Changes to Buyer Requirements: you can no longer block sellers who haven't been phone verified

[countessalmirena]

A non-posting member has alerted me to a recent change in Buyer Requirements which hasn't been announced. There's one discussion of these changes on the eBay US boards, and a discussion of the changes on eCommercebytes - but bear in mind that the changes for eBay US members are more sweeping than the changes for eBay AU sellers (so far).

The only change I see when go into Buyer Requirements in my account is that the following has been removed:

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Buyers who haven't gone through phone verification

☑ Block buyers who haven't gone through phone verification.

      ☐ Only apply this block to buyers who have a feedback score of  ☐  or lower.

 When blocked buyers complete phone verification, they'll be allowed to bid on or buy your item. Learn more about this requirement.

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For eBay US buyers,  the changes appear to have removed the option to block buyers with no linked PayPal account (not an option for AU sellers anyway? - and with the forthcoming payment system change to Ayden, that was always going to be changed), buyer with negative feedback (I have to agree this was an obsolete option), buyers with policy violations (this may be of concern if it happens here), and buyers who aren't phone verified). From a reply given by an eBay CS rep to a US seller whose buyer requirement to block sellers based on country may possibly have been changed without his/her knowledge (with the reply giving him/her a whole world of added woe):

“This shows what got removed/changed:

We removed the option of blocking buyers who don't have linked PayPal account. Buyers increasingly want to use other payment options that are also safe. Limiting payments to only linked PayPal accounts negatively impacts on opportunities for sales.

We removed the option of blocking buyers with negative feedback because buyers are no longer able to receive negative feedback from sellers. This made it an outdated option.

We removed the option of blocking buyers with policy violations as eBay’s risk and security teams have evolved the process of tracking buyers with policy violations. This made the option obsolete.

We removed the option of blocking members who are not verified as eBay’s risk and security teams have evolved the process of tracking risky buyers. This made the option obsolete. Seller's who were choosing it were inadvertently blocking newly registered users from whom there was no risk.”

It would be well worth sellers keeping an eye on their Buyer Requirements page, to see if anything else is quietly changed.

Currently, the Buyer Requirements page (for me) is showing as:

Select requirements  

    Important: Select buyer requirements carefully - they may reduce your selling success. The requirement(s) you select will be applied to your current and future listings, except as noted. eBay encourages you to learn more by visiting the Buyer Requirements Help page.    

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Buyers with Unpaid Item strikes

☑ Block bidders and buyers who have received   ②  Unpaid Item strike(s) within   ⑫   month(s)  

This requirement can help you avoid bidders and buyers with a history of not paying for the items they have agreed to purchase.

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Buyers in locations to which I don't post

☑  Block buyers whose primary postage address is in a location I don't post to.  

This requirement can help you avoid buyers who agree to purchase your items without realising you don't post to their location.

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Buyers with policy violation reports

☑ Block buyers who have   ④  Policy violation report(s) within   ⑥  month(s)  

This requirement can help you block buyers who have been reported to have violated eBay policies.

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Buyers with a negative feedback score

☑ Block buyers who have a feedback score of   -1   or lower.  (Not really relevant any more, as buyers cannot be given negative feedback, but tick this anyway.)

This requirement can help you avoid buyers who have received more negative than positive feedback from other eBay members bidding on your item.

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Buyers who may bid on several of my items and not pay for them

☑ Block buyers who are currently winning or have bought    ③    of my items in the last 10 days.

        ☐ Only apply this block to buyers who have a feedback score of    ⑤    or lower.

Consider selecting this requirement if you are selling expensive items and don't want to sell over a certain number to any single buyer. Learn more about how this requirement works.

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☑ Apply above settings to active and future listings.

Existing bids will not be affected.

Turbo Lister will pick up these settings after you sync each item with eBay. Third-party listing tools will pick up these settings after you synchronise the tools with eBay.

☑ Don't allow blocked buyers to contact me. (Buyer won't see the "Contact Seller" button on your Q&A page.) Note: Buyers can still contact you about existing transactions, unless you add them to your blocked list.

From the eCommerceBytes page, one comment in particular gave me a grim laugh on behalf of eBay sellers: "... eBay’s risk and security teams have evolved the process of tracking risky buyers."

