I tried to 'Buy Now' a workshop tabletop electric planer. I really needed that exact model and the price was perfect. When I attempted to buy it, eBay popped up an Age Verification window because it's a bladed item (like what teenager is going out with a tabletop electric planer in their pocket??) , that took me to a Credit Card form.
I have a CC, but it's Amex, and eBay doesn't accept it. So I'm stumped.
I go through the whole hellish process of Contacting eBay, finally get someone. His first words are "Wow, thanks for being an eBay customer for 20 years!" ... but who then can't help me because he doesn't understand my problem:
"So, let me get this right, you are trying to list an item but are getting an error?"
"Errr, no, that's not remotely what I said, please can you read it again? Also, if I've been a customer for 20 years, how can I possibly be a minor?"
"Okay I need to escalate this... hang tight"
5 minutes later...
"Hey I'm *Someone Else*, how can I help?"
"Please read above."
5 minutes later...
"Okay you are trying to list an item but are getting an error?"
"No. Please read what *I* said above, not your colleague."
"Ahh, okay. I see. Well, we do accept Amex so you should just use that form and you'll be fine!"
"No, you don't. I tried it 3 times and it kept failing, then I realised you don't accept Amex."
"Yes we do."
"No, you really don't."
"Yes we do. Can you send me a screenshot of the page where we don't accept Amex?"
I faffed around getting a screenshot of the page and uploading it to their portal for this Customer Service rep, who then promised to continue this issue by email because this Chat had taken 45 minutes so far and I was out of time. But she didn't. I got an email saying something like "Glad we helped you, bye!"
...this is all exactly how it happened. I then saw that I had missed the Planer, which had just sold.
Honestly this is truly awful Customer Service. eBay has been getting worse and worse. I've had issues as both buyer and seller on this site recently and it feels like no matter what side of the transaction you are on, if there's any issue AT ALL, it's a real nightmare to sort it. This one might be the last straw.
