3 Months of eBay Lies: From "Refund Processed" to "Our Staff Made a Mistake."

xwxw2828 · 12-20-2025, 06:12 PM

I’ve had a smooth run on eBay this year—spent about $16k with zero issues or returns. However, I’ve hit a ridiculous situation with a $454 purchase that has turned into a 3-month cycle of broken promises.

I bought a card listed as a /99 parallel, but it was actually a base card. eBay’s AG passed it despite the clear error. I have a paper trail of eBay admitting fault and then simply "changing their mind."

October: The AG Specialist Admits Failure. Rep "Crystal" from the AG department was direct:
"In the title it states the card is an /99, however upon looking at the card it is a base card. I see that this was passed even with the discrepancy. We will need to have a return open... we will be working on an appeal with you."

November: The Refund "Confirmation". Per their instructions, I waited for it to hit my PSA Vault. Rep "Carlos" then confirmed:
"You don't have to return this item to the seller. The refund could take within 3 to 5 business days... In my experience, a refund of this type did not take longer than 24 to 48 business hours."

December: The Betrayal. The refund never arrived. I reached out to @AskeBay on X, and they now claim:
"I cannot speak to why that was mentioned by him, but Carlos isn't a member of our AG specialists... we've alerted them to not make such assumptions."

At this point, I’m almost more interested in the outcome as a case study than the $454 itself; I’m looking for a way to get this in front of someone with actual authority to see if eBay stands by their written word, or if I’m just supposed to accept being deceived twice by their own staff. Does anyone have a direct email or a more senior contact to skip the runaround? I’d appreciate any leads on how to resolve this properly.

jamcas997 · 12-20-2025, 08:31 PM

One of the reasons I sell my own cards NO CONSIGNORS and keep my items in my hand NOT THEIR VAULT.

No idea who you need to go to, but ebay is home based in SAN JOSE. Maybe pitch forks and torches at their parking lot will get this attention.

xwxw2828 · 12-21-2025, 01:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jamcas997

One of the reasons I sell my own cards NO CONSIGNORS and keep my items in my hand NOT THEIR VAULT.

No idea who you need to go to, but ebay is home based in SAN JOSE. Maybe pitch forks and torches at their parking lot will get this attention.

Haha, I’m less than 20 mins from their HQ! Currently looking for pitchforks and torches on eBay

Sonnys88 · 12-21-2025, 10:15 AM

From personal experience, you will get very different answers to the same question depending on what eBay rep you correspond with.

Some reps will tell you whatever you want to hear to get you off the phone or to stop messaging. And eBay will not stand by whatever a rep tells you to do. Or whatever a rep says will happen with an open refund case.

I had a situation where a buyer bought an unopened wax box, got the box and opened half of it, then opened a return case saying the box was tampered with. It was a clear case of the buyer attempting a scam return - so I contacted eBay and the reps said they agreed it was a fraudulent return, and the return would be denied. This was confirmed by multiple eBay reps as the situation unfolded. Well long story short, in the end, the buyer was able to return the opened box and I had to issue a full refund.

And despite me having written and recorded conversations with eBay reps saying the complete opposite would happen - eBay said that they would not stand by what those reps said.

So, unfortunately you might be in a similar boat. I'd keep messaging or calling eBay as they are a little more sympathetic to buyers. They want to keep buyers happy in the end.

xwxw2828 · 12-21-2025, 05:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sonnys88

From personal experience, you will get very different answers to the same question depending on what eBay rep you correspond with.

Some reps will tell you whatever you want to hear to get you off the phone or to stop messaging. And eBay will not stand by whatever a rep tells you to do. Or whatever a rep says will happen with an open refund case.

I had a situation where a buyer bought an unopened wax box, got the box and opened half of it, then opened a return case saying the box was tampered with. It was a clear case of the buyer attempting a scam return - so I contacted eBay and the reps said they agreed it was a fraudulent return, and the return would be denied. This was confirmed by multiple eBay reps as the situation unfolded. Well long story short, in the end, the buyer was able to return the opened box and I had to issue a full refund.

