SELLERS BEWARE! If someone threatens violence against you on E-Bay, E-Bay says that doesn't violate any policies.
Summary: mrfindit recounted an incident where another seller on eBay sent them threatening and defamatory messages, accusing them of being a child molester and threatening to expose their address. They reported the issue to eBay but were dissatisfied with the response, as eBay found the content not in violation of their policies. yeswayrecords inquired about the reporting process, while oldwestgold suggested blocking the user and advised not to rely on eBay for support in such matters.
I had some nutso seller on E-Bay contact me through items I was selling on E-Bay. They sent messages through multiple items calling me a pedophile and child molester and using all kinds of foul language. Apparently because I sell toys on E-Bay (which children can't even have E-Bay accounts) that makes me a child molester (they said this).
They also said they were going to dox me and send people to my house to "handle" me.
I reported this to E-bay and blocked this person. I just got a determination back from E-Bay on the report and it says that after investigating, E-Bay didn't find the content to be in violation of their policies. It says the determination was made by a Customer Service Agent (so a live person).
I would love to hear an explanation from E-Bay on how this doesn't violate several different policies. So I guess E-Bay is okay with unhinged people threatening violence or death or against you! They don't take it seriously at all!
oldwestgold
·1 month agoMy best advice is to block them, as you have, and move on. Hot air is cheap. PS: Never believe eBay will have your back.
yeswayrecords
·1 month agoDid you report the buyer or just the transaction?
mrfindit
OP1 month agoIt was another seller on E-Bay, not a buyer. They went to my items for sell, clicked on message seller, and then sent messages to me through E-Bay's messaging system. They did this on a couple of listings.
I used the reporting feature to report a user. I believe the sub-option was to select abusive communication or abuse of the communication system, or something like that. You have to enter their E-Bay user ID, explain what happened, and then I included screen shots of the messages in my inbox (which an E-Bay CSR should have access to all the messages in your inbox).
There should be zero tolerance for defamation (calling me a pedo, predator, and child molester in three different messages), but maybe that isn't severe enough to close an account (warning, one week suspension , or some other action). But certainly there should be zero tolerance for threatening to buy something off me to get my address and then send someone to my house. And maybe that does warrant some sort of suspension or ban. I certainly don't agree that the conduct didn't violate any E-Bay policies, as E-Bay's "investigation" concluded.