Rant; Ebay is sort of blocking my purchases

[Bill Dufour]

For the last six months ebay has forgotten my credit card info. For every purchase i have to type in the number, expiration date and code number. Not a huge deal. Well we moved and I told ebay and the credit card compnay. Now about 75% of the time ebay refuses to accept my card. Once it refuses for a seller it never lets me buy from them. i have to find a different seller who hopefully has the item.
They say to reenter the info and try again, check with card company etc. I checked with the company and it is not on their end. Called ebay today and she tried. a few things no go. She put me on hold while she tries some higher ups to help. 2.5 hours on hold and nothing. I had to leave work and go home.
No email no call back nothing.
Should I cancel the card and wait a week or two to get a new one? We only have the one card since we dumped the extra never used cards. Kind of hard to have no working card so soon after buying a new house and needing to buy stuff for the house. No guarantee the new card will work any better. no other company has an issue with the card.
Bil lD

[Malcolm Schweizer]

Wow, that would be a real issue for me. I buy a lot on eBay. Do you use PayPal? Could this be on PayPal’s end?

[Frank Pratt]

I've only used PayPal on eBay, but I very rarely buy there anymore. For the last few years, when shopping for new product, I've always been able to find the item cheaper, with shipping included, from other sources. And don't get me started on eBay shipping. It seems the norm to charge 2x to 10x the actual shipping costs.

[Zachary Hoyt]

I buy a lot on eBay, mostly through PayPal though I have used a card too. If you don't have a PayPal account I would get one, they're very handy and don't cost you anything as a buyer.

[Bill Dufour]

I used to have a paypal credit card but then the changed the physical card so it looked the same as my go to card so I let that the paypal card lapse. They used to allow direct bank withdrawl but I do not see that option anymore.
Bill D.

[Zachary Hoyt]

I've never had a PayPal card, but I have been using PayPal for about a decade. You can link your PayPal to your bank account so that if there is not money in your PayPal account you can draw it out of your checking account to pay instantly for purchases. I have a Visa debit card through my bank, and have never had a credit card of any kind.

[Mike Henderson]

When I use PayPal they always offer a menu of ways to pay: PayPal balance, credit card registered with them, or direct deduction from my checking account.

I don't buy much from eBay any more. I'd rather purchase from Amazon, even if it's a few dollars more, because I know Amazon will stand behind the purchase. Not true for most purchases from eBay.

Mike

[Wade Lippman]

I have my Paypal account linked to a small bank account. There is way too much corruption on ebay/paypal and I like knowing that no matter what, I can't lose more than is in my bank account. I don't buy much on ebay unless there is no other option.

I have two credit cards. My good one that gives me 2% back and no annual charge gets hacked about once a year and is unavailable until they send me a new card. Then I have the other one. I don't like being without one for a week.

[Ronald Blue]

I have always used PayPal. It's linked to both my credit card and bank account. The credit card is the primary source but having a verified bank account had some benefit as well but I don't recall what now. I've never used a credit card to buy on eBay and it's approaching 20 years since I first used it. I don't buy a lot of things from there. I just looked and I'm up to a huge 62. So maybe 4 times per year. But back to Bill's post just set PayPal up to use the credit card and forget the hassle with eBay rejecting it.

[Perry Hilbert Jr]

At one time, I found most items were the cheapest on ebay, now their is a host of on-line stores that are cheaper. However, when trying to purchase from over seas I run into all kinds of problems with pay pal. From out right rejection to suspending my account temporarily. I just ordered some items from India no problem. Items from Turkey, no problem, items from Greece, no way Jose. I have ordered from Germany, but suddenly many German sellers will not ship overseas. Almost every purchase over the last two years from over seas has had some problem or another.

[Rick Gibson]

When buying online I only use paypal. I have it linked to a checking account that normally has no more than $50 in it. It's not linked to a credit card. If linked to a credit card and your paypal account gets hacked they could run it to the limit on your credit card. The checking account I use for paypal is also in a different bank than my main bank so if hacked the most they could get would be the $50. Being over 65 the banks I use give me free banking so it costs me nothing to maintain that second bank account.

[Jim Becker]

When buying online I only use paypal. I have it linked to a checking account that normally has no more than $50 in it. It's not linked to a credit card. If linked to a credit card and your paypal account gets hacked they could run it to the limit on your credit card. /QUOTE]

It's unlikely that that would cause you a responsibility problem as the card issuer would not normally hold a cardholder liable for fraudulent use. Just the same, I only have one card linked to my PayPal but it's there so I can do a purchase that's more than any "cash" available in the bank account also tied to the payment system.

