eBay Won't Give Me My Cashback

eBay owes me $48 in Cashback and they won't pay up. Here 's what is happening and it's related to the iPhone 3GS I bought recently.

eBay currently is running a promotion with Bing.com (formerly Live.com) where if you use the Bing.com search, you can get up to 8% back on an eBay "Buy It Now" item when you pay via PayPal. Well, my wife and I have been shopping/buying on eBay with this promotion and it's turned out well until this iPhone purchase. For whatever reason, we did not get the cashback for the iPhone and contacting eBay for any type of resolution has been a joke. Their current stance on the dispute is that our iPhone purchase isn't eligible but will not provide a full reason to support their position.

I'm going to post the email exchanges we've had with eBay to share our experience with you as we attempt to get our $48 Cashback. I won't post all the emails in one post, but will post them over the span of a week or so. Just to be clear, some emails are from eBay Customer Support and some are from PayPal Customer Support, but I lump it all as eBay.

At this point, I'm resigned to the fact that we probably won't get the Cashback for the purchase, but it's not for a lack of trying. I would love to get your opinions on whether I've been reasonable and patient with our exchanges or if your feel my dispute with eBay is even valid.

Before I post the first email, here's a recap of my situation. Keep this in mind as you read through the email exchanges I'll be posting.

• On June 2X, 2009 I did a search for iPhone 3GS on Bing.com

• A sponsored site link for eBay appears at the top with a 8% Cashback offer appears and I click on it.

• I click through to a listing and the 8% Cashback icon appears at the top of the listing.

• I make the purchase via "Buy It Now" and pay with PayPal.

• Unfortunately, I do not receive a Cashback email from eBay. (Bear in mind that I already have a Cashback account. I have made previous "Buy It Now" purchases and paid with PayPal. I received Cashback for all my previous purchased and all my subsequent purchases, except for this particular purchase.)

• I attempt to resolve by going through support and sending messages & emailing.

Here's exchange #1 with PayPal (where I had to submit my message by going through a fairly long process through PayPal's support pages):

Original Message Follows:
------------------------
Form Message
customer subject: Why does Microsoft Cashback not show up?

customer message: Additional Information:

Hello,

I made a transaction tonight (eBay Payment Sent Unique Transaction ID #XYZ) using the Microsoft Cashback promotion.

When I check my account balance on PayPal, I don't see the 8% cash back.

Can you advise?

Regards,
Me

Here's the reply:

From: webform@paypal.com
Subject: Re: PayPalCredit (Routing Code: [Deleted]) ([Deleted]) :ppk1
To: "Me" <me@me.com>
Date: Tuesday, June 30, 2009, 5:13 PM

Dear Me,

Thank you for contacting PayPal.

Hello, my name is Krizzy and I am happy to assist you today regarding the cash back that is now showing in your account.

Upon reviewing your account [deleted], I do see cash back from Microsoft for $1.52.It is now posted in your account balance.

We know situations like this can be difficult, so thanks for working with us. If you have more questions, visit our Help Center by clicking "Help" in the top right corner of any PayPal page.

Sincerely,
Krizzy
Consumer Support
PayPal, an eBay Company

At first glance, this email seemed okay. Unfortunately, the Cashback she referenced wasn't the transaction I had inquired about. What's the point of including the transaction number in my original message when the customer support representative didn't even research it?

So, I go back through the support pages and submit a more detailed message which I will detail in my next post.


Update (July 16, 2009): Part 2 of my series.

Update (July 17, 2009): Part 3 of my series.

Update (July 18, 2009): Part 4 of my series.

Update (July 19, 2009): Part 5 of my series.

Update (July 20, 2009): Part 6 of my series.

Update (July 21, 2009): Part 7

Update (July 30, 2009): The End - eBay tells me to fuck off

Update (August 5, 2009): Not quite the end

Update (August 8, 2009): Yes...eBay pays me my cashback!