eBay to Sellers: Payment Declined

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AuctionBytes Blog
News and insight focusing on
ecommerce and the online auction industry
by Ina Steiner, Editor of AuctionBytes.com

September 05, 2007

eBay to Sellers: Payment Declined

By: Ina Steiner

Wed Sept 5 2007 10:42:50

Some sellers are receiving warnings from eBay that their monthly eBay seller fees have not been paid because their automatic payment method was declined. I wrote this morning about the problem here, which is likely due to last week's glitch at PayPal. I have been trying to contact someone at eBay and PayPal to get to the bottom of this (time-zone difference adding to the difficulty).

eBay has now posted acknowledgement of the problem on the Announcement Board and will likely be updating it.

Update: 9/5/07
PayPal spokesperson Sara Bettencourt said the issue discussed in the article is completely unrelated to the PayPal issue that happened over the weekend, which is resolved.

eBay spokesperson Catherine England said "To be clear, this was not a security or billing issue of any kind. It was simply an instance of an email erroneously being distributed to the wrong group of folks in eBay's My Messages."

Comments (28) | Permalink

Readers Comments

eBay to Sellers: Payment Declined

by: Cliff Aliperti

Wed Sep 5 11:15:53 2007

Hi Ina -- Just wanted to let you know, I received this warning this morning and I've never even paid my fees through my PayPal account. Of course I panicked when I saw it, but the message disappeared as soon as I clicked on ''My eBay''. Then I spent 5 minutes or so clicking through my account and signing in and out to make sure it didn't pop up again. Nothing showed up after my initial log-in, so I figured I was okay. But I did want to share with you that it wasn't just those who paid via PayPal receiving the message.

eBay to Sellers: Payment Declined

by: Katiyana

Wed Sep 5 11:27:11 2007

I received the notice this morning when logging into My eBay as well. I do not have my fees paid via Paypal's Subscription service, but I have my Paypal Debit Card as my credit card on file with eBay, and payment is automatically charged to that each month.

eBay to Sellers: Payment Declined

by: Karan

Wed Sep 5 11:32:38 2007

I also received the same message. I spent wasted time with my bank to see what the problem was...my fees go directly from my bank account not through PayPal.

Looks like PayPal is eBay's sacrificial goat for this as with sellers being the sacrificial goats for eBay's declining popularity.

I don't believe this to be a PayPal glitch. I am more concerned that this is an eBay security issue that will be affecting our personal information and credit card numbers down the road.

eBay to Sellers: Payment Declined

by: dmhcollectibles

Wed Sep 5 11:32:54 2007

I too do not pay my fees through PayPal.

I suspect it may be more of a problem than ebay is currently admitting. In the message the word "check" is spelled the British way ("cheque") even though it is supposedly coming from US eBay and they would never spell the word that way.

Also there is what appears to me to be a bogus link to log into eBay within the message.

Has eBay's messaging service actually been hacked into? I don't know, but it is suspicious.

eBay to Sellers: Payment Declined

by: jsicolts

Wed Sep 5 11:50:38 2007

More eBay screw-ups? I hope they "restrict" themselves as they are doing to many seelers. They are at less than 100% in satifaction, so according to THEIR rules, they need to be restricted.

eBay to Sellers: Payment Declined

by: the_glass_magnolia

Wed Sep 5 12:01:24 2007

I don't have anything to do with paying thru PayPal for my eBay account. So I feel they don't have a grip on their business. Just another great mirning with eBay!

eBay to Sellers: Payment Declined

by: Helen

Wed Sep 5 12:25:57 2007

I also do not pay with Paypal but with a credit card. There was no credit card listed in my eBay Seller Account this morning.

eBay to Sellers: Payment Declined

by: Bea

Wed Sep 5 12:38:32 2007

After I saw the alert I clicked on my seller link and checked out my account to see what the problem was and couldn't find one except that my credit card appears to be no longer listed with them. I've been worried all morning that I might have been hacked after checking out my seller account. Thank goodness you sent us an email to put my fears almost to rest. I wonder where the email from eBay is telling me about the problem? Never mind answering my question as we all know eBay doesn't admit their mistakes.

eBay to Sellers: Payment Declined

by: Chris

Wed Sep 5 13:18:08 2007

Hi Ina, I've spoken to eBay and there doesn't appear to be any problem at all with collecting payments. The problem is that the email was triggered by an unknown event and went out in error to many thousands of sellers. It is definately not connected with the PayPal issue of last week.
Chris

eBay to Sellers: Payment Declined

by: Bill

Wed Sep 5 13:44:10 2007

Well I had the same message with an alert when I logged in today. I thought the card I had on file was expired. I went to my account and changed the card to a different one. Went back to my messages and the message was gone. I thought the message was strange when it said to click here to sign into eBay instead of just saying to go to my account and make the neccesary changes. I did also notice that in the message check was spelled cheque which I thought wa strange also.

