Denied 5% eBay Bucks -- What Recourse Is There?
DeutscherGeist
Posts: 2,990 ✭✭✭✭
I made a purchase on some qualifying items on eBay on July 23, 2020 at 11:55PM. The expiration was 11:59PM. I got the confirmation screen confirming $21.62, which is 5% of the purchase. Later, I looked at my eBay bucks accumulation and it recognized my purchase, but got only the 1% back.
I contacted customer service and sent them proof of my purchase time, the fact that I was offered 5% back in eBay bucks, and the confirmation page that I would be rewarded $21.62.
They claimed that while I made the purchase on July 23, the eBay processing recorded it as 12:00AM (July 24) and that is what they go off of. However, I have no control over how fast eBay does their processing. All I can do is my purchase, which was on time. What do you guys think I can do next?
BST: Tennessebanker, Downtown1974, LarkinCollector, nendee
Comments
That doesn't sound right. I know in the past, as long as you make the purchase by the expiration date, the bonus bucks are awarded to your account even if payment is made after the expiration date. They should make good on that as long as the auction ended or the BIN was done by 11:59.
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
Thanks for responding. All I can control is my purchase, which is time stamped. I thought that suffices, but apparently not. Also, eBay's system knows when I made the purchase, so why did their process stretch this out to 5 minutes when it is supposedly instantaneous? Let us see what others say.
BST: Tennessebanker, Downtown1974, LarkinCollector, nendee
You are out of luck unless you want to spend a great deal of time and effort following up on this. Your best bet is to just move on.
Life's too short to hassle over a buck.
I guess you can argue your way up the ebay/PayPal food chain if you want, but at some point you have to value your own time and aggravation. I have no doubt believing that the processing time is what did you in and I imagine some folks there might cut some slack, if possible. However, it might not be possible and/or you might not get those folks. From this chair it seems like they are within their rights and you, unfortunately, made the purchase just a tad too late to have everything clear in time.
In honor of the memory of Cpl. Michael E. Thompson
TomB,
Yes, it's all centered around the processing time. I just wrote eBay customer service another email citing their policy how purchases must be made before 11:59PM on the date of expiration. The purchase was made on time, but the entire transaction fell one minute late, which is not my control and the policy did not specify that part. It could have, but it didn't.
BST: Tennessebanker, Downtown1974, LarkinCollector, nendee
Lesson here is do not wait till the very last minute.
My Collection of Old Holders
Never a slave to one plastic brand will I ever be.
What do the terms of the eBay bucks offer say? Does it specify that the bucks will be rewarded based on the purchase time or the processing time?
Technically, I don't think a purchase is made until the payment is made.
Yep. Just looked at the offer.
Yeah. Is not that uncommon. I had a friend, who's an idiot. He's always paying at the last possible minute. So he had western union wire his mortgage payment at 4:45 p.m. Of course, the company didn't log it until the next morning and so it was officially late.
Yes, those are the terms I used to quote for my case. the purchase was made on time. The PayPal payment went in on time. The eBay processing is what slowed it down. Of course, the eBay processing is part of the transaction, but the purchase is my end only and I did that. The terms does not specify entire transaction or eBay's processing time.
BST: Tennessebanker, Downtown1974, LarkinCollector, nendee
How do you know it isn't the PayPal processing time?
Purchases are not completed until payment is completed. If payment was not completed until 12:04, your purchase was NOT completed in time.
True, not so uncommon. However, my credit card due date policy, for example, states that payment must be made on time and if it is late due to processing time, they will refund the late fees if any should occur. They are transparent about what happens and what they will do. Each company can make their own policy, but I would think it causes a lot of aggravation from the consumer standpoint that one deadline they have control over, but there other they do not. What's to stop a company from making payment processing late on purpose?
BST: Tennessebanker, Downtown1974, LarkinCollector, nendee
When did you first see this coin on Ebay?
My Collection of Old Holders
Never a slave to one plastic brand will I ever be.
What would that purpose be? To keep people from taking advantage of the deal? If they didn't want to offer the deal, they wouldn't have.
Ebay has had a rough quarter and are trying to turn things around. However screwing buyers over isnt a good policy imo.
I still like them better than the dreaded Amazon
It was not a coin, but some other collectible. I have been watching it on my list. This is not the relevant part of my inquiry, though.
BST: Tennessebanker, Downtown1974, LarkinCollector, nendee
It is very relevant actually as you had ample time to buy and pay well before the last second. Unless you were waiting on a best offer reply there is no benefit to waiting until the very end of the promo period. My advice, don't wait so late and you will not have this issue.
My Collection of Old Holders
Never a slave to one plastic brand will I ever be.
I didn't read through it all but is has to be paid for and confirmed in the small window you had.
early bird gets the bonus bux worm
The government is incapable of ever managing the economy. That is why communism collapsed. It is now socialism’s turn - Martin Armstrong
e bay runs slow anyway, when you download a tracking number after you sell something, it takes several hours to appear, if you go to the usps web sight, it appears much faster
You have a right to be upset, and think you deserve the extra bonus bucks. Doesn’t matter in my eyes that it was purchased towards the end of the promotional period.
It boils down to whether you’re willing to take the time to sort it out with eBay.
Is this process described somewhere or are you assuming it's instantaneous?
