Clarification on contacting ebay

[monica-sells]

Happy July 4th all you USA based sellers......

As you are probably aware, there are multiple ebay "groups" organized on facebook. If you think that there is misinformation being offered here, hang out with one of these groups for a day. I have had the displeasure of engaging a few mislead sellers, only to get flamed by people who have no clue what they are talking about.

But, I really need to fact check myself....try to guide someone who was advised to "call" ebay....

Highlights of the thread: (OP asked about a return)

Poster: Call EBay to alert them of a potential problem. They will make a note on the system. EBay (866) 303-3229.

I asked about the number, they poster said they googled it...I advised to be aware of sophisticated scammers that pose as ebay support. They claimed they called this number "hundreds of times" for support.

[chevymontecarlo88]

Happy 4th to you and yours monica-sells

I am not sure how to answer your question or fully understand it so i will just give you my opinion.

Just like banks and credit card companies, i will not call any of them unless it is on the back of my card (in this case on Ebay website) or on a my bank statement. (in this case a message from Ebay via Ebay messages) There are too many scams that are highly sophisticated that can trick a lot of people. (not just the elderly) If someone (random user not Ebay) in a help FB group told me to call a number, i would be hesitant.

I have spoken to Ebay at times (not recently) and all of those times have been started through the Chat feature on Ebay.

Personally i don't like speaking to them anyways as most of them do not know as much as the users that call them. IMHO

Have a great 4th.

[ckimodog]

@monica-sells 

Sounds like typical eBay customer service & eBay doesn't do anything concerning these bogus numbers. I personally have had good luck in the past with the FB page however.  I got the info right here on this forum. 

Happy 4th Hon...have a great one!

[monica-sells]

sorry...if my post was misleading...it is NOT the ebay for business or the ebay official page (which I, too, have had good luck with)..it is one of many facebook "ebay groups" page (similar to this community group, but on facebook)...

I just peeked in on one, and was astonished at the flora of misinformation being offered. The blind leading the blind.....(I actually feel sorry for some of the people getting bad answers to the simplest of issues)

My reply in this particular group was that ebay does NOT have a general support number you can call, and to beware of sophisticated scams offering numbers you might find on google, facebook, reddit, etc.....

Am I wrong about the support phone number?

[albertabrightalberta]

@monica-sells 

If you can, you might want to edit your OP to show the phone number as "xxx-xxx-xxxx" to help prevent readers from calling it.

[caldreamer]

You are correct, EBAY does NOT have a phone number where customers can call.   Phone number on the web is scammers.

[buyselljack2016]

Seems that the # was an eBay support # that could have been used in the past by the person making the "hundreds of times" statement, but as to still being a good # I would lean toward not trusting it.

[monica-sells]

found this thread here.....

When I tried to access my account, on the only com... - The eBay Community

[eburtonlab]

That number may have been an eBay number at one point -- and may still be an eBay number, I do not know one way or the other and I am not interested in calling to try to test it.

The last four digits do spell out EBAY on a phone keypad. For whatever that is worth.

The fact that it may have been an eBay number in the past does not guarantee that it still is, though. And in any case, eBay no longer has a public number for customer service.

Calling that number is not likely to lead anywhere helpful at this point, but convincing others of this fact may not be easy (or appreciated).

[ckimodog]

@monica-sells 

No you are not wrong at all.  If I had a dollar for every post concerning poor customer service complaints via eBay customer service....well I wouldn't have to sell on eBay.  lol

Enjoy the holiday!

[soh.maryl]

As a frequent flyer on Facebook, have seen quite a few eBay questions there as well as quite a few wrong or misleading answers.

Started out replying to the OP that they need to return to the eBay site and ask their question there.  Got at least 5 messages from people on eBay that my reply was a mistake.  

[monica-sells]

@soh.maryl 

that is exactly what I am experiencing....regarding this inquiry, I was told I am wrong...

"anyone can call that number....I've used it 100's of times...."

Pure **bleep**

[robbie31415]

The forums spread a lot of misinformation that there isn't a direct number.

There actually is, and it's buried on eBays site because they want to push people to use the Automated assistant.

However that appears not to be the correct number on eBays site.

You can get the correct number by clicking 'Call Us'.

 

[lacemaker3]

Well, that number was given out by an eBay Blue in 2021 ...

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Ask-a-Mentor/Account-blocked-I-cannot-solve-the-problem-over-the-phone...

I don't know if eBay still uses it any more. I believe they discontinued some of their toll-free numbers during the pandemic.

I don't believe it should be used as a general contact number, in any case. It was provided in a specific context, about account security.