eBay Reviews & Complaints

Company Information

Legal name

eBay Inc.

Founded

1995

Business type

Publicly traded U.S. online marketplace operator (auctions and fixed-price listings, eBay Motors, eBay Money Back Guarantee, eBay payment services through licensed eBay entities)

Website

ebay.comSource: eBay help article Contact eBay, checked 2026-11-01

Headquarters

San Jose, CASource: eBay Form 10-K for fiscal 2025, cover page, and eBay User Agreement, section 1, checked 2026-11-01

Independent Sources

Shown for context — not merged with USAComplaints' own numbers.

Reviews & Complaints on USAComplaints

USAComplaints currently maintains 656 historical complaints about eBay, published between 1999 and 2016. No approved complaints have been published on this site during the last three years. For a current reputation snapshot, see the independent sources on this page.

• Paid for a Beyblade Toy That Was Never DispatchedPublished Oct 25, 2016 · Historical consumer allegation
• Order confirmed by SMS but missing from my order historyPublished Oct 12, 2016 · Historical consumer allegation
• Seller Delivered Phone Without Registered IMEI, Claim RejectedPublished Jan 30, 2014 · Historical consumer allegation
• Paid items never received and cases closed without helpPublished Jan 16, 2014 · Historical consumer allegation
• Guess watch paid for in September never received, no refundPublished Jan 9, 2014 · Historical consumer allegation

Complaint Themes

Themes summarize what people write about most often. One complaint can touch several themes, and some complaints (a positive report, or one later retracted by its author) fit none, so themes are not a count of complaints.

Contacts

• Official websiteebay.com ↗

Account & login

• Contact eBay: sign in, then choose Contact us at the bottom of the help articleebay.com/help/-/-/Contacting_eBay_Customer_Serv… ↗

Report abuse or suspicious activity

• eBay Security Center: safety tips, phishing emails, reporting a concernpages.ebay.com/securitycenter ↗

Corporate & press

• Corporate headquarters telephone, not a customer support line(408) 376-9659

Reference numbers (not support lines)

• Questions and complaints about eBay Commerce Inc. payment services, not general support1-800-456-3229

Locations

• Headquarters2025 Hamilton Avenue San Jose CA 95125

eBay problems: refunds, Money Back Guarantee, seller suspensions, contacting eBay and look-alike emails

Most people with an eBay problem are buyers whose item did not arrive or does not match the listing, sellers dealing with fees, held funds, removed listings, feedback or an account restriction, or people who received an email or vehicle offer that used eBay's name. Here is what eBay's own policies say and where to go next.

• Item not received: under the eBay Money Back Guarantee you can report that an item has not arrived once the estimated delivery date has passed, and no later than 30 calendar days after that date. The seller has 3 business days to reply with tracking, a delivery update or a refund. If the seller does not reply or you cannot agree, you can ask eBay to step in. For event tickets the deadline is 30 calendar days after the latest estimated delivery date or 7 calendar days after the event, whichever is later.
• Item not as described, damaged or faulty: request a return within 30 calendar days of delivery, or within the seller's returns window if that is longer. You can do this even if the listing says the seller does not accept returns. The seller has 3 business days to respond and pays the return shipping. If the seller does not respond or refund, you can ask eBay to step in. Some categories are excluded, including motor vehicles, which fall under eBay Vehicle Protection instead, real estate, services and travel tickets.
• Payment method matters: the guarantee covers purchases paid at eBay checkout, including by card, PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay or Venmo. It does not cover any purchase where part of the payment was made outside eBay, such as bank transfer, cash, money order or an escrow service.
• Do not open two claims at once: eBay may close your Money Back Guarantee case if you also file a chargeback with your card issuer or a buyer-protection claim with your payment provider for the same order. Choose one route. If you disagree with eBay's decision, you can appeal within 30 calendar days of it.
• Contacting eBay: eBay's Contact eBay help article gives no general customer-service phone number. Sign in, open the help article closest to your issue, select Contact us at the bottom and choose the topic; eBay then directs you to an agent who handles that kind of issue. Questions or complaints about eBay's payment services go to eBay Commerce Inc. at 1-800-456-3229.
• Seller account limits, holds and fees: under section 3 of the User Agreement, eBay may, in its sole discretion, limit, suspend or terminate an account and remove listings if it believes the user is breaking the agreement or its policies. Sellers must meet eBay's minimum performance standards; falling short can lead to extra fees or a restricted or downgraded seller account. Section 12 covers holds and restricted funds and refers to the Payments Terms of Use. Reply through the link in the notice you received and keep copies of everything you send.
• Emails and vehicle offers in eBay's name: eBay's Security Center has advice on recognizing fake emails and web pages and a page for reporting a concern. Some reports on this site, most of them from 2011 and 2012, describe vehicle offers that moved the buyer off eBay to pay by wire transfer or Western Union. Those senders were not eBay, and such payments are not covered by the Money Back Guarantee.
• Arbitration: for U.S. users, section 19 of the User Agreement requires most disputes with eBay to go to individual arbitration administered by National Arbitration & Mediation, after a mandatory 45-day informal dispute resolution process, and waives class actions; either side may instead use small claims court if the claim qualifies. New users can opt out of arbitration by mailing a signed written Opt-Out Notice (eBay provides a form) postmarked no later than 30 days after they first accept the User Agreement, to eBay Inc., Attn: Litigation Department, Re: Opt-Out Notice, 339 W. 13490 S., Ste. 500, Draper, UT 84020. The current agreement took effect on June 28, 2026 for users who had accepted an earlier version.
• Card disputes: if you paid by credit card and the item was never delivered or was not what you ordered, the Fair Credit Billing Act lets you dispute the charge in writing with your card issuer; the issuer must receive your letter within 60 days after it sent you the first statement that shows the charge. That law covers credit cards only; for a debit card or a payment app, ask your bank or provider about its own dispute process and deadline. Remember that a chargeback can close your eBay case.
• Where else to complain: the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov, your state attorney general's consumer protection office, the BBB, and, for eBay's payment services, the state financial regulator listed on eBay Commerce Inc.'s licenses page.

