The checkout systems from some third-party vendors on eBay are providing a bad buyer experience according to shoppers. Complaints include:

• receiving error messages;
• being charged for shipping on listings that offered free-shipping;
• being "stranded" on the vendor's site with no clear link back to eBay;
• seeing links to seller's off-eBay website.

Buyers say they have no way of knowing if an item requires third-party checkout before purchasing. One shopper said when she wished to pay directly with PayPal, she was not allowed to bypass third-party checkout offered by the seller.

On Saturday, a shopper who purchased an item from eBay's "Daily Deals" said she was charged for shipping, despite the fact that all Daily Deals - including the item she purchased - offered free shipping. She said 1,300 people had purchased the same item featured in the Daily Deal, and wondered if all of them had been overcharged.

eBay announced in 2008 it would do away with third-party checkout, but in 2009, it made the decision to allow certain approved providers to continue to offer third-party checkout, but required them to update the user interface to be consistent with eBay's own checkout.

According to reports from buyers, some third-party checkouts are more user-friendly than others.

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