| jgawne | 16 Mar 2008 5:26 p.m. PST |
A friend of mine had an issue with an ebay purchase, and filed a complaint. So he gets an email saying ebay wants to give him a one time use $750 USD paypal coupon! Which I tought someone here had gotten a while back. So he called ebay, and they said it was real. Which I find really hard to comprehend why Ebay is being so "nice" to a customer…. |
| Tom Bryant | 16 Mar 2008 5:40 p.m. PST |
Maybe because they are losing them? It might be getting tight for the boys at Ebay what with competing auction houses opening up and gaining strength. |
| wehrmacht | 16 Mar 2008 6:32 p.m. PST |
Sounds like another lame-o phishing attempt. Ebay is not in the business of giving away free money. I could *maybe* see ebay being nice to a powerseller who pays ebay $000s in fees every month… but a buyer? Smells fishy.
w.
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Wyatt the Odd  | 16 Mar 2008 8:11 p.m. PST |
First, did the e-mail directly refer to the complaint? If not, its a phish. Secondly, do not call the number on the e-mail, if any, instead go to the actual ebay website and check the contact numbers. You may even want to go so far as to forward the e-mail to phish@ebay.com Wyatt |
 Editor in Chief Bill  | 16 Mar 2008 8:27 p.m. PST |
What's a PayPal "coupon"? Why don't they just put the money in his PayPal account? |
| Parmenion | 17 Mar 2008 1:25 a.m. PST |
Sounds like another lame-o phishing attempt. Ebay is not in the business of giving away free money. Actually, that's exactly what they've been doing lately. See this thread: TMP link As I said in that discussion, I've recently received a £5.00 GBP voucher from Paypal (online, via ebay messages) and a £10.00 GBP voucher from ebay (through the post) and have used both successfully. I got them for no reason I could see, other than the attached blurb about how ebay/paypal values me as a customer. My instinct is to assume that this is, like Tom Bryant said, an attempt to sweeten customers following recent strikes/complaints/desertions, but I have nothing concrete to back that up. However, in light of what jgawne said, I have a sudden urge to file a complaint…  As for why they didn't just deposit money in my Paypal account, I guess it's because that could easily get lost amongst regular transactions, whereas a voucher that requires a code to activate it makes you take notice. |
| anevilgiraffe | 17 Mar 2008 3:43 a.m. PST |
the voucher would also have an expiry date, so they've been great and let you have X amount, but sorry if you don't use it in time…. $750 USD on a single purchase, I had enough trouble finding something I wanted over £50.00 GBP to use my £20.00 GBP voucher… |
| Jayster | 17 Mar 2008 4:40 a.m. PST |
I've had, and succesfully used a couple of £5.00 GBP vouchers, and am expecting something in the mail – If that's the £10.00 GBP voucher, that's great. Those figures seem like a good sweetner to keep customers (Buyers and or sellers) loyal. BUT, $750 USD seems like a huge amount to just give away. If the issue was with a dealer using E-bays services, I can't see why E-bay would give away such a large sum. |
| jgawne | 17 Mar 2008 6:54 a.m. PST |
I don't know man, my friend is a computer programmer who has been on ebay since before even I was. If he says it checks out so far, he's doing the proper homework. Which is why it bugs me. If he can be fooled (and he sent it ot me for an opinion as "it seems to good to be true" |
| Parmenion | 17 Mar 2008 6:59 a.m. PST |
Well if he called ebay and they verified it, isn't that the end of any doubt? All that remains is puzzling over the generosity, not questioning the veracity. We know that ebay has indeed been giving out freebies lately, though not (to my knowledge) to this extent… |
| Neotacha | 17 Mar 2008 7:50 a.m. PST |
They've run those silly little contests; did he maybe enter one and forget? Man, I'd so be sending that to the spoof address, both for ebay and paypal! |
 mmitchell  | 17 Mar 2008 10:17 a.m. PST |
If he called them and spoke to someone, that really should put the issue to bed (as long as he didn't get the phone number out of the e-mail, of course). |
 reeves lk  | 28 Mar 2008 10:16 a.m. PST |
["Why don't they just put the money in his PayPal account?"] could be because anything over $600.00 USD is consider income and they might have to send a 1099 where as if they do it as a coupon it is not income. I just got service award from my company. If they give it to me in cash they will tax it like income. However they would write checks for me. I had them pay some property taxes and bought my car tag for me. I also got them to write a check for some lead with with what was left over. Larry |
