Some of these are serious,
some are just the everyday grind of dealing with a collapsing
software system that is clearly designed by children, without
the supervision of a software complexity overlord or editor.
Today a customer requested to
cancel an order, as he had ordered some items by
mistake. No problem. Well, a small problem.
As of about three years ago, if the nice customer has already
paid for the items, I, as the seller get the variable part of
the ebay fee back but not the 40pee one-off charge for the
transaction. However, the Consumer is King (ebay
international money-raking systems are in fact, King) and I
have no choice but to work with this system and to accept
cancellations when requested.
Or, I'd like to!
On this occasion, ebay systems
were, and still are, in such a state that when I get the
cancellation request and try to cancel, I repeatedly get an
error page, and see that another order from the same customer
is still in "awaiting dispatch." (which I assume is the order
that he actually wants) I call-up ebay seller support to try
to cancel the other order which has disappeared into
'cancellations,' meanwhile the required order disappears while
I'm actually on the telephone, and the call operative sees
this as well. This is online so-called
'marketplace' chaos, showing the deep underlying issues in
ebay's collapsing software systems.
Here is the telephone call to
ebay seller support. This telephone operative seemed
quite helpful, and I believe that she tried her best over the
30 minutes of the call. All the same, there was no
resolution to the problem. You can click on the link to
hear the call in full, edited for the privacy of the customer.
Call Summary:
1) We establish the facts
quickly, for a change.
2) The call operative wonders what the customer is doing, but
that's not the issue. The customer may do whatever he
likes. Cancelling an order is a completely valid
option. The question is, why is ebay failing to operate
correctly?
3) Why did one order get into and remain in 'paid and
dispatched' if it had not been paid for? "It's a
mystery, It's a mystery," ebay.
4) No resolution. "Wait and see," meanwhile I've no
evidence that the customer has not been defrauded out of his
money.
5) I complain without actually using the word complaint, or
Murray Lambell, General Manager of ebay UK who is responsible
for all ebay UK activities, including failure of his systems
to cancel orders, resulting in extreme customer inconvenience
which may verge on fraud as we progress the issue.
We'll see what happens on this
one. Nothing has moved for three hours since
14:00. Enough time for any payments to grind through,
even on ebay managed payments.
Associated Site Messages:
Henry: "Hello Nice
Customer G,
I've tried to cancel this order, or *an* order, or part of
one, and have just spent 30 minutes on the ebay telephone line
trying to cancel it without success. They have no idea what
their systems are doing either. Please bear with me while I
try to sort it out.
Thanks,
Henry.
Nice Customer: "Yeah
sorry about this. I hope ebay starts behaving itself again."
05-MAR-2021 Many Sellers Are
Suffering From The Same Failure - But I Don't Find out On The
First Call
After waiting for 24 hours for
ebay to fix one of the most basic possible functions of a
so-called online marketplace, I am still unable to cancel the
order and hence to issue the subsequent refund. So it's
onto the telephone line once more, where I decide that I have
given sufficient information already not to be taken through
an online tutorial on how to cancel orders, and Laura takes
umbridge, despite my being fully polite throughout. You
can listen to the full call by clicking on the link here:
You can see the YouTube video
of the nice telephone call with Laura here:
Call Summary:
1) I hear that some other sellers may have been
experiencing the same problem.
2) Laura tries to take me through an online tutorial of
how to cancel orders when the ebay website does *not* have
it's knickers around its ankles.
3) I refuse, as it is a waste of even more time, having
already made it clear that I spent 30 minutes on this
yesterday.
4) Laura cuts me off.
I then go straight back into
ebay and request another call-back, which I duly
receive. My apologies, this call did not record, due to
me forgetting to press play and record on the tape machine
while hitting record on the audio and video record on the
computer. You will have to trust my summary on this
occasion.
04-MAR-2021: I receive a
second call back from ebay about the site being unable to
cancel orders.
1) We establish the
basic facts quickly.
2) I am told that this is a problem common to many users
today, and that it is being worked on.
3) I am told that it should be fixed by the evening of
4th March 2021.
4) I complain about the site issue and the complaint is
registered, whatever that means.
5) I complain about being unnecessarily being led down
the garden path and being cut-off by the previous call
operative. The complaint is registered.
6) A clearly rather world-weary ebay call operative and
I say goodbye in an agreeable, if not slightly tired
fashion. A five minute call.
It's not that hard, is it? If only your telephone
operatives would tell the truth and not waste my time, ebay /
Murray Lambell, things would be less fraught, if equally
incompetent at a corporate software management level.
The site was not fixed that evening. The next
day, more than 24 hours after my report, I was finally able to
cancel my nice customers' order and he got his money back.
It is deeply unsatisfactory.
30-AUG-2021:
Ebay Admit to the Item Not Being Marked as
Dispatched Error
Call Summary:
1) Ebay admit to the
failure. Wow!
2) I am told that any items marked as late will
not cause any 'ebay bad marks' issues. I
call this a lie. If you can't even mark
something as dispatched, don't tell me that you
can control anything else in your systems.
3) I ask to complain. I am directed to the
Dublin Dustbin complaints by letter post address.
4) I ask for a time estimate for a fix.
There is none.
5) I ask that Murray Lambell, General Manager of
ebay UK, who is responsible for all UK activities,
is informed that a very basic element of his
online marketplace is broken, and that no-one
knows when it will be fixed.
6) We end the call with me making it clear that
there has been no satisfactory resolution.
