eBay told him to hand over his $23,750 truck and assured him he’d be paid. Then it withheld $11,000 — until an investigation forced it to back down
Keith Mackenzie-Betty did the right thing by calling the news
Online marketplaces have made buying and selling easier, but it also comes with certain risks. Keith Mackenzie-Betty, a man from Cape Cod, Massachusetts, had listed his 2014 Toyota Tundra for sale on eBay and sold it for $23,750. However, eBay transferred only half the amount, i.e., $11,625. Although the company told him he could "let go" of the truck, he refused to part with it without full payment. He later asked eBay if he could hand over the truck personally and was told the remaining payment had been sent. But after the truck was gone, he received an "apology email" instead. So, he decided to do an investigation and reached out to WBZ News Boston. The September 1, 2026 video has garnered 124,464 views since.
Half the payment
Mackenzie-Betty trusted eBay. "I've used it for cars, for boats, and for parts," he told the news outlet. But when they told him to send them his car after receiving just half of the payment, his brain went, "Who parts with something when they've not been paid in full?" He communicated the same to the selling platform. They assured him the buyer had paid the remaining sum.
Mackenzie-Betty asked eBay, "He's in Massachusetts; I'm in Massachusetts. Can I just hand the title over to him? Will I still get paid and not go through your system?" They gave him the green light in an email he shared with the outlet. As per the email, they needed "explicit, verified delivery confirmation before we can initiate any financial releases," which meant they needed his photo and the title with the buyer to be paid the remaining amount. Mackenzie-Betty did everything they asked.
My mistake, your loss
A few days after Mackenzie-Betty had given the title and car to the buyer, he received another email from eBay. It read, "I do apologize for the misinformation you received as to where to send the title. I have reached out to your buyer for them to forward to us... Once we receive the title, we will release the funds." That was when he involved the news channel. Once WBZ News Boston reached out to eBay, they received this statement: "Upon further review, we can confirm our customer service team has worked directly with the individual to resolve the matter and has issued a full payout." Thankfully, Mackenzie-Betty was saved from an $11,000 loss after the news channel's intervention.
Scam epidemic
With thousands of online marketplaces, scammers are running rampant, trying to prey on buyers. Scam Adviser conducted an international survey on 2,575 consumers and found that most people lost their money to investment scams (40.2%), followed by shopping scams (15.1%). Out of those who were scammed, the majority (66.1%) never got their money back. 19.4% were the lucky few who got all of it back, while 14.4% retrieved only some of it. Keith Mackenzie-Betty was one of the lucky ones. He managed to get back the full amount he agreed to sell his truck for.
'They just happened to pay him on the same day the TV station called'
People in the comments called out eBay and other huge corporations for trying to scam people. @Ancient-Outlaw wrote, "I have sold on eBay since the day it started. I stopped selling 5 years ago when scammers were getting away with my product, and I could never get a hold of a human like there used to be back in the 90s and early 2000s." @pc4189 pointed out, "Gee, what a coincidence. They just happened to pay him on the same day the TV station called them. The only reason they gave in, other than the public shaming, is you can bet this is not the first time they have done this."
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