eBay problems may persist

eBay continues to face technical glitches that could plague the online auction giant for the next 10 days.

The glitches are a result of an effort to upgrade the computer systems of the San Jose, Calif.-based company. In the past two weeks, members have encountered difficulties listing auctions, viewing the bidding history on individual items and using their personalized "My eBay" pages.

Company spokesman Kevin Pursglove said the problems should be solved within the next seven to 10 days. "Because of the improvements and expansions, an occasional interruption could happen in that time frame," he said.

The problems at eBay are the most persistent system troubles the company has faced since its repeated outages last year. Unlike those problems, which often made the entire eBay system inaccessible for hours at a time, the current troubles have caused few full-blown outages and have tended to last for much shorter periods of time.

In a note to visitors posted on its announcements board yesterday, eBay said the recent problems stemmed from an effort begun Aug. 2 to move closed auctions from its main server to a secondary server. The goal of the move was to improve the performance and scalability of the site, but when the site started experiencing glitches as a result of the changes, eBay began to tinker with its system software to resolve the problems.

"It is extremely distressing for everyone at eBay to have to report any problems with the site to you," the company said in its note. "We deeply understand how important optimal site performance is to the community, and we strive to deliver consistent site stability.

"We apologize for the inconvenience the technical problems of late may have caused you."

But some eBay sellers, unsatisfied with the apology, took to the Web's message boards to demand that the company refund fees to auctions affected by the intermittent problems.

"I'm really upset over the mess this site has been in the last two weeks," said one eBay seller on the company's message boards. "Every time I turned around all I saw was 'this functionality is unavailable.' Well, if eBay was unavailable, you damn well should pay me back listing and final value fees! You owe it to us."

eBay's policy is that it will refund fees only when it has a site outage that lasts two hours or longer. But Pursglove said that sellers who feel their auctions have been affected by the recent troubles can apply for fee refunds from the company.

My ebay problem

I purchased a RV refrigerator on ebay and it didn't work. I thought Pay Pal buyer protection would help me, but in the end they cost me. The person that sold me damaged goods offered to pay half the repairs until Pay Pal said send it back. Which would end up costing me $488 while costing the seller $150 and he would have the frige back. I have been talking to Pay Pal, but they will do nothing. Does anyone have any helpful ideas of what I might do?

[bg1]

Crossed-up account

Last week I received notice that my e-bay account had been transfered to China. I tried to log on and discoved my password has been changed. Now I an receiving notices that I am selling and buying cameras at an alarming rate. Several people around the world appear to have tried to send me money in return for cameras I don't have. I am also expected to pay for cameras being shipped to China. E-bay is tough to reach. I've left messages, but no response. I don't know if this is a scam or this glitch in e-bay's computer system. Any thoughts or info? Butch G

[fritz giddings]

eBay error

I recently received a suspension from eBay, the reason for which is completely unfounded. They have accused me of not paying seller fees when I have never sold an item on eBay - I use eBay for buying only. I have a 100% positive feedback rating and have always adhered to the rules and regulations for eBay users. I have utilized the feedback forum to both praise good sellers and , in one instance, notify buyers of irresponsible sellers. My intention has always been to forward good trading practices on eBay. I have requested an explanation from eBay for this suspension many times which included adequate explanation regarding my trading practices and have received no response from eBay. The timing of this glitch is very inconvenient as I was actively watching numerous items to use in the new addition to my house. I can only wonder how eBay hopes to continue with this level of concern for good responsible users. There lack of communication on such matters is unacceptable and the active buyers in good standing, such as myself, should have some recourse with this company. I am curious if there is a specific government agency that I can contact to assist me with this matter and stand up for the users of internet sites such as eBay. Fritz G

[wwildbluefox]

my account hacked?

MY account was hacked(?) just a few days ago and i was billed with a USB audio external device, which pissed my off. Just when I was cooled down, I received a mail from the seller and one sentence immidietely made my blood pressure go up, "It is a pleasure doing business with you." Can anyone even TRY to explain WHAT THE HECK is going on?! I don't want that item to come to my doorstep and someone asking money for it!

[patini-ji]

eBay problems with auctions

As of yester day the 24th AUG they certainly have NOT fixed thier problems! I can't get the )&^^&%)* paypal to recognize a directed buy order payment from eBay itself and they own the damn company! Is eay woth all this hassle? I think not . Perhaps Google will take the reins and make it work right..one earnestly hopes for an immediate solution to the hacking problems they face, say, multi-layer
VPNs for access and secure transactions, please. naiidin, naiidin.

[bkcentral_us]

ebay is having a lot of problems - Dec 2007

I and many other ebay sellers are experiencing a great deal of trouble with the ebay system and their inadequate support ? or lack thereof..