I guess being a comedian is part of the job description for the executives at eBay.

I understand that the option to block phone verified eBay users was being used - and recommended - as the only way to block newly created accounts designed to

• circumvent existing blocks,
• be a prank/nuisance,
• wreak "revenge" buys/negative feedback, or
• destroy a competitor using a fake unlinked anonymous buying account.

I don't see how eBay can possibly have "evolved the process of tracking buyers risky buyers" in those cases. The most destructive sort of people who were using those means are well versed in covering their electronic footprint - hiding ISP, deleting cookies, using separate anonymous email address, etc. - and unless eBay's Trust and Safety people have demonstrably more power to identify anonymous individuals than any other online merchant company, the statement is sheer legerdemain when everyone can SEE the rabbit in the hat.

[the4masters2013]

Yep, still fixing things that aren't broken while other things should have been fixed months ago.
What a joke!
Thanks for the alert..it's much appreciated.

[digital*ghost]

I had that block in place, not happy at all as it reduced a lot of problems for me. >_>

[aybm2575]

What little deterrent a seller had left against rogue buyers and fraud is now completely gone.

eBay just wants money, even more greedily than ever. They just keep moving the goalposts each time they tweak the system in their favour. They don't care about sellers. They don't care if you've been here from day dot or someone new. They want your dollar and take. You take the risk of losing your items and negative feedback etc. on a platform in and of itself that isn't safe, reliable at all. Sellers are opened up to fraud with each potential transaction and have little to no recourse if a buyer is determined to hold eBay to their word. Sellers should not have to worry excessively about fraud with each sale they make and account for a certain level of loss in their listings. Like **bleep**! Yes, do all the right seller things we should all know about only to get burned on a BS return or other loophole? No thanks. Not me.

There is zero to no incentive to keep selling on eBay. Free listings and so on just mask the sorry state that fees are ridiculous and there's no realistic processes for a seller to argue against a buyer's wishes however fraudulent or not.

I am seriously torn between now just posting at least something cheap for sale and taking the loss if I get scammed or perhaps just sticking to the classifieds and other sources that bypass all the BS, hoops, and nonsense. I’ve been successful on eBay so far and not yet burned.  I am explicit in listing management and previously vetting buyers. Now that’s become seriously harder. And no I do not trust eBay to protect me from these types of buyers we previously could have avoided ourselves through a simple setting. Why take that away? Because they’re losing sales. Money!

Read the US forums and see for yourself about the state of eBay. The selling forum in particular is damning and people like fulltime sellers are losing their livelihoods, entire businesses, sacking staff and more. Not because they’re not evolving. No, rather from fraud, changes to eBay’s systems that neglect their listings and more.

Regular sellers are represented with their own legitimate stories and it reads terribly. One only good thing is that on the US forums eBay has reps that do have some investigative ability and provide comment. Sadly, the often only reinforce the changes or eBay’s stance on a particular topic.

Get out while you can and while you’ve not taken a big hit. Protect yourself from big hits or scams best you can. eBay don’t care about you. They will burn you to honour their buyer and don’t care about them being criminal or otherwise.

[clubesquire]

@ Countess....

Once again some exemplary ‘digging about’ and valuable information for EVERYONE.

Big thanks from Melina 🙂 (still learning)

[countessalmirena]

I hope this information is proving of use! I realise it's cold comfort to know that a form of protection has been disabled, but at least with the information becoming known, sellers can think about strategies and think about other ways to mitigate their risk.

UPDATE:

I mentioned in my opening post that a US seller's comments had me thinking that his/her buyer requirement setting for blocking buyers from countries to which s/he didn't post might just have been tinkered with. Well... the non-posting member has found that things have been changed in their seller preferences, apparently by eBay playing Tinkerbell. These are the changes noticed:

• eBay changed all the countries to which the seller doesn't post (on relisting of an item).
• eBay enabled Unpaid Item Assistant while the seller had set this to NO.
• eBay enabled Click and Collect on seller's preferences, when seller had this setting turned off.

The seller has been listing for months with their settings set as per their preferences, and eBay has apparently changed them without notice.

