I started my eBay page over a year ago and was trying to set up everything to sell my new product line, but someone was already using my registered brand name as a store name. Also setting up my products on Amazon, Walmart, and my own website, I stepped away from eBay for almost a year to get everything up and running.
When I got back to eBay, I called support on August 22nd to see about potentially securing my registered trademark as a store name and they told me that it was taken, but I was in luck because the person who had it canceled it and within the next 30 days the name would become available. They told me that if I check back periodically, that they guaranteed it would be available by September 22nd at the latest. They said they had no way of telling when it was closed, but it was a max of 30 days to clear the eBay system, so I started checking in on the name multiple times a day to see if it had cleared.
Two weeks later, on September 9th, I requested another call, talked to another eBay support agent to confirm what the first person said was true and they gave me the same information. That the name was taken, but the store was closed and within 30 days it would be available. So I kept checking multiple times a day to see if I could secure the store name.
September 22nd came around and I was still getting the same error. I thought, "Maybe it is 31 days" and tried another day. By September 24th, it was clear that it was not becoming available, so I called back. I talked with a new agent, Rei, escalated my case to the "back office escalations" and told me that I would hear back with a resolution within 24-48 hours.
Three days later, on September 27th I reached out again because there was not even a whisper from eBay support and talked to Santiago who transferred me to his supervisor Jose. Both Santiago and Jose told me the same thing that the other members said, and Jose said he would look into it for me, but that eBay tech team could not contact eBay members directly, and that I would have to call back in 4 days (Monday) to find out an update on my escalated case.
Monday. September 30th. 5 weeks after starting this case, and countless hours checking the status of the store name, I called again to check the status. I talked with Rheinna for 22 minutes explaining everything because she wouldn't transfer me to the escalations team despite my telling her my case number, reference number, and ticket ID number. When she told me that she couldn't give me any information, I insisted that I be transferred to someone in escalations because I was told to call today and I would be given updated information. She then put me on hold. For 34 minutes. So 5 weeks into the support ticket and 57 minutes into the call I was transferred to JiJi. A "supervisor of customer service".
Then things got super frustrating. JiJi started talking about my username, and telling me that I couldn't have my registered trademark since it was taken. I had also asked about that, but was not as concerned with the username as I was with the store name. I don't want the possibility of someone using my registered trademarked brand name to potentially sell counterfeit items and want to protect my brand identity.
The next 40 minutes were extremely confusing because what JiJi was saying not only contradicted what the previous 5 support agents told me, it was contradicting what JiJi was telling me. That the username and shop name are the same thing. (I don't think that is possible since shop names can have spaces and usernames can't.) He told me to google a company in the UK who also used my trademarked name and suggested maybe they were using it and that I should contact them to see. (Where did that come from?) And told me that they, JiJi was the highest level of agent that I could contact and that there was nothing they could do. They told me that everyone else I had talked to for the last 5 weeks had were telling me incorrect information. I asked "Do you mean that the last five people I talked to were lying to me? And JiJi answered "Yes."
I asked to talk with a supervisor or someone else who could verify the information and they told me essentially to call back and just try to get someone else. 1.5hr into the call and they told me to essentially start over, or check the help section of the eBay website.
I can't really put into words how frustrated I am with eBay's support system. If it is true that five people lied to me, I am **bleep** that I wasted 5 WEEKS checking in on the name. If JiJi was inept and lying to me, I wasted an hour and a half on a call that took my attention away from the many other things I had to handle.
I appreciate that this was a more uncommon issue, but eBay support wasted large amounts of my time and money dealing with this issue. Either it was five support agents over five weeks, or it was JiJi at the end of an hour and a half call, but either way eBay's support team directly lied to me and hurt my business doing so.
Any suggestions on what I do now? My current plan is to set aside a couple hours to try to find another escalations person to verify who is right.
PS. eBay... Your hold music sucks and if you are going to leave someone waiting for 35 minutes you should give them the choice to listen to silence.
klhmdg • Volunteer Community Mentor
