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ebaY Paying Fraud Claims?
 

22 Mar 02

TAG has been hearing from an increasing number of subscribers that they have had problems with the ebaY Fraud claim refund.

In one case, that appears to be typical of the stories we have been reading about and hearing, the buyer purchased a "designer" item in Aug 2001 that when received turned out to be fake. they buyer attempted to get the seller to refund and kept trying until Oct 2001. On 1 Oct the buyer filed a complaint. On 6 Oct the buyer received a message from ebaY that after a 30 day period during which ebaY will attempt to resolve the problem with the seller, the buyer should send via USPS several documents. Once the documents are received by ebaY the buyer should hear from an adjustor in up to 45 days The buyer did as instructed, sending all the info recorded mail albeit a few days early, on 25 Oct. the buyer emailed ebaY several times with no response until 11 Dec, when the buyer got acknowledgement of the receipt of the paperwork, and a query if the case still needed to be pursued. The buyer replied "yes" and heard from ebaY on 15 Dec that the seller now had 14 days to respond to the claim. On 4 Jan 2002 the buyer hears from ebaY that the claim was found in their favor and asking the buyer to value the item, despite the fact that ebaY had the auction info with the value. On 9 Jan ebaY says that ebaY will issue a claim check and if not received within 30 days to contact them. On 9 Feb buyer informs ebaY no claim check received, but ebaY does not respond. On 13 Feb, buyer emails ebaY again and hears from them on 18 Feb with the message, "Please keep in mind, eBay offer the Fraud Protection Program free to all of its members. Members do not pay for this protection nor do they have to sign up for anything in order to be protected." though ebaY made no mention of the still not received claim check. Buyer emails ebaY with a response to the ebaY email, asking if the message means that because the program is "free", should the buyer not expect the program, offered by ebaY, to not work? The buyer also says the program is not free, but paid for by seller fees. No response from ebaY and no check. The buyer calls ebaY on 20 Feb and then receives an email on 22 Feb that the check was mailed on 7 Feb. Buyer emails ebaY to say no check and ebaY says buyer must wait until 9 Mar so ebaY will be able to trace the check. Buyer calls the fraud Dept (801-545-2382) on 6 Mar and finally talked to someone who gave a hoot. He called back the same day to say a replacement check was being sent overnight express and that if the first check arrived destroy it, as a stop payment had been placed on it. On 8 March buyer receives replacement check by FEDEX, also the original check via mail. The original check is postmarked 5 March but dated 7 Feb. All for a $52.00 claim.

In addition to this being an inordinate amount of time for a buyer to wait for a payment, we were really interested when ebaY said, ""Please keep in mind, eBay offer the Fraud Protection Program free to all of its members. Members do not pay for this protection nor do they have to sign up for anything in order to be protected." It is really interesting that ebaY can make such a statement about the program being free, as if you have no right to expect service. As we all know, this program is paid for by sellers, with their fees, just as they pay for the lights being on at ebaY, the servers being up, Meg Whitman's salary, etc. ebaY has an inflated and stable stock price, because sellers pay fees, day in and day out. This program, as all others, is not free. It is also interesting that the only "fraud protection" now mentioned on the ebaY home page is in the logo for ebaY Billpoint Payments, which now says "full purchase protection". There is nothing on the browse page, search page (only a purchase protection with Billpoint statement, no link on the Buyer Guide page (though there are three links to pay via ebaY payments), and no mention in the Buyer's tutorial. If you run a search for buyer protection under help, you get two links to the fraud insurance program, and there is also a link on the rules and safety page. In an exchange with Molly@ebay Live Support, TAG asked if ebaY was planning on eliminating the fraud protection program. TAG was told that ebaY had no plan to do away with the fraud protection program.