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    buyers phone numbers not private
                     

    Summary: El tema principal de la discusión gira en torno a la privacidad de los números de teléfono de los compradores. A pesar de varios participantes como barney_rubbles, repentatleisure1952, y bikeden interactuando en la conversación, no se compartieron detalles específicos ni soluciones evidentes. El debate parece continuar sin un consenso claro.

     

    so today i had a seller phone me about an issue that we already discussed in ebay msgs & nothing very important at all. (for people who like to snoop its about an item on my other account so i could use a voucher). I have been on ebay for over 20 years, mostly buying nowdays though, and i have never had a seller phone me. And as a seller i have never phoned a buyer either.

     

    It took me by surprise as i was expecting a call back from somewhere that also would probably be from a private number so i just answered it without thinking. When they said is this insertnamehere i said yes, then they said they were the seller & just calling about the packaging. I didn't really know what to say but 'i don't usually get calls from people on ebay', i was rather ude & as they continued to talk i said 'please don't call me again & hung up'.

     

    I suppose i was a bit rude lol. It may have been perfectly innocent i guess, or perhaps not since they had their number on private. I wasn't going to wait to find out. At the least it seems like an invasion of privacy. I would never ring a seller unless asking them if it was ok first & then only about something really important like maybe parcel gone missing etc.

     

    I thought the phone numbers were private but i can see now on this account i can actually access the buyers number from a drop down box that i hadn't really noticed before. What i think is odd about this is that buyer emails are disguised but phone numbers are not, surely if someone wanted to do business off ebay this would be ideal for them.

     

    Looking in settings then msging ebay about this i found there is no way to change the phone number to not be seen by sellers.

     

    So i am just wondering if any sellers ever phone buyers? Or have you had sellers phone you & what did you do?

     

    barney_rubbles
    barney_rubbles
    1551View listings
    Posted 9 months ago·Last reply 9 months ago
                                           
             
    13 comments

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       
                   
    bikeden

    bikeden

    ·9 months ago
    View listings

    Monday.  New buyer orders product.  10 minutes later, same buyer orders same product second time around with different username (?).  Message both accounts 4 times to check if they wanted 2 units.  No response in 2 days.  We cancel both orders.

     

    Wednesday, buyer orders same product again using third different username ???

     

    Ring buyer.  No answer (?).  Send text message.  Buyer eventually rings back.  Yes they want the part, luckily as it turned out, they ordered wrong one and we were able to correct their mistake.  Cancel order #3.

     

    Awaiting buyers next move to order correct part.  Yes, telephone numbers are handy especially for new eBay members who don't have a clue and, avoided a messy confusing return process and negative feedback for a problem they caused !

                                           
    bikeden

    bikeden

    ·9 months ago
    View listings

    Follow up to above story.  Buyer finally places order for correct part... with a forth different user account ! 🙄

                                           
    twyngwyn

    twyngwyn

    ·9 months ago
    View listings

    FGS! 😞🤨🤯

                                           
    barney_rubbles

    barney_rubbles

    OP9 months ago
    View listings

    Well yes this is when a phone number should be used, not for something that can easily be discussed online. In my case all he wanted to do was clarify how he packed it was ok, he had answered my question in msgs anyway so it was a bit odd, considering he had been on ebay for about 20 yrs like i have. If he was a new seller or saw i was a new buyer i could understand it. 

     

    No biggie, although i did have another call from a private number a few hrs later that i answered & could hear background noise but no one spoke, so who knows.

     

    And gee i sometimes struggle to keep up with 2 ebay accounts let alone 4 of them!

                                           
    sandypebbles

    sandypebbles

    ·9 months ago
    View listings

    Same person with four guest accounts or did they just open a new 'real' account for each purchase?

     

    IIRC there was a person many, many years back post here they thought they needed to open a new eBay account for each and every purchase

     

    No idea where they got that notion from

                                           
    lezned-toycollector

    lezned-toycollector

    ·9 months ago
    View listings

    Of course buyer's phone numbers aren't private... they're in plain sight as part of the delivery address. 

     

    In fact, every last eBay item I post has the buyer's phone number right there on the address label. 

     

    Surely no intelligent person would expect any part of the delivery address they personally provide to be private. 

                                           
    k1ooo-slr-sales

    k1ooo-slr-sales

    ·9 months ago
    View listings

    ***sigh***    

                                           
    springyzone

    springyzone

    ·9 months ago
    View listings

    Yes, I have had a seller call me once. It was many years ago, maybe 15? Not sure, but a long time back, so sellers have been able to do it for a while.

    I think the seller in my case probably regretted ringing as I doubled down and gave him an earful.

     

    He placed an unpaid item claim against me, to which i responded but then I went into feedback and gave him a negative. It was about concert tickets he sold to me (for my daughter) but when we arrived to pick up, he didn't have them for the night as advertised on ebay (a Saturday i think). He had made a mistake on the listing & they were for Sunday (she couldn't go that night)

    He did have other tickets for a worse spot for Saturday so he negotiated a price then she paid. 

    She was pretty disappointed but I said to her-everyone can make a mistake, let it go.

     

    But not having the correct tickets plus opening an unpaid claim for tickets he never had was one mistake too far, very sloppy business practices.

     

    I'd only ring (if I were a seller) if it is quite important. These days a lot of people won't answer a phone unless they recognise a number, so there's that too.

                                           
    clickbaitoz

    clickbaitoz

    ·9 months ago
    View listings

    oops silly me

                                           
    k1ooo-slr-sales

    k1ooo-slr-sales

    ·9 months ago
    View listings

    if you think this is a real problem, then for just $15/yr you can get an Aldi mobile acct. to use for those times you dont want to use your main number.  We have a few old mobiles, so we use one of them for this 'burner'.

     

    We use ours when we dont want to give our main mobile numbers, like ordering online goods or buying raffle tickets for example.

     

    If we dont make any calls, send any texts, or access the internet, the balance stays at $15.  After the last 3 years of $15 recharge each year, my balance is around $44 (I sent some SMS messages).

     

    Screenshot_20251106_211004.jpg

     

    Having a number we can give out freely is a good thing for us.

     

                                           
    davewil1964

    davewil1964

    ·9 months ago
    View listings

    I phone buyers when they select pickup and don't respond to messages.

     

    Nothing on the internet is truly private, as you should be aware.

                                           
    twyngwyn

    twyngwyn

    ·9 months ago
    View listings

    I have in the past, rung a buyer in Vic, after her tracked item was doing a ‘spin’ through W.A. (I’m in S.A.)….. but it was a ‘regular’, so no problems.

    Sometimes a human response is appreciated, sometimes not……just my opinion

                                           
    repentatleisure1952

    repentatleisure1952

    ·9 months ago
    View listings

    I have in the past had sellers call me.

     

    I simply talked to them & never gave it another thought.

     

    I never look at who is calling me.

                                           
                                                                                     
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