Why can one not block a seller?

[msampxyz]

What is eBay's logic behind not allowing one to block sellers? there are a couple of particularly annoying sellers that buy/sell the same sort of stuff i do, and i don't want to see their listings. ever. i'd also like to be able to block all listings from China - i buy a lot of action figures, and 99.999etc % of the ones advertised from China are bootleg.

i don't want to have to wade through listings i have no use for - let me block them!

[*coins]

Hi, @msampxyz.

To block foreign sellers, do an Advanced search, and go down to the 'location' section, and click 'located in United States.'

[missjen831]

You can “exclude” a seller from your search.....that’s the closest thing to blocking right now.

[woodland_gnome]

Sellers need to be able to block particular buyers because selling is a passive affair--absent the ability to block the seller gets who comes, while the buyer can decide whether or not to skip that seller before buying.

Buyers CAN exclude a list of sellers from search results, which is what most people who complain about the lack of a Blocked Seller List really want.  On Advanced Search (or from the left column of a search result) you can block the items from up to 10 sellers at a time from the search results by changing the line where you "Incude" a list of sellers to "Exclude".  You can then save the search results and use them as the basis for future searches where you want to exclude those sellers (changing keywords and other filters as needed), and you can save several searches with different lists of up to 10 sellers each to cover different categories, subcategories etc. where those sellers are likely to be selling.

[msampxyz]

thanks for the replies, but i rarely if ever use 'advanced search', and don't really want the hassle of having to when i just want to poke around seeing what's available.

there's one seller who always pops up in my simple searches who has a lot of cool stuff, but a 3-4 week wait before shipping, so i'd rather not see his stuff. creating and saving a special advanced search just to exclude him seems kinda silly. imho, it 'ought' to be as simple as clicking the seller and clicking 'never show results from this seller' or some such. but, that's just my opinion, and apparently either is not the majority view, or is not implemented by ebay for some reason i don't see yet. "opinions are like etc..."

[thatsallfolks]

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@msampxyz wrote:

thanks for the replies, but i rarely if ever use 'advanced search', and don't really want the hassle of having to when i just want to poke around seeing what's available.

there's one seller who always pops up in my simple searches who has a lot of cool stuff, but a 3-4 week wait before shipping, so i'd rather not see his stuff. creating and saving a special advanced search just to exclude him seems kinda silly. imho, it 'ought' to be as simple as clicking the seller and clicking 'never show results from this seller' or some such. but, that's just my opinion, and apparently either is not the majority view, or is not implemented by ebay for some reason i don't see yet. "opinions are like etc..."

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Yes, we've been asking for that feature for more than a decade. From an IT perspective, a blocked seller list would add a much greater load to the system than a blocked buyer list. Maybe that's why they're not doing it, or maybe it's because the decision-makers don't use the site and don't understand why people want it.

[doortek]

If you don't want to use the advanced settings and saved searches ( I save them on my computer desktop in a folder ), or the more simple "Item Location" in the left column of every search page, you will have to wait like the rest of us...  🙂

There are over 170 Million eBay members from at least over 100 countries, so any software changes are slow to evolve. Having talked to several higher ranking eBay employees, the ability to block sellers appears to be a wanted change, but it does not happen overnight... and typically not 'overyear'. Often enough, just maintaining the present resources available appears to be a strain.

The time frame for the Seller with the "cool stuff" is estimated by eBay as an average that the Seller can change in their settings by how they ship. We have Asian sellers that deliver slow mail in two weeks and others that require two months (or more). In comparison to USA domestic shipping costs, upgrading to ePacket, if offered, is cheap in comparison. That said, for the fast shipping sellers, typically those that ship their own sales, we don't find any difference in time delivery between slow mail and ePacket, so your mileage may vary. A bit off topic, what ePacket does do, is provide tracking... you can view when item actually shipped, and usually, any holdup is with departing and incoming Customs.

[woodland_gnome]

If you don't use the tools that eBay provides to do EXACTLY what you say you want, don't expect them to improve those tools to make it easier for you.

[doortek]

Maybe "the decision-makers" have concluded that eventually a buyer will take a chance and buy from a foreign seller... after all, domestic sellers are selling the same items at a much higher price; partially from the higher shipping costs.

For us, blocking a seller, foreign or domestic, is because they are a seller of fake items, not as advertised, a pain to deal with, etc. and not where they are located. That said, Asian and Indian sellers do belong to groups, cartels if you will; over 40 with one India group so far from the return address on packages. Personally, I cannot keep them all straight when their ID's all end with "tools," "gems," etc. Leaving them a negative as a bad seller typically blocks them because they block us from bidding. 🙂

[thatsallfolks]

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@doortek wrote:

Having talked to several higher ranking eBay employees, the ability to block sellers appears to be a wanted change, but it does not happen overnight... and typically not 'overyear'.

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There was a post on the pre-Lithium forums by a member who had attended a Q&A with top executives about 12 years ago. When that person asked for a "blocked seller list", the executive handling the questions actually burst out laughing.

IMO, when they want our opinion, they will give it to us.

[airsheep]

For me, a useful feature of blocking would be the ability to block any seller who doesn't ship to my location.  One of my last purchases was vitamins for my cats, but half the sellers in my searches didn't ship to HI!

[castlemagicmemories]

Because the buyer has the right to buy from whomever they want, deciding whom to buy from is part of the buyer's due diligence.

Because the seller does not have the opportunity to decide if they want to sell to you without the Blocked Buyer List, they have that to enable that decision.

This actually conforms to the law of the land; possibly you have seen signs, no shirt, no shoes, no service.  Or we reserve the right to refuse service to anyone.

I'm a buyer.

[7606dennis]

Unfortunately, eBay has, on more than one occasion, decided what to display in search results.  I'm not sure I would want to give them anymore reason to leave out other listings.  Personally, I use a bio-mechanical method to record sellers from whom I do not wish to do business with.  I keep that close to my computer for easy reference.

[thatsallfolks]

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@castlemagicmemories wrote:

Because the buyer has the right to buy from whomever they want, deciding whom to buy from is part of the buyer's due diligence. 

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True, but once I've done my due diligence on a seller, I'd prefer not to have to pick through my search results like a mine field, trying to avoid the ones I've already decided not to buy from. It's 2018; having to keep a paper list of sellers I won't do business with is archaic.

[ed8108]

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@thatsallfolks There was a post on the pre-Lithium forums by a member who had attended a Q&A with top executives about 12 years ago. When that person asked for a "blocked seller list", the executive handling the questions actually burst out laughing.

Very inappropriate exec public behavior, demonstrating how little that opinion is valued.

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