eBay Forcing User ID

unreal2014

Hi everyone, I am a new member here and could not find anyone else with the same kind of experience I have had.

I'm disgusted at the recent events that have taken place in the last day, causing three hours of pure distress and discomfort. Suffering from illness I have found the eBay response to be lacking any empathy or respect for me, as a valued customer, what-so-ever.

Whilst I don't want to create too long of a post as I know it can get boring, I will try and cut it as short as I can.

I have been a long-term eBay member for several years and before then I had been a member, before you were forced to need a Paypal account or payment card to sign up, or at least to use eBay as it was intended, with simplicity and ease.

A little history. - I had lost all details of my original account from when eBay started (which is not a problem, as it really was that long ago), several years later to create a new account and have made under 1,000 transactions that all took place with ease (and might I add, perfection with all sales and purchases, luckily), this includes selling and buying for a good few years.

Now, after a long time without an eBay account and realizing that I could use one again as there is nowhere else (unfortunately!) with as much traffic, I have found that eBay are forcing "User ID's" onto their new customers. Had I have known I perhaps would not have signed up once again.

Under the Register page you will now find a First Name, Surname, Email Address, Password and Password Confirm box with no such mention anywhere on the page of creating a user ID or username, which leads you to think this process will take place on a possible next page once you click on the submit button.

After much time had passed I had decided on the username (or user ID) I wish to use, this taking several months of thought, and time, and creation of a whole new email account, just for this purpose which I did not want to do in the first place, after all why should you need a new email account just because eBay say so?

I had entered the correct details into these boxes with the pre-understanding that I would simply click Submit and then select a User ID.

I couldn't have been further away from being as far wrong as humanly possible, not only am I shocked, completely unamused and upset by this but the new eBay system has not only selected a user ID for me automatically without my say so, but it has used my real name no less!!

To have your full, real name instantly created as a username (or user ID) is disgusting and a complete breach of what I would have thought most people would consider privacy.

After spending the best part of three hours talking with an online eBay staff member to get the same answers constantly I felt like I was hitting my head against a brick wall, also to be lied to several times and then to be told "sorry, my colleagues informed me wrong at the beginning of this conversation", I understand that we're all human and make mistakes, but it appears that eBay staff training may perhaps be lacking as it appears I know more about the eBay system then their own staff, or that they simple do not care.

I simply asked for this ID to be erased completely, of course this simple action cannot be performed so I am told several times, and I know this anyway due to having used eBay since it first started and having been through similar situations in the past.

The problem is that I, like most eBay members, would like to remain anonymous and not have my full, real name, simply automatically issued as my username.

Whilst I am aware I can change User ID this does not stop anyone who is registered with eBay looking at the feedback page and simply clicking on the User ID History page and checking previous usernames, and then to be told that it would be removed/deleted and then simply to be told I had been lied to and that this action is actually impossible (which I believe to be a lie as I generally know how these things work with 20 years of computer/internet knowledge under the belt).

Overall I have never had a problem with eBay until now, having been a valued customer more than just the one time now (not that they would know, not being able to look at deleted accounts), they simply fobbed me off and showed little to no respect in helping with the issue they have caused.

Towards the end of the online conversation I am told a manager is going to call me and resolve my problem, to be called soon after and simply be told the same again several times, and to be over-talked at down the phone that the issue will be passed on to their tech team. I have never felt so patronized and shoved to one side as I had with this situation to be told there is nothing they will do, this had caused me quite the upset as I suffer illness and it had taken such a long time for me to actually create a user ID in the first place with much thought, time and care. Though I understand this may be a simple process for most people, I am not simply able to think of something suitable to my own tastes every day.

Whilst on the phone to the manager I am also told several times that once you click submit you will be able to choose a username and that any username is selected by myself as it is simply a suggested username or to be told that I have had a choice in what username I would be able to choose and that this was performed by myself. I can't explain further how wrong this information is and how wrong they are. I had no choice in user ID and I did not select it myself, if I had it would be the username I had wanted and not my real name!

After being lied to, talked down to and to simply be told on the end of the phone that I will be emailed with pictures of how to sign up when you simply are not able to enter your own user ID in the first place.

Whilst this phone call is taking place, I am obviously not at the computer as I simply cannot do the two things at once, and when the phone call ended I notice that the person in the online help box decided to end the conversation by saying they have not had a response, which was because I was on the phone with a manager, which obviously did not fix the situation.

Has anyone else had the same experience? I have pretty much lost all faith in eBay now and do not wish to create yet another email account simply because they state they will not help with the situation that is created by them in the first place!

Do I sound like a maniac or am I within my rights to find this a completely unfair system forced onto people who clearly are unsuspecting their name will be plastered into eBay the moment they have clicked the submit button?

Why can't they just add a User ID box to start with and make life easier for it's members.

Any response to this post is welcomed as I simply have nothing left to do now and feel mistreated by eBay entirely. I hope that I have been consistent and thorough and believe I have added everything that had happened around this event.

soolin

It sounds like you put your name in the user ID box, I fear this is just a user error.

unreal2014

soolin wrote: »

It sounds like you put your name in the user ID box, I fear this is just a user error.

If it were my error, I would understand completely, however do you see a USER ID box on this page?

When clicking on Register - you are provided with

First name


Surname


Email



Create your password



Confirm password

Then a button to Submit

Due to being a new user I cannot post a screen picture or I would to show that this is how the page is, there is no USER ID box as explained.


h t t p : / / t i n y u r l . c o m / p 3 c l 5 r f

(Please remove all spaces to view image of ebay register page!)

