Live Events - unauthorised sales and purchases

[razztazz7]

I was part of a live event (as buyer). I bought a cap and wrote in the chat section that I like a shirt that was on previously (thinking the motive on the shirt was a bear) 

the company was able send and open the link to shirt on my phone.  Which is fine. 
I added it to my watchlist - I wasn’t sure so left it. At NO point did I bid on the shirt or press buy it.  Today, over a week since the live event, the shirt was apparently purchased by my IP address (me - according to Ebay)

I was shocked that this happened. I have been using ebay for 11 years and not once has this happened.  

The only way I knew about it was my bank alerting the £36 left my account for ebay purchase.   I immediately went to Ebay and saw the shirt was processed without my knowledge.  

I immediately cancelled the item - received a notification that the company is outside operating hours. 

I contacted Ebay and they said there is nothing they can do as this item and a cap which I DID buy during the live event has the same IP address. I kept saying I am not lying. I did not buy this item.  I was told there can never be an issue with Ebay or the Live events. 

I am an honest seller and buyer with over 2000 100% feedback. Why on earth would I lie.  I know I can return the shirt once it arrives, but it is just extremely strange that a week after the event an item was processed that I never placed a bid on or bought. 

Are there any other members who had issues with unauthorised payments processed? 

[style_wise]

 I was told there can never be an issue with Ebay or the Live events. 

They can't prove a negative, so not sure how they can reasonably assert a fool-proof system!

[razztazz7 · Accepted solution]

For those who are looking for answers - I received a reply from the company - and they admitted that there has been some issues with live events

This was their response: 

“Hi there, thanks for your message and sorry about this. I've sent it to our team who run the lives. They are in contact with eBay quite a bit, providing feedback on the 'lives' experience, I'm sure this feedback will be helpful. It seems like it's extremely easy to trigger a purchase; we've had similar feedback from some other users who've had to cancel orders too.”

[thesmokingrunner]

@razztazz7  Many thanks for the update. All I can say is : Wow.

Typical eBay response. It's never their fault, is it? It's not us, it's you. And then that gets blown out the water with the admission that there is a problem and it's extremely easy to trigger a purchase - presumably by buying one item and adding another to your Watch List, the item in your Watch List will be automatically purchased at some point in the future (whether you want to buy it or not) and your account will be charged accordingly.

The moral of all this is simple:  avoid eBay Live auctions. You could end up buying something just by looking at it...

[papso22]

Presumably ebay live auctions use a different system to the usual ebay one? 

You can't accidentally buy something on 'normal' ebay just by watching it, although you can if you put it in your basket and then pay for everything at once by mistake.

[thesmokingrunner]

I haven't tried Live Auctions so can only assume that they use a different system to the usual one, @papso22 

I get your point about adding an item to your basket by mistake and then 'accidentally' buying it, but that's not what the OP experienced: they bought an item (a cap) in a Live Auction, mentioned they liked a t-shirt which they had seen and the company then sent a link to a t-shirt which the OP added to their Watch List.

According to the OP an automatic purchase was processed and payment taken at a later date without them clicking on the item in the Watch List and going through the normal purchase procedure. Without seeing a purchase log, which would show the entire process, one can only speculate whether the OP accidentally purchased the item or whether the original link included code which effectively created a 'purchase and pay when item is available' process, in which case an automatic purchase would have been made without the OP's knowledge even though they had only enquired about the item.

The biggest issue with all of that is that eBay is so defensive about what happened (it's never their fault, it's always something the user has done) and their refusal to accept that things can go wrong means that it's not possible to prove what actually happened, and that should be a cause of concern to anyone who uses Live Auctions.

[papso22]

Yes, Ebays mantra of 'it's not us it's you' is totally unsupported by the sheer number of technical 'glitches' that litter the site.

[razztazz7]

From Seller:

This was their response: 

“Hi there, thanks for your message and sorry about this. I've sent it to our team who run the lives. They are in contact with eBay quite a bit, providing feedback on the 'lives' experience, I'm sure this feedback will be helpful. It seems like it's extremely easy to trigger a purchase; we've had similar feedback from some other users who've had to cancel orders too.”

[theanonymousgrouch]

I suspect I already know the answer to this query, but, seeing as no one else is asking, & Conbuy themselves are about as much use as a chocolate fireguard, I feel compelled to ask-

Is there SERIOUSLY no "Opt Out" function included?

As in, if I'm reaaally N-O-T interested in this latest 'feature', is the not an option to just turn it off, just so's I don't have to keep looking at that same slop ad at the top of every listing..?

Again, I probably already know the answer... but, one still clings to the vague hope that, just maaaybe they might make one of their so-called 'upgrades' optional for once, instead of trying to force it down everyone's throats... A person can dream!

[razztazz7]

A person can dream! 
For some reason I am even getting notifications for live Pokemon cards auction! 

why on earth would I ever be interested in pokemon cards! Gen X!