Complaints about eBay: what buyers and sellers report, BBB and Trustpilot

Complaints on this site. 656 published complaint reports are linked to this profile. They name eBay, eBay.com, eBay Inc., eBay Motors or eBay International AG and were posted from 1999 to 2016, almost all of them before 2014, so they describe eBay's rules and payment set-up of that time, when PayPal was still part of eBay. Further reports that name eBay together with PayPal, or Half.com, a former eBay site, are linked as related. Reports about an individual seller who used eBay, and emails or websites that only pretended to be eBay, are not counted as complaints against eBay itself.

What the reports describe. The most frequent topics are fake listings and look-alike emails sent in eBay's name; seller fees and billing disputes; PayPal holds and payment problems; difficulty reaching customer service; account suspensions and restrictions; feedback disputes; and items that never arrived or did not match the listing, including how eBay decided the buyer's case. These are consumers' own accounts, not findings against eBay.

BBB. eBay Inc.'s BBB file is the headquarters profile in San Jose, listed at 2065 Hamilton Ave; eBay's own filings give the address as 2025 Hamilton Avenue. BBB currently marks this profile as under review and shows no letter grade, complaint count or customer-review average. eBay is not BBB accredited.

Trustpilot. The ebay.com page has 19,410 reviews and a TrustScore of 1.2 out of 5, and the profile has been claimed by the company. Reviews on Trustpilot are written by users and are not fact-checked.

Each source counts something different, so the figures are not added together or compared with the reports on this site.

Regulator actions: DOJ controlled-substances settlement (2024) and deferred prosecution agreement (2024)

Controlled Substances Act settlement, January 31, 2024. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Vermont announced that eBay agreed to pay $59 million and strengthen its compliance program to resolve allegations that it broke Controlled Substances Act rules on thousands of pill presses and encapsulating machines sold through its website. The government alleged that eBay did not verify buyers' identities, keep the required records or report the sales to the DEA. The Justice Department stated that the claims were allegations only and that there was no determination of liability. eBay also agreed to maintain and strengthen its compliance program for listings of pill presses, encapsulating machines and counterfeit molds, stamps and dies.

Deferred prosecution agreement, January 11, 2024. In United States v. eBay Inc., District of Massachusetts case 1:24-cr-10003, eBay was charged with two counts of stalking through interstate travel, two counts of stalking through electronic communications services, one count of witness tampering and one count of obstruction of justice. The charges concern an August 2019 campaign by eBay employees to harass and intimidate a Massachusetts couple who published an e-commerce newsletter critical of the company, and the obstruction of the investigation that followed. eBay accepted responsibility, admitted the statement of facts attached to the agreement and agreed to pay a $3 million criminal penalty, the statutory maximum fine for the six felony counts, and to retain an independent compliance monitor for three years. The agreement runs for three years from the later of the filing of the charges or the monitor's appointment, and prosecutors may extend it by up to one year if eBay breaches it. If eBay fulfills all its obligations, prosecutors will not pursue the case and, within six months after the agreement expires, will ask the court to dismiss the charges with prejudice. A deferred prosecution agreement is not a conviction. Seven individuals, all former eBay employees or contractors, were convicted of felonies in the separate individual prosecutions.

