eBay

beyonderland_0 · ‎10-16-2018

So I am very angry at this point. A few weeks ago I was suspended from ebay for 2 weeks for receiving an offer in my messages. Even though I rejected the offer; ebay still suspended my account. Now that is utter **bleep** in and of itself. Now today I am even angrier. I got an email saying that my bank account has reached zero dollars and now I owe a fee of 15 dollars to my bank. Who charged my bank account? well it was ebay. I received a final value fee of 60 dollars for an item that I didn't even sell. That is purely ridiculous and I have no intention of paying this amount. It doesnt help that ebay customer service is almost impossible of getting ahold. If someone could message me about this that would be great.

myangelandmyprincess · ‎10-17-2018

@emerald40 wrote:
@ersatz_sobriquet wrote:
@emerald40 wrote:
@ersatz_sobriquet wrote:
There's no effort put into telling buyers that there are rules here with consequences and then following through and punishing buyers the same as sellers are punished.
Buyers ask. Asking is not a crime. It is up to the seller to say no.

Why isn't asking a crime the same as saying yes is a crime? The playing field is purposely at this point in time unfair and uneven. I suppose because sales are too important. So the ethics of the situation are thrown out the window.

________________________________________

Because it is not buyers who have to sign a long agreement to sell here.

It is the seller who is held responsible. Same in real life.

When I work retail a buyer can ask me to give him that item for free. That is different than stealing it. Anyone can ask. We do it all the time. But it is up to me to know the rules of my company because I am the one being trained not the buyer, It is up to me to know what is allowed at the company I work.

This isn’t a retail store and the buyer does have rules they have to agree to here just like a seller.

“Birth certificates show that you were born. Death certificates show that you died. Photographs show that you have lived.” -Unknown

castlemagicmemories · ‎10-17-2018

@fern*wood wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@fern*wood wrote:
That is the rule when they decide you are selling items off site. Since you got into trouble before for the same thing, then you would be on notice.

I just got a warning also and am on notice that the next time I will be charged a fvf for the item.   I didn't sell off site and thought my message to the potential buyer was clear, but I guess not. Now I'm afraid to even answer questions.
@fern*wood, if you don't mind sharing, what did you say to your buyer that still resulted in a warning?
My mistake happened because my item sold on CL but ebay assumed I sold it off site due to an earlier message.   I have always listed my large pick up only items in both places and sell on whichever one the buyer finds it on. Well, this time a potential buyer on ebay asked if I would make a deal on a couple of them and if I would meet her somewhere closer to her home.   I wrote to her that I could meet her at (nearby town) if that would help any and also told her to let me know the combined pricing she was thinking so I could revise the listing for her to buy. She only wrote back with sounds good and would let me know.   I never heard anything more from her.

Fast forward about 3 weeks later and I was contacted by a buyer on CL that came to my house and purchased the items so I ended them on ebay. That prompted my warning and probation.   I called and explained but I was still on probation. I understand and have stopped listing any pick up items on ebay so this never happens again. They told me I need to tell the buyer to purchase first before I could answer those questions and then cancel if they didn't like the answers. I explained they could see by the lack of any further messages that buyer had changed their mind and I didn't know their name/number to have done anything off site.

...but just this week I now have another scare. A buyer near me wrote to see if I would meet her, rather than ship, if she bought my item. Before I saw this message the auction ended on its own. I was too scared to write anything but they wrote me again and I told them I couldn't do that.   I really could have done that but was afraid she wouldn't buy as the last one didn't.   I may still be in trouble for all I know.   I hate getting messages now.
@castlemagicmemories
@Anonymous

Oh, I am SO sorry you went through that. Many buyers don't know about the no contact info rule even though it is right on the message form. People don't read. You even see it on the Boards. They THINK they know how things work, but that just makes a mess. I understand they want the buyer to buy first, then you can cancel but I don't think most would go for that because they would want the details ironed out first. They could think they were being manipulated into buying something and then wouldn't be let out.

You have taken steps so that it doesn't happen again, but it still can. Maybe a disclaimer in the listing, Local pick up not available, would deter those who make these proposals but there is sadly no guarantee. I really wish this wasn't happening to you.

