I happen to know two or three eBay® employees and can call them directly, but the average user of the site doesn't have this luxury. So how do you go about contacting eBay®?



First, I'd highly suggest you use their contact forms through the site. Whether you think so or not, your question/problem might be pretty common and be answered quickly with one of eBay's auto-response emails. A live person will answer your query…eventually. In my experience, it takes at least three days for a human response, sometimes longer. eBay® is, after all, one of the busiest sites on the 'Net and so they have a lot of user "feedback" to go through.

Go to the "Help" area of eBay® (available from any spot on the site via the "help" link) and follow the menus to contact.

I know an eBay® Customer Service representative and she told me directly that they always ask callers if they've gone through the site's help system. If not, they instruct them to do so and end the call. They've found that over 90% of their customer's inquiries can be answered via the website.

So…the contact form thing isn't working and you can't resolve the problem via email? Now you can make your call. There are two public phone numbers for eBay®, both toll-free and both go to the same place. Don't expect to talk to a live person right off, though, unless you already know their extension.

The numbers are:

800-322-9266

and

888-749-3229

If you don't have an extension to call directly, you'll have to leave a message. Just press "2" and you'll (most likely, sometimes they answer right off) be asked to leave a message with your contact information.

As another incentive to become a PowerSeller (PS), eBay® offers contact numbers for PSs only, which are available to the top four levels of PSs. These numbers have a faster response time and usually (during business hours) can get through to a live person immediately.

Remember: if you're courteous and professional when you talk to them, the eBay® representatives will be more likely to want to help you. If you are abusive or condescending, you might just get the "blow off" instead. These reps. are people too and deserve to be treated as such. They are not the cause of your problem, they "just work there."