topic Re: Find contact information in Selling

Find contact information

rednikki871 — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 07:04:45 GMT

Hi,

Anyone know what Ebay's definition of "involved in a recent transaction" means?

I have an item listed and a bidder has used the Find Contact Information (under advanced search) to get full contact details including phone number.

They only transaction so far is that he has bid on a current item. The auction is not even complete.

Why dosen't ebay limit who can use this function to those sales that have been completed? or request permission of the seller first?

Re: Find contact information

thesoulyearns — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 07:13:22 GMT

Anyone know what Ebay's definition of "involved in a recent transaction" means?

Direct quote from eBay.com.au:

"1. To better protect the privacy of eBay users, you can only request contact information for eBay users who are involved in your current or recent transactions. Examples are:

- Sellers can request the contact information for all bidders in an active transaction and the winning bidder in a successful, closed transaction.

- Bidders can request the contact information for a seller during an active transaction and in a successful, closed transaction if they are the winning bidder."

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I agree that eBay should require some form of permission from the seller first.

Re: Find contact information

koalablue12 — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 09:20:27 GMT

yes

Re: Find contact information

putney32 — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 10:35:07 GMT

Why dosen't ebay limit who can use this function to those sales that have been completed? or request permission of the seller first?

eBay has the permission of the Seller, the Seller agreed to the eBay terms and conditions when they signed up, that is all the permission eBay need.

Re: Find contact information

rednikki871 — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 11:25:52 GMT

My point is that it seems that by using the Find contact information feature any ebay user can find the contact details of any other user just by typing in the seller id and the code of an item they've listed for sale.

Re: Find contact information

lyndal1838 — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 11:33:42 GMT

Only if they have bid on the item.

It is grounds for a bid retraction if a bidder cannot contact the seller.

Re: Find contact information

rednikki871 — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 11:59:27 GMT

Surely there must be some requirement for the bidder to prove that they have tried to contact the seller through the normal Contact seller feature before being given these contact details.

Potentailly every bidder could just bypass emails, obtain the seller's phone number and contact them for queries.

Re: Find contact information

phorum_junkie* — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 12:16:28 GMT

When you join ebay you tick a box saying you agree to abide by their policies.

One of their policies is that you must provide a valid phone number and email address and that you agree that ebay can pass on that information to any member who has made a bid on your item and give thier details to you.

If you are not happy to allow this then you should not have agreed to the terms and created the account.

Re: Find contact information

rednikki871 — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 12:35:15 GMT

Just because ebay has it's policies, does not mean I can't question them. How else does ebay change and improve, as it has done since I've been a member.

Re: Find contact information

lyndal1838 — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 14:57:01 GMT

Of course you can query anything, but it is doubtful that ebay will change it just because you don't like it. How many buyers have you had ringing you anyway? Is it really such a big deal?

Re: Find contact information

foxette-in-sox — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 19:24:01 GMT

OP has sold a LOT of pickup only items so I'm sure her phone number has been given out dozens of times.Perhaps the bidder also wanted to ask if the seller would accept cash on pickup which she doesn't have anywhere in her listings as a payment option,just bank deposit & Paypal & they couldn't be bothered messaging??

Re: Find contact information

*bad*angel* — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 00:46:46 GMT

rednikki871 is there some reason you dont offer cash on pick-up for your items (not COD)? Cash is always the best option for both buyer and seller when items are being collected in person.

Re: Find contact information

phorum_junkie* — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 11:52:15 GMT

The way to 'question' ebay policy is to use the suggestions link. You can find it on the site map.

I doubt very much if that is a policy ebay will be interested in changing.

Often a buyer or seller just wants the phone number so they can confirm the seller is who and where they say they are.

Especially where pick up items are concerned a prospective buyer may want to ask more in depth questions than can be fitted into the limited number of characters allowed in a contact email.