eBay getting hot on dealing outside

Jack_

So, I've done a few deals in the past through eBay, but then completing the deal outside.

Recently though they seem to be really (and I mean really) clamping down on it.

A few weeks ago I got a 7 day ban - I thought fair enough, I broke the rules, I'll take the time. I've seen lots of discussions on here and facebook with people talking about getting a similar ban, often for a couple of days. The general consensus was always that they'll continue to give you similar bans when you re-offend but you'll never get permanently banned because they'd just be throwing income down the drain from whatever fees they do get from you.

Today I got permanently banned, a full suspension. I contacted support because I felt the ban was harsh, they've re-instated my account this time, but the support lady is telling me that it's become much more automated now, and if I was the get caught again then my account would be permanently banned, with no way of un-suspending it.

I'm quite surprised really, a permanent ban forever. 

Anyway, I thought I'd just give a heads up, if you want to deal outside you're going to have to get more clever at how you do so, and if you do get caught, don't get caught a second time.

People can debate how shit eBay can be all day long, but there are some things that it is indispensable for (unfortunately) and I don't want to lose my ability to buy things.

I really really hope Reverb starts to gather momentum in the UK, because eBay are seemingly trying to monopolise buying and selling, and charging you a hefty fee to do it.

underdog

I refuse to sell on there now and if I'm buying a guitar I look to see if the seller also has it listed on gumtree or reverb and do the deal there instead 

Their now clamp down means you can't arrange to try a guitar before you click buy it now, it's silly and can waste the time of seller and buyer alike.

Jack_

underdog said:

I refuse to sell on there now and if I'm buying a guitar I look to see if the seller also has it listed on gumtree or reverb and do the deal there instead 

Their now clamp down means you can't arrange to try a guitar before you click buy it now, it's silly.

One thing that struck me is, you can still arrange collection, but you can't use any contact method other than eBay messages, so if you arrange to meet somewhere, you both need to have phones with internet data and have a strong enough signal to communicate.

So if you're stuck in traffic or have an accident or something, you can't tell the person you're meeting, you have to send them a message via eBay and hope they receive it. Assuming you have signal to send the message in the first place. Great.

Your first sentence is logical, but unfortunately many buyers don't apply to same logic.

I'm trying to think of the best way going forward that stays within eBay rules, but clearly tells buyers where else they can go to buy what you're selling...

I get there are rules and everything, but eBay has been used in this way forever, and they've made shit loads of money in the meantime, so I don't see how starting to really restrict and penalise users is going to help them rather than hinder?

Why not just leave things the way they've always been and continue to make ridiculous amounts of money for very little outlay?

underdog

If I had to sell  a guitar on eBay I'd make sure I added in obvious text "item is listed elsewhere also" that may encourage people to look on gumtree or reverb for it.

mort

How did they know you'd dealt outside EBay, did you just end the listing early?

Jack_

mort said:

How did they know you'd dealt outside EBay, did you just end the listing early?

Because I used the words "text me" in an eBay message.

Stupid I know, but in the end we didn't even exchange texts, we completed the deal through eBay, which is why I contacted support to say I thought my ban was harsh.

Teyeplayer

What annoys me is that they are hitting up on this but doing bugger all to deal with the multiple accounts of bedroom sellers. I recently contacted them about a listing that was not only fraudulent (being sold as a USA tele but had a strat neck so was merely a bitsa) but also had a paper trail of appearing on three different seller accounts -I even had messages from the seller who I'd messaged calling him out on it, offering it too me 'on a deal' with a link to a different shop account where he listed it more cheaply. I placed all the evidence and facts in front of eBay and the guy is still trading; he was the one that had been a problem on reverb as discussed on another thread on here. The place is a joke sadly.

lustycourtier

If I see something I like I message, £Xxxx collected whenever suits and my number. Never had a ban 

Jack_

lustycourtier said:

If I see something I like I message, £Xxxx collected whenever suits and my number. Never had a ban 

I think they're a lot more focused on people selling rather than buying.

prowla

I've recently picked up a couple of things cash on collection and then ebay have informed me that there has been a problem with the item and I don't have to pay for it.

