Educating buyers on the rules - making offers

[stable05]

Just wondering if any Sellers have ever reported a Buyer for making an offer to purchase outside of Ebay?

Would Ebay act on the report?    What does Ebay say/do to the buyer?

Rules:

Offers to buy outside of eBay: Members can't offer to buy or sell a listed item outside of eBay.

If you receive an offer to buy or sell outside eBay, please report it.

Has anyone included a clause in their listings "all buyers who make an offer to purchase this item outside of Ebay will be reported?"

Rules:

If you made an attempt to sell outside eBay in order to entice a buyer, we suggest that you send the buyer an offer through eBay instead. This lets you offer a fixed price item to a buyer at a discounted price.

What if the buyer was 'enticing' me?!    "I am sorry but you are not allowed to entice me, here are the rules (etc), if you persist I will report you"?

It seems counter intuitive to go reporting buyers for their ignorance of the rules.

[skyrider12-au]

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@stable05 wrote:

Just wondering if any Sellers have ever reported a Buyer for making an offer to purchase outside of Ebay?

Would Ebay act on the report?    What does Ebay say/do to the buyer?

Rules:

Offers to buy outside of eBay: Members can't offer to buy or sell a listed item outside of eBay.

If you receive an offer to buy or sell outside eBay, please report it.

Has anyone included a clause in their listings "all buyers who make an offer to purchase this item outside of Ebay will be reported?"

Rules:

If you made an attempt to sell outside eBay in order to entice a buyer, we suggest that you send the buyer an offer through eBay instead. This lets you offer a fixed price item to a buyer at a discounted price.

What if the buyer was 'enticing' me?!    "I am sorry but you are not allowed to entice me, here are the rules (etc), if you persist I will report you"?

It seems counter intuitive to go reporting buyers for their ignorance of the rules.

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Now you can see some of  the many ways that  sellers are able to,short circuit, the system. The problem with this behaviour is that a seller, who resorts to such a practice. looses all credibility, imo, in that they agreed to be bound by the eBay policies relating to selling on the eBay site. If they can't respect what they have agreed to, then it's, more than likely that they will treat you in the same manner.

If you were to hand over your money to such a seller you would, more than likely, find yourself in a situation that you would rather not be in and with little chance of resolving the transaction to your satisfaction.

As for, 'enticing me', .... why would you want to report a buyer for asking the question? 

Asking questions isn't doing something wrong, it's a way of finding out if you will.

[k1ooo-slr-sales]

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@skyrider12-au wrote: 

Now you can see some of  the many ways that  sellers are able to,short circuit, the system. The problem with this behaviour is that a seller, who resorts to such a practice. looses all credibility, imo, in that they agreed to be bound by the eBay policies relating to selling on the eBay site. If they can't respect what they have agreed to, then it's, more than likely that they will treat you in the same manner.

If you were to hand over your money to such a seller you would, more than likely, find yourself in a situation that you would rather not be in and with little chance of resolving the transaction to your satisfaction.

As for, 'enticing me', .... why would you want to report a buyer for asking the question? 

Asking questions isn't doing something wrong, it's a way of finding out if you will.

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Asking questions isn't doing something wrong, it's a way of finding out if you will.

Isn't this a double standard?  You have no time for sellers who flout eBay policy, but say it is okay for buyers to go on a fishing expedition to find out if a seller will flout eBay policy?  Sounds like entrapment to me.  A seller would be within their rights to report a buyer who approaches them to trade off-eBay.

It has been posted on this thread that for a buyer to approach a seller to trade off-eBay is against policy, but you think this is okay if it is done to find out if a seller would????

[digital*ghost]

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@skyrider12-au wrote:

Now you can see some of  the many ways that  sellers are able to,short circuit, the system. The problem with this behaviour is that a seller, who resorts to such a practice. looses all credibility, imo, in that they agreed to be bound by the eBay policies relating to selling on the eBay site. If they can't respect what they have agreed to, then it's, more than likely that they will treat you in the same manner.

If you were to hand over your money to such a seller you would, more than likely, find yourself in a situation that you would rather not be in and with little chance of resolving the transaction to your satisfaction.

As for, 'enticing me', .... why would you want to report a buyer for asking the question? 

