Disclosing Contact Details on Ebay

[kactusjack5163]

What is the general opinion on Ebays Policy regarding the disclosure of contact details.

I recently had a few high priced items including a motor behicle advertised on ebay and when interested parties wanted to come and inspect the item I tried to send them my contact details and Ebay suspended me.

So I sold the item elsewhere.

Ebays response was that the interested party had to buy the item before any details can be swapped and if they are not happy they can lodge a dispute ?

Does that make sense.

[daydreams_12]

For the last couple of months Ebay have been paranoid about details being exchanged prior to purchase.  For what ever reason they feel that peeps are trying to make sales off ebay and thus they dont get the fees.  There have been many threads about this problem.  Agree that it is a bit off but their playground and I guess they make the rules.

[gutterpunkz05]

The general opinion seems to be that the Policy is stupid.  But that is current ebay policy so we just have to deal with it.  A number of ideas have been put forward, for getting past the policy and message robots.   Otherwise list as pick up only with COD Payment.  If buyer is not happy on inspection, then it easy to cancel the transaction by consent.  No refunds to be processed and item can be relisted without any delay 

[padi*0409]

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@gutterpunkz05 wrote:

  Otherwise list as pick up only with COD Payment.  

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"cash on pickup" not COD, if the buyer chooses COD the seller is "obligated" to send by COD with AP - a very expensive option.

[performance_parts_clearance_centre]

Yes, as with so many eBay policies, it's been badly thought out.

I know exactly where they're coming from - trying to stamp out off-eBay sales by preventing users from exchanging contact details - but the implementation is less than clever. It's a knee-jerk reaction, with little thought going into the practicalities.

For any item that is a genuine pick-up only - car, bike, boat, caravan, truck, furniture, etc - inspection prior to purchase is just plain commonsense, and the exchange of contact details is necessary to facilitate it.

Ebay just don't get that. They just can't grasp the concept of inspecting an item prior to bidding, their reposnses tell you as much - buyer must purchase before inspecting, and seller hands the money back if the buyer's not happy? That's just asking for trouble - I sold a car a couple of weeks before the policy came in, and had a dozen people get in touch and ask for contact details so that they could arrange a time to come and inspect it. NO-ONE would have paid money first just to inspect.

As it happens, it was a "classic" car which the buyer bought sight unseen as a restoration project - but imagine trying to sell a late-model vehicle. No-one in their right mind is going to shell out $15K or so for a vehicle without looking it over first.

I'll guarantee that sales have been lost as a result of this new policy.

[kactusjack5163]

Yes I am puzzled with the policy and as some say - "it is eBay's playground".
The only option I see is not to use their playground and I now won't.
I have been a happy ebayer for a long time with excellent feedback and this policy has lost me.
Funny though EBay own Gumtree and Gumtree is totally free and no such policies.
Go figure - Thanks for the interest but only EBay can solve this problem.

[collect247]

You should be glad that you can still sell on ebay,years ago you would have been booted off not just suspended!

[chameleon54]

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@kactusjack5163 wrote:
Yes I am puzzled with the policy and as some say - "it is eBay's playground".
The only option I see is not to use their playground and I now won't.
I have been a happy ebayer for a long time with excellent feedback and this policy has lost me.
Funny though EBay own Gumtree and Gumtree is totally free and no such policies.
Go figure - Thanks for the interest but only EBay can solve this problem.

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My guess is that ebay are not really that interested in people selling used cars and boats on the platform. They seem to be moving to a similar model to Amazon which requires product identifiers for every item sold and then a race to the bottom on price. I suspect ebay only want new items listed and so they seem to be actively encouraging sellers of cars etc. to move to Gumtree.

My chrystal ball tells me eventually used items wont be sold on ebay at all. Once everyone has moved to Gumtree ( which eBay owns ) they will introduce fees for listing there.

You have to admit it makes a nice tidy business model, that would be attractive to the business suits.