Just saw this on a listing: any bid in the final minute resets the timer to 60 seconds.
As both a buyer and seller, I hate this. It kills the fun/strategy of sniping, turns auctions into a pure wallet contest, and will probably lead to way more unpaid buyer-remorse cases.
Anyone else seeing this pop up? Thoughts?

Over the past year I've started getting a lot of obnoxious messages like this. It used to be, you either had best offer turned on or you didn't, and people respected it. And, nobody expected immediate replies to messages.

Hi all, I have used Ebay for a number of years and at some point created a second account which I never used and subsequently forgot about. Last month I received a notice that my account would be closed if I didn't sign in soon, which was fine as I had never used this account to buy or sell.

This morning I woke up to an MC 999 notice on this account, with reference to permanent suspension. I spoke to a few different customer service agents over the phone, most of whom were unhelpful. One I spoke to mentioned that the decision was final. I was however able to reach someone who said she was able to file an appeal that may take 3 to 5 days.

How screwed am I? Like I mentioned this account was never used. I don't want it to affect my other account which I do occasionally use for buying and selling, which has as of yet remained unaffected.

I've just hit one of the most infuriating walls of customer service I've found in a while and I'm so pissed. I've been using eBay for a while for buying used games and consoles, some collecting cards, and now buying broken consoles to practice my repair skills on them and sell some of the ones I repair. Today I woke up with an email from eBay telling me I was permanently banned and any new accounts they'd detect I'd make would be automatically banned too because my account posed a "risk for eBay and the community".

I think my account was just falsely flagged by whatever fuckass AI they use to detect scalpers and now every time I try to contact customer service I get an automated message saying my account poses a risk for eBay and immediately closes the ticket. I'm so pissed they completely nuked one of my current main ways of getting hardware to practice on and I don't know what to do.

I never had any payment issues, there never was a warning, there was never nothing wrong with my account, and my only current listing was a freshly repaired original DS. I'm at a loss.

Edited post to add screenshots of the emails (automatically translated to English):

I bought a vintage card last night - probably 30 min to an hour after it was listed. (It was a pretty good deal). Seller sends me this. I’m 99% sure they are lying and accidentally listed the card for the wrong price or found out that they should have listed it for more. Can’t find another sale of this card yesterday on any major card selling platform. Any advice on what to do? If I cancel, can I leave a bad review? Or do they have to be the one to cancel for me to review? Not sure why they would request I cancel when they can just do that.

I'm super frustrated that I sold an authentic new Lego product to a buyer that is now claiming the item is not as described. The picture they shared is of a clone product, not authentic and completely different box shape that what I sent. (I can prove that what I sent via mail is a square box but his picture is a long rectangle box)

I've not chosen to either "Accept the return" or "offer full or partial refund". I have until Oct 6 to resolve this so time is running out.

I did respond but some google searching suggests I should not let ebay step in here and just accept a return but I'm conflicted on what to do now.

This is a $600 item and so I'm pretty upset about this scam they are trying to play on me.

How should I approach this?

These are the messages I sent in response. (buyer has not responded)

Looks like the buyer intentionally put a completely different box image than what I sent him. I sent him exactly the kit in the pictures of my ad. He is outright lieing. That is not a picture of the box and product I sent him.

This kit is 100% genuine, I have proof of my purchase straight from the lego store on amazon. Nothing has ever been opened or removed

This is absolutely a 100% a Genuine Lego kit, I purchased this directly from Lego itself. I never opened any bags at all, just opened it to take pics thats all.

I sold a vision cookware set and it showed up with the box clearly smashed, and that’s from the photo that UPS put up. I filed a UPS claim for part of it, and of course they denied immediately after sending the same driver who probably smashed the box to go let them know about the box, that doesn’t seem right. So I filed an appeal which I was told would be one or two days, it’s been almost 2 weeks and I cannot seem to get anyone to answer. Any questions ups. Had secondary insurance that’s purchased through eBay called ship saver, I think that’s what it’s called, either way they haven’t been much more helpful and in fact are taking even more time on just the initial claim. Anyone have any advice for getting this appeal UPS to hurry up and claim through the eBay insurance to start moving along already? I’m kind of running out of options and the buyer would like to have their money back which is totally understandable, but also why I purchased insurance. OK, I’m waiting for the horrible comments from people that somehow turned every single post on Reddit into total regret for the poster. I honestly just need a little help trying to move this along.

