Locked out of account - forced name on record verification - experience sharing
I guess my English is not too bad with a CEFR of C2. (please don't comment with political correct grammar trolling comments). I am an ebay user since 2002. I always got highest ratings from sellers. In the past 7 years I used the same PC, OS, network, location, and ISP and haven't changed by password for long. I fiercely object to Zuckerberg's rethoric - if have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear - My name is unique (on this planet at least) and since 1995 still haven't been able to erase myself from Google etc.. search results, so I don't prefer to use my real name. I am not a criminal and I believe social and shopping sites don't need to know me by my real name either. I use paypal and the sole payment processor for on line payments, but shopping sites often force to keep a credit card on file which is actually contrast to PCI DSS recommendations NOT to retain credit card information unless the site is highly secure verified and audited by PCI DSS standards. (BTW I built a PCI DSS certified website using a credit card payment processor and it did not retain CC information and worked fine)
On May 30th 2025, ebay suddenly reported my password was invalid. [Lie #1] AFAIK my session was even active as ebay show my shop card count but when clicking on any menu it asked for my password.
Reset the password and changed by email. Though that was done but then ebay reported that I used a different system (PC) to access ebay. [Lie #2]. I needed to call them.
Agent #1. By the accent the person answering was very likely from Afro American descent. He asked for phone#, user name and the first and last name. The latter I did not remember because I never used that to login or for any transactions. I asked him if my address could help to verify, but he said he that would not work and he could not help me because of the first/last name issue. A digital programmed person without helpful hints. He hang up the phone to me.
Agent #2. Called again after remembering a possible first/last name. The person answering had strong Indian, hard to understand, accent. I gave the first/last name and he asked for my address, which matched. He did not verify the email address. He told me the problem was my account was in the USA, so that would be a problem to login and suggested to create a new ebay account. I asked him why ? Should I have a different ebay account for different countries I am buying from ? He kept saying this would be a problem. He asked me my phone#. which I told him several times. He rejected 3 or more times and never verifying what I said. Suddenly he seems to accept and 3 minutes later he came back and said he would call me at the mobile phone# (in Asia) for a to high level verification. I never got the call. Another digital programmed person without helpful hints.
Agent #3 . A nice sounding lady in plain American English answered. The email and address seem to match and she asked for the phone #. Luckily hinting on the last 2 digits which gave me a hint that she was checking the land line number (I though I only used my mobile phone only on ebay). she called me back on my land line # after she said the mobile # did not work (even the phone worked fine). She asked the code in the browser that was provided with the call number (luckily I did not close the browser). It seems all was done now to lift the block. I asked about the USA account issue and she confirmed that was just using ebay USA and had nothing to do with my account setup. [Lie #3 from agent #2]
It seems ebay is lying about changing the system and password. it seems thet force a reset password to set the user in name on record verification state. The verification process is inconsistent, the agent use different verification standards and question. Not all are helpful with hints to help you recover and ebay can lock you out from your session into forcing a name on record verification which seems actually not mandatory at all, nor there is any statement on ebay account setting that this is critical (IF it is) to not to get locked out of the account. [Possible Lie #4 based on Agent #1)l
When going back into the browser and login again, ebay gave the same verification code. That results in when calling that the is invalid. Only CTRL-F5 worked to get a new number.
Ebay can verify my story because it was recorded. Any please delete my recording based on the right to be forgotten. (ebay does not provide information on what recordings they retain. Not good) Please learn a lesson from a desperate user.
My suggestion is whatever you do, keep a copy of the peronal info registration data at ebay or any other site, as ebay may force into name on record verification any time and these big companies are becoming more and more blunt and don't care who you are or feel or how it impacts you life when being locked out..
If it does not work out with one agent, keep calling until you find someone who is not a robot and helpful. Hopefully those will not be fired now that the agentic web is coming. Yhink about all the potential horrors with true digital instead of human digital agents as #1 and #2)
This was a very scary experience.
Good luck YMMV.
waigworen
OP1 year agoA few more comments:
Seen the first comment with zero transaction and very fast response time and not much added value, not sure dealing with a bot . Not commenting on that, sorry.
1. Not making a purchases in a year should have nothing to do with the issue. I was using ebay before an login without problems before this happened. Clearly stated at the beginning of the OP
2. I did not give the a invalid or different location/country. The location/country/address was correct confirm per agent #3 on file. Agent #3 confirmed that agent #2 provided incorrect information about the country setting and that the registered information was fine, except the registered name. agent #2 apparently did not understand how ebay works himself . and BTW the country where I live there is no ebay site, so why he would state that "using the USA site could give problems"
3. Real name verification means nothing until enforcement by a valid password or other valid official ID. Many users use anagrams of their names. People using anagrams or not actual real names are even worse as just using a dummy name that is directly understandable as not being real.
4. eBay verification system is outdated, there are many other ways to verify real uses by using 2FA OTP or a code sent to the mobile phone. The agents event can't see the difference between a land line and mobile phones (why there is not a field type in the settings), and it seems they are unable to call international mobile phones. When they call land lines they call collect, FYI.
5. Correct, you can't call the directly. But as stated in the original post, the call# was provided by ebay after login of the correct password.
6. The name of file isn't used for making transactions. it not a shipping address. Per experience with "digital" Agent #1, even one digit or character is wrong, even a "dot" there is a very high change the agent will reject it. Even a telephone number with our without a country code before or a + or not may make a difference. Some agents seems to want exact copy of what is on file. Be warned !
if one hasn't faced this kind of verification process. probably it's hard to understand the challenge.
mudshark61369
·1 year agoHmmm,
Registered to use ebay.com, giving them another country as your location, using a fictitious name, and seemingly have not used ebay in over a year. Because of that when ebay wanted to make sure you were who you claim to be, you could not remember the name you gave them?
I'm on this site almost daily and have been using the same computer, OS and browser for years from the same location. I do have to manually enter my login info after clearing my temp. files and cookie cache, but in the last year I was forced to change my password. Not a problem remembering the old one because I have all of the usernames and passwords I use on different online sites written down and stored in a secure location.
Granted some of ebay's customer service reps aren't the brightest bulbs in the box. However, you cannot call ebay's customer service directly, you have to arrange for a call back. If you did call a number you looked up online you were giving someone not connected with ebay your information. So much for trying to stay off Google's grid.
As for credit card storage, I have never worried about it being stolen from eBay or PayPal. Some years ago there was a message sent to all members saying some info might have been hacked, but it turned out not to have happened. Still I changed my password to CMA.
kensgiftshop
·1 year agoEspecially the fake name you used.
wastingtime101
·1 year agoI suggest reading this page and be sure to expand the section that says "read our full policy" - it's a quick, short read.
https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/identity-policies/false-missing-contact-information-policy?id=4238