@golfingaddict wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@golfingaddict wrote:
Hi Alan, Trinton, Heidi, Doug, Brian, Tyler and all.
I have a question about the new push that is trying to spot "off ebay transactions" in email.
I frequently get "offers" from potential buyers that ask for a price/combination of something similar to what I am selling. Some of the offers are quite pushy and many of them end with 'send me an invoice'
Of course, I am not about to endanger my selling account on ebay by accepting these things or sending an invoice but I am curious about one thing. In the past, it was not allowed to send ebay sellers "best offers" unless best offer is listed in the listing. Now it seems that I get them all the time. Frankly, if I wanted to accept offers, I would add that to my listing. (please no speeches about increasing sales or velocity by accepting offers) I do not want to entertain offers and I do not want to fend off these requests and in particular I do not want to be accused of doing something untoward. Asking me to send an invoice certainly fits the bill of wrongdoing by the buyer, in my opinion and could actually be used as a set up by ebay or a competitor.
I do not want accusatory emails by big brother ebay that picks up these attempts, particulary since they are coming from the buyers and not by me. I also do not want these attempts at "best offers" when I do not have it listed in my ads.
I hate to ignore these emails but I also do not want to get in hot water from the "bots" or get warnings that I am doing something wrong.
what do you think?
What is the process that ebay is using to deter buyers from these types of offers
Hey @golfingaddict happy to give you some direction on how to address these requests. I think that the best option is to work up a template response to reply to these requests. Thank them for their interest and explain that while you are unable to accept their offer, you do hope they find something in your listings that meets their needs. It can be short and polite and ensure that you are not spending an excessive amount of time on offers you are not interested in.
Additionally, you can set up your listings to automatically decline any best offer under a certain price. This will help minimize any offers you would not take into consideration.
Any time that either party say something that could potentially be a request to take a transaction off of eBay, both parties will be educated about our stance on this. We take this matter very seriously, so I understand the message can come across stern. Rest assured, as long as you are not selling or buying items off of the site, you will have nothing to worry about and these messages can be passed over. As a best practice, I do recommend that you reply to any requests that a buyer makes, and particularly respond to the requests that could be considered solicitations of off site sales. This will ensure we can see you refused the request if a review is needed.
Trinton, I'm sorry, but did you really read my post?
I do not have best offer enabled, therefore there is nothing to set up to auto decline.
And quite frankly, it is insulting to think that I need a warning from ebay because some (non) buyer makes an offer to "take it off ebay"
I do not need to be educated about emailing buyers, I need this practice to stop.
Accusing me of wrongdoing because a buyer makes an offer to take it off ebay is ludicrous. Typical..... always blaming the seller for anyting that goes wrong.
Sorry I asked.
I apologize for my misunderstanding and want to try to address these concerns more directly. I appreciate your feedback about how these emails come across and will make sure this sentiment is shared with the appropriate teams. It is a subject that we want to take extra care to address when there may be concerns and while you I know that you are not asking to take these transactions off the site, we do reach out to both parties to reiterate our stance on this. We would not be blaming you, only making sure that our position on this is clear to everyone involved. You would not have any negative repercussions if you did not take any action that violated our policies.
Also, I am sorry I did not respond to the last question in your original post about what we are doing to deter buyers from making these requests. When we identify an off eBay sale has been requested, we investigate and take appropriate action. While the action taken will vary depending on the violation, it can include a restriction or permanent loss of buying priveleges. If there is ever a time you receive a request like this that you feel was not caught by our automated filters and should be reviewed in more detail, you can touch base with our customer service team to have this investigated. We'll investigate for appropriate action and work to improve our filters if something was missed!
I hope this more fully addresses your concerns and I apologize again I misread your first post.
