Is Ebay testing me?

[Cubby5454]

I have been selling on Ebay for many years.

I usually list items as fixed price, no best offer option.

From 1/1/16 to 7/31/16, I have actually received 127 inquiries to sell the item I have listed for less as a direct deal thru Paypal foregoing Ebay. The kicker is- the potential buyers are asking this right thru the Ebay messaging system.

Has it become that bad? Or- is Ebay testing me to see if I will do this?
Most of the people asking are fairly new- having like 10 to 20 feedbacks- but some are really established buyers with several thousand feedback ratings.

I just don't get it.

Many times, a quick search will reveal the same exact item being sold by other sellers- for very similar pricing- and they are accepting best offers. Why then would a buyer e-mail me thru Ebay asking if I will do better on pricing if we do as a direct deal thru Paypal so the Ebay fees are out of the picture. They could just make the offer to the sellers accepting best offers.

It just doesn't make sense to me.

I think I am being tested.

Have any of you experienced this of late?

Thanks.
Mike.

[Boophill]

The problem with eBay messages is that you cannot enter an email address in a message. They will be blocked. I'm assuming a phone number or mailing address would also be blocked. So, you really cannot complete a deal outside of eBay unless you can figure out their user name on another site.

[mjohnatgt]

eBay is not trying to entrap you. It is the buyers. You can just say that you don't accept off-eBay deals to each of them, or if they buy multiple items, maybe you offer them free shipping... i know some people send pictures with their email address as attachments so that you can contact them outside of eBay.