Execution
eBay Giveth and Paypal Taketh Away
3:57:48 PM CST 
euro-rs
euro-rsInitial Question/Comment: Bidding/Buying
3:57:53 PM CST 
System
SystemThank you for contacting eBay Live Help!
3:57:53 PM CST System
SystemCicine M. has joined this session!
3:57:53 PM CST System
SystemConnected with Cicine M.
3:57:58 PM CST 
Cicine M.
Cicine M.Hello,Thank you for waiting and welcome to eBay Live Help! My name is Cicine M. May I please start by having you confirm your User ID and first name?
3:59:29 PM CST euro-rs
euro-rsI am trying to redeem an eBay Gift Certificate but Paypal is saying the certificate number cannot be processed at this time. I just contacted an eBay Customer Service rep who confirmed I’m following correct procedure and she didn’t know why this is happening. She referred me to the Gift Certificate number (866 914 8078), but it is an automated attendant asking for a 13-digit code, but my Certificate is a 16-digit code. Please help.
4:00:01 PM CST euro-rs
euro-rsMy eBay ID is “euro-rs” and my name is Steve
4:01:03 PM CST Cicine M.
Cicine M.Hi Steve!
4:01:28 PM CST Cicine M.
Cicine M.I can feel that this must be a very frustrating situation for you but let me do the best I could.
4:01:33 PM CST euro-rs
euro-rsThe really frustrating thing is that the Gift Certificate is for $100.00 and I used part of it to purchase a $67 item on eBay this morning, and now I am simply trying to use spend the remaining $33. The code worked just fine at 9am PST, but now it is not — this is strange.
4:02:18 PM CST Cicine M.
Cicine M.To make sure I got your concern right, you are trying to redeem a gift certificate but it shows an error that certificate number cannot be processed,correct?
4:02:54 PM CST euro-rs
euro-rsPaypal is not saying the code is incorrect — it is simply saying it cannot process it “at this time.”
4:05:19 PM CST Cicine M.
Cicine M.So it shows can’t be processed at this time?
4:05:25 PM CST euro-rs
euro-rsCorrect
4:06:24 PM CST Cicine M.
Cicine M.Do you have other concerns aside from this?
4:06:53 PM CST euro-rs
euro-rsNo – I just want to redeem the remaining $33 on the gift certificate.
4:08:24 PM CST Cicine M.
Cicine M.Give me a moment to check on to check on the problem.
4:08:37 PM CST euro-rs
euro-rsOK
4:11:34 PM CST euro-rs
euro-rsthe auction number of the item I am trying to pay for is: 230561374418
4:12:25 PM CST Cicine M.
Cicine M.Okay.
4:16:40 PM CST Cicine M.
Cicine M.Is this a physical or online card?
4:19:10 PM CST euro-rs
euro-rsIt is a paper gift certificate printed from eBay/Paypal that I received for Christmas. Why does this matter anyway — the redemption code is the same. We have now been on this chat for 15 minutes and I spent 10 minutes on the phone with eBay Customer Service prior to this — yet no resolution. How hard can it be to resolve? Can I give you the redemption code to enter into Paypal and net the $33 against the $65 purchase so I can get on with my Saturday afternoon?
4:20:08 PM CST euro-rs
euro-rsThe issue date of the paper certificate is 12-28-10 and it includes redemption instructions from Paypal that I’ve already followed successfully earlier today.
4:23:05 PM CST Cicine M.
Cicine M.I now see the problem.
4:23:12 PM CST euro-rs
euro-rsGreat – what is it?
4:23:40 PM CST Cicine M.
Cicine M.There is a current system bug about this,
4:23:53 PM CST Cicine M.
Cicine M.When some members use their gift certificate, they receive the error message below when they click Confirm Payment. Error message says their request cannot be processed at this time.
4:24:07 PM CST Cicine M.
Cicine M.When members only use a partial amount of their gift card, the remaining balance becomes “Unconfirmed” and this is why the member receives the error message. The member needs to contact PayPal Customer Support to have them reactivate the remaining balance.
4:24:27 PM CST Cicine M.
Cicine M.I submit a bug ticket about this to report the problem to our technical department.
4:24:55 PM CST Cicine M.
Cicine M.For now, so that the remaining balance can be processed, you need to contact Pay Pal.
4:25:21 PM CST euro-rs
euro-rsOK – so Paypal was happy to take the $100 from my mother-in-law in December and now that I want to redeem it, it is a system bug? So that means my $33 is being held hostage by Paypal — hmmm. What is the Paypal phone number?
4:26:01 PM CST Cicine M.
Cicine M.Let me check.
4:26:25 PM CST Cicine M.
Cicine M.You can contact PayPal by calling them at 1-888-221-1161.
4:26:36 PM CST Cicine M.
Cicine M.Here are the hours they’re available: Monday through Friday: 4:00 am – 10:00 pm Pacific Time Saturday and Sunday: 6:00 am – 8:00 pm Pacific Time
4:27:11 PM CST Cicine M.
Cicine M.I’m happy I was able to answer your question about why you can’t redeem the gift certificate.
4:27:28 PM CST Cicine M.
Cicine M.I’m looking forward to serve your future transactions with us!
4:27:41 PM CST Cicine M.
Cicine M.Thank you for contacting eBay! Have a great day!
4:29:36 PM CST System
SystemCicine M. has left this session!
4:29:36 PM CST System
SystemThe session has ended!
Tags: eBay gift certificate problem, Paypal gift certificate redemption problem, poor eBay customer service Discussion
3 comments for “eBay Giveth and Paypal Taketh Away”
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A conversation with eBay Customer Support last night is even more scary as they say that their gift certificates are “one time use” and that any unused balance is kept by eBay — yet this is not dislosed when consumers buy the gift certificates. The CSR was surprised I recovered any of my unused $100 gift certificate last month. Is this even legal? For instance, if you bought a $100 Best Buy gift certificate and spent $65 of it — can they legally deny you the redemption of the remaining $35 when they collected $100?
BTW, this is *still* not fixed as of June 9th, 2011. This smell like a scam to extract lots of money from Ebay users.
Bill – I think you’re right as I’ve talked to someone at eBay since posting and they say that I got lucky receiving the unused portion of my gift certificate back as they never do this. The eBay rep said that once the gift certificate code is redeemed, eBay keeps the unused balance and he confessed that neither eBay nor Paypal publish this fact to consumers when they buy the gift certificates. Unethical – yes. Scam – maybe.