eBay

paytonrules2003 · ‎11-11-2022

On October 26th I got an update from eBay asking me to update my seller information, specifically my email and telephone number. They have not changed in the 17 years that I've sold on this platform so I verified them and the screen said DONE. No problem right? WRONG

The next day I got a nasty ACTION NEEDED message that stated:

We recently asked you to review and update some details on your eBay account. Looks like you haven't made any updates yet. Your payouts will be on hold until you fix this. Please do this by 2023-01-24 to get your account back in good standing.

I called in and was told that I was fine, it just might take time for the system to verify things since they were sending the message out to many sellers. Each day I had a nasty pink banner telling me to update my information and on November 4th I got the threatening message again. I called in, got routed through 3 people into Europe somewhere and was told that I was fine. This time I made one of them actually send me a message in eBay verifying that fact:

Thank you so much for reaching out to us for the account information inquiry, you needn't worry about any update to the information since it is currently undergoing said verification with no issues at all.
The payouts are active and eligible to be sent to the bank account on file.

Problem solved, right? WRONG!

The daily pink messages kept coming and the threatening ACTION NEEDED message came again this afternoon. Another phone call and another routing to Europe, to the UK this time. A very nice young lady put up with my by this time very angry response to this continued threat to not pay me what I had earned.

We went through everything step by step and I found to my horror that since my phone number was a landline they could not verify it by sending a text message to it. I literally had to change my primary number to my wife's cell phone number in order to get my information verified. And even that was not good enough at first because they sent a verification code to my email address which when I put it in was not enough for the system to verify me. Only when they sent a second verification code to my wife's cell phone was I able to be verified and hopefully off the pink threat list!

Which leads to the following questions:

1. Why did it take 3 weeks and 6 phone calls for someone to tell me that I needed text capability in order to continue to sell on eBay?

2. Is that even legal? Since a larger proportion of older adults in the US may not have text capability like yours truly (maybe I'll change my screen name to Dinosaur1 or something) is that not age discrimination?

3. Why is this second layer of verification so important? Even the patient lady said that I could request a call back from eBay on my landline if I needed it and that it was more necessary in Europe than in the US to have this type of verification.

4. Why does Ebay continue to make simple things hard? Instead of sending threatening emails couldn't they simply have sent one saying they needed to be able to send me a text in order to verify my account information?

5. Am I the only dinosaur left or is anyone else in this predicament? If you are getting these messages and don't know how to deal with them you simply need to find someone with a cell phone to help you out.

All this angst because I was perfectly happy using the same phone number since 1987 and not thinking that the world has a right to track my every move through a cell phone!

paytonrules2003 · ‎11-11-2022

LOL Polio shots have been around since the early 50's so even dinosaurs like me got one when we were children. This isn't a thread about landlines vs. cell phones but about eBay's continual effort to make simple things more difficult.

If they hadn't made me and other sellers jump through about 1,000 hoops over the past 17 years in order to sell and had bothered to listen to basic suggestions along the way they might be in much better shape than the poor Amazon wannabe they have turned into over the years. Basic communication skills and customer service would be a nice addition and a much better one than changing category specifics and making things tougher for customers to find and for sellers to list.

Of course I am old enough to remember a time when I did not have to do all the work for the post office as well. Even 10 years ago we did not have to weigh, buy, print and affix postage labels as well as track our own packages. Now we get to do all those things and pay much more for the privilege on top.

I'm also not anti-cell phone. My wife is a doctor and it makes it easier for her to keep on top of all of her patient concerns. I'm just saying that you don't need one to successfully sell on eBay and I resent being forced to have one so some computer algorithm is satisfied.

coolections · ‎11-11-2022

@paytonrules2003 wrote:
I think that I need a way for people to get in contact with me. One way is via email, another is via phone. I just never dreamed that some corporation could dictate to me which type of phone I had to have!

Welcome to 2022. Almost every site I visit that has passwords requires me to get a text for verification before I can enter.

1786davycrockett · ‎11-11-2022

"They're not dictating which type of phone you have to have. They're just saying you need one that's compatible with the 21st century."

Speaking of being "compatible with the 21st century {sic}," when do you think eBay will ever refine its bookkeeping system, so that it's compatible with reality?

