topic Re: inspection in Selling

inspection

puzzlefurniture — Wed, 02 May 2018 04:08:56 GMT

According Member-to-member contact policy, no contact can be given.

In the case of inspection request, how do I respond to it?

I am selling bunch of mint condition/ never used furniture, and it is inevitable if customer has questions or want to experience it, epsecially sofa.

Many Thanks for everyone's help.

Regards,

Simon

Re: inspection

padi*0409 — Wed, 02 May 2018 04:34:37 GMT

Technically you can't give location details until they press "buy it now", but it seems you are locatable through Google so maybe you can give them a link that way. I'd be hesitant on giving them the link to your store though.

https://www.puzzlefurniture.com.au/

Re: inspection

countessalmirena — Wed, 02 May 2018 04:36:46 GMT

@puzzlefurniture,

This is one of the most ludicrous of eBay's current policies! However, in order not to be penalised, you have no choice but to abide to the absolute letter with this no-contact rule.

If someone contacts you with the inevitable request to inspect, you could reply along these lines:

"Dear [member],

Thank you for your interest in this [item]! I should explain that eBay do not allow members to exchange contact information of any kind (including a phone number or an address for the purpose of inspecting an item before bidding or purchasing, even if the item is pick-up only).

eBay have implemented this Member-to-member contact policy because they feel that exchanging contact information prior to a sale on eBay encourages off-eBay purchasing. They do monitor messages, so I hope you understand that I am not able to give you my phone number, email or address before you purchase this [item].

However, eBay do allow contact information between the buyer and seller once the sale has been made. For the purpose of pick-up items, that means eBayers who are definitely interested in an item can hit the buy button, request the phone number of the seller, organise a mutually agreeable time, and come over to inspect the item with the intention of going ahead with the purchase if the item is as they expect.

If it isn't, the "buyer" can walk away without completing the sale, and the seller will send a cancel request through eBay to the buyer.

If it is, the buyer can hand over the payment in cash.

I hope this explains the situation! Please don't hesitate to contact me if you need any additional information about this item.

Regards,

[seller]"

It's a bit long-winded, but it does point the buyer in the direction of the policy itself so that they can see that you're not making this up, as well as making the process seem as provisional and comfortable as possible.

Re: inspection

imastawka — Wed, 02 May 2018 04:41:50 GMT

I thought if you had a B & M store you could put your details in the listing?

I may be wrong on that one.

Don't give them the link. Bots will pick it up.

Just tell them to google puzzle furniture. Your B & M comes up with that.

Re: inspection

kopenhagen5 — Wed, 02 May 2018 06:04:51 GMT

The rule may have merit but the way it's policed is ridiculous.

As stawks suggests or take a photo of the couch with a piece of paper on it with your phone number and let the prospective buyer know your number is in the last photo.

(I think it is if you have an anchor store you can have details in listing).

Re: inspection

imastawka — Wed, 02 May 2018 06:15:30 GMT

They stopped allowing Anchor stores to have location in their listings.

But this guy has it figured out.

I've been watching one of his items for about a year now.

Not watching this one, but look at item location. It's a warehouse.

# 182286150204

Re: inspection

the_2nd_zoo — Wed, 02 May 2018 06:33:52 GMT

@imastawka wrote:
I thought if you had a B & M store you could put your details in the listing?

I may be wrong on that one.

https://www.ebay.com.au/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p813.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.TRS0&_nkw=NEW+YONEX+BAG4522EX+2PCS+Racquet+Bag+For+Badminton+Squash+Blue+&_sacat=0

I think you can if you have a B&M store or the old rule was also a registered buisness seller.

This is not a huge seller so if it was against the enforced rules then why after more than 6 months of the policy are

they not stopped or given any obvious penatly - other than being higher in the best match than those of us who don't do it???

eBay item number:162715132531 eBay item number:162715145547

eBay item number:162715251934 eBay item number:162715257946

eBay item number:162872623044 eBay item number:162872790746

eBay item number:162807036993 eBay item number:162807037965

eBay item number:162806958853 eBay item number:162827330079

eBay item number:162859179290

++++more i am sure

maybe it does not get caught by the bots when phone number is in colour.