Asking questions isn't doing something wrong, it's a way of finding out if you will.

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If I am understanding your post correctly (and I'm not 100% sure I do, because I'm applying a level of personal interpretation to it), you seem to be suggesting that a buyer might ask the question of seller as a test of some kind, a way to find out how "honourable" they are (in so far as their adherence to eBay policies go). 

If so, then by the same token, it's entirely feasible for a seller to also ask a "would you ever...? question, just to find out if they will. 

(NB: I'm just attempting to point out what I perceive as a flaw in the logic as I've interpreted it, same as sir sales, I don't personally see the point in either party fishing for those kinds of answers. If being willing to trade off eBay is seen as a suspect behaviour due to it not complying with eBay policy, a buyer would be shooting themselves in the foot by asking the question and presenting themselves in said suspect light). 

[skyrider12-au]

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@digital*ghost wrote:

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@skyrider12-au wrote:

Now you can see some of  the many ways that  sellers are able to,short circuit, the system. The problem with this behaviour is that a seller, who resorts to such a practice. looses all credibility, imo, in that they agreed to be bound by the eBay policies relating to selling on the eBay site. If they can't respect what they have agreed to, then it's, more than likely that they will treat you in the same manner.

If you were to hand over your money to such a seller you would, more than likely, find yourself in a situation that you would rather not be in and with little chance of resolving the transaction to your satisfaction.

As for, 'enticing me', .... why would you want to report a buyer for asking the question? 

Asking questions isn't doing something wrong, it's a way of finding out if you will.

---

If I am understanding your post correctly (and I'm not 100% sure I do, because I'm applying a level of personal interpretation to it), you seem to be suggesting that a buyer might ask the question of seller as a test of some kind, a way to find out how "honourable" they are (in so far as their adherence to eBay policies go). 

If so, then by the same token, it's entirely feasible for a seller to also ask a "would you ever...? question, just to find out if they will. 

(NB: I'm just attempting to point out what I perceive as a flaw in the logic as I've interpreted it, same as sir sales, I don't personally see the point in either party fishing for those kinds of answers. If being willing to trade off eBay is seen as a suspect behaviour due to it not complying with eBay policy, a buyer would be shooting themselves in the foot by asking the question and presenting themselves in said suspect light). 

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I understand the how and why you have replied to my post, and your some-what right in what your saying. People like to ask questions, whether they are sellers, buyers or members of a forum. Their motives for doing so can be different for each person asking the question. the buyers seem to be the ones most likely to question a seller and from my point of view the question "would you ever?" would most likely come from the buyer.

To simply blurt out the question probably would lead to some form of punishment  when eBay looks through the pm traffic and discovers the breach in policy, and the person responsible.

I have never asked the question, and never would, how-ever, the buyers inclined to ask would probably attempt to mask the question with something like, "Do you have a b&m where I can talk to somebody about your item?"

That's probably a lame example but not possessing the mind-set of the people who do this regularly that's the best I can come up with. I'm sure the pros have a much better way to ask the question.with-out stepping out of line and getting off-side with eBay. The sellers seem to have their way of communicating their willingness and it would be a good guess that buyers have their way as well.

If the buyer responds with any of the above mentioned 'short circuits ' (photographs and screen grabs etc)-... then the buyer has the answer to the question and is able to apply their motive, what-ever it is, for asking.

If the response is negative, as it should be, then that  puts the question to rest.

Your quite right in saying that sellers as well as buyers who ask' the' question are breaching policy, but why would anybody report a buyer for asking a seemingly innocent question?

What was important about my post was the fact that trust and integrity are just as much a part of a business as are the items for sale.. Loose that, loose business. I trust that wasn't lost in your ' level of personal interpretation'.

[digital*ghost]

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@skyrider12-au wrote:

To simply blurt out the question probably would lead to some form of punishment  when eBay looks through the pm traffic and discovers the breach in policy, and the person responsible.

I have never asked the question, and never would, how-ever, the buyers inclined to ask would probably attempt to mask the question with something like, "Do you have a b&m where I can talk to somebody about your item?"

