jonathanbrightlight Volunteer Community Mentor
TL;DR: When buyers are added to a seller's Blocked Buyer List (BBL), messages from that buyer are blocked and the seller has zero control. Pain point since Summer 2023 when eBay made an unannounced change that is still catching buyers and sellers in bad situations.
Straight off the bat, to those who think the setting under Buyer Rules on the Buyer Management page can control this: you are wrong. The setting that says, "Don't allow blocked buyers to contact me," applies exclusively to Buyer Requirement settings (e.g., unpaid items, primary shipping address, number of items purchased in 10 days). It has zero impact on whether a member on your Blocked Buyer List can contact you.
All messages from members on your BBL are blocked. Full stop. Note the bold text on the BBL page:
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HISTORY:
eBay said June 28 2023 the BBL / message block settings were not changing. Read posts #7-10 here:
Seller: If you block from your buyer requirements page (blocked buyer list), will the same stricter message block apply or does that only happen if you block through the link in M2M messaging?
eBay: To ensure this message block applies, you will want to report through the message only, as the buyer requirements page will function the same.
Fast forward to Sept 3 2023 and everything changed. Unannounced! Causing problems for buyers and sellers.
We first discovered the unannounced change when a seller came to Community with a problem here:
kyle@ebay said at the time, "This was changed due to overwhelming feedback over the years that blocking a buyer and then needing an extra step to block their messages was redundant."
eBay took control away from professional sellers because of some whiners that can't deal with customers in a business where customer service is paramount and dealing with difficult people comes with the territory.
Those sellers were too upset they had to check a separate box to block messages (a one time setting adjustment) after adding buyers to their BBL.
While I do admit it's nice to not see so many sellers complaining about buyers being able to message after they were blocked, eBay handled this change in the worst way by taking the choice out of sellers' hands. What eBay could/should have done was change the default message block setting with 2 weeks notice for sellers to 'opt out' of a forced message block on their account, similar to what they did when they forced passing on shipping discounts last year.
PRESENT DAY (what we've been fighting for, for nearly two years!, thanks for sticking with us kyle@ebay ) :
At this stage, factoring in changes already made, I think eBay should keep the BBL message block separate from the buyer requirements message block by adding a new setting.
Add a check box on the actual BBL page above the BBL list to block communications with people on the BBL, checked by default, but with the option to uncheck.
That way sellers wanting to block comms from BBL but wanting to allow comms from, say, purchased too many items in 10 days, the seller can do that. The setting is checked by default for those who think it's redundant, but can be unchecked by sellers that value their customer service opportunities and want to allow communication.
Of course you'll get some sellers saying it's redundant to have to uncheck a message block setting in 2 places. Seriously, you can't please everyone, but the current process where choice was removed from sellers entirely is definitely not working for sellers or buyers.
Some will make the argument allowing comms from BBLers with a current transaction is the way to go. While that would be better than what we have now, it would also bring back the initial problem the whiners were whining about: for them, blocked is blocked and they don't want messages despite a current transaction.
Which means eBay should make the change, get this right, and only have to do it once:
Messages from BBLers entirely on or entirely off, in the seller's control.
The only acceptable variation would be an additional layer of control: let sellers pick if they want to allow BBL messages for recent transactions only while blocking the rest, but make sure sellers retain the option to allow all or block all even if the 'recent transaction' option is offered. I don't think the extra layer is necessary, but it wouldn't hurt anything, and some sellers may want that option.
Important: There should be a notification on the buyer's side to let them know their message cannot be sent due to the block. Too many problems are resulting from buyers thinking sellers are receiving their messages and ignoring them resulting in negative feedback and worse. eBay notifies buyers they can't make a purchase when they are blocked, and eBay notifies buyers they can't message a seller when the seller's settings block messages due to buyer requirements, so why can't the same be done when a buyer is blocked by the BBL? Back when the buyer requirements block used to control whether BBL-ers could send a message, buyers were notified if they were blocked from sending a message.
IN PRACTICE:
What happens when Buyer is on Seller's Blocked Buyer List and messages are sent?
- Seller can message Buyer and it will go through as normal. If Buyer replies, Seller will not see it.
- Buyer can message seller and on Buyer's end it appears to go through as normal, but Seller will not receive it and Buyer will think Seller is ignoring them even though Seller has no idea messages were sent. Messages will appear in sender's messages folder, but not in recipient's messages folder.
- If Seller unblocks Buyer, messages sent during the duration of the block remain as they are; Seller will not receive them after unblocking.
- If Buyer is also a seller and Seller is also on Buyer's blocked list then neither party's messages will go through to each other, even though the messages will still appear in the sender's messages folder.
PRESS:
Ecommercebytes - Buyers 'Ghosting' Sellers May be eBay's Fault
Value Added Resource - eBay Changes Blocked Buyer List Messaging
Edit: typo
@gurlcat wrote:You know I totally agree with returning control of this back to the sellers, but regarding your own current situation, wouldn't you continue to see that buyer's messages even as a blocked buyer, because you have a current transaction with them? Or does the item's delivery end what eBay considers a current transaction?
Having a current transaction does not affect message visibility when blocked anymore, and hasn’t since the current system was put into place as far as I know.
