eBay Purchase Protection Financial Department
Complaint 41179 Details

I have been an avid eBay user since 2002, spending thousands of dollars over dozens of purchases, maintaining a 100% positive buyer rating and never making a single claim against the eBay Buyer Protection Program. Recently, I purchased a used item from a first time eBay user thinking that eBay's Buyer Protection Plan would protect me if it turned out that this new user with a zero experience rating sent me a defective product. I received the item and discovered it came without software, without the necessary connection cable or even a power cable. EBay's Buyer Protection policy says that you have up to 45 days in which to place a claim. Since I had a false sense of security, it took me a couple of weeks to get around to downloading the necessary software, buy the appropriate cables, install the software, etc. The product didn't work. I then spent another week trying to de-bug the problem, thinking it was my installation error. After exhaustive testing, it turned out that it was a faulty product all along. The seller would not take it back, so 3 weeks after receiving the product (but still well within the 45 day window), I opened a Buyer Protection claim. It was immediately denied based on it taking me 3 weeks to report the issue. I appealed the decision, telling my story to a live rep in great detail. It was immediately and summarily denied again. I have no further recourse. I have wasted my money based on a worthless protection policy that is apparently used as a marketing tool. I have read many complaints about eBay's Buyer Protection Program on the web as being heavily weighted toward the seller, since eBay earns money only from their sellers. It should be called the Seller Protection Policy because it is nearly worthless to buyers. I am out $465 and have absolutely no recourse against eBay, even though my claim was 100% within their expressed program requirements. False advertising, false protection, horrible service.