Seeing Is Believing

Re: inspection

imastawka — Wed, 02 May 2018 06:48:56 GMT

If it's all the same seller, why the need for so many item numbers as well as the link?

One item number would suffice.

Re: inspection

tennis_sweetspot — Wed, 02 May 2018 06:51:13 GMT

yes boss

Re: inspection

melbourneclearance — Wed, 02 May 2018 11:32:18 GMT

I've been googling and found no ebay article on publishing the seller's own contact information.

Here are ebay's listing policies:

https://www.ebay.com.au/help/policies/listing-policies/listing-policies?id=4213

And here are ebay's policies on publishing contact information:

https://www.ebay.com.au/help/policies/member-behaviour-policies/publishing-contact-information-policy?id=4373&st=11&pos=1&query=Publishing contact information policy&context=9056_SELLER

The second one only talks about publishing someone else's info. Neither article mentions anything about publishing your own info.

Re: inspection

davewil1964 — Wed, 02 May 2018 13:36:38 GMT

Try reading eBay's announcements rather than Dr Google.

Re: inspection

melbourneclearance — Wed, 02 May 2018 14:00:04 GMT

I remember the announcement, but that was I think more than a year ago now. Ebay flips on a regular basis, just look at their watermark on photos policy.

The bottom line is: Why is this not in the ebay listing policy?

Has ebay flipped again and not announced it? We need to sacrifice the next noob who comes on the board as a test. If the noob survives 3 months with contact details in his listing without getting banned then we can all do it.

Re: inspection

countessalmirena — Wed, 02 May 2018 20:01:28 GMT

Seller Release addressing this is found here (Seller Centre sr17-1/Contact-Links).

Quoting:

What's the change?

To ensure our marketplace remains a fair and safe place to buy and sell, and to prevent transactions off eBay, we’re making some changes to our policies.

From September 2017:

You'll no longer be allowed to share contact information in your item descriptions, images, eBay Stores or seller profiles.
We're updating our Links policy to limit the types of links allowed on listings.

For more information please see our latest updates.

[...]

From mid-2017, if you’re an eBay Store subscriber or list in the Motor Vehicles category, you’ll be able to indicate whether or not you’d like us to share your customer service phone number with buyers via the Ask a question link.

We recommend you update any active listings now which contain your contact details.

Sharing contact information will still be permitted within classified ad listings.

[...] FAQS

[...]

Can I include my business and personal eBay contact information on my Stores page or profile page?

No. Business and personal contact information, such as email addresses and phone numbers, is not permitted anywhere on eBay including: listings, Store pages, feedback profile, About Me, guides, and other member-created content.

View our Links policy for more information on the types of links that are permitted in listings and other eBay pages.

(Note below - "However, there are a couple of updates in sr17-2 worth noting" - which modifies the above.)

There's also the Seller Centre sr17-2/Policy-Updates. It contains a whole range of information and outlines the punitive measures taken against members who violate the terms (which are specified in grisly detail). Quoting:

The key update to the eBay User Agreement is that we’ve made it clearer how we address violations of our policy on Offers to buy or sell outside eBay and Member to member contact.

Sellers who violate these policies will be liable for final value fees for the item.

To avoid these fees and other actions that eBay may take such as blocking messages, limiting buying and selling privileged and suspending your account, you should make sure you do not offer or reference your contact information, or ask for a buyer's contact information [...]

The above finishes with the words "in the context of buying or selling outside of eBay.", but when it comes to offering or referencing contact information, eBay now presume guilt - hence the "context" phrase only outlines what happens as the rule, not the exception.

However, there are a couple of updates in sr17-2 worth noting:

Since our previous announcement, we are adding exceptions to our policy. You can soon include links to terms and conditions (T&Cs) pages in the Gift Cards category. Links to domain names or websites for sale are also permitted in Computing, Domain Names categories. You are not permitted to include links to the warranty T&Cs within your listing. However, you may create an item specific about the existence of a warranty and include a link to the T&Cs.

