I registered for my "FREE" ebay store on May 10th. According to ebay, the first month is free, but when I checked my ebay account on May 11th, I discovered that ebay had charged me $9.95 for my store for May 10th - June 9th (a copy of my account can be viewed at ourfavethings.com).
So I emailed ebay about it: "I registered for my ebay store on 5/10. According to YOU, my first month is FREE, but my account has been debited for the $9.95. Please credit my account back with the $9.95, so I won't have to file a false advertising/fraud complaint against you with the California BBB and the California State Attorney General's Office."
And their reply:
"You are billed for your eBay stores one month in advance. This means that you will see a charge on your account before your 30-day free trial is over. This charge is for the period beginning after the 30-day trial ends.
However, if you decide to close your store before the 30 days are up, the next month's charge will be credited to your account. If you decide to close your store after the trial, but before the end of the next full month, your account will be credited proactively for the rest of that month.
We are committed to making your eBay experiences pleasant and fulfilling.
Regards,
Michael R.H.
EBay Customer Support"
Did you catch the LIE? It's obvious from my account that the charge is indeed for the FIRST so-called "FREE" month and not for the second month like Michael RH claims! So ebay trains its employees to LIE to ebay users. That is not a crime, but advertising a FREE month and then charging for it anyway IS.
So I rode out the "FREE" month and made sure that my ebay bank account had no money in it when ebay went to debit the account for what I owed them, including the ILLEGAL $9.95 charge. I then cancelled my "FREE" store on June 8th (2 days before my "FREE" month was up) and waited for ebay to credit my account back with the fraudulent $9.95 charge.
Ebay not only did NOT credit my ebay account back with the $9.95, but they went ahead and debited my bank account for the $9.95, and because EBAY HAS STOLEN $9.95 FROM ME, I am now filing a felony complaint against them with the fraud division of the FBI for false advertising, fraud and theft. I'm not only filing this complaint for myself, but for every other seller that had to pay $9.95 for their "FREE" month. I am also hoping to get a class action lawsuit against them on behalf of myself and all the millions of sellers who registered for ebay's "FREE" store and paid for it anyway.
A seller registers for the store and the first FREE month, and ebay charges the seller $9.95 the very next day. When it comes time for the seller to pay their ebay bill, ebay takes the $9.95 out of the seller's bank account and credits the seller's ebay account with it. This is done BEFORE the first "FREE" month is up. Then, the seller decides to cancel the store before the second month, so ebay credits the seller's EBAY account with $9.95. Did you get that? They stole $9.95 from your bank account during your first "FREE" month and then merely credited your EBAY account with $9.95 when you cancelled the store before the second month.
If they take $9.95 from you bank account for your ebay store during your first "FREE" month - they are engaging in THEFT as they have no right under any US law that I know of to take money from you for something they claim they're giving to you for FREE (regardless of what lame excuse they give you for taking the money)!
Also, by only crediting your EBAY account with the $9.95 instead of returning it to your bank account, they are only giving you an ebay CREDIT for $9.95, and a CREDIT is not the same thing as FREE. FREE means I can take my kid to BK with the $9.95 I saved on my "FREE" store. Ebay credit means I can only spend that $9.95 on ebay. So they are engaging in false advertising and committing fraud when they claim the store is FREE when in reality they charge you for it and then only give you an ebay credit.
If you still don't believe me, and you're a registered ebay seller with an ebay store, access your account and look for yourself... If you've had your ebay store for 4 months, ebay has charged you 4 times. If you've had your ebay store for 8 months, ebay has charged you 8 times. If you've had your store for 24 months, ebay has charged you 24 times. If you only took advantage of the FREE month, ebay still charged you one time.
SO WHERE IN THE HELL IS THE FREE MONTH THEY ADVERTISE?
And if you're not an ebay seller, go ahead and register for a store and see for yourself how quickly ebay charges you for that "FREE" month.
Because they charge every seller $9.95 for the "FREE" month, and because they only credit the sellers' ebay accounts with the $9.95 when the sellers' cancel the store, and because the only thing the sellers can do with the credit is list more items on ebay and make more money for ebay, EBAY IS MAKING MILLIONS OF DOLLARS EVERY MONTH OFF THEIR SO-CALLED "FREE" STORES!
False advertising, fraud and theft - all felony offenses - are making ebay $millions$ every month!
Meg Whitman (the CEO of ebay) may THINK she's above the law, but she isn't. The FBI and FTC are already aware that "internet auctions" account for almost 50% of all fraud complaints they receive (a quick check of their websites will verify this statement). Considering that ebay has 25 million auctions running at any given time, and amazon is in 2nd place with less than a million, it's obvious that when the FBI and FTC say "internet auctions" are their main source of fraud complaints, they mean ebay. Now the FBI and the FTC can investigate ebay itself as being a main source of intenet fraud, and not just the fraudulent 3rd-party sellers on the site.
Anne
West Hollywood, California
U.S.A.
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