IMHO eBay has been hacked and the messages were inserted and designed to disapear after being read. This could be a very serious problem.

Bill

eBay to Sellers: Payment Declined

by: Penny

Wed Sep 5 14:21:59 2007

I also had the same message this morning. My account is debited toward the end of the month and I had my bank statement showing it went through. I emailed them and recently got a response that they ''believe'' it is an error. Once again, seller's are treated poorly--I wish they'd remember that we're the ones making them money. I agree, they should be restricted!

eBay to Sellers: Payment Declined

by: Ina Steiner

Wed Sep 5 16:06:47 2007

Update: PayPal spokesperson Sara Bettencourt said the issue discussed in the article is completely unrelated to the PayPal issue that happened over the weekend, which is resolved.

Just an unhappy coincidence, I guess!

eBay has updated the Announcement Board.
Ina

eBay to Sellers: Payment Declined

by: dmhcollectibles

Wed Sep 5 16:37:59 2007

Thanks for the update, Ina.

But what's up with the wierd link to log into ebay that was in the message? The one that doesn't go to www.ebay.com

That still troubles me, along with the British version of "cheque"

eBay to Sellers: Payment Declined

by: Ryan

Wed Sep 5 20:28:45 2007

I wouldn't doubt if this wasn't a eBay generated glitch to get some quick cash on the books.

Knowing that they have created hysteria among sellers and paranoid sellers would pay their fees in a heartbeat to avoid suspension.

Those seller that paid out of fear will have their accounts zapped again at the scheduled time and will not receive a refund, but would get a credit.

Reminds me of the time when eBay needed to generate quick cash and offered sellers reduced listing fees to be credited to their account in 60 days. The kicker was that the seller was charged full price at the time of listing. I wonder how many sellers got taken on that? Anytime eBay owes a credit you can expect to have a problem for months to get it rectified.

eBay to Sellers: Payment Declined

by: Koen

Thu Sep 6 04:40:36 2007

On a regular base paypal payments are not processed in my selling manager pro. The item is paid for, but the smp tells it isn't. This has happened about 10-20 times in the past year. I mailed the problem every single time and it still happens. What's up with that?!

eBay to Sellers: Payment Declined

by: doc

Thu Sep 6 09:16:51 2007

There has been brute force hacking going on since early last month.

See this article in PC World

Botnet Steals eBay Accounts
Identity thieves armed with a brute-force botnet are uncovering valid eBay account data, a security firm says.

http://tinyurl.com/2mzlkr

eBay to Sellers: Payment Declined

by: Pat

Thu Sep 6 09:59:14 2007

Hi - I don't pay my fees with Paypal either but I was also plagued by some kind of glitch last night. I opened my "items I'm selling" and there was an ALERT message across the top of the screen that my payment had been declined. I checked my credit card to make sure there was no problem then decided to change my payment method to a different card just to avoid problems. I filled in all the new info but when I submitted it I got an error message that the change had failed. I tried again with no success. My ebay billing seems to be in order so I have to assume it is a glitch or a hack. The former is just par for the course with ebay and the latter is a huge concern.....I believe security on the site is nowhere near what it should be. My account was hijacked several months ago and a bunch of auctions for computers posted to it. I never fell for any phishing emails so the hackers are obviously finding other ways in. ^This is a house of cards :(

eBay to Sellers: Payment Declined

by: George

Thu Sep 6 17:17:11 2007

What no one has mentioned in this forum is that this "glitch" prevented me from listing. When I tried to list, I got a message that I would not be allowed to until I paid my fees. From that point on, I went to My Ebay, read the alert, and sent a one-time payment. Then I was able to do my listing. If I still get billed the amount I paid on my credit card, I had BETTER show a credit for that amount in my PayPal account!

eBay to Sellers: Payment Declined

by: jsicolts

Fri Sep 7 07:25:28 2007

DO NOT believe a word eBay tells you. THIS WAS intentional. Another way fro ebay to scam their sellers for another way of getting paid, sort of like fake insurance for them.
They are way too busy conning their sellers to be concerned about giving sellers a "refund".

eBay to Sellers: Payment Declined

by: JL

Fri Sep 7 08:50:28 2007

Email glitch? If eBay wasnt hacked why has an instant verification code system been put in place now? Why is everyone getting different messages or no messages? Why are people being told to change their passwords? Anyone who believes eBay also believes in the tooth fairy.

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