If I could simply enter a user ID, I would have done so, the option does not exist anymore!!

cootuk

Did you read the next screen?

To save you the time of creating a unique user ID, we've selected ******* for you. This is what will display when you bid, buy, or sell on eBay.
Want to choose your own user ID? Just go to My eBay on your computer, click the Account tab, and then go to Personal Information.

anotheruser

Alternatively, your post could have just said:

"Ebay no longer gives you an option to choose a User ID, but uses your real name instead. I am upset by this".

custardy

So you write war and peace about a username you can change in 2 clicks from my ebay?
I have just set up a test account with fake details to test
give it a try

I think on the Ebay board we should be able to rate posters.
So * for communication I'm afraid,***** for post length though

unreal2014

cootuk wrote: »

Did you read the next screen?

To save you the time of creating a unique user ID, we've selected ******* for you. This is what will display when you bid, buy, or sell on eBay.
Want to choose your own user ID? Just go to My eBay on your computer, click the Account tab, and then go to Personal Information.

Yes, you can, if you would have read my post (no offence intended) then you would see that you can simply still see the USER ID HISTORY on the feedback page, so this does not remove the original automated user id, it just hides it slightly, not completely, as anyone is able to view it.

anotheruser wrote: »

Alternatively, your post could have just said:

"Ebay no longer gives you an option to choose a User ID, but uses your real name instead. I am upset by this".

100% - I just find it yet another tedious eBay "policy" and wanted to vent, is this not OK and what these forums are for.

custardy wrote: »

So you write war and peace about a username you can change in 2 clicks from my ebay?
I have just set up a test account with fake details to test
give it a try

I think on the Ebay board we should be able to rate posters.
So * for communication I'm afraid,***** for post length though

I hope you're not as offensive in real life as you are on here, shocking.

The fact is there is no such box to enter User ID anymore, or is this selective, by chance?

Edit - I may have been over-sensitive reading such quick and sharp replies, I thought the people of MSE may have read and understood with helpful replies, but nobody has stated how to create a user id initially yet, has this function now ceased from ebay altogether?

Edit 2 - I have just used a temp email address to test the process and it appears that ebay create your name no matter what - you can no longer enter your own user ID from the start - this is impossible.

Using another name I have found they simply add "_uk2014" to the end of the name in the first name box upon signing up. - Really eBay?

And as stated the original user ID (now) created by ebay is now always going to be your first name (and if your surname, if it is unique) and for this reason I will no longer be using ebay unless they change this hideous policy and invasion of privacy.

bris

Ebay dont force a user ID they make suggestions on ID's you choose but are already taken, you can try again or accept one of their choices.

It doesnt take short story to tell you that you messed up your registration.

unreal2014

bris wrote: »

Ebay dont force a user ID they make suggestions on ID's you choose but are already taken, you can try again or accept one of their choices.

It doesnt take short story to tell you that you messed up your registration.

So they recommend names? - How does that make sense when you simply enter your name, surname, email and password - then you're logged in as whatever they have given you, period.

Yes, you can change your user id anytime, however the original user id created and given to you by ebay is simply still available via your feedback page when you click on user id history.

At no point in my registering had I seen anything that remotely states "here are some name suggestions", nothing at all like that.

I have not been suggested any name, just given the name they have suggested, when I did not ask for any name to be taken.

If by suggested you mean they give you a user id and if you are unhappy with this choice then you can change it, then yes they have suggested the name, however suggesting a name and giving a name are two completely different things, would you not agree?

custardy

unreal2014 wrote: »

So they recommend names? - How does that make sense when you simply enter your name, surname, email and password - then you're logged in as whatever they have given you, period.

Yes, you can change your user id anytime, however the original user id created and given to you by ebay is simply still available via your feedback page when you click on user id history.

At no point in my registering had I seen anything that remotely states "here are some name suggestions", nothing at all like that.

I have not been suggested any name, just given the name they have suggested, when I did not ask for any name to be taken.

If by suggested you mean they give you a user id and if you are unhappy with this choice then you can change it, then yes they have suggested the name, however suggesting a name and giving a name are two completely different things, would you not agree?

I could have set up dozens of accounts by now
you can set up your name of choice(unless taken)in seconds.
they are simplifying the registration to the lowes level. not quite there yet it seems

unreal2014

custardy wrote: »

I could have set up dozens of accounts by now
you can set up your name of choice(unless taken)in seconds.
they are simplifying the registration to the lowes level. not quite there yet it seems

Yes, I am in agreement. I have just setup two accounts of which I have no use for as they are not the correct details and just for test purposes and temporary.

Simplifying the registration is understandable, but not when they remove the User ID box altogether and give you the first name that their system selects based upon your own personal details.

Can you show me a page in which you are allowed to enter your own User ID?

I'm sure you cannot since such a page does not exist, therein lies the problem, you simply cannot create your own user id from the register page, and you are given the first name the automated ebay system gives you.

To repeat, once you are given this name, you have the option to change it via the control panel edit option. Even when you do this, the original "user id" is still on your user id history which can be viewed by anyone via your feedback page.

My point which you seem to be either missing or ignoring is that you simply cannot create a username from the register page like you used to be able to and the fact they incorporate your own name is ridiculous and a complete breach of privacy.

When I sign up on this forum, do they give me a username, no they do not, you simply create your own, do you understand that?

Even if MSE issued your username to you without your acceptance, I am sure they would not force it upon you and include your full name and would likely create anonymous names such as user1111 or newuser1111 etc.

Why is this process not the same on ebay anymore? It is yet another enforcement they have created to make the ebay experience worse.