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Funnily enough, I actually get asked that question quite frequently, but unless I'm completely misreading the situation, it's usually because the buyer is interested in several different items and wants the opportunity to inspect, as most people don't expect B&M prices to be cheaper than eBay prices - with the exception of saving postage costs, or being able to purchase more personalised items (people who have seen some of my work also assume that if I did have a B&M, they could access a wider range of items that included custom-fitting, which is quite difficult to do with some stuff from measurements alone).  

Very (very) occasionally a repeat buyer will ask for a custom item (and in this case I use the word 'custom' loosely, referring to anything from alternative quantities of something I have listed, to a completely new, handcrafted item, and will include an off-hand remark about "list it on eBay or just send me an invoice". As they are repeat buyers, I don't think it's a matter of trying to establish whether or not they can trust me as a seller, though, but I mentioned above how I tend to respond to that sort of message and so far only one has protested when I said I'd list on eBay, mostly because they wanted an upgrade to express post without an increase in total price).

Re: your final comment - no, it wasn't lost on me, I just felt the need to point out it applies to all members, whether they are in the role of buyer or seller, as the simple truth is that everyone is a buyer one way or another, but not everyone is a seller, and if the integrity of members is important, then the integrity of a buyer isn't any less important than the integrity of a seller, because it's same / same, at the end of the day.

Although, I should say that I don't usually feel the need to question the integrity of a member based on whether they make references to selling outside of eBay. eBay has their rules, and I don't seek to break them for my own gain, but I also don't have any qualms about allowing my own standards and moral / ethical guidelines to be given just as much merit as an eBay policy, in some cases more, and I think that kind of objectivity (for lack of a better word) about eBay policies is important. To put that comment into context, that disposition is what leads me to contact a seller breaching eBay policy rather than reporting their listing, it leads me to occasionally making exceptions for someone who wants to deal with me directly, such as if the item is something that's not actually listed on eBay, never was, and maybe never will be. It's also the thing that would mean I'd be more flexible with other kinds of policies or limitations, eg return policies (mandatory and voluntary). 

TL;DR I do what I feel is the right thing to do, and I prioritise myself and my buyers above eBay if I need to decide what the right thing to do in any given circumstance is (sometimes prioritising myself does actually mean prioritising eBay policies, of course - jeopardising my account isn't worth saving a few cents in fees). 

[*tippy*toes*]

I have never sold anything off eBay that has been listed. I have however, had quite a few buyers ask if I would. Most would imply it's a great idea as I'd save on fees. Some got quite upset and sent quite vile messages when I declined, especially from the ones who implied they should get some kind of discount for saving me fees. None of those buyers were reported for trying to buy off eBay, but the vile ones were reported and all were placed neatly on my BBL.

I have sent my email address to two people. They were buyers who'd both bought quite a few things off me. After several months of back and forth messages, conversations had drifted from eBay purchases to other things totally unrelated to eBay. We felt it best that we took these conversations off eBay because it was nothing to do with them. Several years later I am still in contact with these people and neither have bought anything from me in over 12 months. Most contact these days is via Facebook, but have spoke to them many times on the phone.

Even after I classed these people as friends, if they wanted something I had listed, they bought it from eBay. I never ended anything, unless it was ended early to sell to them (after they'd placed a bid, not to sell it off eBay). They have asked if I have in my possession a certain piece. Sometimes I did, sometimes I didn't. If it had never been listed on eBay, I was happy to sell it to them off eBay and they'd deposit the money into my account. If it had never been listed, it had nothing to do with eBay. They can't stop me selling things I don't have listed with them.

[springyzone]

I was sitting here reading this thread, thinking nope, I would never think of asking a seller about trading off ebay when it occurred that with one transaction a few years back, maybe a seller might have thought I did and we did sort it out off ebay. I was quite disappointed i couldn't give her great feedback actually.

What happened was I bought some ribbon off her (via ebay). She was the only local seller I could find with the exact shade I needed. But then I needed more of that same ribbon, only narrower, so I messaged her to ask if by chance she sold any like that as that width wasn't in her listings.

She replied she had only one big roll left in that width, which is why it wasn't listed but how many metres did I need & just pay such and such an amount into her bank account (it was seriously only about $4.50 or thereabouts for about 15 metres), I paid, it arrived in a couple of days, it was a life saver.

I'm sure there must be times similar situations happen for other buyers and sellers too. Not deliberately trying to flout ebay regulations at all, more of an extra thing.