Stumbling Rumbles: Cannot register as a seller on eBay – text of exchanges with dumb customer support!


I`ve been trying to sell a few items on Ebay and have been unable to do so for more than a month as eBay does not allow me to pay my seller fees. I searched a lot of forums and was unable to find a solution. However, I discovered that this problem was very common, and had people speculating if eBay was intentionally doing this to reduce the number of sellers (dont ask why)
Anyway after trying all options to pay including Paypal, credit card, debit card and direct debit, I hit a stone wall with it refusing to allow me to pay after giving me blatant lies such as –technical difficulties or invalid card! (hell it worked as a buyer on ebay itself!)
So I fnally got in touch with their customer support. Here`s what ensued. The blue text is my mail, the green text is their reply!
 
Message: Hi,
I`ve been trying to register as a seller for the past One month. But 
everytime, i get to the payment page and try to make payment by Paypal 
it gives me this message:
Sorry. We're currently experiencing technical difficulties and are 
unable to complete the process at this time. 
(for 1 month?!!)
So I try to pay with a credit card and it says:
This is an unsupported card brand. Please try another card brand.
(Mastercard is unsupported?)
I`ve checked the internet and I`m not the only one having such issues.
Please help.

Hello Thomas,

Thank you for your email regarding the issue you are facing while 
setting up a seller account.

Based on the error message yu've received, it seems that you are using a
prepaid or cash cards (Duh! i clearly mentioned it was a Mastercard!). For your reference, eBay's Seller Verification 
System requires all users who wish to sell on eBay.co.uk to enter:

- credit (Visa/MasterCard) or debit (Switch/Solo/Visa Delta/Visa 
electron) card details and
- current bank account details.

For further investigations, kindly write back to us with the information
below:

- Kind of card you are using
- Logo of your card
- Exact error message you've received
(all of which as you can read I already mentioned!!!)
Thank you again for your cooperation. We look forward to hearing back 
from you.

Kind regards,

Mary Dunne
eBay Customer Support

anyway, I replied again:

Hi,
You have obviously failed to read my mail with attention. I have already
mentioned all the information you have asked for! Anyway, here it is 
again.
I am not using a prepaid card. My card is a credit card. It is a 
Mastercard.
The exact error message is " This is an unsupported card brand. Please 
try
another card brand." 
I tried another brand and that doesn't work either.
I tried using paypal and this is the exact error message : " Sorry. 
We're
currently experiencing technical difficulties and are 
unable to complete the process at this time."
I know its not a temporary hitch because I have been trying for a month 
now.
Please help with this.

and the stupid morons reply thus:

Hello Thomas,

Thanks for getting in touch about setting up your credit card for 
automatic monthly billing on eBay.

Credit card companies don't tell us why cards are declined, so I'm 
afraid I can't tell you why the authorization failed. But there are some
things you can do now. 

First of all, there are a few things you should check - for some of 
these, you'll need to contact your credit card company. If you find the 
problem, re-submit your details. I've included the instructions further 
down.

1) Are you entering your billing address exactly as it appears on your 
credit card statement? You have to enter it exactly the same, including 
capital letters, periods and spaces.

2) Are you entering the exact same ZIP or postal code as the one on your
credit card statement? For better verification, enter your nine-digit 
ZIP code - you can get it here: 

 http://zip4.usps.com/zip4/welcome.htm 

3) Are the number and expiration date on your credit card valid? 

4) Is your account in good standing? 

5) Is there enough credit available on your account to cover a $1.00 
authorization hold? We charge a temporary $1.00 'hold' to your account 
to verify that the card is valid. (If you don't have at least $1.00 
available credit, your card will be declined). The hold charge is 
removed by your bank or credit card company within 5-7 business days.

6) Does your account have a block on Internet and phone orders? 

7) If it's a new credit card, has the account been activated? 

8) Are you using a debit card instead of a credit card? A debit card 
isn't a credit card, even when it has a credit card logo on it. Debit 
cards may have daily and/or transaction limits. Contact your bank to ask
if there are daily and/or transaction limits or any other restrictions 
that may be causing your card to decline.) 

9) Also make sure you enter only the numbers without any dashes ("-"), 
slashes("/") or spaces while entering your credit card number.

Here's how to re-submit your credit card information:

1. Go to My Account > Payment Information.
2. Click 'Edit Payment Information'. You'll need to enter your password.
3. Type in your details carefully. You need to make sure they're exactly
the same as how they appear on your statement, including capital 
letters, periods and spaces.

The change will take effect on your account within 24 hours. 


I hope this information helps you find the problem and set up your 
credit card for automatic payment. If there's anything else we can help 
with, please get in touch.

Kind regards,

Yan Pommel
eBay Customer Support

Are the customer support people illiterate or just pure morons! This was really getting to me, so I replied again:

I am not asking why my credit card was declined. For your information, 
it
was NOT declined! My card works fine on every other site including as an
ebay buyer. Please read through my original message. My problem is that 
I
cannot register as a seller. Please stop sending me irrelevant 
information
and help me register as a seller.

Finally someone decides its time to stop toying with me and acknowledges that theres a real problem:

Hello,

Thank you for your email about creating a seller?s account.

We have received similar reports and have now managed to identify the 
issue. Based from our investigation, this problem is caused by the old 
PayPal verification process that members are getting when creating a 
seller's account. 

To resolve this, you will have to select Direct Debit or credit card as 
your automatic payment method instead of PayPal for eBay fees. 

I fully understand your frustration and I apologise for any distress or 
inconvenience that this matter may have caused you. If you need any more
information please get in touch.

Kind regards,

Maurice Trent
eBay Customer Support