Honestly, at this point I'd just look at the experience as a $21 lesson for later. Sometimes learning experiences are far more costly. You might want to ask the eBay rep how long it typically takes for transactions to fully process, but I'd probably allow at least half an hour next time for safety.
i got 70 e bucks during the promo, but that didn't even cover the state tax
I think it is when paid, not purchased
I missed out on some because I did not 'activate offer'
Now that I know they go by completed transaction, I will do things differently. The reason for pulling BIN so late was because I was waiting for the best deal possible for the same item. There were other sellers too with best offer.
BST: Tennessebanker, Downtown1974, LarkinCollector, nendee
bux awarded when paypal payment completed. Looks like that includes the time it takes for PP to process the payment.
The government is incapable of ever managing the economy. That is why communism collapsed. It is now socialism’s turn - Martin Armstrong
I made the payment through paypal and I can hear my email pop with the paypal confirmation as soon as payment is clicked. That is instantaneous to me.
BST: Tennessebanker, Downtown1974, LarkinCollector, nendee
As soon as I paid with PayPal, my email inbox received the confirmation. The eBay confirmation happened minutes later.
BST: Tennessebanker, Downtown1974, LarkinCollector, nendee
The terms just say paid for, not that the whole transaction has to be complete. If they meant the whole transaction, they could have easily stated this. Does not take an extra sentence to say "complete transaction on both ends."
BST: Tennessebanker, Downtown1974, LarkinCollector, nendee
The terms say "purchases completed" not "transaction completed" or "payment completed."
BST: Tennessebanker, Downtown1974, LarkinCollector, nendee
so you're saying a purchase is compete before payment is received? So I can walk out of the store with the item without paying? All I gotta tell the cops is "I purchased it?"
Until payment is received a purchase on ebay is a commitment to buy.
The government is incapable of ever managing the economy. That is why communism collapsed. It is now socialism’s turn - Martin Armstrong
You've already wasted too much time on this just in the thread.
You know that is not what I am saying. As soon as they swipe my credit and they hand me the receipt, I did my part. The rest is just processing. If the credit card it bad, it would have rejected it then and there. None of that happened here. I paid, I got the receipt, and I thought that was enough.
BST: Tennessebanker, Downtown1974, LarkinCollector, nendee
when you look at the paypal payment what time does it say the payment was made? That is the time that determines bonus bux eligibility or not. If the there was a delay between the time you made the payment and the time it shows processed then we have all learned something.
The government is incapable of ever managing the economy. That is why communism collapsed. It is now socialism’s turn - Martin Armstrong
the paypal payment sometimes takes a few minutes to clear, right away after i purchase a hourglass thing appears, then the dollar sign lights up after that about 2 minutes later
Of course there is a delay and that is the whole argument here. Payment authorized 11:55PM, order confirmation from eBay 12:03AM. The customer service rep told me the payment was completed at 12:00AM, but I have nothing in print regarding that. All I can do is start payment. I didn't think this much of a problem would be created.
BST: Tennessebanker, Downtown1974, LarkinCollector, nendee
eBay and PayPal are different companies. The fact you completed your PayPal transaction is not proof that the eBay transaction is also completed. I don't know how the two companies handle their business but It's not hard to imagine scenarios where a completed PayPal transaction doesn't get completed on eBay right away.
separate companies but with a few auto links. Enter tracking into PP and it will show up in ebay. Refund in ebay and it happens in PP. Fairly quick links I might add.
The government is incapable of ever managing the economy. That is why communism collapsed. It is now socialism’s turn - Martin Armstrong
Interesting but unfortunate situation. Only hope for restitution is to elevate at ebay. Ask for a manager and then maybe the mgr's mgr.
I imagine that a straight up reimbursement would be easier for them than a manual ebay bucks adjustment so I don't even know what is possible in this case.
Maybe tracking links are quicker than completed purchases? Or what?
I still don't know how you know that PayPal wasn't the problem, not Ebay. Or, if you used a credit card, the credit card company. There could be 3 companies involved in the payment processing.
You need to get the right ebay rep on the phone. I know people who have gotten bonus coupon codes just for complaining about not getting ebay bucks promos. It all depends on the rep you get and how much of your time you are willing to invest in this.
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
I understand your point. Three companies are involved. My argument is that I did my part in paying before the deadline, the rest is up in the air. All I am doing is appealing to eBay that their policy is not so clear whether our payment must be initiated or the whole transaction must clear before a deadline.
BST: Tennessebanker, Downtown1974, LarkinCollector, nendee
That's right! I was persistent about it via email and was going to call and speak to someone live, but I already got my full eBay Bucks!! I just checked my email and my eBay Bucks balance and all is good. I did not need to escalate it further. I went back and forth on email several times disputing any reason for their initial denials, looking for holes in their argument. What finally did it was I quoted their policy (posted somewhere above) and explained that the purchase was made before the deadline and they did not specify that the entire transaction had to be completed before the deadline. I emphasized that my part was completed, my credit card was good via paypal, and that the rest was processing time that I could not control.
As this thread was going on, so was my eBay exchange, and I finally got somewhere. Your advice was spot on. It's a matter of how much time one wants to put in it, but successful results are possible. I am glad the case closed today! Thanks for your support!
To everyone that participated here, gave their 2 cents, and pressed me to see other viewpoints, I thank you as well. I hope by revealing the outcome and I how I got it helps some of you in the future.
BST: Tennessebanker, Downtown1974, LarkinCollector, nendee
Dude, if you didn't blatantly disregard the forum rules around signature lines I would have more sympathy for your "but they didn't follow the rules!" campaign.
Smitten with DBLCs.
How much money are we talking about here?
80% of $21.62, per the OP.