You can see the video
of the call on YouTube here:
Ebay
Marked as Dispatched Field Failure Seller
Support Call 30-AUG-2021
Local
Video Ebay Marked As Dispatched Field Failure
Support Call dispatched_fail_30082021.mp4
I'm still unable to
mark the item as dispatched, and
it now shows as overdue.
Time for some more ebay seller
so-called "support," I
think. You can click on the
link below to hear the telephone
call:
Call Summary:
1) We go through a
variety of attempts to solve the
problem and establish again that
it is an ebay problem.
2) I wish to complain, as politely
as possible, and am disconnected.
Here's the link to
the Youtube video of this
call:
Ebay for Business
Malfunction: Can't Mark Items as
Dispatched 01-SEP-2021 Ep2
On Thursday 2nd
September I attempt to have
another call, and issue a callback
request at 18:49. I am
watching the telephone. I
see the call ringer LED blip once
and the call is dropped before the
telephone even has chance to make
a sound. I then receive a
site notification that a callback
was attempted but it was unable to
get through. That's an ebay
lie. At 19:10 I try
again. Once more I see the
ring LED blip with what I can only
assume was a deliberately
abandoned callback. Once
again I try the same thing and get
another LED blip at 19:42.
So now it's onto the ebay text
chat system to check the
progress. Here is the
result:
Text Chat Summary:
1) We establish that
this is still an ebay failure.
2) I am given a fix time estimate
of 48-72 hours.
3) I complain about the failure.
4) I complain about the abandoned
callbacks.
5) I make it clear that Murray
Lambell, VP of ebay UK should be
informed.
I wait, and after the
appointed 72 hours fix time I note
that the now well overdue item is
still present, and still can not
be marked as dispatched. I
have a bit of a holiday. On
Tuesday 14th September I return
and request a callback from ebay
seller "support." You can
listen to the call at the link
below:
14-SEP-2021
Ebay seller Support Contact
Number 4 Concerning Inability to
Mark an Order as Sent
Summary:
1) We establish that
this is an ongoing ebay site
failure.
2) The representative is unwilling
to disclose which particular
accounts are affected.
3) I am assured that this will be
fixed by 15th September.
4) I complain and request that
Murray Lambell, VP of ebay UK is
informed prior to the ebay event
in Manchester on 30th September,
where I will be raising the issue.
Here's the link to
the Youtube video of this
call:
Ebay for Business Failure: Can't Mark Orders as Sent 14-SEP-2021 Ep4
Local
Video Ebay For Business Failure Can't Mark Orders As Sent Ep4
dispatched_fail_14092021.mp4
I was assured that this error would be fixed on the 15th September, so now on the 16th, obviously, it's all cleared up. Right? Oh dear, no it's not! You can hear the call at the link below.
Summary:
1) Ebay have started prefacing
their calls with a little patronizing speech about what a
loyal ebay customer I am. Yes, 11 years of this truly
awful service! A reminder of this now becomes my
sign-off note.
2) The same as usual.
Here's the link to
the Youtube video of this
call:
Ebay for Business Failure: Can't Mark Orders as Sent 16-SEP-2021 Ep5
Local
Video Ebay For Business Failure:
Can't Mark Orders as Sent Ep5
dispatched_fail_16092021.mp4
No
change
today. You
can hear the call
at the link
below.
Warning, this is a
bit of a marathon
as I appear to
have been given
the Friday
Afternoon special
crew on this call.
17-SEP-2021
Ebay seller
Support
Contact Number
6 Concerning
Inability to
Mark an Order
as Sent
Summary:
1) After an astonishing amount
of going over old ground, we get to the point.
2) I suggest to the call operative that maybe this problem is
only occurring on accounts which also have illegal and
invisible turnover limits applied to them by ebay systems,
like mine.
3) The same as usual. I once more complain, request that
Murray Lambell is informed, and have to spell out his name.
Here's the link to
the Youtube video of this
call:
Ebay for Business
Failure: Can't Mark Orders as
Sent 17-SEP-2021 Ep6
Local Video Ebay for Business
Failure: Can't Mark Orders as Sent Ep6
dispatched_fail_17092021.mp4
No
change,
although I'm
becoming
increasingly
curious as to
why this
problem is so
difficult to
solve.
It's almost as
if mending
this might
remove other
"problems,"
like the ongoing
£85,000 per
year sales
limit that's
been on my
ebay account
since 7th
April 2017.
I mention this
in the call.
You can hear the
call at the link
below.
17-SEP-2021
Ebay seller
Support
Contact Number
7 Concerning
Inability to
Mark an Order
as Sent
Summary:
No change.
Here's the link to
the Youtube video of this
call:
Ebay for Business
Failure: Can't Mark Orders as
Sent 20-SEP-2021 Ep7
Local
Video Ebay for Business Failure: Can't Mark Orders as Sent
20-SEP-2021 Ep7 dispatched_fail_20092021.mp4
It's also on Linked-in, where I have sent Mr. Lambell an
online site message thus:
Mr. Lambell hasn't read my
message as of 20-SEP-2021, and neither has he responded to my
contact request. Oh Dear.
There's a nice
self-congratulatory ebay stage show, networking,
one-on-one consultations with the ebay customer
service team, and general management wank-a-thon
occurring in Manchester on 30th September
2021. It's at the Victoria Warehouse venue
at Old Trafford starting with registration at
08:15. Someone appears to have made the
mistake of sending me an invitation, so I'll definitely
be going. That should be fun! In fact, I can
hardly wait, Murray Lambell.
General email address checked daily including
the spam folders:
Recent Edit
History
27-DEC-2025: self canonicalised, direct refs