Confusion over contact information policy

[machineheadquarters]

I was messing with the eBay phone app and noticed that with some sellers, you can click on their user name and the app asks you if you want to phone the seller?  when you select this option, it displays the sellers telephone number.

I always thought that to publish your contact information, including a telephone number was strictly against policy. Was there a change to this rule?

[shipscript]

A seller can set the contact info in the "ask seller a question" area so that the buyer can phone the seller prior to purchase. This is typically a need for buyers and sellers of vehicles and capital equipment.

Additionally, a buyer can phone a seller after purchase if the seller has provided that option:

https://www.ebay.com/help/buying/resolving-issues-sellers/contacting-seller?id=4021

Click the "edit" option on this page to see that a phone number can be provided before and/or after purchase. It is a global setting rather than a per-listing setting.

https://contact.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ManageBuyerCommunication

[machineheadquarters]

By allowing this, I still wonder the purpose of forbidding a seller from publishing his/her  contact information from the description or photos?

The end result is still the same. A buyer can contact a seller outside of the ebay system thus sidestepping fee's.

Were the rules changed regarding contact information?

[shipscript]

The rules haven't changed, but there are some categories where contact info is required by law and some where it is essential to the transaction. The "contact info" filters allow those to pass through the listing process.

The ban on contact info displayed in the listing is designed to prevent the kind of spoofs that direct the buyer to call to purchase, rather than using the buy button.  We've seen those on scam listings where an email or phone number is prominently displayed in a listing posted to a hijacked account.

Using eBay's contact flow to obtain the phone number eliminates the frontal assault on naive new buyers, and allows seasoned buyers to communicate with the seller.  I believe the intention there is to slow the scam rate.

While taking sales off the eBay platform reduces the fees collected by eBay, the damage to reputation due to the high scam rate of such transactions is probably just as devastating.

[shipscript]

I found the specific categories that allow contact info:

• Classified Ad format listings
• Real estate
• eBay Motors vehicle categories (Boats, Cars & Trucks, Other Vehicles & Trailers, Motorcyles, and Powersports)
• Business & Industrial categories

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/member-behaviour-policies/publishing-contact-information-policy?i...

[machineheadquarters]

I understand what you say, but am still confused why eBay selectively enforces policy, especially when its obvious why the contact information is either mixed  in with the photos, or cleverly hidden in the description to prevent the description "bots" from identifying it.

If contact inf is allowed, there shouldn't be a reason to be sneaky about displaying it.