crome.org

I wanted to do what millions of people do every day: sell something on eBay. So I tried. Their new security mechanism requires that you ‘validate’ your computer.

Their security system asked me, “what’s the username of another eBay member in your household”.

The only problem is… I don’t have another ebay member in my household. Or at least I don’t know of one.

Here’s the second chat I had with a support representative.

It’s long I know. But read all the way. It’s amazing. Well, if not amazing, maddening at least.

13:54:57 System System: Thank you for contacting eBay Account Security Live Help! Your feedback is important to us. Please take time at the end of this chat to fill out a brief survey letting us know how we did today.
13:54:57 System System Paulene E. has joined this session!
13:54:57 System System Connected with Paulene E.
13:55:12 Agent Paulene E.: Hello and thank you for contacting Account Security Live Help, my name is Paulene . How may I help you?
13:55:30 Customer ccrome: Hi, I *just* went throught this with Christina O.
13:55:38 Customer ccrome: and she had verified my account.
13:55:55 Customer ccrome: for some reason, it’s asking me again to verify this computer.
13:56:19 Customer ccrome: And it’s asking for the ebay account for another person at this address, and there are none.
13:56:47 Agent Paulene E.: Oh Thank you. Let me just pull up your account to verify. One moment please?
13:57:23 Customer ccrome: thanks.
13:59:47 Agent Paulene E.: Thank you for waiting. I have pulled up your account and I have checked the information you have provided. As you have explained, there’s no other member on this account, aside from you.
14:00:29 Customer ccrome: the question ebay is asking is: “Please answer security question below to receive your PIN. What is the user ID of another eBay member in your household?”
14:00:44 Customer ccrome: but I don’t have another ebayer in my household.
14:01:32 Agent Paulene E.: Oh I see. If there is none, then just answer the question.
14:08:22 Agent Paulene E.: Hello Caleb, are you still with me?
14:12:23 Agent Paulene E.: I’m sorry, I’ll need to end this chat in one minute if no response is received.
14:14:40 Customer ccrome: I’m here, you still there?
14:14:54 Agent Paulene E.: Yes.
14:14:55 Customer ccrome: answer what question?
14:15:25 Customer ccrome: the question is “What is the user ID of another eBay member in your household?”
14:15:28 Agent Paulene E.: The security questions they are asking so you could access your account.
14:15:30 Customer ccrome: How do i answer that?
14:15:46 Customer ccrome: *I don’t have another ebay member in my household*
14:15:58 Agent Paulene E.: If you have none, then just answer, ” none “.
14:16:11 Customer ccrome: ah, okay.
14:16:17 Customer ccrome: how am I supposed to know that?
14:16:50 Customer ccrome: It does not work.
14:16:57 Customer ccrome: I entered none.
14:17:03 Customer ccrome: no quotes, no spaces.
14:17:12 Customer ccrome: am I supposed to enter quotes or spaces?
14:17:23 Agent Paulene E.: Just try to finish the process.
14:17:37 Customer ccrome: I am trying to finish the process. it does not work.
14:17:48 Customer ccrome: it keeps going back to the same page asking:
14:17:57 Customer ccrome: Please provide the correct information in the highlighted fields. * Answer to your security question – Please enter a valid user ID.
14:18:14 Customer ccrome: This is in response to the question: What is the user ID of another eBay member in your household?
14:18:30 Customer ccrome: Like I’ve said, I don’t have another ebay member in my household.
14:18:55 Customer ccrome: the computer thinks I do. but I don’t.
14:19:03 Agent Paulene E.: Ok. Let me check on that. May I put you on hold for 2 to 4 minutes?
14:19:22 Customer ccrome: do what you need to do.
