How to require a phone number from buyers?

[tech4pcs]

I want to be able to require buyers to provide a phone number. I've gone into revise an item however I cannot see anywhere that I can set this. Can someone point me in the right direction? Or is it something that is set in paypal and not ebay?

[digital*ghost]

Go to My eBay > Account > Site Preferences > Postage Preferences. Down towards the end will be the option to require a phone number from buyers (tick 'Yes', then click Apply).

[tech4pcs]

Ahh, thanks so much. I don't think I would have looked in there. It's done now. Thanks again.

[allfixelectrical]

One thing to be aware of is that by selecting that checkbox, it does mean that buyers MUST provide a phone number. If they don't then they are not allowed to complete checkout.

We know for a fact that this has cost us sales in the past.

This is something we have been fighting with ebay now for over 10 years.

They should have an option whereby a phone number is requested, but optional to provide.

[chameleon54]

Theres no way i would be buying from a seller who demanded my phone number. The process is very simple, The seller lists the item with acurate description, I buy, I pay, seller sends. Transaction completed.  ............Ebay is no different to other internet sites. It is not always a safe place and not all of the people who use the site are what they seem.  After all, I,m a chameleon and I make no secret of the fact that sometimes I change my colours to suit the circumstances.  As in life and other internet sites, there are some real nut jobs out there. I,m not handing them my phone number, just because they demand it.

I have probably completed 15,000-20,000 transactions on ebay and can count the number of times I have needed to phone someone on one hand.

[lizzyamelia]

The only time it is ever appropriate for a buyer to demand a phone number is if they use a courier service as they require this info.

[domino-710]

---

@tech4pcs wrote:

I want to be able to require buyers to provide a phone number. I've gone into revise an item however I cannot see anywhere that I can set this. Can someone point me in the right direction? Or is it something that is set in paypal and not ebay?

---

Why would I supply you my telephone number - I'm almost taken.

[allfixelectrical]

We prefer to receive a phone number because there are often cases where it is easier to contact someone by phone if there is a problem with the order, address details or other similar information. In our field we also sometimes call to discuss a buyers purchase in relation to specific spare parts if we feel that they may have made an error in selection based on our 38years experience in the appliance repair industry.

We don't use those phone numbers for any sort of marketing or pass them onto any third party.

It is ebay who force the provision of a phone number if the option to provide a phone number is selected.

Unfortunately if that option is not selected, then unless it has been changed recently, ebay don't provide any phone numbers in checkout whatsoever, even if a buyer has set their phone number to be visible.

On average we would contact at least one customer per week and to date I have not had one person complain about being called for the reasons we use that for.

I have completed nearly 100,000 transactions on the ebay platform with sales of several hundreds of thousands of items.

I also run a Shopify store and that platform has the three options of no phone number required, phone number optional or phone number required.

How hard should it be for ebay to provide the same options?

[chameleon54]

Fair enough. I MIGHT trust a seller with 54,000 + feedbacks ( maybe )....????   if I was buying a very specific item such as the ones you sell, but I wouldnt be handing it out to a seller with less than 100 feedbacks. If the link in the settings takes a seller direct to the phone number in the buyers account details, it still wouldnt work for me. My phone number is listed as 111 1111 111, so thats not going to be much use to anyone.

OK maybe I,m a bit paranoid or old fashioned, but I simply dont want my private contact details splashed all over the internet for anyone to access..

[digital*ghost]

---

@chameleon54 wrote:

Fair enough. I MIGHT trust a seller with 54,000 + feedbacks ( maybe )....????   if I was buying a very specific item such as the ones you sell, but I wouldnt be handing it out to a seller with less than 100 feedbacks.

---

No offense intended by this post, I don't mean for my chagrin to come across as criticism directed specifically or solely to you and your post, it's just the one I picked on cos I know think you won't take it personally 😛 but I find it kinda interesting there are so many buyers who want to enter into a financial contract with a seller (one that generally carries more risk for sellers than it does buyers, with regards to most online payment methods) but baulk at supplying proper contact details to them. 

Some of my pet irks as a seller are things like deliberately fake delivery info (names, phone numbers, etc), it doesn't exactly inspire much confidence in the buyer TBH, and I would be well within my rights to cancel transactions with buyers who do such things (and report them to eBay for false contact details). The silly thing is, 99% of the time I have direct access to the correct details, so I don't know why they even bother.

I have an older, el cheapo phone which gets $5 credit per year to keep the sim card active and allow the phone to receive calls. The number is used exclusively for online stuff, while my personal number isn't given out to anyone I don't know personally. Honestly, considering it is a financial contract, I don't think a phone number is too much to ask (note: I do not require phone numbers from my buyers, but having to provide one wouldn't make me walk away from a purchase).