Charged final value fee for sending the customer my address for local pick up

[mandalaytrading]

I got a $228 fee charged and a suspension because the seller and I exchanged contact information so we could figure out the best way to ship the large freight item listed as a local pick up.  eBay actually told me that I could not give them the item address until is was paid for.  Both of us needed the information to look for shipping quotes.  We never gave any indication that we were trying sell of of ebay, in fact the opposite is true.  How can a buyer figure out shipping costs if he does not have the seller's address? 6 weeks later, the item is still for sale and the original buyer is still trying to buy it.  I killed the listing today and will put it on another site because I am not paying the FMV again out of principal.  After decades on ebay, we are actively seeking another site for our used medical equipment, much of which is very large.

I had 5 extremely long telephone conversations with ebay reps. The first 4 told me that the fee would be removed and they would follow up with an email.  Not a single one, followed through.  On my invoice today, I saw the charge listed.  Both people today told me that once it's invoiced, it's a done deal.  If you are going to fight these charges you have to do it before they are invoiced and DO NOT count on any the reps to follow through with their promises.  For this and other reasons,  it seems eBay does not fit our needs anymore

We never have tried to skirt ebay fees and often drive other traffic to ebay for the protection of both parties.  The fee is bad enough but it's the accusation of cheating that bothers me the most.

[a*river*runs*through*it]

@mandalaytrading,

You aren't suspended if you still have active listings.

Do you mean you can't list any new for a while?

[pburn]

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@mandalaytrading wrote:

We need to exchange information because both people need to know.

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Why would "both people need to know?" Couldn't potential buyer have gotten shipping quotes? The buyer knows where s/he lives, and you give your city/state/ZIP in the item description. Isn't that enough to get a reliable quote for shipping? Can't the buyer call the freight companies for a quote? Why would both of you have to call for quotes?

If you ever get another chance to sell anything on eBay that requires gathering quotes for shipping, have the potential buyer call around for that information based on where s/he lives (which s/he already knows) and the item location in your listing. It's not like a freight company needs your street address to give a shipping estimate from City A to City B.

If you were contacting each other through eBay message, perhaps you noticed this warning:  "To keep everyone safe on eBay, please don't send messages that include contact info. Repeated attempts could lead to an account suspension or other penalties. Learn more about our member-to-member contact policy."

Based on that warning, I can't help but wonder whether this was the first time you'd been warned about sharing contact information?

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[mandalaytrading]

Good point.  At first we were suspended but after my first phone call, they reduced it to  not being able to make new listings.

[albany_sellers]

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@mandalaytrading wrote:

I had 5 extremely long telephone conversations with ebay reps. The first 4 told me that the fee would be removed and they would follow up with an email.  Not a single one, followed through.  On my invoice today, I saw the charge listed.  Both people today told me that once it's invoiced, it's a done deal.  If you are going to fight these charges you have to do it before they are invoiced and DO NOT count on any the reps to follow through with their promises.  For this and other reasons,  it seems eBay does not fit our needs anymore

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Classic example of why you should never believe anything the reps say. They will tell you whatever you want to hear just to make you go away. They never intended to do what they said. It's to the point where you CAN NOT hang up the phone unless you make sure and verify that they have done what they claim they will do.

Today I had to have a rep put their promises in writing, and send me an eBay message STATING what he told me he was going to do, and then had to have him reword and send it again to take out the ambiguity of the original message.  I am so sick of being lied to that I will never take anything on faith or trust them to follow through, because they have demonstrated time and time again that they are not able to be trusted.

[mandalaytrading]

As a follow up I was able to contact trust and security or whatever it's called now.  The refused to budge even though the exact items were STILL for sale in the listings.  They acknowledged that I did not try to sell outside of ebay but that I was fined for providing the address for a local pick up.  My local pick ups are always for freight items so we have to figure out the shipping costs some way.

I received another final value fee penalty the other day and am now over $700 in fines.  Like many, I have a copy of my ebay messages sent to my regular email.  I replied using my email and my  email signature was flagged and I was fined.   

DO NOT USE YOUR EMAIL  ACCOUNT TO RESPOND TO ANY EBAY MESSAGES IF IT HAS A SIGNATURE LINE WITH ANY CONTACT INFORMATION ON IT.

Ironically, my message was a quick reply to a foreign buyer who was trying to who was trying to buy an item outside ebay and I flatly refused as I always do.   The ebay messaging system does not work well for sellers like me because you cannot copy anybody on them, like other people in the company, outside freight companies etc.

[tsylor-31]

Your address is in your listing, so I suspect there's more to the story

[bonjourami]

you can always go to Sellers Hub and get your buyers phone # and email.