The eBay Buyers FAQ.
Has something gone very wrong and you don’t know what to do?
Here are the questions that I hear all the time from buyers.
1. Is there an Customer Service number I can use to call for help?
It is very challenging to contact someone at eBay and if you’ve ever tried then you probably got the impression that they think the site can basically run all by itself. You can email them, as long as you don’t have your heart set on a coherent response: go to http://pages.ebay.com/help/contact_us/_base/index.html. You might have better luck in a “live help” web chat here: http://pages.ebay.com/help/basics/n-livehelp.html.
Only eBay Power Sellers (sellers with a very high feedback rating) get to phone customer service. If you really want to try your luck, type “eBay [your country] phone number” into a search engine and you’ll probably find something. Unfortunately, the chances are you’ll have gone to all that trouble for the privilege of leaving a phone message on an answering machine.
This can be frustrating, but if you look at it from eBay’s point of view; they would get thousands of rhetorical phone calls, and that is probably why getting eBay assistance by phone is challenging.
2. eBay Sent Me an Email Saying They’re Going to Close My Account, What Should I Do?
First, look to see if the email asks for your password. If that pops up in your email, then it’s a scam, only intended to get your information and steal your account. One of the policies of eBay is that they NEVER ask for your password or account information through an email. eBay’s policy is that you should only ever enter your password on pages whose addresses start with http://signin.ebay.com/. They have made a vast amount of information available online, where you can find out about; Privacy Policies, Security and Terms and Conditions, etc. To read more go to: http://pages.ebay.com/help/buy/toolbar/useragreement.html
Note: These some policies were updated September 23, 2008 to reflect deletion of the Account Guard functionality from eBay Toolbar. 3. Making money on eBay, how does it work?
For you, the buyer, eBay is free! However, sellers will have to pay various fees when applicable, such as, listing fees for each item and a value fee, which is a percentage of sold items). Of course, there are additional services offered, but they too have a fee associated with them; for example: highlighting the auction items or putting it in bold; using extra pictures or putting your item on the front page, etc. You can see a full list of fees at http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/fees.html.
These fees are apparently not a hindrance to the sellers, because more and more, people continue to use eBay . The system is quite efficient, and basically forces both eBay and the sellers to keep their profit margins as low as possible - otherwise prices will simply go too high and the buyers will stop buying.
4. Is eBay a safe way to market and purchase product?
All of eBay’s safety services for buyers and sellers are in one place, called “SafeHarbor”. SafeHarbor handles fraud prevention and investigations, helps with dispute resolution and keeps rule-breakers in check. There are many different and interesting facts you should make yourself aware of, and the information provided on the eBay ’Safe Harbor’ will no doubt answer most, if not all of your questions.
Tags: ebay, ebay assistance, ebay auctions, ebay buyers, ebay help, making money on ebay