CAN A SELLER REFUSE TO SELL TO A BUYER THAT HAS A LOW # OF TRANSACTIONS?

[riccon-0]

I SENT A QUESTION TO A SELLER ON A LISTED ITEM, AND HE DID NOT RESPOND TO MY QUESTION.  RATHER, HE POINTED OUT TO HIS “TEXT” IN HIS LISTING THAT REQUIRES A BUYER HAVE A MINIMUM OF “50 POINTS”.  I ASSUME THAT MEANS THE TOTAL # OF TRANSACTION HISTORY.  I HAVE 29, AND 100% POSITIVE FEEDBACK, PAY QUICKLY, AND MY MONEY IS THE SAME COLOR AS ANYONE ELSES.  CAN THIS SELLER DO THIS, REFUSE TO SELL TO ME?  IS THIS A VIOLATION OF E-BAYS SELLERS POLICIES?  SHOULD I REPORT THIS TO E-BAY?

[fashunu4eeuh · Accepted solution]

Yes, your money is as green as anyone else’s. In this case i would use it to vote with my pocketbook, finding another seller—it is his loss! Sellers like this give us all a bad name. However, with that said, a seller does indeed have a right not to sell to someone, even if his reasoning is flawed. Ebay ultimately cannot force a seller to complete a transaction just like they cannot force a non-paying buyer to remit. There are rules in place to penalize sellers who cancel transactions. And a buyer can get a strike on his account for failure to pay. But no rules exist that a seller must sell to anyone or everyone.

I would not bother or waste my time in attempting to report him. There isnt a rule broken here, but sellers like this, sadly one whose apparently been burned by a few bad buyers, won’t last for long on here. Ebay doesn't have any tolerance for sellers who create poor buying experiences. I am very sorry you had this happen to you. There are many wonderful sellers here who would be over-joyed to have your business. Please don’t let this one seller sour you on shopping here.

[calntom]

@fashunu4eeuh

Well said. 

[luckythewinner]

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@riccon-0 wrote:

I SENT A QUESTION TO A SELLER ON A LISTED ITEM, AND HE DID NOT RESPOND TO MY QUESTION.  RATHER, HE POINTED OUT TO HIS “TEXT” IN HIS LISTING THAT REQUIRES A BUYER HAVE A MINIMUM OF “50 POINTS”.  I ASSUME THAT MEANS THE TOTAL # OF TRANSACTION HISTORY.  I HAVE 29, AND 100% POSITIVE FEEDBACK, PAY QUICKLY, AND MY MONEY IS THE SAME COLOR AS ANYONE ELSES.  CAN THIS SELLER DO THIS, REFUSE TO SELL TO ME?  IS THIS A VIOLATION OF E-BAYS SELLERS POLICIES?  SHOULD I REPORT THIS TO E-BAY?

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eBay cannot force a seller to ship an item, just as eBay cannot force a buyer to pay for an item.  The seller can, in the strictest sense, refuse to sell to you because he is capable of refusing to ship the item. 

But to put a finer point on it, now that you have asked him a question and indicated that you want to buy but do not meet is "criteria", he could also put you on his blocked list and prevent you from buying.

Should you report him for being a bad seller with a listing that technically violates policy? There are millions of those listings here, so I doubt it will accomplish much.

Just curious - say you did report him and eBay did force him to change his listings. Would it make you feel any better knowing that he was still out there, but without an obvious red flag to warn buyers? 

