Who can access your contact details on ebay?

RFW

harveybobbles wrote: »

A buyer only gets to see your postcode, not full address. Unless you are a business seller, in which your full address is displayed.

I'm fairly sure that someone who wins an auction would be able to get the full postal address, if they were sending a postal order or cheque they would need it.

whenIretire

Crowqueen wrote: »

But just thought it was worth mentioning on the listings that I would be away after they ended.

In that case if you are not going to a wilderness area I would make sure to check your emails while away, just once or twice should do it.

Good luck . I guess in a way it's better to be safe than sorry. This question came up on the Seller Central board regarding a business seller with visible details and James the Pink (the moderator) got back to her after consulting the legal advisors saying they couldn't hide those while she was away, so the best thing to do was completely hide her listings until she got back using holiday settings (but you only get those if you have a shop). Unless you put your contact details directly on the listing when you don't need to, I suspect a thief might just go for 'low-hanging fruit' rather than mess about trying to get hold of details which they are not legally entitled to.

There are good reasons not to broadcast details or indeed things on the internet which are unsavoury (I know a couple of good Jimmy Savile jokes which I am having to fight hard not to publish online because they are that good but not something I'd want even some the people who know me on Facebook to hear). Stick to giving what you are legally required to give out and don't get overly panicky about burglars. Security systems, locking up, not leaving open windows etc. are much more important than something someone really has to waste time digging deep to find.

It's moving a bit off topic from the OP who is a private seller but as a business seller with a shop I enquired with ebay about the holiday settings. When set to holiday settings 'on' your listings aren't visible to anyone searching for your items but if they already had them in their watched view then they could still access them and see your business address and (I think, as it was the basis of my enquiry) still purchase the item. Obviously this is of concern to me for two reasons - my business address is my home address, and it seems pointless having holiday settings where someone can still purchase something and then neg you because you don't respond for 2 weeks while you are away. So if I'm away for anything more than a few days now I tend to end all my listings to stop any purchases.

Crowqueen

my business address is my home address, and it seems pointless having holiday settings where someone can still purchase something and then neg you because you don't respond for 2 weeks while you are away. So if I'm away for anything more than a few days now I tend to end all my listings to stop any purchases.

A good netbook will cost you less than £200, be a tax-deductible expense and allow you to check your messages while away on holiday.

I would have thought that the risk of either scenario is quite slim compared to the cost of ending items and relisting, unless you mostly run auctions and can time them around departure and return dates.

whenIretire

Yes, I usually have internet access while I'm away so can respond to emails but all my stuff is buy it now and so there is the slim chance that someone watching the items may buy one of them while I'm away, and obviously I can't then post out.

You're right, it is a remote chance of it happening but with the way that feedback and DSRs are calculated now it doesn't take much for an impact on a small scale business seller.

As it is, it doesn't really cause me much bother. I'm no jet setter and only go away once or twice a year anyway:). I just thought it might be helpful to others to know that holiday settings aren't necessarily as they first appear and don't stop everyone seeing or buying. The holiday settings along with cheaper listings were one of the reasons I opened a shop and I was a little disappointed with the finer workings of the holiday settings.

Crowqueen

I agree there is certainly an issue. I know that feedback/DSRs make a difference but I think most of the issues around a neg for that sort of reason could be revised later on. As long as it is not costing you much then I suppose it may be a sensible decision. I don't think I would lose sleep over it though.

I do like the Amazon system of ticking a box to make listings active/inactive. It's much simpler but unfortunately I might have done myself out of a sale a week or two ago when I had to go away to my boyfriend's for part of the week and had an item pending for a few days. When I made my listings inactive I lost the sale, but I sold it anyway when I got back.