from anywhere, they would all have a story or two. Just last week, I bought some new kitchen stuff from a large UK DIY warehouse. Despite going over it with the salesman several times, the first item off the truck, when it was delivered, was wrong. It took probably an hour's worth of phone calls and wasted time to sort this out. As bad or worse than an e-Bay experience ? Not really any different, I think ...

At the end of the day, e-Bay are a business, and they are not going to deliberately do anything to piss their customers / users off. The business has evolved and grown over the years, and anyone who is in business and understands business, will appreciate that what works when an enterprise is small, often doesn't when it is bigger. It becomes necessary to alter business strategies, and there are bound to be things that people have gotten used to, that they don't like the repalcements for. Sometimes, what seems like a good idea at the time, doesn't work out, so something else has to be tried, or even a return to the previous system is called for. Sometimes, it's down to a change of ownership, or even management. Not all 'managers' are actually qualified to manage. The current changes to payment methods, and the apparent mismanagement of exemplary users' accounts, may just be down to some inept department head, who sooner or later, will be 'discovered' ...

In the meantime, I think it is a bit premature to be writing off what has been - and probably still is - a fundamentally honest and successful business, because it's currently having a few problems, or is doing something which you (at the moment) don't agree with.

Arfa

With literally millions of sellers and buyers, it's hard to keep everyone honest. They are so obcessed with security that everyone is guilty until proven innocent, and then there is no explanation. And the entire issue of changes to the feedback system and of cloaking user IDs would seem to be counter- productive to anyone outside the system.

Perhaps this is just a matter of eBay having grown so big so fast, but it also seems to be an issue of being unwilling to put the effort and expense into developing proper customer service. Just because they are an on-line company (as their blurb puts it) is no excuse not to have a means of direct customer contact via phone. Businesses can't afford to wait 24 or 48 hours to get a response via email, and then another 24 or 48 hours for their response to be read, and then not by the same person!

--- sam | Sci.Electronics.Repair FAQ:

Important: Anything sent to the email address in the message header above is ignored unless my full name AND either lasers or electronics is included in the subject line. Or, you can contact me via the Feedback Form in the FAQs.

"Arfa Daily" writes:

You know Me,

Changing mailing addresses does not help. Just what is it you bought from Ebay that caused all of this anyway???

Presently, however, I'm beginning to doubt that.

Were I a manager at eBay, I'd do regular sales and buys myself to see firsthand, what a customers situation is.

Imho should we distinguish here between

-> sellers and buyers, and

-> eBay management. The businesses success is largely due to sellers and buyers, and perhaps it came in spite of eBays management :-).

The problems may imho be accounted to a management, which is trying out things just because they can be tried out. If they'd instead tend to their core business, namely to cultivate a market place and transparency, rather than to act as court, judge, sheriff, legislator, bank and what not else, the number of problems could probably be minimized easily.

Regards, H.

I hate to say this Sam but you still have a lot to learn about Ebay, Most people still get bounced for the infighting that goes on behind the big doors at Ebay and not on any real complaint. I suggest that you log onto the sellers blogs at Bay and take a look at what really goes on. Only then will you get a look behind the door...

From perhaps?

So you've figured out:

a) There are virtually no humans at eBay. There are some replicants, but they are Eliza School of Thinking graduates.

The few humans are busy giving rosy PR briefings and telling Wall Street how wonderful things will be next quarter.

b) You're always at fault.

c) If not true, GOTO b).

d) For more insight into dealing with eBay; read Brain Aldiss's _Who Can Replace a Man?_

Cute! ;-)