@fern*wood

castlemagicmemories · ‎10-17-2018

@fern*wood

(((Hugs to you)))!

a_c_green · ‎10-17-2018

@beyonderland_0 wrote:
Ok. Here is the exact exchange between me and the seller. Please keep in mind this was after I had already been suspended for my previous exchange.

Message: What price would you love to sell this item?Pls reply asap
Me: The current buy it now price is the price I am looking to sell it for.
Message: Thanks for the reply,I will pay $550 including shipping fee via USPS EXPRESS Delivery to Miami Florida. Pls, kindly send me a PayPal money request to my email below for me to make out the payment. (paypal posted here). Kind Regards

Oh, for pity's sake. That's a scam script. I can't believe someone from eBay reviewing that exchange couldn't recognize that verbiage for what it was. Anyone who posts here regularly will recognize that chain of email messages.

The PayPal money request is their standard method of obtaining an off-eBay email address, to which they will then send a completely fake PayPal payment notification, telling them to ship and upload a tracking number (somewhere) before the funds will be deposited in the account. Needless to say, no funds will ever appear.

It's the ultimate in irony here that the OP successfully fended off the scammer, only to be burned by eBay instead.

beyonderland_0 · ‎10-17-2018

Yes. That is exactly what happened. But from what I've heard (And I could be wrong) The usual course of action would be to warn first. Second offense I get suspended and third offense I pay the FVF. But for this one offense all three happened.

emerald40 · ‎10-17-2018

@myangelandmyprincess wrote:
@emerald40 wrote:
@ersatz_sobriquet wrote:
@emerald40 wrote:
@ersatz_sobriquet wrote:
There's no effort put into telling buyers that there are rules here with consequences and then following through and punishing buyers the same as sellers are punished.
Buyers ask. Asking is not a crime. It is up to the seller to say no.

Why isn't asking a crime the same as saying yes is a crime? The playing field is purposely at this point in time unfair and uneven. I suppose because sales are too important. So the ethics of the situation are thrown out the window.

________________________________________

Because it is not buyers who have to sign a long agreement to sell here.

It is the seller who is held responsible. Same in real life.

When I work retail a buyer can ask me to give him that item for free. That is different than stealing it. Anyone can ask. We do it all the time. But it is up to me to know the rules of my company because I am the one being trained not the buyer, It is up to me to know what is allowed at the company I work.
This isn’t a retail store and the buyer does have rules they have to agree to here just like a seller.

_________________________________________

That went the way of guest accounts. What rules do they agree to?

Anonymous · ‎10-17-2018

@Anonymous wrote:
@beyonderland_0 wrote:
Actually I just checked my email and Ebay customer service got back to me. It turns out my FVF was from the item I admitted to accepting an offer for. Keep in mind I was sent a warning message and then over a month later (a couple days ago) I was sent this final value fee for the exact same incident. So what was the point of the warning?
Tell me if I got this right:

- The first time this happened you accepted the offer. You got a warning, a 7 day suspension, and you were also charged the FVF (a few days ago, approx a month after the event) all based on the first event.

- The second time this happened you had learned the lesson and you were very clear with the buyer (who was a scammer, by the way) that the transaction must take place on eBay. You were not warned or sanctioned for this, but you thought you were because of the timing of the charge from the first event.

Is that accurate? If so there doesn't appear to be an issue. You messed up the first time and paid the price and you changed your behavior the second time around so you should be able to keep things in good standing at this point. Be careful not to remove listings that received off-eBay offers.

--------
@beyonderland_0 wrote:
Yes. That is exactly what happened. But from what I've heard (And I could be wrong) The usual course of action would be to warn first. Second offense I get suspended and third offense I pay the FVF. But for this one offense all three happened.

I don't know where you heard that, but I was always under the impression they could charge the FVF any time, no warning needed. Since your first offer was taken off the site it makes sense they would have charged you off the bat.

Warning vs. Suspension - I don't know but maybe it depends on the context. They say reps review these cases before action is taken so maybe in clear cases like yours they go straight to a more severe penalty.

castlemagicmemories · ‎10-17-2018

Warning vs. Suspension - I don't know but maybe it depends on the context. They say reps review these cases before action is taken so maybe in clear cases like yours they go straight to a more severe penalty.

I think you hit the nail on the head. I believe there was some ambiguity in other cases that established the pattern.