Ebay Cracking Down Harder On Off-Ebay Sales?

[Super8er]

Hello All,

Is ebay cracking down (further) on off-ebay sales?

I understand ebay wants their cut of a sale; they offer a service and want compensation for it... so I get it, they want to make sure ebay transactions stay on ebay.

That said, over the last 14-ish years I've been on ebay I have participated in 4-5 off-ebay sales, all situations were exactly the same - I make an offer on an item, it is auto-declined, so I message the seller asking what they are looking for on said item. They get back to me offering to go straight through Paypal with a goods invoice.

So this happened to me today on a video game I wanted to buy from a European seller. We do the usual coded messages back and forth and I try to send him my PayPal email in my usual coded fashion.

I can't even send the email this time and get a message along the lines of "it appears you are trying top send personal information, etc, etc... conducting/finishing transactions outside of ebay can result in removal of ebay privileges." Not the exact line, but you get the gist of it.

I try one last time, sending my PayPal email as such -

"email name 2017 (at) hot mail"

- with instructions to "put it all together." Ebay still flags it. 5 Different attempts and I give up. Then the seller sends me HIS email through ebay messages and it comes through just fine. I email him, we take care of business, and that was that.

Anyway, I haven't conducted a transaction like that in over a year, and I remember it being a lot easier to send info, even if it was a little coded. Has anyone else had this experience? Also, why was this seller (Poland) able to send his email over (presented normally as emailname2017@hotmail.com) with no problems?

Thanks for reading.

[IronMonkey415]

They got me as well. Sent me an email with a message about one of my auction.

Some guy sent me a message asking to buy my items outside of ebay. I NEVER REPLIED BACK TO HIM and I still get the warning message.

[TMichaelSC]

One thing you can do is to write something down and take a picture (or type it and send a screenshot) as an attachment in a message. I've had to do that when sending measurements of clothing, because sometimes ebay thinks it's a phone number or something.

[Super8er]

Originally Posted by TMichaelSC

One thing you can do is to write something down and take a picture (or type it and send a screenshot) as an attachment in a message. I've had to do that when sending measurements of clothing, because sometimes ebay thinks it's a phone number or something.

That's a great idea... I didn't think about that! Like I said, I don't do it a ton, but when it happens, it seems to get harder and harder.

[altaeria]

If you get desperate, another option is to see if the seller has a different item for sale really cheap and buy it. When you pay, you will see his paypal (email) address. Then you can contact him thru that off ebay.

[timber09]

I am sure their computer detection functions are getting more and more savvy to prevent such activities and auto-flag anything that looks close. Be careful of taking photos as well as there is a disclaimer when you post a photo that this is frowned upon behavior.

I haven't heard of it coming down yet but I can see them getting harder and harder to get information through and (potentially) more penal for those whom they catch trying to skirt the rules.

You can always see if the buyer/seller are active on any forums, twitter, etc and find a way to connect completely outside of ebay.

[the mesiah]

I just send a screenshot of my email and that's that from my phone ,

[dacaptain37]

they are definitely cracking down harder...i got the death threat message from them a while back...got one like 3-4 years ago as well. Not going to tempt fate this time around....

[ssbledsoe]

Can you blame them

[dthimesch]

Originally Posted by dacaptain37

they are definitely cracking down harder...i got the death threat message from them a while back...got one like 3-4 years ago as well. Not going to tempt fate this time around....

Same here. After a few warnings I got a message saying they will shut my account down if found to be doing it anymore. Needless to say I'm pretty much done with off Ebay sales.

There are work around la I've done but I make to to always end the conversation on Ebay with something like " I can't go off of Ebay for a sale" type of message to make it look like I'm ending it should Ebay ever look

[preakness]

They should

[altaeria]

Originally Posted by preakness

They should

On the surface, it seems like it makes sense
... but it may be very short-sighted.

For the sake of getting fees from one sale,
they may ultimately lose many future fees
if they ban a high-volume buyer and/or seller.

