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Unethical ebaY Billpoint

Billpoint’s Unethical Tactics

Editorial 14 July 2001
Updated 5 Nov 01
Updated 7 Feb 02

TAG has lots of problems with ebaYs Billpoint service. We don’t like the way they fail to protect sellers against unwarranted charge backs. We don’t like how they defraud sellers on fraudulent charge card charge backs. We don’t like how they sneak their logos into auctions when the seller does not select their service, and we don’t trust them to protect user information.

Let’s takes these dislikes one at a time. ebaY has no seller protection plan. Even if a seller can prove they sent the item, even if the buyer leaves positive feedback, a charge back can happen. Billpoint does not contact the seller, or investigate the reason for a charge back, they just do it, take the money back from the seller, and charge the seller a $10. fee in addition to the nonrefundable Billpoint fees the seller was already charged. We find this inexcusable, and feel that as long as the seller can prove they shipped an item, the buyer should have to come up with evidence that the item was not as advertised. The seller should get the opportunity to defend themselves against a charge back. If the charge back is justified, then fine, but automatic charge backs on a buyers say so is not fair. Sellers deserve some protection for all the fees they are paying.

Billpoint is defrauding sellers. They are supposed to check addresses and verify that the charge card address agrees with the buyers’ address. They then give the seller the address to ship to. The seller ships the product in good faith. Billpoint has been know to do a charge back up to three months later, saying that the card was fraudulently used and the item was not won by or shipped to the card holder. How is this possible if Billpoint, as they claim they do, checked the address? Billpoint then charges back the amount, and charges the seller an additional $10.in addition to the fees the seller has already paid. The fault for this error, if it is an error, is 100% ebaYs Billpoint, why are they charging the seller?

ebaYs Billpoint has used all kind of sleazy ways to sneak their logos into sellers auctions. They set the Billpoint option to opt out rather than, without announcing it. They automatically added their logos to relists even if it was not an option on the listing. ebaY is tricking new sellers into signing up for Billpoint, and are requiring bank information, not for site security as they claim, but to qualify sellers for Billpoint whether they want it or not. Sellers can opt out when they first sign up, but we have had multiple and ongoing examples of how ebaYs changes users opt out settings to opt in whenever it suits them.

To make this issue even more sleazy, we have had report of sellers having Billpoint logos added after the auction ends. Sellers carefully check their auctions to insure the auction had no Billpoint logo unwittingly added to it. The auction ends and ebaY sends the buyer an end of auction notice that has a link to pay by Billpoint. The buyer clicks on the link and a Billpoint logo is placed on the auction after the fact. The seller can’t revise an ended auction but ebaY can and does. Billpoint also changes the seller’s option to allow them to send invoices to buyers at auction end, even though the seller has opted out of this service. There is permanent opt out on ebaY as ebaY defaults back to opt in whenever they feel like it.

This leads us to two conclusions. One is that Billpoint is not a good enough product on its own merits for sellers to want to use. Rather than ebaY taking the actions to make it better, they resort to sleaze tactics. The second conclusion is the only way to avoid ebaYs sleaze tactics is to close your Billpoint account permanently. As long as you can prove the account is closed, ebaY can’t force you to use their flawed product.

To close your account go to

http://www.billpoint.com/customercare/index.html

Update - With the advent of the non-optional Checkout, everything we said about Billpoint before is even more true. Now buyers can request the seller accept Billpoint from the checkout email, even if the seller already said NO, either directly or by omission. ebaY is counting on it, that if buyers, not knowing better, ask for Billpoint, the seller will go along and let the buyer use it. This is chicanery on ebaY's part, and is reinforcement for just how bad a product Billpoint is.

Every seller who is not happy with the non-optional Checkout feature should close their Billpoint account, and let ebaY know the reason. ebaY does not care to service it's customers, the sellers who pay ebaY's bills, maybe it is time for those sellers to show their teeth!

It is unfortunate that as time has passed, rather than improving any of the aforementioned areas, Billpoint has gotten worse. Our update for 7 Feb 02 from TAGnotes reflect the same problems as stated above, but they are more troublesome. This unethical and desperate behavior makes it appear that Billpoint has been a complete failure for ebaY.

Serious Billpoint problems continue, and ebaY has added a new one. Though ebaY officially denies this, we have been receiving reports from subscribers that ebaY is now accepting Billpoint payments on behalf of sellers, for any seller who ever used a Billpoint account in the past to purchase an item on ebaY. This is happening even if the seller never opened a Billpoint seller account, and never offered Billpoint as a payment option.
In this situation, despite the fact the seller never offered Billpoint as an option in their auction, ebaY provides a link to pay via Billpoint from the ebaY end of auction email. ebaY accepts payment on behalf of the seller, and there is no way for the buyer to retract the payment, once the seller informs the buyer that the seller does not take Billpoint as payment. The seller will have to contact ebaY to get this problem resolved by emailing payment@billpoint.com ebaY says, " If payment was completed by the buyer through eBay Payments/Billpoint, the seller has a registered eBay Payments/Billpoint account. In some cases, when a seller says they do not have an account, it is in fact true that they do have one. Payment could not be completed without one. If the buyer completes payment through our service, the seller will be automatically paid to the checking account registered on file. If the seller is unaware they have a eBay Payments/Billpoint account, we will be happy to assist them in accessing their account and locating the payment or issuing a refund to the buyer." TAG has seen actual cases where this claim is not accurate and where ebaY Billpoint HAS accepted payment for sellers who do NOT have accounts. It appears that the only way anyone can be sure they do NOT have a Billpoint account would be to email customercare@billpoint.com and ask. Then if for some reason ebaY has opened a Billpoint account for you without your knowledge, CLOSE the account.

The most important reason to NOT have an ebaY Billpoint payments account is ebaY's propensity to allow unjustifiable chargebacks. TAG continually receives reports from sellers who sent the item to the address ebaY Billpoint provided, and had proof of delivery, where ebaY STILL charges back the sale price and adds an additional penalty fee. If you insist on continuing to use Billpoint, to avoid chargebacks you need to have the item signed for by the person it was purchased by. TAG also recommends you pull the ebaY contact info on every buyer who uses Billpoint, and compare the ebaY info to the shipping info ebaY Billpoint provides. Also, if you once had an ebaY Billpoint payments account and you closed it, but ebaY is still accepting Billpoint payments on your behalf, contact ewatch@ebay.com and they should help you fix the problem. In case you don't know this TAG recommends that sellers DO NOT use Billpoint.

For an interesting analysis and review of various payment systems go to
RATINGS OF PAYMENT SYSTEMS