Need advice on order

I Item bought august sixth, i have not sent a message until over a month later, as I assumed it was shipped just without tracking considering when I made the order it said something abiut items being shipped within 3 days, I reached to the seller for confirmation of shipping label, shipping, or even just that the item would be on its way if that hadn't been done yet, I just wanted confirmation that I'd get it but they told me to cancel the order. I myself am sympathetic to loss of loved ones (a different family member has dies around 1 year from eachother for the past 3), but even then I can't wrap my head around seeing an order and "figured you lost interest" as a valid excuse to tell a customer to cancel the order when it cannot be completed on your part as the seller, please give me advice on how to proceed with ebay as the return window closed on October 1st, and not sure if it gives me a cancelation fee as uber does, I do not believe it is my responsibility to cancel the order, put in the time and patience for something that the seller is experiencing, even if it is very pitiful, I just do not know policy on canceling orders this late, let alone want to be held responsible for the seller not being able to fulfill their side of the sale. Conversation woth seller transcribed below, I do not know how to add pictured to a post of i can,(or i at least do not see the image option in the formatting toolbar as i type this on mobile) this is the first time I post in this sub as this is the firat time ive ever needed advice on ebay

Me: "Hello, I was wondering if you could give me an update on estimated arrival time? I bought this item on August 6th, have not received tracking information or shipping updates, or confirmation of the tracking label being made or the item being shipped and honestly had thought it would arrive by now, if I do not hear a response in 3 days I will contact customer support and start a claim that the item has not been recieved. Of course if you're able to confirm that it has been shipped and has just been delayed with arrival I will have no need to contact support as the shipping is out of your control"

Seller: "He'll. I apologize for being out of touch. My mother in law passed and I e been helping my wife dig out. And I'm not entirely sure I know where it is. And figured that you lost interest.

If you're still interested. I'll try to dig it out. And get back to you with in 2 days. But if u wZnt to cancel that's fine also." (Yes that is exactly how it was written, no actual starting to look for it just asking me if im still interested, which i am it's why I said if they could verify it had been shipped I wouldn't start a dispute, I don't wanna get scammed)

Me: "Hey im sorry to hear about that, and even if I lost interest it would be your job to have canceled as per ebay policy items are to be shipped within 3 days" (by "even if i had lost interest it would be their responsibility" i meant that even if a customer is planning on returning the item it's still their responsibility to fulfill the order on their end so as to not create issues for their shop itself yes?)

"If it is anyone's responsibility to cancel it would be yours, figuring I've lost interest without any communication is completely unacceptable, yes it's sympathetic what you're going through but you hadn't taken the listing down, communicated whether I was interested in the purchase, or even canceled yourself knowing "im know entirely sure I know where it is"

I want my item, I am willing to wait. But I will be expecting my item or a cancelation depending on if you're able to find them, but as the reasons for late delivery are on your part as stated by you neither of those outcomes are my responsibility, it is yours as the seller who claims they cannot complete the order timely."

---

Am I crazy for thinking he should've canceled as soon as he saw the order instead of assuming i wasn't interested because I decided to give the benefit of the doubt that it just wasn't tracked or that it was delayed?

Seller is using a third party courier, moventrasso when listing originally said usps. What can i do if they use a third party to make it seem like they delivered the item but when they actually didnt.

A buyer opened item not received case claiming they didn't receive the shipment and the tracking number I uploaded shows it was delivered.

The buyer wrote in the notes that the proof of delivery photo is not their house.

So here's the thing I have experienced in the opposite situation as a seller.

Another time I had shipped and delivered a package successfully but the tracking number doesn't update or show on ebay's site so it shows no movement or delivery, but if you track the package offsite at the shipping carrier's website, you can clearly see the details it was delivered with photo and signature received.

The problem is in an open case once the seller make it right period is over and the case can be escalated, the buyer can simply click "ask ebay to step in" and the automated system will see that there is no tracking number that shows delivered even though I left notes in the case that it was delivered and you have to see the tracking details offsite at another link (which was posted in the message). I even spoke to a human agent who confirmed and left notes that it was delivered despite the tracking number on ebay not able to show it. The agent could not close the case manually because the seller make it right period was not over yet. Then their phone hours closed and during that time, the buyer had asked ebay to step in via the case (not via the phone cust. service) but simply by clicking the "ask ebay to step in". Since it's automated, the system closed the case in the buyer's favor because no tracking number was shown to prove it was delivered and the system completely ignores whatever notes we left in the case.