I just spent over an hour going through my record of eBay purchases for 2022 (getting ready for tax season, ya know), and was surprised to find that eBay's records for my purchases are incomplete -- quite a few significant dollar amounts were totally missing. So I went back through my paper records (remember those?), to find out which purchases had become lost in eBay's non-filing system. My (paper) records are perfect -- eBay's, not so much. Yet another flaw in eBay's electronic filing system -- should be lots of fun for many of us, come tax-filing season in 2023.

And I'm another old fogie that is hanging on to my land-line. Too many of my friends seem to think that that silly toy is something that they can't seem to live without, and that it is more important than the LIVE people in front of them. Plus my land-line pinpoints my location perfectly for 911 emergency calls. Plus I don't have to walk all over the neighborhood to get a "signal." Plus no thieves seem to be interested in stealing land-lines.

And, personally, I don't mind the "inconvenience" of being without a cell-phone -- I've enjoyed hours and hours and hours of good, tranquil walks without those geedee things ruining the peace and quiet.

Count your necessities carefully -- for me, a cell-phone just doesn't make the cut.

hartungcards · ‎11-11-2022

Well, you don't really need a car to carry home your groceries either, but it sure is easier than tying them to the back of your horse, right?

varebelrose · ‎11-11-2022

" Those that only have a landline are an incredibly tiny minority that also don't tend to use the internet either."
Wow, stereotype much? You could not be more wrong.

"I suggest getting rid of the landline. I am 45 years old and have never had a landline as an adult. Any reason why you think you still need one will probably fall apart upon actually examining that reason. "

Between the fact that I live in a "holler" (as us country folks say), I have a metal roof, and I am way out in the sticks anyways, I have almost no cell signal at all. I think having reliable 911 coverage is a very good reason to continue having a land line.

hartungcards · ‎11-11-2022

Wait, what? You take your landline on walks in the country so that in an emergency 911 can pinpoint your location? By the way, it may make you feel better to know that you can actually take your cellphone with you on your walks, and TURN IT OFF for the duration.

varebelrose · ‎11-11-2022

"Boy, you and a lot of others are really gonna be mad when you're forced to get an electric car."

ROFLMAO... Thats not gonna happen. You do realize that in vast swaths of the country, there is no power grid infrastructure to make that viable, nor are the EVs able to meet the demands required. Not everyone lives in the inner city.

simply-the-best-for-you · ‎11-11-2022

@coolections wrote:
@paytonrules2003 wrote:
I think that I need a way for people to get in contact with me. One way is via email, another is via phone. I just never dreamed that some corporation could dictate to me which type of phone I had to have!
Welcome to 2022. Almost every site I visit that has passwords requires me to get a text for verification before I can enter.

Interesting. Even my financial institutions offer me the option of an email or a text.

This one goes to Eleven - Nigel Tufnel

Simply-the-best-for-you Volunteer Community Mentor
eBay Seller since 1996

hartungcards · ‎11-11-2022

ROFLMAO...Please wake up and smell the coffee. Internal combustion-engined cars won't even be in production by 2030. You do realize that there was a time in vast swaths of the country, there was no power grid infrastructure to run electric lights too, right?

buyselljack2016 · ‎11-11-2022

Yup, that walk southeasterly across my lawn, sometimes in the dark/cold/rain/snow, or walking out into the highway, and on down the road to see if I can get a cell signal is something that I should add to my bucket list.

hartungcards · ‎11-11-2022

It's definitely not recommended to walk out into the highway to use your cellphone.

kensgiftshop · ‎11-11-2022

@paytonrules2003 wrote:
I think that I need a way for people to get in contact with me. One way is via email, another is via phone. I just never dreamed that some corporation could dictate to me which type of phone I had to have!

It's not just Ebay.

Some other sites I'm a member of, you have to have a cell phone to receive text messages.

Have a great day.

cresco007 · ‎11-11-2022

Are you this unpleasant in real life or only online?

1786davycrockett · ‎11-11-2022

"You take your landline on walks in the country so that in an emergency 911 can pinpoint your location? By the way, it may make you feel better to know that you can actually take your cellphone with you on your walks, and TURN IT OFF for the duration."

This may come as a surprise to young folks; but millions and millions of people have been taking nice, quiet walks for centuries -- without cell phones (or other phones).

And cellphones are worthless for walks deep in the woods or mountains (no signals), where they are worthless anyway in emergencies (no roads).

Human civilization seemed to get along for tens of thousands of years without cell-phones. I think that I can muddle along just a bit longer without one.