[Siberian13]

ebay can suck it. I'll do off ebay sales if I like

[quackhead]

I respond in pig latin and it seems to work fine

[bethanyb1201]

I found a way around it. For my number i use (2 cats 3 trees 3 lamps four fish 3 deer ect... goes through every time. I do the same with email and send a seperate message telling them to use the 1st numbers or letters before the animals

[Cactuspies]

so much fail in here

[corndog]

Originally Posted by altaeria

On the surface, it seems like it makes sense
... but it may be very short-sighted.

For the sake of getting fees from one sale,
they may ultimately lose many future fees
if they ban a high-volume buyer and/or seller.

If a store implements excellent security measures, they may lose sales to potential shoplifters.

[chezball]

Originally Posted by Cactuspies

so much fail in here

This post sums it up.

[mindbinge]

I've seen a lot of people starting to post contact email in pics in the auctions...like they will put a pic of an item and have a card or paper laying in front of it that says "property of "email addy" or some have a phone number for "customer service" listed...I assume they will crack down on this at some point but seems to be happening more...eBay is greedy...I've been using it since like 1995 or so when it first started and it was great in the beginning...keeps going downhill now though.

[TMichaelSC]

I get that people want to rip on ebay and say they're greedy. Bottom line, as a seller, they're helping me reach millions of potential customers that I would never reach otherwise, at least not for anything close to what I'm paying. To pay $20/month for my store (which covers all my listings, I'm small-time) and then 9% on what sells, is nothing. I'd much rather that than try to make it in brick and mortar or open my own website and either sell nothing from no traffic or spend that much in hosting and then a ton of money for ads/search result placement. To pay them that little (yes, it's really a little comparatively when you think about it), is quite a steal. Now, there are lots of things I'd like to see change regarding seller protection, negative feedback for buyers, etc. But that's one of the reasons they don't make those changes. Then they lose their buyers, and in turn lose money from selling fees. Less buyers obviously means less sellers, which then results in increased fees for who's left to make up the difference. All in all, I'll take it!

[calculusdork]

Get this ....

I had an item listed a couple weeks ago, and a guy kept messaging me asking what I would take for it "PayPal direct". I never responded to this, not even once.

I decided to grade the item instead, so I ended the listing. I immediately got an email from eBay basically saying "we're watching you".

[Boo]

Originally Posted by mindbinge

I've seen a lot of people starting to post contact email in pics in the auctions...like they will put a pic of an item and have a card or paper laying in front of it that says "property of "email addy" or some have a phone number for "customer service" listed...I assume they will crack down on this at some point but seems to be happening more...eBay is greedy...I've been using it since like 1995 or so when it first started and it was great in the beginning...keeps going downhill now though.

The people using a service and then skirting the rules so they don't have to pay for the service aren't greedy? Last I checked this is America, where you don't have to put things FS on ebay

[Siberian13]

Originally Posted by Boo

The people using a service and then skirting the rules so they don't have to pay for the service aren't greedy? Last I checked this is America, where you don't have to put things FS on ebay

Yes they are greedy too. This is America, being greedy is what makes America so great

[88horsepower]

Originally Posted by Boo

The people using a service and then skirting the rules so they don't have to pay for the service aren't greedy? Last I checked this is America, where you don't have to put things FS on ebay

I agree that eBay has some pretty awful policies in place and seems to ignore some issues that are really troubling to many of us here in the community.

However, if we're strictly talking about sales fees, it's somewhat comical to me that people are so bothered by eBay charging for a service that provides people with the biggest possible net to sell items across the planet. Perhaps those same people should just have a garage sale and sit in their driveway in the elements and pray someone with an interest in that item they are peddling will stop by and pay so they don't have to provide fees to eBay. Or perhaps they should open a store somewhere where they have to pay a huge overhead instead of complaining about eBay and all of their horrible fees.

People who complain about eBay fees resonate with me about as much as people complaining about how crappy Panini is but still buying their products to try and make a buck. Nobody is putting a gun to anyone's head. Make money some other way if you hate Panini being so crooked. Stop supporting them.

Between all of the hate-spewing towards eBay and Panini lately on the forum, it's tiresome considering a lot of those same people continue to use eBay and buy Panini products.

[wethenorth]

seller is using hotmail? or other provider?