Here is a quick list of my own experiences in only one month with ebay:
1. Listings not showing up for days.
2. Listings disappearing with no explanation.
3.Sold listings not showing for several days, and then disappearing after showing up for a day or 2.
4. ebay sent me more than 50 emails about a Buy It Now bid cancellation. Everybody knows that a BIN bid can not be cancelled. Nobody at ebay was able to respond to thisd occurence and to the question of whether I would get my final fees refunded in that case?
5. ebay sent me more than 20 feedback change notices, advising me of having my feedback cancelled because ?a member with whom I transacted with was indefinitely suspended within 90 days of membership?. I am being penalized for other members? faults, although I did all That was requested of me. I had my feedback removed, but did NOT get my fees refunded. This cost me time, money and products. But, OF COURSE despite several attempts, ebay did not even respond to my queries about this issue.
6. ebay claimed that I was involved in ?shill bidding?, suspended my account, and forced me to take a so called lesson on this subject before making my account available to me. I contacted ebay based on their live support recommendation as the email they sent was missing vital information to substantiate their claim, I requested this missing information a week ago: ebay sent me an auto response directing me to where I can find information about shill bidding. I have to wonder if there is any form of intelligent life on planet ebay?
7. ebay today singled me out and said I was involved in feedback manipulation, and penalized me with removal of the majority of my listings, without refunds or as much as a warning. I am all for abiding by the rules but what about the thousands of other sellers that are using the same method for years now and no action from ebay on them! Actually ebay is allowing sellers to sell information on how to do exactly that (this is where I got my information on this subject!).
8. ebay?s selling manager is full of glitches that the reps refer to as ?Cosmetic Glitches!? But they fail to explain what they mean by these glitches or how/when they plan to remedy them. This and other questions are repeatedly ducked by ebay staff.
9. In the past month I have contacted ebay live help more than 10 times, and I can proudly say that I have NOT received any help from any of these calls. Either I was transferred from one support rep to another ? forced to continuously repeat the problem with no resolution--until I was completely fed up. Or, engaging their online chat support only to be simply left on the chat without a response from them for more than 30 minutes and then closing the chat with ?call us when you have the item # that has disappeared.? If it disappeared how am I supposed to find it?

Of course this is not mentioning the years long issue all sellers on ebay are facing with FEEDBACK RETALIATION - that is buyers who do not pay for their purchases, the seller can not dare to leave a negative feedback in fear of the negative feedback that he gets in retaliation from the NON Paying Bidder. so the seller ends up with wasting his time, paying ebay fees for the listings and the final fees to ebay too and ends up with a negative feedback for his record. I had a quick look at the forums on ebay and a huge number of sellers are complaining about this and has been for years now: but ebay does nothing (like .. if you do not pay you are not allowed to leave feedback) why should they, this way sellers will be forced to list their items again and again ebay will gladly take all the fees they can think of. Of course one can file a non paying claim and fill in many forms and wait for god knows how long to get some of his fees back, who has the time, most of us just forget about it and move on.

In my one month experience with ebay I had more than 40 NON PAYING BIDDERS and I never filed a claim in fear of retaliation as ebay does NOT cover sellers back.

The above is merely a sample of my ongoing problems with ebay. I am contemplating a choice of action(s) to respond to ebay and its inefficiencies, double standards and carelessness toward anything except their fees and ensuring they are collected--sometimes more than once. I might add ? there is already a class action suit in the courts about this issue.

I invite comments from others who have been victims of ebay?s abusive system.

If you would like any explanation or would like to contribute to this, you can email me: [e-mail] Thanks for your time!

[joanddeb]

While ebay has these problems I am unable to pay for my items as I can not access paypal thru the pay now confirmation window. If I cannot pay my sellers by the due time I'm worried that my 100% record will disappear!.....any sellers out there reading this....I am TRYING to pay you!
Surely e-bay should have some sort of daily notice on their homepage telling us whats going on so I didnt have to hunt down this page to get some information.

[becky1st]

I recently had a problem with them. I had a item listed with a reserve at $25 and Buynow at $30. In the last moments of the auction the buynow was dropped and Ebay claimed the reserve was never submitted! I ended up selling the item for $8.56. I went back and forth with live chat customer service resolving nothing. My request for the reserve on day one was not received by them. Great! So it must have been a technical problem. Leaves me out of Luck!!!

[cheshirecatmoon]

I've had a problem with Ebay/PayPal lately that is really strange, and they haven't been too helpful about it. I got 2 packages from 2 different sellers that I neither ordered nor paid for. I'm in contact with the buyer and both sellers, and I've been on the line with both Ebay and PayPal several times, but nobody seems to know how or why this has happened.
I called Ebay first (neither company makes getting helped easy) and they basically said 'not Our fault, call PayPal'. I called PayPal and guess what? They said 'not us, call Ebay'.

I was on the phone with Ebay last night, got passed around, Still didn't get any answers. They put me on hold 'for a second'. I sat there for 20 minutes, then noticed that it was nearly 10pm (quiting time at Ebay phone help). Sure as sh*t the jerks had left me on hold and clocked out!!!

Before brushing me off they suggested that the buyer had opened her account using my name and address. . .great. . .so, Now what?!

I still don't know what happened or why, and both companies only seem concerned about covering their own fetid ***** and pointing fingers elsewhere.

What can I do now, and is my account in peril?!

I hate these jerks!!!!!

They sent me a survey a day or 2 ago in which I slammed them like crazy. . .haven't heard a reply yet.