posted on June 8, 2004 09:08:13 AM new
From the San Jose Mercury News....
New billing annoys some eBay users
REDESIGN IS CAUSING WIDESPREAD DISCONTENT
By Michael Bazeley
Mercury News
Even as eBay basks in the glow of record operating profits, the online auction giant is facing widespread discontent from users unhappy with a redesign and a glitchy new billing system that has been mangling invoices and double-billing some sellers for months.
Members have flooded the San Jose company's message boards with thousands of complaints about the changes, and some have threatened to protest at the annual ``eBay Live'' users' conference in New Orleans that begins June 24.
Making matters worse, many eBayers say the world's largest online auction company has been unusually unresponsive to their complaints.
``Lots and lots of people are not happy with eBay right now,'' said Deitre L. Weismiller, an eBay seller from Kansas City, Kan.
The problems began sometime after February, when eBay announced a new billing system that it said would offer members several new features. In an April message on the Web site's announcements page, the company acknowledged problems with the system and promised the ``issue will be resolved in the next few days.''
But users continue to report problems. Linda Pickering, who sells antique vases and other items from her home in Madison Heights, Mich., said she went to bed one night last week owing eBay $12 in fees and woke up the next morning owing $91. ``That's the second time it's happened to me,'' Pickering said. ``The first time, I had paid eBay, but it didn't show up as paid for three weeks. . . . Eventually, the problems seem to get resolved. But you shouldn't have to deal with this.''
Triple fees
Sharon Rooney of Santa Rosa said she was charged triple fees for one of her recent auctions. ``Sometimes I have four fees, sometimes I have two, but I'm being constantly overbilled,'' she said.
Rooney said her overbillings have been small. But some users have reported being overbilled by hundreds of dollars.
EBay spokesman Hani Durzy said engineers have fixed an initial problem that resulted in duplicate charges and overpayments by some members. But they are still trying solve a glitch that is causing the account balances that sellers view online to add up incorrectly.
Durzy said the billing problems were caused by software provided by an outside vendor, but he declined to name the company.
``We realize it's frustrating for the subset of sellers that have been affected by this,'' said Durzy. ``We're being open about it. Obviously, we're mainly focused on solving the problem.''
Durzy would not say how many of eBay's 105 million accounts have been affected by the glitches or when the problems might be solved. He said the company has been fixing individual accounts while it tries to solve the larger systemwide issues.
``It's a process,'' he said. ``It takes time to fix these things.''
Some eBay users said they have stopped selling while the billing problems persist.
The discontent among users appears to be the biggest that eBay has faced in some time.
In addition to the new billing system, the company recently unveiled a new look for ``My eBay,'' the personalized Web page that acts as a portal to eBay services.
Many users said the new design is difficult to navigate and omits important information. Others said they could not log in to their accounts for days after the changes were made.
Few like it
In one poll conducted on the company's public message boards, just 8 percent thought the redesign was an improvement.
Last week, eBay said it would make several changes in response to the complaints about the redesign.
Nonetheless, users said the company has been uncharacteristically unresponsive to complaints, fueling frustration among users.
Most sellers can only contact eBay's customer support via e-mail, and users have complained of having to wait several days, only to get an unsatisfactory response. Others expected the company to be more forthcoming on its announcements page about the problems.
``EBay just doesn't seem to care that a large segment of people are unhappy right now,'' said Weismiller. Durzy said the billing problems do not seem to be affecting the number of auctions that are being listed.
He said the company has tried to be ``as communicative as we can be while trying not to be over-communicative.'' ``There are always going to be people who are not happy,'' Durzy said. ``We're glad when people are passionate or vociferous because it shows the direction we need to go. ' '
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Contact Michael Bazeley at [email protected] or at (408) 920-5642.
posted on June 8, 2004 11:01:52 AM new
Sheesh. Discouraging, to say the least.
___________________________________
As I've matured, I've learned . .
#2. . . that the people you care most about in life are taken from you too soon and all the less important ones just never go away. And the real pains in the butt are permanent.
posted on June 8, 2004 11:24:03 AM new
Ebay has done everything from not bill me for months, not billed me at all but charged my card with no warning, put my account on hold for $10.00, refund money I didn't request to be refunded -- I just gave up and vowed not to do anything unless they take too much out or something??? What a mess.
posted on June 8, 2004 12:32:44 PM new
I'm so glad that this thread was started.
I just checked my eBay acct and they billed me for 2 months for my store that I only had open 3 weeks and that first month was to be free!