[Bill Dufour]

So I applied for pay pal and was able to make several purchases. Now ebay has blocked that account as well. I guess i need to get a new credit card every few days? ebay claims they will call me once they have it figured out...Sure I believe them. They do not have a phone number, they call you.
Bil lD

[Mike Henderson]

When buying online I only use paypal. I have it linked to a checking account that normally has no more than $50 in it. It's not linked to a credit card. If linked to a credit card and your paypal account gets hacked they could run it to the limit on your credit card. The checking account I use for paypal is also in a different bank than my main bank so if hacked the most they could get would be the $50. Being over 65 the banks I use give me free banking so it costs me nothing to maintain that second bank account.

By Federal law, you are only liable for $50 of fraudulent use of your credit card - and most credit card companies won't even charge you that.

That's different for a Debit card. There's no limit to your loss on a debit card. So don't use a debit care - use a credit card.

Mike

[Rick Gibson]

If I do a purchase that is more than the amount in the linked account. I just do an etransfer to myself from my main bank account and deposit it in the other banks account. Just saves me the hassle of dealing with a credit card company and having to prove fraud.

[Jim Koepke]

So I applied for pay pal and was able to make several purchases. Now ebay has blocked that account as well. I guess i need to get a new credit card every few days? ebay claims they will call me once they have it figured out...Sure I believe them. They do not have a phone number, they call you.
Bil lD

It seems like there is something missing in this story. Most businesses will bend over backward to take your money.

Could it be someone with a similar name being the cause of the problem?

Maybe the "several purchases" raised a red flag or one of the vendors was suspicious.

Paypal has worked fine for me. The bank my account is linked to was absorbed by another bank over a decade ago. We ordered 800 checks just before Washington Mutual was closed by the Feds. Just after we received the new checks, almost everything changed to electronic payment. The checks have our old California address on them. We have no problems using them when a check is needed. We still have about 400 old checks left. We used to write maybe 30+ checks a month. Now we might not write that many in a year. One of the last cash or check only payees has recently set up online payments.

jtk

[Lee Schierer]

I had a similar problem on another site. I cleared the cookies and the problem went away.

[Jim Koepke]

I had a similar problem on another site. I cleared the cookies and the problem went away.

That may be one case where tossing your cookies is a good thing.

Maybe that reference is a bit old for many folks.

jtk

[Bill Dufour]

More ebay mysteries. It has been a week and no call back to straighten out the mess. I got an email saying ebay dinged my record for non payment. No way to reply, They show the item in my purchase history as arriving today. I contacted seller he never mailed it since he never got paid. He is being dinged for not shipping it to a non paying customer? I can still use either paypal or the original credit card sometimes.
Bill

[Curt Harms]

eBay Phone Number
866-540-3229 · Customer Service

I haven't used that but worth a shot?

[Bill Dufour]

eBay Phone Number
866-540-3229 · Customer Service

I haven't used that but worth a shot?


Thanks but...No longer in use. As i said there is no contact # for ebay. I can leave a email message and they call me when they good and feel like it. It has been a week already.

[Bill Dufour]

Ebay is an endless loop they say to click here to get to information about this problem. and it goes around and back but no actual link to get anyone to look at your problem,. They are so automated that there is no possible problems so why bother with a help desk. I guess just have to hope I never need to buy something that is not being sold by multiple sellers. As long as 10-15 people are selling it for similar prices I can usually find one who ebay allows me to pay.
I guess this will prod me into buying local and spending local even if it costs a bit more.
Of course the odds of finding a good deal on a odd ball item that I can pay the seller are under 10% or so. Probably get lower over time?
Bill D

[Bill Dufour]

I would cancel the card and get a new one but it works fine everywhere else. And I applied for paypal credit and used that several times and now it has the same issues of ebay disallowing it at times for no reason.
I really do not want to have to get a new card every week.
Bill D

[Bill Dufour]

So tonight I decided to se eif I could buy a set of ten keystone jack blank filler plates. It took five trys before a ebay allowed a seller to take my credit card. Cost about 25 cents more then the cheapest USA seller. But I will earn brownie points on the card. And it was still half or less of Home Depots price.