Another Cockup Leaves eBay Buyers Fuming

eBay was advertising $99 AirPods in Australia as part of its Amazon Prime Day deals, but buyers encountered problems that led to frustration and disappointment. It’s eBay’s third major cockup in as many months that left buyers holding an empty shopping bag instead of a deal on sought-after items.

eBay Australia advertised the special deal in a tweet on Monday, “From Apple AirPods to Google Homes, we’re offering up to 60% off on a range of big brand items. Shop now.”

But eBay sent a message to buyers who scored the deal advising them their transactions were cancelled because of a compromised account and advised buyers to seek a refund from the payment service used to make the purchase.

According to Yahoo, eBay wrote in its message to buyers in part, “We’re writing to let you know that an unauthorized third party may have accessed the seller’s account to list this item. The item has been removed from the site, and the transaction was cancelled.”

eBay Australia responded to complaints on Twitter: “Thanks for participating in our AirPods deal event. You may have received an error message suggesting your transaction was from a compromised account. Please ignore this email. You’ll receive your AirPods. Apologies for any confusion.”

Yahoo told eBay the deal had triggered its automatic fraud detection system and advised buyers to ignore the email, but the advice came too late for many buyers who had followed eBay’s instructions.

The incident follows two others involving name brands. In June, Reebok failed to honor purchases citing a technical error that caused many of its eBay listings to be offered “for lower than anticipated prices.” Shoppers were further infuriated after eBay cleaned up Reebok’s feedback after thousands of disappointed buyers had left negatives over cancelled orders.

And in May, Hasbro’s eBay store oversold thousands of special edition Magic: The Gathering cards and cancelled orders.

The incidents also calls into question whether eBay grants brands special treatment compared to “regular” sellers. Comment on the EcommerceBytes Blog.

Ina Steiner

Ina Steiner is co-founder and Editor of EcommerceBytes and has been reporting on ecommerce since 1999. She's a widely cited authority on marketplace selling and is author of "Turn eBay Data Into Dollars" (McGraw-Hill 2006). Her blog was featured in the book, "Blogging Heroes" (Wiley 2008). She is a member of the Online News Association (Sep 2005 - present) and Investigative Reporters and Editors (Mar 2006 - present). Follow her on Twitter at @ecommercebytes and send news tips to ina@ecommercebytes.com. See disclosure at EcommerceBytes.com/disclosure/.