eBay Policy and sharing a dropbox or other file sharing link

[theengravingshopau]

Hi,

I am working on an idea where I will be making a custom artwork for the customer. The main issue that I have seen is that once the buyer purchases the artwork, there is no way for him to share his image with me.

I have also noticed that since I have his email and I can send him an email and he can reply. I am not sure if that is a violation of eBay policy.

I however want everything to happen through eBay for tracking and also from management purpose. I don't want to do anything outside eBay.

Te artwork is also few MB's (2mb +) and My best option is to share an artwork through dropbox or google drive etc.

My question to anyone reading this is can I share the link to artwork with my buyer before or after the sale. Sometimes they want to see my work before they purchase.

Please help.

Thanks,

G

[kopenhagen5]

Your problem is not the communication sending briefs or images.

Your problem like any custom made items is once received the buyer can open a case for INAD if for some reason they are not happy.

Even if the product is as described, some buyers use the system and still open a case for INAD and eBay usually see in favour of the buyer.

There are ways to share email addresses for image sharing but unless you get deposits or insist on bank transfers, you may have buyers taking advantage of custom products which of course cannot be resold.

Dave - OP is making custom artwork on what buyer supplies.

[davewil1964]

Members can send pictures to each other as attachments to standard eBay messages. If they are too big shrink them.

I am not sure I understand why you want the buyer to be able to share the image of something they bought from you with you - surely you could take a pic before you send it (given that you have to send something unless you want to be in breach of eBay's policies).

They can look at any of your current listings to see what the quality of your non-custom work is.

[digital*ghost · Accepted solution]

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@kopenhagen5 wrote:

Your problem like any custom made items is once received the buyer can open a case for INAD if for some reason they are not happy.

Even if the product is as described, some buyers use the system and still open a case for INAD and eBay usually see in favour of the buyer.

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Technically true, but more difficult to prove when it's a custom made item. I can see the OP sells customised wooden products, but say for example they were painting portraits from photos supplied by the buyer, all the description can say is something like 'a painted portrait from images supplied", then list materials / size, so there's only a few ways something like that can realistically qualify as not as described; and with a phonecall, I think the odds are better for a seller in being able to get a rep to see it's more likely to be buyer remorse if the main, described attributes have been met (this pertains to eBay's MBG policy, there's no PayPal protection for not as described on custom made items, only for INR). 

@OP, as dave mentions, images can (sometimes) be attached to eBay messages. I say sometimes because throughout today I was getting 'server error' messages when attampting to do so, and it's not the first time that's happened, plus if someone has ticked 'no HTML' in messages via the site options, you can't send images to them at all. 

What I would be inclined to do is send a small version of the image via eBay (where possible), and share links for larger images via a different method. 

Alternatively, you could set up a portfolio on a website and share links to that (I've done this myself - I used to have the portfolio right here on eBay, via a custom store page, but I switched to the new store design and you can't have custom pages with that)   - eBay's links policy is more about linking to social media sites, and/or any other sites where the items are, or can be, offered for sale, so if you set up a portfolio-only page with a site like Weebly or Wix with no commercial options like a store etc on it, you should be fine. Same goes with links to file sharing in order to communicate with your buyer about their order.

[theengravingshopau]

Marvellous, You guys have given me great information today. I have also got the 'server error' messages when attampting to do so whole day today. I always thought it was my computer or internet issue untill i read it here in your comment.

I think for now i will just send the images screenshot in the message and if it fails then look for net best options, which will be to share it out of band but take confirmation in eBay that the customer is ok with the design.

Thanks again guys for helping me with these great suggestion.

Thanks,

G

[pennyforum14]

I have frequently used Dropbox links to send proof images to buyers, especially when the eBay picture loader is being temperamental, which lately is more often than not.  I paste the Dropbox Public Folder link in the eBay message, the sytem allows it with no issues.  The link is then on file in case there is any dispute over what the buyer approved.