How did my opponent just get +36 points for beating me?

Okay, so I was playing someone who was 508 rated and I was 501 rated in rapid chess.

I was told I would be +8 points for winning & -8 points for losing. Fair play. It came down to us both being on the last second, they won. They got 36 points. I thought I understood the scoring system here but clearly I don't. How come they were awarded so many points?

The site uses the Glicko rating system that includes a measure of rating uncertainty called the rating deviation (RD) value. Your opponent had a higher RD value so had a larger rating changes. As they play kor that will go down as will the magnitude of rating changes.

https://support.chess.com/article/210-how-do-ratings-work-on-chess-com

You had at least 9 chances (moves) to take his last pawn , and you didn't take them, which would have drawn the game.

No one asked that question. Blocked.

thanks for asking this, it also happened to me

They were new