Environmental lawsuit dismissed. On September 27, 2023 the Justice Department, for EPA, sued eBay in the Eastern District of New York over third-party sales of emissions defeat devices, pesticides and other regulated products. The court dismissed the claims in their entirety on September 30, 2024, and the government dropped its appeal in April 2025.

Which regulator handles what. eBay's U.S. payment services are run by eBay Commerce Inc., a money transmitter licensed by state financial regulators; eBay's licenses page names the regulator in each state and, for many states, the regulator's complaint address. Complaints about online shopping and deceptive practices go to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov and to your state attorney general.

Lawsuits and settlements: Steiner v. eBay, EPA case

Steiner v. eBay Inc., U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, case 1:21-cv-11181. Ina and David Steiner, the Massachusetts couple who publish the EcommerceBytes newsletter and were targeted by eBay employees in 2019, sued eBay and several former employees and executives in 2021. A tentative settlement reported in February 2026 was not finalized. According to an Associated Press report published by WBUR on July 29, 2026, a new settlement reached in July 2026 gives the Steiners $48.7 million in compensation, $46.15 million of it from eBay and the rest from three former executives, plus $7 million in charitable contributions, $6 million funded by eBay and $1 million by former CEO Devin Wenig. The settlement has no confidentiality clause. A stipulation dismissing all claims with prejudice was filed on July 27, 2026, ending the case. In a statement quoted by the AP, eBay said that what the Steiners were subjected to by former employees in 2019 was wrong and reprehensible and should never have happened.

United States v. eBay Inc., U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, case 1:23-cv-07173. The Justice Department filed this civil suit for EPA on September 27, 2023, alleging that eBay was responsible for third-party sales of emissions defeat devices, unregistered pesticides and other regulated products. The court dismissed all claims on September 30, 2024, finding among other things that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act protected eBay. The government dropped its appeal in April 2025, so the dismissal is final.

Individual buyers and sellers in the U.S. generally bring claims against eBay in individual arbitration or small claims court rather than in a class action; see the arbitration terms in the practical section below.

Court & Public Records

Who is eBay: entity, PayPal separation, vehicles and Depop

The company. eBay Inc. is a Delaware corporation headquartered at 2025 Hamilton Avenue, San Jose, California, and its shares trade on Nasdaq under the symbol EBAY. The company says it was founded in 1995 in San Jose. For U.S. residents, the User Agreement names eBay Inc. as the company you contract with.

How the marketplace works. eBay does not sell most of the items listed on its sites: independent sellers list them, and buyers pay at eBay checkout. Sellers pay eBay fees and must meet its minimum performance standards. A buyer whose item does not arrive or does not match the listing is protected by the eBay Money Back Guarantee, provided the purchase was paid for at eBay checkout and the buyer acts within the policy's deadlines.

Vehicles. The User Agreement says eBay is not a vehicle broker or dealer. Where a vehicle purchase uses eBay's title and registration services, the buyer contracts with an eBay affiliate, Caramel Dealer Services, LLC, doing business as CDS Auto Sales, which holds used-vehicle dealer licenses in Arizona, California, Florida, Texas and Washington.

PayPal is a separate company. eBay and PayPal Holdings, Inc. signed a Separation and Distribution Agreement in June 2015, and PayPal has been an independent public company since then. A complaint about a PayPal account is a matter for PayPal. eBay's own payment services in the U.S. are provided by a separately licensed money transmitter, eBay Commerce Inc., which has its own complaint line.

Depop. On July 30, 2026 eBay completed its purchase of Depop Limited, the resale fashion marketplace, from Etsy, for an agreed price of $1.2 billion in cash. eBay says Depop will keep operating as a standalone business under its own brand, and complaints about Depop are not covered on this page.

Company Relationships

• Affiliated withPayPal Holdings, Inc.
• Affiliated witheBay Commerce Inc.
• Affiliated withCaramel Dealer Services, LLC
• Affiliated withDepop Limited

Frequently Asked Questions