Can't buy an item because I don't have a credit card to prove my age | Buying

gnosemalf · 2026-05-01T16:07:30.427000Z

I just tried to buy a set of hole saws (I bought a similar set on eBay last year without a problem) and was asked to verify my age with a payment card. I entered my debit card details not realising that it had to be a credit card. The details were rejected and I got a message saying that if I didn't have a credit card, I should contact customer services. I phoned customer services who just repeated that I need a credit card. Firstly, why advise me to phone customer services if they aren't going to be any help? Secondly, when I phoned customer services, the first thing the guy said to me after I gave my name was, 'I can see you have been an eBay member for 25 years, thank you for your loyalty' - so a) they know I must be over 18 and b) when I challenged the guy, he acknowledged that he knew my age (considerably older than 18!) but said that I still need a credit card. He then advised me to shop on another platform. Call me old fashioned or summink, but having been a bit stupid in my 20s (forty odd years ago), I have deliberately opted not to have a credit card to avoid getting in trouble again, why should I have to have one when it should be obvious that I'm over 18. I bought a lethal looking bread knife of Amazon last year and only needed my postman (who I know very well) to confirm my age. Similarly, Twitter/X recently asked me to verify my age and then without my intervention deduced that due to the time I had had an account, I must be over 18. Seriously, are we turning into a nation of babies?

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Can't buy an item because I don't have a credit card to prove my age | Buying | eBay UK