Also noticed - a generic “eBay” on the seller's third party application list. The most recent activity by this third party (presumably eBay Tinkerbell) was this week. Seller has revoked access to this third party.

You may want to check your settings and preferences, to ensure that nothing's changed.

[clubesquire]

Ill advised, divisive, confrontational and grossly unethical business behaviour in my book. Almost like having someone ‘fiddling’ in your underwear drawer. Totally unforgivable.

ill be checking  a bit later.

thanks Countess.

Mel.

[plonkacolin]

i only recently noticed that all my lising were click and collect 

no way did i ever agree to this 

i had to go into account and get rid of it 

im sure ebay did this in a sneaky way

also some of my listings about 20% were marked ebay plus again i didnt agree to this but some how they dissapeared

ive neve joined ebay plus 

plus all the ebay stuff ups lately gawd knows whats happening 

also about a month ago i had 3 sales to overseas buyers when clearly all my listings say no internatiol postage 

i used tech difficulties and ebay help to fix the problem 

so many stuff ups on ebays part 

im now getting no sold item emails  from ebay or when i do recieve them its many hours later after item has sold 

[justkidzbiz]

They're so full of bs sometimes. They say they watch risky buyers, yet the ones I've reported, for multiple, 10+ non payments going by feedback left from other sellers and they do nothing. These "risky" buyers are still buying and not paying!

[countessalmirena]

LATEST CHANGE

I'm very sorry to have to update this thread with the latest change to Buyer Requirements. (Information courtesy of the non-posting member who previously let me know of the changes.)

You can no longer block buyers with policy violations.

As of 9th July 2018, the Buyer Requirements page (for me) is showing as:

Select requirements  

    Important: Select buyer requirements carefully - they may reduce your selling success. The requirement(s) you select will be applied to your current and future listings, except as noted. eBay encourages you to learn more by visiting the Buyer Requirements Help page.    

---

Buyers with Unpaid Item strikes

☑ Block bidders and buyers who have received   ②  Unpaid Item strike(s) within   ⑫   month(s)  

This requirement can help you avoid bidders and buyers with a history of not paying for the items they have agreed to purchase.

---

Buyers in locations to which I don't post

☑  Block buyers whose primary postage address is in a location I don't post to.  

This requirement can help you avoid buyers who agree to purchase your items without realising you don't post to their location.

---

Buyers with a negative feedback score

☑ Block buyers who have a feedback score of   -1   or lower.  (Not really relevant any more, as buyers cannot be given negative feedback, but tick this anyway.)

This requirement can help you avoid buyers who have received more negative than positive feedback from other eBay members bidding on your item.

---

Buyers who may bid on several of my items and not pay for them

☑ Block buyers who are currently winning or have bought    ③    of my items in the last 10 days.

        ☐ Only apply this block to buyers who have a feedback score of    ⑤    or lower.

Consider selecting this requirement if you are selling expensive items and don't want to sell over a certain number to any single buyer. Learn more about how this requirement works.

---

☑ Apply above settings to active and future listings.

Existing bids will not be affected.

Turbo Lister will pick up these settings after you sync each item with eBay. Third-party listing tools will pick up these settings after you synchronise the tools with eBay.

☑ Don't allow blocked buyers to contact me. (Buyer won't see the "Contact Seller" button on your Q&A page.) Note: Buyers can still contact you about existing transactions, unless you add them to your blocked list.

This has been removed:

Spoiler

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Buyers with policy violation reports

☑ Block buyers who have   ④  Policy violation report(s) within   ⑥  month(s)  

This requirement can help you block buyers who have been reported to have violated eBay policies.

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I don't know how sellers are going to be able to pre-emptively protect themselves against buyers who have repeatedly violated eBay policy - such as claimed too many "lost" parcels, or have opened too many SNAD disputes, or have a habit of bid retractions, or have filed false reports against sellers, or have used profane and abusive communication towards sellers, or - well, any of the behaviours that make selling to such a buyer a proposition not to be desired, enabled, or sought.

However, perhaps some of the experienced sellers here may be able to think of a few suggestions. Perhaps increasing the number of cancellations if anything seems dodgy about the buyer, rather than giving the buyer a chance... perhaps no longer offering cancellations if a buyer requests it, but automatically going straight to an Unpaid Item case...