If you wish to provide your customer service phone number for post-transaction support, you can use a new eBay feature that makes your customer service phone number available when a buyer uses "Contact seller." You can opt in to the feature within "Manage communication with buyers" in your account settings.

No other off-eBay contact information or links are permitted.

Links Policy.

Links that direct customers to a site other than eBay are not allowed, except when linking to:

Product videos
Freight carrier services and quoting platforms
Required legal and regulatory information

This policy applies whether the link is clickable or not, and includes any attempts to direct a customer off a page. It extends to all member-created content, such as listings, Stores pages, Stores headers, seller profile pages, newsletters, images, etc.

Links that direct customers to other eBay pages are allowed. This includes links to eBay Messages, other eBay items, Stores pages, Follow Seller or Add to my Favourite Sellers features.

Any permitted links cannot direct customers to pages that encourage people to view, search or purchase items off eBay.

Offers to buy or sell outside of eBay policy. It's a frustratingly named policy because a seller who has no intention of selling outside of eBay wouldn't think to look within that policy on whether or not a seller can include address, phone number or email address in a listing. This represents eBay's current mindset; if you as an eBay member (buyer or seller) display or reveal or provide your contact information (except post-transaction for the purpose of completing the purchase, and even then I can sense eBay's frustration that it can't be done with buyer and seller completely unaware of each other's identities and details) ... if, as I say, eBayers display etc their contact information, it must be with the intention of ripping off eBay. That's what eBay think. It's an assumption of guilt.

Quoting from this policy:

We don't allow our members to use eBay to contact each other to make offers to buy or sell items outside of eBay. Also, members can't use information obtained from eBay or any eBay systems to contact each other about buying or selling outside of eBay.

[...]

Not allowed

Some examples of activities that aren't allowed include:

Using member contact information obtained from eBay or using any eBay system to offer to sell any item outside of eBay.
Posting or displaying contact information in a listing, including email, phone number and mailing address, without the permission of eBay or except as required by law.
[...]
[...]
Including, requesting, offering, or referencing contact information or an offer to buy or sell an item outside of eBay within a listing, Best Offer, email message or other communication with an eBay user or any other place on the eBay site.
[...]
Referring to or promoting your personal website (including links to home page web addresses that promote websites outside of eBay), sales outside of eBay, or other businesses in your listing page or in communications with another eBay member.

I've highlighted the bits that are most pertinent, and skipped three bullet points in the full policy.

The current eBay User Agreement references these in a less specific way than the above, but it's still clear enough what eBay do not permit in the context of contact information. In particular, note 4. Abusing eBay.

Avoiding eBay fees policy.

Quoting:

Links that refer or promote sites or items outside of eBay

Restricted

Including links to eBay Stores and items is OK, as long as they're not URL redirects

Not allowed

Referring to or promoting the seller's individual website (including links to home page URLs that promote websites outside of eBay websites), sales outside of eBay, or other businesses

Email addresses, phone numbers, and domain names in the title, subtitle, images, or item location

Restricted

Listing contact information (including home page URLs that promote outside-of-eBay websites) in the title, subtitle, item location or images is only allowed when the item for sale is a domain name

There might be more, but these are the most obvious policies and current information pages referring to these changes.

Re: inspection

melbourneclearance — Wed, 02 May 2018 22:02:14 GMT

Well done, countess. All that and ebay did not even bother to include a line in their listing policy? If I were new to ebay I would read the listing policy and follow that. Searching for "Offers to buy and sell outside of ebay" would never have crossed my mind and the next thing I'd see would be the sin bin.

Re: inspection

tennis_sweetspot — Thu, 03 May 2018 03:56:07 GMT

@puzzlefurniture wrote:
According Member-to-member contact policy, no contact can be given.

In the case of inspection request, how do I respond to it?

