eBay

greentea_734 · ‎11-05-2018

In the "sent" message to a seller, I notice that eBay attaches a "Get to know the buyer" section, in which my city is shown. Is there a way to keep my location private? I mostly use another shipping address in a different city since I'm not usually at my home city nowadays, and I don't want any seller to know my home city. Is it possible?

mudshark61369 · ‎11-05-2018

@greentea_734,

The city you live in that is shown on messages, is the one you registered with and set as the default address when you joined eBay. If you go to your Account add a different address and make it your default address, that is the city that will be displayed in the messages. You can change addresses when you go to check out, but do not forget to do that if you are not having items shipped there.

If you are living in this country at present, you might want to change your address and country to reflect that, because your feedback profile page shows the country you registered with.

The get to know the buyer info is very benign. Only your user ID is given, besides the city you have registered with. The other info is general about your account, when you registered and things any member who has your user ID can find. Your name is not given, no specific address, or other contact info is available until you actually buy from the seller.

"THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS FOOLPROOF, BECAUSE FOOLS ARE SO DARNED INGENIOUS!" (unknown)

pburn · ‎11-05-2018

I'm lost. What is it you think the seller might do with your member id and your home city?

Your home city obviously comes from your registration address--not your primary shipping address. I suppose you could try changing that; however, I'm not sure whether that violates any eBay policies. You'd have to research that.

greentea_734 · ‎11-05-2018

Well, I'm a new eBayer and I'm afraid sellers might discriminate buyers from outside the US. I travel frequently between the US and Canada, and most stuffs are cheaper here than in Canada, so I often get them ship to my US office address. I'm worried that sellers might think that since I'm sometimes out of the country for weeks at a time, they could send low quality goods without me being there to inspect and return damaged goods in the grace period. Of course, I can still file a complaint after having received and inspected the shipment, but it might be too much hassle. Maybe, I'm just being too paranoid. 🙂

7606dennis · ‎11-05-2018

Well it is the seller's right to choose not to sell internationally. I'm not sure that can actually called discrimination. Of course, since you are using a US shipping address and are actually taking possession of the goods in the US I don't see a problem. However, I suppose there are those that harbor ill will for our Canadian neighbors.

"It is an intelligent man that is aware of his own ignorance."

lintbrush* · ‎11-05-2018

You are being a bit paranoid

I have no idea how long it takes for you to open your packages to inspect, but reputable sellers aren't in the habit if sending low quality goods (unless that's what you're buying).

As a seller, I like to hear from buyers with issues as soon as possible rather than a month later (that makes me suspicious of them).

You could have dual citizenship. You could be a Canadian snowbird. It matters not to me as long as your item gets delivered to the address provided. Some sellers do not sell internationally and may be cautioius thinking you use a re-shipper and refuse you because they don't understand re-shippers, but most sales should go through without the need for messages anyway.

castlemagicmemories · ‎11-05-2018

@greentea_734 wrote:
Well, I'm a new eBayer and I'm afraid sellers might discriminate buyers from outside the US. I travel frequently between the US and Canada, and most stuffs are cheaper here than in Canada, so I often get them ship to my US office address. I'm worried that sellers might think that since I'm sometimes out of the country for weeks at a time, they could send low quality goods without me being there to inspect and return damaged goods in the grace period. Of course, I can still file a complaint after having received and inspected the shipment, but it might be too much hassle. Maybe, I'm just being too paranoid. 🙂

To explain, it has nothing to do with discrimination and is decided before the item is listed. The seller decides where he is comfortable shipping and you will see that on the listing. If they ship to your location, they ship to your location. If they don't, they don't.

pburn · ‎11-05-2018

@greentea_734 wrote:
Well, I'm a new eBayer and I'm afraid sellers might discriminate buyers from outside the US. I travel frequently between the US and Canada, and most stuffs are cheaper here than in Canada, so I often get them ship to my US office address. I'm worried that sellers might think that since I'm sometimes out of the country for weeks at a time, they could send low quality goods without me being there to inspect and return damaged goods in the grace period. Of course, I can still file a complaint after having received and inspected the shipment, but it might be too much hassle. Maybe, I'm just being too paranoid. 🙂

Oh, my goodness! I thought maybe you were afraid they'd drive by your house and throw trash in your yard or something like that! LOL!

I personally think it's fine to have items shipped to your U.S. office. Other than changing your "registration address" in your eBay account--and maybe even your PayPal account--I'm not sure how you'll avoid having a seller see your Canadian address at some point.

It also sets my teeth on edge to have eBay send out those warm, fuzzy, "Get to know your buyer" emails in the first place. I don't really want/need to have my sellers get to know me. It kinda creeps me out. If there's a seller I might manage to somehow connect with (which has not happened in the twenty years I've been a member), we can contact each other via eBay messaging if and when we want.