[lewisburggold]

Just find another seller.  Were pretty sure there is nothing you can do.  Best regards

[turquoisetulips]

I SENT A QUESTION TO A SELLER ON A LISTED ITEM, AND HE DID NOT RESPOND TO MY QUESTION.  RATHER, HE POINTED OUT TO HIS “TEXT” IN HIS LISTING THAT REQUIRES A BUYER HAVE A MINIMUM OF “50 POINTS”.  I ASSUME THAT MEANS THE TOTAL # OF TRANSACTION HISTORY.  I HAVE 29, AND 100% POSITIVE FEEDBACK, PAY QUICKLY, AND MY MONEY IS THE SAME COLOR AS ANYONE ELSES.  CAN THIS SELLER DO THIS, REFUSE TO SELL TO ME?  IS THIS A VIOLATION OF E-BAYS SELLERS POLICIES?  SHOULD I REPORT THIS TO E-BAY? riccon- op - unquote ------------------

See this is the type of overly paranoid seller who really should not be dealing with the public . He or she probably may even block you for even attempting to make a purchase  from them lol . I would certainly take the advice you've already been given  and find another seller . There are many others who do have the nerve  to actually sell their items. Good grief ,, and I THOUGHT  I'd heard everything . tulips 

[turquoisetulips]

 Sellers like this give us all a bad name- fashunu4eeh  to op --  unquote -----------------------

Exactly . The op has 100 % positive feedback  but the seller is declining his business ? The seller  probably has blocked the op or will soon just out of an irrational fear  . IMO , if a seller has this much distrust  in people  then they're  in the wrong business . tulips 

[kiraalt]

A seller can set certain buyer requirements in regards to prospective buyers.   One of the criteria you can set is feedback score.   Doesn't seem to be against Ebay policy.  This is likely what your seller has done.   50 does seem high - we all started at 0 !  The seller has likely been burned in the past and is just being overly cautious in regards to new buyers.   I agree - just move on to another seller who would be happy to have your business. 

[luckythewinner]

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@kiraalt wrote:

A seller can set certain buyer requirements in regards to prospective buyers.   One of the criteria you can set is feedback score.  

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I believe the only setting in a seller's buyer requirements that relates to feedback score is to block buyers with negative scores. I do not believe a seller could set it to 50 even if he wanted to.

[kiraalt]

My apologies.  You are correct.  You can only set it for negative values.   At first it looked to me like you could change the number to anything you wanted. 

[castlemagicmemories]

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@turquoisetulips wrote:

 Sellers like this give us all a bad name- fashunu4eeh  to op --  unquote -----------------------

Exactly . The op has 100 % positive feedback  but the seller is declining his business ? The seller  probably has blocked the op or will soon just out of an irrational fear  . IMO , if a seller has this much distrust  in people  then they're  in the wrong business . tulips 

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All buyers have 100% feedback.  It has been that way since 2008, when Ebay took away the seller's ability to leave a neg for a buyer.  Now they can leave a negative comment in the positive format, but that is a violation and buyer can call CS, get the comment removed, the seller receives a violation.

[riccon-0]

Thanks, good advice. He certainly is not going to get my business even when I get to 50 transactions. It just P me off, mostly because if he had read my feedback it would have been clear I’m a very good buyer and pay quickly. His response was flippant and terse, which makes me want to do something like report him. But I’ll move on, plenty of other options to buy vacuum tubes for my vintage stereo equipment.

[calntom]

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@castlemagicmemories wrote:

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@turquoisetulips wrote:

 Sellers like this give us all a bad name- fashunu4eeh  to op --  unquote -----------------------

Exactly . The op has 100 % positive feedback  but the seller is declining his business ? The seller  probably has blocked the op or will soon just out of an irrational fear  . IMO , if a seller has this much distrust  in people  then they're  in the wrong business . tulips 

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All buyers have 100% feedback.  It has been that way since 2008, when Ebay took away the seller's ability to leave a neg for a buyer.  Now they can leave a negative comment in the positive format, but that is a violation and buyer can call CS, get the comment removed, the seller receives a violation.

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What exactly is a violation? How does that effect a seller?

I understand what a defect is for OOS and failure to close a case and ebay steps in.

What is a violation?

[percgrabbe-0]

just buy from him and when he refuses to sell to you leave him a big fat negative feedback

[c.b.]

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@percgrabbe-0 wrote:

just buy from him and when he refuses to sell to you leave him a big fat negative feedback

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haha!  and THEN he WILL get dinged by ebay.  😛