To make sure you never miss out on your favourite NEW stories, we're happy to send you some reminders

Click 'OK' then 'Allow' to enable notifications

Mum Begs eBay For Refund After 7-Year-Old Son Spends $10,000 Without Permission

Mum Begs eBay For Refund After 7-Year-Old Son Spends $10,000 Without Permission

An Australian mum found she was $10,000 out of pocket when her son managed to buy a rare collectable on eBay without her permission

Deborah Cicurel

Deborah Cicurel

A mum was left in shock after her seven-year-old son bought a rare Coles Stikeez banana toy for $10,000 (£5,403) on eBay without her permission.

Donna Jacob, 47, from New South Wales, Australia, only realised her son had made the pricey purchase, one of only 100 golden Billy Bananas released in Australia, when she got a confirmation email from the online shopping site.

eBay

She had told him that he wasn't allowed one of the gold toys, but he managed to make the eye-watering purchase on eBay without her permission or help.

Her son, who has autism, was able to buy the rare collectable online with just three clicks, and because her credit card details were saved on the computer, the payment went through straight away.

Donna told 7 News: "I think it's just ludicrous this could happen. It's certainly nothing we've budgeted for and nothing we can afford."

After the mum realised what had happened, she contacted the seller, PayPal and her bank, but no one intervened to stop the payment going through.

Pexels

Luckily, thanks to the help of an Australian news outlet, eBay finally agreed to refund Donna.

But the mum is still calling for stronger protections for vulnerable buyers.

"Between PayPal and the bank, there should be at least one stopper that says 'hang on, this isn't right', and no-one did," Donna added. "I just don't go out and spend $10,000 in one transaction, so they definitely need protocols in place to stop this happening."

Coles Supermarkets

The toys are seriously in demand: recently, someone spent over $20,000 (£10,806) for one of the rare gold bananas.

Shoppers at Coles supermarket in Australia receive one of the Stikeez when they spent $30 (£16) or more.


There were only 100 Golden Billy Bananas made, resulting in fans forking out huge amounts to add one to their collection.

Featured Image Credit: eBay

Topics: Real