I am selling bunch of mint condition/ never used furniture, and it is inevitable if customer has questions or want to experience it, epsecially sofa.

Many Thanks for everyone's help.

Regards,
Simon

I change listing to local pickup only and tell buyers to just hit the buy it now and then have a look at it and will happily cancel if they don't want it. Obviously you can't have instant payment required and make sure you tell them not to pay no matter how many emails they get asking them to. Make sure you relist it quick after cancelling if they don't want it. Problem is if you have a listing with no FVF then you loose that benefit if they don't want it. But if you got good stuff and are priced right then should be usually ok.

Re: inspection

lane-ends — Thu, 03 May 2018 10:33:34 GMT

Set up a listing foir a 99cent pencil pick up only and they can buy that. Exchange info.

Same principle by selling "samples" of products.

Re: inspection

tennis_sweetspot — Thu, 03 May 2018 14:50:39 GMT

@lane-ends wrote:
Set up a listing foir a 99cent pencil pick up only and they can buy that. Exchange info.

Same principle by selling "samples" of products.

Sure but you need a clued in buyer and most buyers are definelty ebay learners

and if ebay get wind and interperet such tactics as naughty you're finished.

That is how stupid it has become - you can break all the rules re contact details in listings and links

and probably get away with it but they will catch and hang you for that scheme.

Re: inspection

*tippy*toes* — Sun, 06 May 2018 02:16:06 GMT

Even with all that, you can still sell off eBay. Buyer hits BIN, comes to inspect, likes what they see and want to pay for it. Buyer pays for it, then you cancel the transaction. Relist it with an inflated price for a day or 2, then end the listing saying the item is damaged. Of course eBay would get sus if you kept doing it, but every now and then you'd get away with it.

It's also possible if you have lots of items that a buyer wants a number of them. They've hit BIN on one, they want it, then want the other items too, so pay for them. The items then get ended on eBay as being damaged, or no longer available.

One of the issues I see with this is, items I list as BIN are FORCED immediate payment. I have never used immediate payment, eBay forced it onto me. If I was selling a $2,000 pick up item, I would want the buyer to see it before handing over that amount of cash. I know I can refund, but what a pain in the proverbial!

Re: inspection

melbourneclearance — Sun, 06 May 2018 03:08:32 GMT

@*tippy*toes* wrote:

It's also possible if you have lots of items that a buyer wants a number of them. They've hit BIN on one, they want it, then want the other items too, so pay for them. The items then get ended on eBay as being damaged, or no longer available.

One of the issues I see with this is, items I list as BIN are FORCED immediate payment. I have never used immediate payment, eBay forced it onto me. If I was selling a $2,000 pick up item, I would want the buyer to see it before handing over that amount of cash. I know I can refund, but what a pain in the proverbial!

When a buyer comes for a pick up, I always ask them if they wanted anything else and often enough they do. But those extra sales are MY sales, not ebay's. As far as I'm concerned, ebay gets me one sale and I pay my dues and that's the end of their entitlement. Whatever sales I make on the side off that one sale are my business. Just like whatever money ebay makes off selling my data and getting customers I attract to their site to buy other stuff is their business and I don't get paid for that.

Hm, I have over $1000 items too and I can tick off the immediate payment option and allow purchase without payment.

Re: inspection

*tippy*toes* — Sun, 06 May 2018 05:03:12 GMT

I have NEVER had the immediate payment option ticked, EVER. Yet, eBay has forced my buyers into immediate payment. Only way for them to get around it is to put the items in their cart and then request a total. I couldn't work out why repeat buyers who knew to wait for an invoice were suddenly buying and paying immediately for multiple items.

I sent one an message and she said she was forced to pay immediately. It's made me so angry. If I want to utilise that option, then I'd tick the flamin' box! Yet, the box remains unticked and buyers are still forced.

I am close to putting everything back to auction with a message that I will end early for the bidder. Most of my auctions only attracted one bid, so it's not like I'd be doing myself a disservice by ending early.