Serious vulnerability in eBay Payments System

[kosciuszko]

Posting this here because there's nowhere else to get some attention.

I used Buy It Now on the mobile app to purchase an item. Ebay returned an error "Unable to process your payment, please check your billing address" or somethig similar, in red, at the top of the payment screen. I checked my payment details and repeated the transaction. Again, the same error appeared.

Upon checking my bank statement today, the charge to my credit card has gone through TWICE.

The listing has been removed and there is no record of the purchase/transaction in eBay as having gone through.

This is a very serious issue which eBay needs to address and investigate immediately.

[twyngwyn]

Ring them, or have them ring you.....go to : HELP at top of page

[kosciuszko]

I have contacted eBay. They told me it's my bank's (credit card) problem, not theirs since there is no record in their system that the payment has gone through. Also, the transaction in my bank account says "PayPal" but there is no corresponding transaction in my PayPal account.

Irresponsible attitude from eBay especially since the transaction was initiated within their platform therefore they are the problem.

[go-tazz]

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@kosciuszko wrote:

Posting this here because there's nowhere else to get some attention.

I used Buy It Now on the mobile app to purchase an item. Ebay returned an error "Unable to process your payment, please check your billing address" or somethig similar, in red, at the top of the payment screen. I checked my payment details and repeated the transaction. Again, the same error appeared.

Upon checking my bank statement today, the charge to my credit card has gone through TWICE.

The listing has been removed and there is no record of the purchase/transaction in eBay as having gone through.

This is a very serious issue which eBay needs to address and investigate immediately.

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Sounds like you got a pop up that directed you off site or it was a scam/hijacked account,(hence why there is no

record of it on eBay).

Just contact your bank and tell them that they are unauthorised transactions and they'll do a chargeback to

get your money back.

[kosciuszko]

Nope not a pop up. I never left the site. Did Buy It Now directly from the item page. Took me to the checkout as per normal. That’s why this is so serious. I’m in IT. I know my stuff. Item listing is still up. (Reads as item no longer available)

[countessalmirena]

Hi, kosciuszko,

You're not along in this. Another eBay member reports an even worse instance of multiple payment processing occurring on eBay in this thread.

Unfortunately there is no way to get in touch with eBay's IT team. You can try reporting this to eBay CS using the "Have us call you" option, but you'll need to be patient, calm, point to the fact that another member has documented a similar issue, and repeat those salient points several times.

eBay say: We'll call you at the phone number registered to your account, or you can enter a different number.

We’re available from 8am to 10pm AET, 7 days a week.

Keep notes of the call (time & date, rep's name, summary of call); record it if you can (get rep's agreement to that, of course).

If eBay don't act, then call PayPal, and go through the same details, stating that eBay's technical issues have resulted in this. Without using it as a threat, mention politely that you would prefer not to go through the FOS (Financial Ombudsman). Again, take notes, record if possible.

If it's not resolved at that point (and I realise there are two issues at stake - your money being refunded plus an assurance that eBay's IT will actually fix this problem, which they won't do unless there's a lot of pressure and the right information actually gets to the IT dept), go ahead and open a dispute with the FOS, naming PayPal as the financial services provider but mentioning in the details that eBay's payment coding has a vulnerability/flaw which causes some payments to be processed multiple times. PayPal would be the ones to be fined in that case; presumably PayPal would pass on all costs to eBay as it's eBay's issue. That might actually get eBay's attention.

[shoppingbag*]

There appear to be multiple problems with using aps and mobile phones to purchase on eBay. Mobile phones do not allow you access to all the features on a site that a computer does. This applies to other sites also,  not just eBay.  Also, many problems with buyers pushing the wrong buttons etc. I personally, would never use a phone for purchases. I use a desktop and never encounter any problems.

[kopenhagen5]

Don't call eBay, call PayPal. 1800 073 263

[kimmidoll001]

It happened to me also on 8th August.  Using the normal website of ebay australia, purchased an item, an item from USA, logged into paypal, and hit pay now ONCE.  Over the time span of 9 minutes, 5 payments were deducted from my card at different times within that 9 minutes, the item cost including shipping was $128.  So I got charged 5 x 128 AUD, plus 2 x $13.29, which I assume was the GST component.

And first after sending payment I saw that hourglass on my ebay summary purchases, meaning payment pending, then next refresh of that page it was gone altogether, and the item was still available to buy. 

Then I logged into my card I had used to make the payment and find out that they have charged me that many times, and there was no record of this on the ebay site.

I also received an email from ebay informing me this:-  Action required: Your payment needs to be resent, because your paypal payment did not go through and to please return to ebay to resubmit payment. 

I rang paypal who lay the blame with ebay.  And nearly as soon as the paypal payments went through, they were reversed in paypal.  All of them over 9 minutes.

Rang ebay who told me I had been hacked, sure.  Rang and spoke to another rep who said it was a technical error and that it would be fixed within 24 hours on their site.

Well I am still waiting on all those refunds, and tonight I rang ebay to see if this issue had been rectified.  Well NO, it is now paypal's fault now.  Laying the blame on paypal again and then I am informed it can happen again IF I purchase anything on ebay and this will be ongoing indefinitely as no one is recognising there is a problem, ebay have no record of these transactions apparently and seem to have washed their hands of the problem.  No apology, nothing to the members that this has happened to.

I am angry, they went over the limit and then some on my card and have washed their hands of the problem. And now no guarantee it won't happen again.  And this is not a serious problem on ebay?? Seriously.  I cannot buy safely on ebay anymore from anyone, anywhere in the world.

Paypal told me tonight some people have been charged 10 times for their purchase on ebay.