Buyer Sent Me An Unsolicited Link
I'm not sure if I have this in the right spot.
After a buyer messaged today telling me thank you after she got her purchase, we exchanged a couple of friendly messages and I gave her a coupon in case she wanted to buy from me again. She had mentioned she was going to share my store with her friends, so I was hoping she would provide that coupon to them as well.
The buyer then responded by attempting to send me a link to her husband's website who she said offers medical services. This was completely unsolicited and looking back i think her compliments were setting me up so she could advertise this other business. She knows the rules and attempted to circumvent by placing spaces between the parts of the URL. I immediately blocked her and reported her for a policy violation. Is there anything more I need to do? Do I need to hang on to the messages so eBay can see them or I can I safely delete?
How someone could be so stupid. I don't want my store in jeopardy over someone else's stupidity. It makes me angry.
babyers88
·10 months ago"Do I need to hang on to the messages so eBay can see them or I can I safely delete?"
No such thing as delete on ebay, all that does is move it to another folder so it's not in your face anymore.
Also if this was sent AFTER the sale, no harm no foul.
the only thing you can delete on ebay is the writing in a item description before it gets published. anything after that is permanent and there is a record of it forever.
don't believe me? go into your messages, there on the left you will see "deleted", Now go in there and see if you can delete the deleted lol, have fun.......
item revisions are saved, pictures are saved, your search history is saved.
everything is mirrrored and there are backups of the backups
and to top that off your phone is listening.......
i'll just stop right there, I forgot my tinfoil hat.
chapeau-noir
·10 months agoEh - some people are always hustling, and obviously this individual was keen on promoting her husband's business. Delete the messages, block her if you will, and forget about it. eBay knee-jerks these messages because don't have the manpower to check each one (and why should they?), and there's a lot of anxiety on their part over taking business off their site, so they just cover their backside by allowing various keywords to trigger automatic warnings. That's all it was, this really is no big deal.
I've had SO much stranger around here.
gurlcat
·10 months agoThis is on my 'Motivation' playlist (for sorting/photographing, general cleaning, etc.)
Eve-ry day I'm hust-l-in', eve-ry day I'm hust-l-in ...... Sometimes I just start singing it to myself, drives my teenager batty with embarrassment. 😆
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JU9TouRnO84&list=RDJU9TouRnO84&start_radio=1
gurlcat
·10 months agoWhat else did she say in the message (the one containing the link)? Like what reason did she give for including the link?
hotwheelsbum
·10 months agoOverreaction. You 2 were being friendly, cordial. Her Husbands business, "company", is probably huge part of their life. She probably felt comfortable enough to share this with you. Possibly trying to get you in Amway style also pf course, of which you could have ignored, but it was all probably done without nefarious intent.
And you took it this way??? Reported for Policy Violations out of Anger?
C'mon. Seriously......
christworks
OP10 months agoFirst, not an overreaction. It is against policy to send unsolicited offers like that.
Second, eBay detected it as shortly after I got a notification warning from eBay about not taking sales off site. This is my fulltime job. I do this because it lets me care for my 86 year old mother who has dementia. I do not want even the appearance of me trying to do anything wrong. So, no, not an overreaction.
gurlcat
·10 months ago@christworks Did you see my ^ question? ^ I'm hoping to gain a clearer understanding of what happened rather than give a knee jerk reaction.
christworks
OP10 months ago@gurlcat I sent you a message with more.
gurlcat
·10 months agoIt's your right to report policy violations if you want, but this part: "i think her compliments were setting me up so she could advertise this other business" -is a bit ..... I don't know what the word is.
Sounds like you exchanged a number of messages before she got the idea to tell you about her husband's wellness wares, in case you might be interested. It's hard to imagine that was the goal starting with her writing to thank and praise you for your items. No business would do very well with an advertisement strategy so inefficient. And she probably never did it before because she would have gotten that warning.
chapeau-noir
·10 months agoSounds like she has done it before: "She knows the rules and attempted to circumvent by placing spaces between the parts of the URL." But apparently it still tripped the warning...which makes me wonder if it tripped the warning for her, too.
If you're concerned, then the best remedy for this is exactly what you did @christworks. I believe you can archive the messages if you want (I haven't done it myself).
christworks
OP10 months agoYou are right @gurlcat, that may not have been her goal per se but, as @chapeau-noir said, based on the fact she stated she was breaking the URL up so eBay would not detect it, it makes me think this is something she has done before. For all we know, this buyer has a selling account on eBay as well, and this was her way of directing business offsite.
Thank you all for the feedback.
jonathanbrightlight
·10 months agoYou’re not in any danger. She might be, but someone sending you a link isn’t an issue.