Anyone have a phone number for eBay to report a problem like this?
posted on June 8, 2004 01:41:27 PM new
Too funny parklane64!
I know it's next to impossible to find a phone number but I am sure there is one and someone has got to have it! anyone? anyone?
[ edited by gina50 on Jun 8, 2004 01:43 PM ]
posted on June 8, 2004 01:56:35 PM new
Hi ... good thread... a number of sellers have removed their account from direct pay.
Now using print out invoice and send paper payments.
posted on June 8, 2004 02:08:12 PM new
I was just wondering if anyone knows if the sellers having problems are using direct pay on checking accounts? I remember long ago some people having bounced checks because Ebay double billed them and wiped out their account. YIKES! I pay through a credit card and so far I have not had any problems that I know of anyway. It may not make any difference however.
posted on June 8, 2004 02:12:05 PM new
Hi...from reading some notes on the powerseller board, yes there have been some direct pay and credit card problems.
A thread concerning eBay billing comes up every now and then here.
Almost every month, we find at least two eBay goofs on our accounts...they've always been small.
Now, like some others, we're back to paper until this is reconcilled.
posted on June 8, 2004 03:23:28 PM new
The funny part was this line
"Making matters worse, many eBayers say the world's largest online auction company has been unusually unresponsive to their complaints."
Unusually unresponsive when were they ever responsive???
posted on June 8, 2004 03:37:53 PM new
I checked my invoice over and did not see anything doubled. I have tons of listings and my eyes sort of crossed over a few times at all the extras and very few credits. I may have been missing something because I rarely check it. I did get notice from Ebay about 5 months ago they FORGOT to bill me on some things and would be adding them to my next bill. I went in and saw absolutely nothing they had not billed me for. I emailed customer service and they responded, We only mean IF we forgot to add we would be billing you.
posted on June 8, 2004 03:52:20 PM new
Oh Brother!!!!!!
Just wondering how bad they have RIPPED me off.
Like Valleychic says,,,googles yer eyes...@@,,,,,,
and Priest,,,,what other STOP GAP things can we do?
I hate Gov. intervention but someone needs to step in and FORCE them to clean up.
E bay needs to have some bean counters FORCED on them,,,,Checks and Balances....
Their read out sheets are just a jumbble of numbers,, meaningless numbers.....
I beleieve they know EXACTLY what they are givin us and Know they can Because NO one is monitoring them...I can only IMAGINE how much they have ripped me....MANY have Far too many sales to go L@@KING and Scrutinizing their billings.
Like e bay, says,,, Basically people are Good,,,,and they get even better over time.....Better at decieving us.....and over billing millions of Unsuspecting people....
posted on June 8, 2004 04:04:01 PM new
Hi...in general eBay is generally pretty good on their invoices....this revamping eBay just did appears to have affected other systems.
I think they try hard, but because of continual changes, it seems like they are chasing their tail and we become caught in the whiplash.
posted on June 8, 2004 08:29:48 PM new
Welllll,,,last week there was this hunk of a guy standing near me in the fruit section of my local Whole Foods Store. He was muscular and tan, blonde hair blue eyes. I needed some help picking out a melon and he happened to be looking at them. I bent over and placed my hand on one melon and said,
Then I woke up. My husband said get up and do something with your day. Only because I love him more than life he is alive today.
posted on June 9, 2004 09:52:43 AM new
HI Good luck trying to resolve ANY problem with ebay. Why do I continue to use Auctionwatch oops Vendio .... because they DO have customer service! I had an ebay problem a couple years ago and could not for the life of me figure out what to do. I tried calling their "customer service" # and got some guy in Salt Lake City Utah!!!! who listened politely and then said you will have to email a full explaination and hope they get back to you!!! Well they sent me their usual computer generated sorry your having a tough time letter blah blah blah!!! I called (then)Auctionwatch and they told me what the problem was and walked me through the fix. I list on ebay with my fingers crossed but ALWAYS with Vendio! Gina good luck ....
posted on June 10, 2004 11:59:15 PM new
I received an email from eBay last month offering a special one-time 5% discount on fees for sellers who switch to direct pay (checking account) before the end of the billing cycle. I thought, great, I'll do this one month and then switch back to CC. This week, out of nowhere, I receive an email telling me that my payment has been declined and my CC has been billed instead. It claims that my bank "no longer" accepts charges from eBay. I go to view my statement, and they've charged me an additional $15!!! And there, it says my account number is invalid (which of course it's not). So not only do I not get the promised 5% discount, I get to pay $15 EXTRA. I have still received no response to my email.
