How do I send an eBay user a link to my item?

ianonline

A while back, I seem to recall receiving an eBay system-generated email (yes it was definitely genuine) saying "You are receiving this email because the sender thought you would be
interested in this eBay item" with a link to their item. The message also gave details of how to report it if it was regarded as spam (I didn't mind receiving the email as it was of interest to me, but obviously it does open the doors to potential spammers).

Obviously, I don't condone spam of any kind but it did leave me curious as to how you go about sending such a link to your item via eBay. Having looked through the eBay help section, I cannot find any info on this.

Does anyone know anything about this feature :question:

soolin

ianonline wrote:

A while back, I seem to recall receiving an eBay system-generated email (yes it was definitely genuine) saying "You are receiving this email because the sender thought you would be
interested in this eBay item" with a link to their item. The message also gave details of how to report it if it was regarded as spam (I didn't mind receiving the email as it was of interest to me, but obviously it does open the doors to potential spammers).

Obviously, I don't condone spam of any kind but it did leave me curious as to how you go about sending such a link to your item via eBay. Having looked through the eBay help section, I cannot find any info on this.

Does anyone know anything about this feature :question:

Since ebay have a strict policy for not contacting other users unless you are already involved in a transaction with them I wonder if the mail you got was actually a very clever piece of spam from a seller?

If you check.

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/spam_policy.html

The guidelimes pertaining to spam are clearly outlined as follows:

"Spam" is unsolicited, commercial email. Unsolicited means that the email is sent without the recipient's permission. Commercial means that the email is related to selling a product, service, or opportunity.

For example, if a member sends an email to you, describing a product or item they are selling (whether it is on eBay or not), it is considered commercial email. If this is sent without permission, it is unsolicited and therefore considered spam.

Examples of what are not allowed:

An email to active bidders in an open auction and offer them the same or similar items.
Adding email addresses to your mailing list without first obtaining permission from the users (this includes past bidders and sellers). "

However, ebay do contradict themselves a little further on that page by stating:

"Examples of what is allowed:

Sending a message to someone asking if he/she is interested in a particular collectable without indicating that you sell the collectable. Also, this type of email must only be sent to users you've dealt with before or to members you reasonably believe would want to receive such information.
Sending email to members asking for permission to be placed on a mailing list. If you do not receive a confirmation, you cannot send that user unsolicited email. "

Soo

Binxy

You don't have an item on the "want it now" board by any chance? It sounds like one of those emails.

helen21_2

Hi

I bid on a top, and got outbid. later on that evening i got an e-mail off someone else, through e-bay system, saying that they noticed i didn't win that top and they had one similar on e-bay with item number? And i havn't posted on the wanted board. These people must just trail through auctions and e-mail you :eek:

Helen21

soolin

helen21 wrote:

Hi

I bid on a top, and got outbid. later on that evening i got an e-mail off someone else, through e-bay system, saying that they noticed i didn't win that top and they had one similar on e-bay with item number? And i havn't posted on the wanted board. These people must just trail through auctions and e-mail you :eek:

Helen21

People contacting you to offer their own goods or link to their own auctions via 'ask user a question' is not allowed on ebay, always turn the emails in for investigation. At the top of each of those emails there is a 'report' button, it is very simple and goes straight through to ebay complaints.

On one of my lesser ids I bid on a certain range of items. I get so many emails offering me deals outside of ebay, links to their own auctions and even pirate copies of DVDs. I turn them all in. I assume all they get is a mild warning although a couple last month were NARUd but I don't believe that could have been just for spamming other users.

However, the original poster mentioned that the emails he saw had carried some sort of official notice from ebay about how they were allowed which doesn't sound like 'ask user a question' emails. I think therefore that Binxy might be right about the 'want' boards.

Soo

RACHIE77

Did you add this seller to your favourites?? Just asking cos then you get an email of their stuff??

btw you have PM re: your avatar...

BoltonMinx

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/newtoebay/stopping_spam.html

Spam: General Guidelines
Spam is unsolicited, commercial email. Unsolicited means the email is sent without the recipient's permission. Commercial means the email is related to selling a product, service, or opportunity.

For example, if a user sends you an email describing a product or item they're selling (whether or not it's on eBay), it's considered commercial email. If it's sent without permission, it's unsolicited and considered spam.

Examples of what's not allowed:

• An email sent to active bidders in an open auction offering the same or similar items.
• Adding email addresses to your mailing list without first obtaining permission from the users (this includes past bidders and sellers).

Examples of what is allowed:

• Sending email to a user asking if they're interested in a particular category without indicating that you sell the collectable. But you may only send such email to users you've dealt with before or users you reasonably believe would want to receive such information.
• Sending email to users requesting their permission to be placed on a mailing list. But if you don't receive a confirmation, you may not send unsolicited email.

Seems you can contact other members under certain circumstances...

ianonline

No, I had not posted on the "want it now" board and the seller was not in my favourites.

As I remember it, they initially approached me in relation to one of my listings and said that they were about to list an item which might be of interest to me. I said that I was interested, and they sent me a link to their item when they eventually did list it, which was fair enough as they had effectively asked for my permission to add me to their mailing list, I agreed, and then they followed up by emailing me a link to their item, which appears to be within eBay rules. This is obviously a grey area and as Soo correctly points out, the eBay guidelines are somewhat contradictory. Clearly, some might regard the initial approach as spam, but it does appear that eBay permits unsolicited mail to be sent to other members asking for their permission to be added to a mailing list, and as i stated in my original post, the email I received was a system-generated response from eBay.

By the way, thanks to Rachie77 for tipping me the wink about flashing avatars. Having done a forum search, I managed to find the relevant posts which referred to the problem - but what's the point in having important messages tucked away where not all members will see them? Surely this should be in the board rules, or even in the section where you actually change your avatar so that there's no excuse for not knowing - I suggest in the "notes" section below where it states "The maximum size of your custom image is 80 by 80 pixels or 19.5 KB" - surely this wouldn't be a major task for the webmaster !