Epsilon

The automation aspect is an issue. I asked a seller if it was ok to pick up an item in person as they lived nearby (saying nothing about doing the deal or paying outside of ebay) and got an automated warning message about it a few days later.

DefaultM

If you still want to do it then just send whoever a message with your number in 'code'.

0 triple 7 - 777 - 7777 for example.

Its fair enough that they're banning people to be honest. They can't make you sell within eBay if you don't want to, but equally they don't have to let you use their site as free advertising. I do it myself all the time, but if they realised and banned me I wouldn't really have an excuse.

However, Ive also done many deals within eBay, and I don't think that stopping you from providing your mobile number all together is right. There have been a few times when I couldn't find the guys house and I've had to call them. What do they want me to do in that instance? Pull over in a lay by, send an eBay message and then just sit there for hours until they reply?

Bridgehouse

eBay needs to go do one.

Their paranoia about people dealing off site will ruin their business if they aren't careful. And actually I hope it does.

If they were smart, and actually had half a brain between them, then they would:

- Instigate no final fee listings, with a nominal up front listing fee, and lots of banner ads to get revenue in. You can deal off site or however you like then
- Have free listings with final fees, and no banner ads but stipulate you have to trade on site
- Have business accounts done properly with bulk listing fees, ability to decide if you want banner ads or not, and a monthly business charge but no final fees. 

Sadly however, eBay are greedy buggers and appear to be angling the revolver squarely at their foot.

Bye bye eBay. I'm not listing there ever again.

ronnyb

I've done numerous purchases 'off' ebay having seen the listing on there. Usually, I ask to view the item before bidding, obtain a contact number and take it from there. I would never bid and buy anything that was a decent amount of money, particularly a guitar without seeing it first. They're obviously trying to stop sellers and buyers contacting each other to do the deal outside. On one hand I feel they have got greedy and deserve all they get what with high final value fees and insisting on the use of paypal but if you want to sell something there isn't really anywhere that gives you as much exposure and a worldwide audience. As well since it was created we've all had hours of entertainment scrolling through the ads looking for 'that' guitar.

thecolourbox

I've had a warning call from eBay because a potential buyer emailed me their number asking me to call them. I asked whether the potential buyer had also received a warning, they said "No because we don't suspect them of dealing off-site". How does that work then?

JDE

thecolourbox said:

I've had a warning call from eBay because a potential buyer emailed me their number asking me to call them. I asked whether the potential buyer had also received a warning, they said "No because we don't suspect them of dealing off-site". How does that work then?

I think it's their algorithm - little robot (or whatever) is scanning all the messages looking for trigger words and phrases but in terms of the off-site stuff, it must only scan seller messages, not buyer messages. Personally I think if every Joe Bloggs sale went off-site, eBay wouldn't lose too much money, apart from on car sales. Most eBay sales are now carried out by businesses, I think. Person to person sales have been nicked by all the Facebook buy/sell/trade groups.

ICBM

I haven't used Ebay to sell for quite a long time now - ever since they started to tilt the playing field against sellers - and I've never found any problem with that.

JezWynd

thecolourbox said:

I've had a warning call from eBay because a potential buyer emailed me their number asking me to call them. I asked whether the potential buyer had also received a warning, they said "No because we don't suspect them of dealing off-site". How does that work then?

I've had the same. It's pretty insulting to be accused of trying to defraud them when you have done absolutely nothing to deserve it.

Neil

IMO If you don't want to abide by their rules then don't use ebay.

There are plenty of other avenues of sale available nowadays.

Of course what many want to do is use the worlds biggest online market place and not pay for the privilege. 

Jack_

Neil said:

IMO If you don't want to abide by their rules then don't use ebay.

There are plenty of other avenues of sale available nowadays.

Of course what many want to do is use the worlds biggest online market place and not pay for the privilege. 

It's kind of hard to accept being told by a company to obey their rules, when the company itself is notorious for avoiding state tax rules.

SteveRobinson

As I understand things, it's following the rules but the rules are made to such companies' advantage.