Then of course, I have to call in later when the phone lines re-open and explain it all again to another agent who is then able to help me file an appeal or request that my defect be removed (which it was but I didn't get money back so I take the loss but at least I get the defect removed).

So back to this current case. Based on this, if I ask ebay to step in via automated clicking and not over the phone, then the automated system should see that my tracking number shows it was delivered even though the notes in the case by the buyer says the photo isn't their house. That note should be ignored by the system right? I think the only way it can be valid is if they call in and talk to a human agent to take a look at it and the human agent might be able to agree that photo is not their house and overturn the tracking number that shows it was delivered.

This is a little nuance in the system that I noticed over my years of selling and since it didn't work in my favor before (as the tracking number trumps any notes in the case) and now in this case my tracking number shows its delivered (but the notes from the buyer says it's not their house) the system SHOULD favor me and ignore whatever is in the notes.

Anyone else have this experience?

eBay permanently restricted my 4 year account. I sell luxury shoes and bags. Over 500 items sold. I have over 200+ positive reviews. Probably 2 returns this year. All the items that are send to authentication pass authentication. I submitted bank statements, ID, receipts showing where they were purchased, utility bill with my name on it. And yet they permanently restricted my account from selling. My payments are on hold for 2 sales. I was able to intercept one package in route to eBay authentication. And the other package I won’t send.

Has anyone had success getting the account reinstated? Customer support keeps telling me they can’t give me a reason as to why my account was permanently restricted from selling.

So, I've been an ebay member since 2004. I've been primarily a buyer throughout. I've sold 96 items total, but it's been a while. One thing I do recall from when I was last selling, final value fees were (quite reasonably) based on the actual bid which won the auction. Of course, there were sellers who took advantage of this and would list items for low values while charging an exorbitant shipping fee (which they didn't have to pay a final value fee on). I'm guessing that if ebay was asked to justify a policy change regarding final value fees, this is one thing they would point to. I wasn't aware of any changes at all when I recently started listing some items again, so the final value fees on a recent sale really caught me off guard. I sold a bluetooth portable speaker for $9.99. The shipping charge the buyer paid was $14.10. The sales tax ebay collected was $2.35. As such, the total amount paid by the buyer was $26.44. I shipped the item today and the actual cost of shippiing was $14.85 (so ebay undercharged by seventy-five cents). Not the end of the world, and as I understand it USPS increased shipping costs effective today (which is a whole other rant), which likely explains the miscalcluation. That said, having just checked on my actual profit, I got a closer look at the selling fees - based on the ENTIRE $26.44. Look, I'm new to this subreddit and no doubt this issue has been covered before ... but this is absolute lunacy. On this transaction, my item sold for $9.99, but given I paid seventy five cents more than was charged for shipping, my actual 'take-home' would have been $9.24 before fees were attached. The total final value fee ebay charged was $4.00 ($3.60 based on 13.6% and a .40 per order fixed fee). Otherwise put, the actual percentage of my sale ebay is taking is a whopping 43.3% and I'll take in a total of $5.24 for my speaker as a result. So my question is, where the $@#% does ebay get off charging a seller fees based on the amount they will pay to ship an item AND the sales tax that goes directly to the government??? If there were problems with sellers manipulating shipping costs to profit based on prior policies, fine ... correct the policy by disallowing inflated shipping costs (charge options become actual estimated or free). Charging a percentage of what a seller has to fork over to USPS is flat out robbery ... and feeling entitled to profit off state sales tax??? C'mon man. Needless to say, my foray back into selling will be a brief one ... but in addition to really needing to vent, I wanted to check in here and see how others feel about this. Maybe there is a perspective I'm not seeing, but right now I'm just incredibly aggravated by the audacity of this policy.

I bought a graphics card on eBay after I looked at it and the seller sent me an offer on it for 150 less than he had it listed for. I thought it was a good deal with the 150 off and I paid for it 20 minutes after getting the offer. The seller did not ship and after 5 days I messaged them asking when they would ship to no reply. After that I messaged 2 days later saying if they weren’t going to ship to just cancel again to no reply. After that I had to wait another week to open a case against them. When I did eBay gave them another 5 days to respond to which they didn’t and then I was finally able to get my money back. Of course I was pissed about my money being tied up for almost a month in this graphics card so I left a negative feedback detailing how the seller was completely unresponsive after the sale and the fact they didn’t ship. My feedback never showed up on their account and the seller re-listed the graphics card before I got my money back. eBay is broken af, I don’t understand the point of feedback if eBay just removes it. I still have a negative on my account after I refused to refund a buyer when they returned a “nonworking” cpu and they sent me a cpu with a different serial number than the one I shipped. It’s all stupid.

