Offers to Buy outside Ebay !

[lmaureen]

I received a 'warning' from Ebay about operating outside of Ebays rules. 

What I did .

I contacted a seller who sells chocolates and asked him if he would ship to a friend out of the USA.  I sent the address so he could advise if he would in fact ship to that country. I had absolutely no intention of buying outside of Ebay. I know some sellers specify that they will not ship to certain countries for what ever reason. We [the seller and I} agreed to add the address to my Paypal account and he would ship to a third party. so to speak. I have had the experience where a seller refused to ship to a third party so I was avoiding a recurrence . Nowhere in my correspondence did I ask for the   transaction to take place outside of EBay . However Ebay has sent me a very stern warning about suspending my activity etc. because I broke their rules. How on earth did I break any rule ..I was simply ensuring the seller would in fact ship to a third party outside of his and my country of residence. I live out of the USA and if he sent them here then I shipped to her it would be double postage and a longer time  for her to receive it . I simply added her address  to my Paypal account but I wanted him to not mistakenly send the chocolates to me so I thought if he saw the name he would ensure the chocolates were sent to the correct person and not to the person paying for the item. 

How did I break Ebays rules ? Please explain, if you can.