14:19:41 Customer ccrome: I’ve already gone through this verification on this computer with Christina O. Why do I have to do it again?
14:20:13 Agent Paulene E.: I do apologize for the inconvenience.
14:20:33 Agent Paulene E.: Let me just review your previous chat.
14:23:03 Agent Paulene E.: Thank you for waiting. may I have your user ID, for verification, please?
14:23:21 Customer ccrome: user id is ‘ccrome’
14:24:48 Agent Paulene E.: Thank you. And when you entered the username and password given to you by the previous agent, what error message do you see?
14:25:31 Customer ccrome: I already typed that in above.
14:25:53 Agent Paulene E.: So what happened?
14:26:09 Customer ccrome: It keeps giving me the same message:
14:26:28 Agent Paulene E.: In regard to the user ID?
14:26:52 Customer ccrome: The question is: “please enter another user at your household”
14:26:58 Customer ccrome: I Don’t Have One!
14:27:15 Agent Paulene E.: Oh sorry. Now it is clear to me.
14:27:27 Customer ccrome: Since I enter either nothing or as you suggested ‘none’ it does NOT accept the answer.
14:27:43 Customer ccrome: Now, I have this:
14:27:53 Agent Paulene E.: Have you tried clearing your cache and cookies? Do you happen to know how?
14:27:58 Customer ccrome: You have exceeded the allowable number of identity verification attempts.
14:28:12 Customer ccrome: no, i didn’t clear my cache.
14:28:16 Customer ccrome: I do know how
14:28:22 Customer ccrome: am I supposed to do that?
14:28:32 Customer ccrome: how am I supposed to know I’m supposed to do that?
14:28:47 Customer ccrome: now, it tells me to ‘click to chat with an agent’.
14:28:51 Customer ccrome: which is what I’m doing now.
14:28:59 Customer ccrome: (for the second time today)
14:29:08 Agent Paulene E.: It is just a way to check if that is the problem why you can’t log in.
14:29:38 Agent Paulene E.: It could be a browser issue.
14:29:49 Customer ccrome: I’ll try a different browser.
14:30:04 Agent Paulene E.: Oh that would be great!
14:30:43 Agent Paulene E.: I’ll wait until you’re ok with your account.
14:31:02 Customer ccrome: aaarrrrgggghhhh. Same thing
14:31:28 Customer ccrome: Please answer security question below to receive your PIN. What is the user ID of another eBay member in your household?
14:31:37 Agent Paulene E.: Oh sorry about that. Let us try another option.
14:31:42 Customer ccrome: I don’t have another eBay member in myhousehold!!!!!!
14:32:03 Customer ccrome: I already did that other option with Christina O!
14:32:13 Agent Paulene E.: Do you have access to your personal email that we have on file?
14:32:15 Customer ccrome: this is maddening.
14:32:18 Customer ccrome: yes
14:32:48 Agent Paulene E.: No need to undergo the process Caleb. This another option.
14:33:54 Agent Paulene E.: What I will do is, send you a temporary password. You have to check your mail. One moment please? For clarification, what is your email address please?
14:34:23 Customer ccrome: password? why do i need a password? I can log into my account already.
14:34:29 Customer ccrome: I just can’t sell.
14:34:35 Customer ccrome: my email is
14:34:37 Customer ccrome: cxxx@crome.org
14:36:00 Agent Paulene E.: Thank you. Let me check why there is a restriction on your account, why you cannot sell.
14:38:05 Agent Paulene E.: Would you please try to log in to www.ebay.ca.
14:38:35 Customer ccrome: ebay.ca? okay, i’ll give it a go.
14:38:54 Agent Paulene E.: Thank you.
14:39:45 Customer ccrome: okay, I’m logged in to ebay.ca, and EXACTLY the same thing as ebay.com
14:39:54 Customer ccrome: Please answer security question below to receive your PIN. What is the user ID of another eBay member in your household?
14:40:07 Customer ccrome: Again. I DONT HAVE ANOTHER MEMBER IN MY HOUSEHOLD
14:40:41 Agent Paulene E.: I’m so sorry for all the inconvenience this is causing you.
14:40:51 Customer ccrome: this is different browser, different ebay country even.
