Ebay Warnings - Offer to sell off ebay

elver_man

I might be a bit thick or a bit slow, but if you have a used item (childs cot) priced around £100 and the buyer wishes to view before purchase how can you arrange a viewing?


As I have done in the past with no problems, I gave buyer my contact details and put in the message that the item could be viewed.


Ebay say that only a winning bidder can view the item, no contact details to be exchanged before the winning bid. I should include more pictures (max pics added to listing) and bigger description. Are they for real????


Item didn't sell and then a week after listing ended the warning arrives. Apparently I need to be educated.


Sorry rant over.

Tealblue

...and of course people are going to be happy buying things like cars on the basis of a few photos...!! Unbelievable.

soolin

This is a question that has come up several times now on various boards, no one has yet found a consistent way of getting round the ebay block. In the past you could carefully space an email address or a phone number, but now even perfectly harmless things trigger the warning and a refusal of ebay to send the message. There are even reports of addresses not being allowed to be sent after the auction ends- which is madness.

Due to ebay glitches sometimes a message will get through, but since the new rules have tightened the message section it is near impossible. I couldn't even confirm to a potential buyer the other day that I could ship to his address (I was using a courier and he asked about the Shetland Isles), I got the buyers message OK but couldn't respond in any meaningful way and ended up sending a rubbish response that looked like a coded spy message using words like destination instead of address.

I along with a lot of other sellers already have a warning for selling outside of ebay (someone asked me if I could end early and allow immediate collection) so I can't risk anything silly as a second warning will see me suspended. However, on my business account I clearly show my email address so my plea to buyers is if trying to contact a business- PLEASE use common sense and send a private email- we sellers can be much more accommodating that way and can actually respond to questions.

Browntoa

I've had a warning because I collected and paid cash , was only £10 , and the seller stupidly cancelled the auction rather than marked as paid. I assume that automatically kicks off a review as we had messaged

TKPeters

We got a 7 day restriction for providing our phone number, which we're required to provide by Law
& the buyer got a warning for requesting it & all he wanted was a bit of advice before purchasing the item on eBay.

This could be the end of eBay, if you cannot communicate prior to a purchase.

charlies_mum

I know two people who have had a 7 day suspension for selling outside eBay

I think eBay picks up on the message and then if you end the item, eBay assumes you have sold it privately. Someone said that if they do sell something "off eBay" they simply raise the price of the item to something silly and then just let it time out. That way eBay dont get the final trigger.

However, after re-reading some of the replies, simply communicating may trigger a suspension. This is madness, eBay are getting so paranoid about losing out on a sale !! Maybe their revenue is dropping ?

Rosemary7391

Well, I guess I'll not be buying anything expensive on eBay then. Only expensive thing I'd be likely to buy is a decent musical instrument, and without going to see and play it beforehand I can't possibly tell if I'd want to buy it, let alone how much for (remedial work can easily run into the hundreds and be totally invisible on the best, most thorough of pictures).

What alternatives to ebay are there? Any that actually get used?

soolin

charlies_mum wrote: »

I know two people who have had a 7 day suspension for selling outside eBay

I think eBay picks up on the message and then if you end the item, eBay assumes you have sold it privately. Someone said that if they do sell something "off eBay" they simply raise the price of the item to something silly and then just let it time out. That way eBay dont get the final trigger.

However, after re-reading some of the replies, simply communicating may trigger a suspension. This is madness, eBay are getting so paranoid about losing out on a sale !! Maybe their revenue is dropping ?

I'm reading quite a few forums where people discuss ebay and there seems to be a real issue at the moment with these 7 day suspensions/restrictions . Some are utter madness though, one seller sold something and buyer sent a message through the ebay system asking whether seller had any more in the set. Seller, mindful of the warnings, sent back a 'sorry everything I currently have is listed already on ebay but if I do get any more I will be listing them here on ebay so please follow me as a seller'. Seller got a warning for that- although they did phone and complain until ebay said they would remove the warning but not to do it again- but how can a seller stop a buyer asking questions?

Rosemary7391 wrote: »

Well, I guess I'll not be buying anything expensive on eBay then. Only expensive thing I'd be likely to buy is a decent musical instrument, and without going to see and play it beforehand I can't possibly tell if I'd want to buy it, let alone how much for (remedial work can easily run into the hundreds and be totally invisible on the best, most thorough of pictures).

What alternatives to ebay are there? Any that actually get used?

For a specialist item like a musical instrument perhaps a shop that sells on behalf of other people might help. There are certainly no other general sites like ebay where you can just browse.

usefulmale

Can't contact details be sent via an image?

soolin

usefulmale wrote: »

Can't contact details be sent via an image?

Depends how valuable you consider your account really.

lovinituk

I often send a Paypal invoice (already have the customers email address from previous orders) or tell people to go to our website, all communicated through eBay messages. Had one today who asked for a deal so I sent them an invoice and said in the eBay message "have sent you a Paypal invoice".

Maybe I've just got lucky so far but I've not been warned yet.

Our phone number and email address are also visible on our listing templates.