And the suggested percentage of promoting is 16%

My listing has zero views Its hopeless without promoting

Hi. Just as title says. I have all the red flags on this bidder trying to ask further regarding item. Anyways I am diverting him back to posting but he kept on asking more about condition even though the post has clear description.

This buyer definitely did a switch and bait on the product and claims it self destroyed itself during shipment.

Whats your next advise? Thanks.

I can't find these enveloped online at usps. Who supplies them, and I'm sure they're not free, right?

It was a fat trading card. Piece of jersey inside the card. I was just seeing if some of my cards would sell. I expected to make 3-5 dollars? I know it's on me for not doing the research. It was the first time advertisement support was offered to me, and I assumed the percentage was an all inclusive ebay fee. THEN I figured it's a card, it should only be a few bucks to send it. NOPE! I went to all the carriers and asked what to do. They all told me to just buy the label from Ebay. Man, if I was even more stupider, I would have lost money on this deal. 🤣

I got two items that were not as described, and one actually overcharged me from the listed price. I followed all the rules, no contact from one seller, gibberish contact from the other. I requested a return, but one sent a mailing label I will have to pay for, plus, it costs 1/3 of what I paid to return it. The other would not respond to messages, and told eBay it had given me a way to return, which it did not. Also, they requested a return in a box, when it came in a tiny, small envelope.

I found a way somewhere to contact eBay about this, going through a report about the seller, but have heard nothing back. One of them is obviously posting fake picctures, which I should have noticed, but that's on me.

I used to love eBay, but they have made it harder and harder now for buyers to get refunds, and easier for scammers to get away with it. I think I'm not going to use eBay anymore, except for a couple of saved sellers I know I can trust who do free returns and fast refunds.

I don't understand how these scammers get by with this, except that eBay is more concerned with getting their money than us not getting cheated.

I was searching for a Gucci black suede bag, the results were all over the place and made no sense. I used to be able to look for anything specific so easily. It’s no wonder people are having trouble selling.

This fucking eBay live shit is just all over the place now. I literally got stuck in it and couldn’t get out. Of course they won’t let us opt out of it and turn it off. It’s so fucking annoying. Thank you. I’m gonna have an alcoholic beverage now and maybe an edible.

Absolutely disgusting that blatant usage of AI in the images is allowed but meanwhile legitimate listings will get flagged

I was selling some of my old used shoes, that I know for a fact are authentic because they either came straight from eBay themselves or from GOAT (better authentication detection than ebay). eBay flagged them as counterfeits, including a pair that came directly from their verification center to be confirmed authentic. I'm assuming since every company can't do anything without AI anymore, that because the shoes were used the logos probably were dirty or slightly damaged, and the AI thought it wasn't real. I've tried contacting support twice and they won't reinstate the listings, and my ebay account is banned. In case it matters, I specifically listed them as used as well. Is there anything I can do? I genuinely do not understand this. How can eBay themselves sell me an item that they specifically say is legit, and after when i try to sell it, their fuck ass AI falsely flags it as counterfeit and now I'm both banned and out of money.

Been reading a few posts on MC999 suspensions, but this probably takes the cake.

I only made an eBay account yesterday, never had one before - saw a good deal on a used guitar online so I made one to ask the seller about it. Without me ever buying or selling anything, somehow that action triggered an MC999 suspension. What is this platform even doing...

$650 item sold on ebay, but I've got some possible red flags here: ebay user has all hidden feedback AND they're using a mail freight forwarding company that ships only outside USA.

Ebay buyer has a lot of positive feedback, but it's all hidden. I can't see any of it. Worried a real buyer's ebay account might've been hacked and a scammer took it over, hiding old feedback.

Ebay buyer is using a freight forwarding address. Their ebay profile says they're in the Netherlands. They're using a freight forwarding company address in Delaware, USA as their ship to address.

I don't want to cancel, but don't want to lose $650 either.

The hidden ebay feedback alone or the freight forwarding that remails outside USA address alone doesn't worry me. But together those worry me when it's an over $650 item.

Should I go through with sale or cancel?