14:41:35 Agent Paulene E.: Let me further check your account. May I place you again on hold for 3 to 5 minutes to investigate?
14:42:05 Customer ccrome: i guess.
14:50:20 Agent Paulene E.: Thank you for waiting, Caleb. Can you please check now if you will be able to sell this time?
14:50:36 Customer ccrome: checking…
14:50:55 Customer ccrome: ah, finally!
14:50:57 Customer ccrome: it works.
14:51:12 Customer ccrome: will I have to do this again from each other computer I use?
14:51:21 Customer ccrome: It’s been about 2 hours with you and christan combined.
14:51:22 Agent Paulene E.: yes.
14:51:31 Customer ccrome: seriously?
14:51:51 Customer ccrome: will it ask my again for ‘another ebay member in my household’
14:51:52 Customer ccrome: ?
14:51:58 Agent Paulene E.: Sorry for all the inconvenience Caleb.
14:52:11 Customer ccrome: will it ask me that question again?
14:52:35 Customer ccrome: if so….. WHY?
14:52:40 Agent Paulene E.: Let me just give you a brief explanation of what happened to your account, why there was a restriction.
14:52:50 Customer ccrome: okay
14:52:50 Agent Paulene E.: eBay places an indicator on each member’s computer containing a unique ID number. When an eBay member begins listing or bidding on an item, the member’s User ID is verified against the indicator. If not present, it will recognize that you aren’t at your regular computer and begin the confirmation process.
14:53:14 Customer ccrome: I understand how confirmation works. why is it asking me for another ebay member, when I don’t have one?
14:53:35 Agent Paulene E.: That is a part of the security question.
14:53:45 Customer ccrome: that doesn’t make sense.
14:53:52 Customer ccrome: what if there is only 1 member in a household.
14:54:00 Agent Paulene E.: Sorry. if you feel that way.
14:54:15 Customer ccrome: wait, no, it *REALLY* doesn’t make sense.
14:54:23 Customer ccrome: what was I supposed to answer?
14:54:28 Agent Paulene E.: Sorry but that is what puzzles me.
14:54:37 Customer ccrome: oh… you are puzzled too?
14:55:02 Customer ccrome: you don’t understand why it’s asking for another ebay member in my household?
14:55:05 Agent Paulene E.: You know what I did to help you?
14:55:10 Customer ccrome: no
14:55:25 Agent Paulene E.: I added all the machine on your account that I saw.
14:55:51 Customer ccrome: is this going to be this broken for the rest of my life?
14:56:13 Customer ccrome: this makes no sense. It’s impossible for me to answer that security question.
14:56:21 Agent Paulene E.: What matters now Caleb, you can now sell at eBay.
14:56:33 Customer ccrome: It’s like, “What’s the name of your first child” when you have no children.
14:56:36 Agent Paulene E.: Yes, I do understand how you feel.
14:56:51 Customer ccrome: this isn’t a feeling. something is BROKEN in my account.
14:56:53 Customer ccrome: please fix it.
14:56:56 Agent Paulene E.: If that happens to me also, I’ll get frustrated.
14:57:04 Customer ccrome: will you please fix my account?
14:57:36 Agent Paulene E.: What do you mean by fix your account?
14:57:44 Customer ccrome: so it doesn’t ask me that question any more.
14:57:57 Customer ccrome: the ‘another ebay member at your household’ question.
14:58:12 Customer ccrome: you know, and I know that it’s impossible for me to answer that question
14:58:22 Agent Paulene E.: Yes. As long as you’re using the same computer that we have on file, : )
14:58:43 Customer ccrome: OMG, you’ve got to be kidding!!!
14:58:51 Agent Paulene E.: Yes, I know. If you really don’t know the answer.
14:59:20 Customer ccrome: it’s not that I don’t know the answer. THERE IS NO ANSWER! need to go. this is crazy.
15:00:10 Agent Paulene E.: Sorry. But it is our way to secure your account.
15:00:11 Customer ccrome: my daughter’s been waiting for 45 minutes.
15:00:26 Customer ccrome: ah, make it secure by making it impossible to use.
15:00:27 Customer ccrome: clever.