And despite me having written and recorded conversations with eBay reps saying the complete opposite would happen - eBay said that they would not stand by what those reps said.

So, unfortunately you might be in a similar boat. I'd keep messaging or calling eBay as they are a little more sympathetic to buyers. They want to keep buyers happy in the end.

Thanks for sharing your story. I’m honestly shocked by the lack of consistency and how easily they walk back on their promises. I always thought eBay leaned more toward protecting the buyer, but clearly I was wrong.

The frustrating part is that I don’t mind repeating the story—I have the emails from the previous reps ready to go. The problem is they’ve stopped responding to emails entirely.

Does anyone know of any communication channels other than authentictradingcards@ebay.com or @AskeBay on X? I'm looking for a way to actually get a response.

12-20-2025, 06:12 PM	#1
xwxw2828 Member Join Date: Dec 2025 Location: San Jose, CA Posts: 8 way204	3 Months of eBay Lies: From "Refund Processed" to "Our Staff Made a Mistake." I’ve had a smooth run on eBay this year—spent about $16k with zero issues or returns. However, I’ve hit a ridiculous situation with a $454 purchase that has turned into a 3-month cycle of broken promises. I bought a card listed as a /99 parallel, but it was actually a base card. eBay’s AG passed it despite the clear error. I have a paper trail of eBay admitting fault and then simply "changing their mind." October: The AG Specialist Admits Failure. Rep "Crystal" from the AG department was direct: "In the title it states the card is an /99, however upon looking at the card it is a base card. I see that this was passed even with the discrepancy. We will need to have a return open... we will be working on an appeal with you." November: The Refund "Confirmation". Per their instructions, I waited for it to hit my PSA Vault. Rep "Carlos" then confirmed: "You don't have to return this item to the seller. The refund could take within 3 to 5 business days... In my experience, a refund of this type did not take longer than 24 to 48 business hours." December: The Betrayal. The refund never arrived. I reached out to @AskeBay on X, and they now claim: "I cannot speak to why that was mentioned by him, but Carlos isn't a member of our AG specialists... we've alerted them to not make such assumptions." At this point, I’m almost more interested in the outcome as a case study than the $454 itself; I’m looking for a way to get this in front of someone with actual authority to see if eBay stands by their written word, or if I’m just supposed to accept being deceived twice by their own staff. Does anyone have a direct email or a more senior contact to skip the runaround? I’d appreciate any leads on how to resolve this properly.

12-20-2025, 08:31 PM	#2
jamcas997 Member Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Virginia Beach Posts: 5,648	One of the reasons I sell my own cards NO CONSIGNORS and keep my items in my hand NOT THEIR VAULT. No idea who you need to go to, but ebay is home based in SAN JOSE. Maybe pitch forks and torches at their parking lot will get this attention.

12-21-2025, 10:15 AM	#4
Sonnys88 Member Join Date: Jun 2018 Posts: 760 Sonnys88	From personal experience, you will get very different answers to the same question depending on what eBay rep you correspond with. Some reps will tell you whatever you want to hear to get you off the phone or to stop messaging. And eBay will not stand by whatever a rep tells you to do. Or whatever a rep says will happen with an open refund case. I had a situation where a buyer bought an unopened wax box, got the box and opened half of it, then opened a return case saying the box was tampered with. It was a clear case of the buyer attempting a scam return - so I contacted eBay and the reps said they agreed it was a fraudulent return, and the return would be denied. This was confirmed by multiple eBay reps as the situation unfolded. Well long story short, in the end, the buyer was able to return the opened box and I had to issue a full refund. And despite me having written and recorded conversations with eBay reps saying the complete opposite would happen - eBay said that they would not stand by what those reps said. So, unfortunately you might be in a similar boat. I'd keep messaging or calling eBay as they are a little more sympathetic to buyers. They want to keep buyers happy in the end.