Amazon and eBay are two the earliest and largest e-commerce platforms that customers go to find and buy products. While both platforms are easily accessible and offer a wide range of goods, shoppers often complain about poor customer service among other issues.
Shoppers share their frustration with eBay vs Amazon on various review websites, social media, and forums including Pissed Consumer, Reddit, and Quora. The most common customer service complaints are in regards to difficulty contacting customer service, difficulty returning items, delayed delivery, fraud, low quality, and counterfeit products.
Fraud Alerts
There have been numerous cases of eBay and Amazon fraud reported across the Internet, social platforms, and review websites such as Pissedconsumer.com.
On eBay, hacking is the most commonly reported form of fraud whereby hackers make unauthorized purchases, steal baking information, or change login details.
There are Ebay reviews in which customers report their accounts being hacked. Upon making phone calls to customer service phone and the fraud line, in an effort to get this fixed, most of them hit a dead end. Some customers even mention that they are billed monthly yet they have not used their account in 3 years.
Similarly, Amazon reviews indicate several fraud complaints characterized by fraudulent purchases, calls from scammers who pose as Amazon customer service representatives, unauthorized charges, and identity theft. Some Amazon users report that someone is using their account to purchase items.
Delivery Issues
Both eBay and Amazon shoppers often face delivery issues such as delivery delays, no delivery at all, missing items, and delivery of the wrong items. Also, there are Amazon delivery complaints about careless drivers who mishandle packages or leave the items in the wrong place.
One Ebay consumer expressed frustration on the PissedConsumer.com review website stating that “… massage chair zero gravity Expected delivery December 14, 21 Till now, I haven’t received my delivery…I contacted ebay, I was told it will be delivered December 17, 2021 but negative. Again I was told December 30, 21 NO delivery…”
Another Amazon online review on consumer website states, “The delivery was care less delivery driver left package not inside residence but outside the resident near my building he did not follow instructions…”
Difficulty Contacting Customer Service
Shoppers often attempt to contact eBay and Amazon customer service to have their issues resolved. Some report having difficulty getting the right phone numbers to call while others say that they get through to a customer service representative, but they are not helpful.
However, when it comes to customer support, many shoppers would agree that Amazon customer service is generally more responsive compared to eBay customer service. Most customers who contact Amazon get a response as opposed to those who contact eBay.
Both Amazon and eBay offer a wide range of products. However, seeing as eBay was initially started as an auctioning marketplace, it offers a wider range of used items than Amazon. While the wide range of used products on eBay means that you get products at a cheaper price, customers often receive damaged items. Notably, eBay offers customers an option to bid on items while Amazon does not.
Amazon has more stringent measures and policies for protecting its customers than eBay. For instance, Amazon allows a return of most items while with eBay sellers can set their items as “non-returnable” and you have to contact the seller to make a return. Thus, before making a purchase on one of these popular shopping platfroms, take customer feedback into considerations and check what their policies are.
