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.
