Ebay suspended my messaging for 7-days for sending a model number. Refuses to remove, help, etc.

[ducksandmore]

So i've had my share of ebay horror storries, including them deleting my account 5 times in one month because of suspected fraud, causing me to lose thousands in products they let people keep. But this tops the stupidity cake, and I tried to sort it out but I have now hit the bottom of no resolve.

A customer had messaged me asking me for the frquencies a radio I am selling operates on.

The message I responded contained "650.100-680.000" more digits than a phone number and in no way could really be interpreted with personal information. Upon sending I was met with an error, my accounts messaging had been suspended for 7-days for sending a message with personal information. 

No warnings, no anything, just automatic suspension. I have called over 10 times, attempted the ebay twitter, all with the same result. We can't see the message you sent and the system is automated and that I will just have to deal with my suspension. Luckily I took a screenshot when it happened as I was baffled and not sure I was reading it correctly, too bad they don't care nor have a way to receive emails nor a channel to check the message that triggered the system in the first place. 

Ive lost over $2k in the last day in sales ive been unable to answer, I have customers who have requested returns over simple questions that have been unanswered, and I cant even reply to messages in the returns. 

[castlemagicmemories]

Dave, I think you have a youtube for every occasion!

The monkey rules.

[ted_200]

And need I mention that NOT everyone is on Facebook!!

Apparently we do.  I'm not on Facebook, I don't use Twitter, and I never will. 

I don't even have a cell phone. 

A year ago, you'd be hauled out and flogged for suggesting anyone in these Community Boards go out to Facebook for help trying to solve your eBay problems.   Now we've got eBay employees telling us we can help you if you go find us on Facebook.   That's bad enough, but most of the places those eBay employees hang out on Facebook have gatekeepers... you can't just show up and start interacting...

[gal220joy]

I don't know if anyone mentioned this but if you do get your messaging suspended, you can go to advanced and search for the particular buyer who is contacting you and send them a message direct that way. It worked for me.  Believe it or not, an ebay representative told me how to do it when I called to see what was happening when my messaging was suspended for trying to message a phone number. She sounded a bit sheepish, but I guess finally felt sorry for me.:)

[omgitlightsup]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hey @ducksandmore, I know that we are looking into this for you through our Social Team, but I wanted to add that since the information you are providing pertains to the item you are selling, this is something you can include in your listings. Keep an eye out for an update on our Social channels and let the agents you are working with know if you have any other questions.

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Sooo... what you're saying is that we should anticipate the questions our customers will ask before they ask them, and provide that information in the listing?

Gagging a user for a solid week in response to a single email is pretty harsh for an automatic bot action, don't you think?

[gramophone-georg]

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@ted_200 wrote:

And need I mention that NOT everyone is on Facebook!!

Apparently we do.  I'm not on Facebook, I don't use Twitter, and I never will. 

I don't even have a cell phone. 

A year ago, you'd be hauled out and flogged for suggesting anyone in these Community Boards go out to Facebook for help trying to solve your eBay problems.   Now we've got eBay employees telling us we can help you if you go find us on Facebook.   That's bad enough, but most of the places those eBay employees hang out on Facebook have gatekeepers... you can't just show up and start interacting...

---

Not to mention that Facebook is now a 

COMPETING MARKETPLACE

C'mon, eBay... Do you think Wal Mart customer service is located on Target's website? This is just ludicrous. It's ALMOST as ludicrous as a "software giant" that can't even program on level with beginners. HOW does this stuff KEEP HAPPENING???

eBay... GROW UP.

[ted_200]

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@gramophone-georg wrote:

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@ted_200 wrote:

And need I mention that NOT everyone is on Facebook!!

Apparently we do.  I'm not on Facebook, I don't use Twitter, and I never will. 

I don't even have a cell phone. 

A year ago, you'd be hauled out and flogged for suggesting anyone in these Community Boards go out to Facebook for help trying to solve your eBay problems.   Now we've got eBay employees telling us we can help you if you go find us on Facebook.   That's bad enough, but most of the places those eBay employees hang out on Facebook have gatekeepers... you can't just show up and start interacting...

---

Not to mention that Facebook is now a 

COMPETING MARKETPLACE

C'mon, eBay... Do you think Wal Mart customer service is located on Target's website? This is just ludicrous. It's ALMOST as ludicrous as a "software giant" that can't even program on level with beginners. HOW does this stuff KEEP HAPPENING???

eBay... GROW UP.

---

I just wanted to touch base with you that our Social Media Team has reached back out with an update on this via Twitter regarding this topic. Check your DMs for an update and let them know if you have questions!

Keep an eye out for an update on our Social channels...

12.  Do not advertise items, listings, services, or commercial websites, including offers to trade, "wanted" posts, or solicitations.  This is related to our Fee Circumvention policy. Members are not permitted to tell others to stop selling on eBay or to leave eBay for any reason to include naming or posting links to off-eBay sites, groups or forums, for more information, click here.  For more information about our Want Ads and Trades policy, click here. 

http://community.ebay.com/t5/About-the-Community/Rules-of-Engagement/m-p/26164369

[gramophone-georg]

---

@ted_200 wrote:

---

@gramophone-georg wrote:

---

@ted_200 wrote:

And need I mention that NOT everyone is on Facebook!!

Apparently we do.  I'm not on Facebook, I don't use Twitter, and I never will. 

I don't even have a cell phone. 

A year ago, you'd be hauled out and flogged for suggesting anyone in these Community Boards go out to Facebook for help trying to solve your eBay problems.   Now we've got eBay employees telling us we can help you if you go find us on Facebook.   That's bad enough, but most of the places those eBay employees hang out on Facebook have gatekeepers... you can't just show up and start interacting...

---

Not to mention that Facebook is now a 

COMPETING MARKETPLACE

C'mon, eBay... Do you think Wal Mart customer service is located on Target's website? This is just ludicrous. It's ALMOST as ludicrous as a "software giant" that can't even program on level with beginners. HOW does this stuff KEEP HAPPENING???

eBay... GROW UP.

---

I just wanted to touch base with you that our Social Media Team has reached back out with an update on this via Twitter regarding this topic. Check your DMs for an update and let them know if you have questions!

Keep an eye out for an update on our Social channels...

12.  Do not advertise items, listings, services, or commercial websites, including offers to trade, "wanted" posts, or solicitations.  This is related to our Fee Circumvention policy. Members are not permitted to tell others to stop selling on eBay or to leave eBay for any reason to include naming or posting links to off-eBay sites, groups or forums, for more information, click here.  For more information about our Want Ads and Trades policy, click here. 

http://community.ebay.com/t5/About-the-Community/Rules-of-Engagement/m-p/26164369

---

Just seems pretty much hopeless... there are the rules, then there are the SECRET rules, nobody's in charge, and nobody seems to have the first clue what anybody else is doing.

[omgitlightsup]

There is nothing on eBay that undermines the confidence and trust between buyers and sellers more than eBay's censorship of communication. It's probably responsible for more wasted revenue in SNADs,  return shipping, refunds, fees, and most of all wasted time than anything else.

Back in the "good old days" you could just send a photo thru email, or heaven forbid, pick up the phone and ask a question.

Maybe you don't want to "waste time dealing with customers," and I've seen this argument before, but there was never anything forcing you to share your contact info with customers. We used to have it pretty good, until eBay got all paranoid that someone might complete a sale off eBay once in a while. Now we can hardly get anything done. Stuff like this happens. Sellers who only sell items thru eBay are penalized for trying to communicate information to their buyers. And eBay makes us out to be the bad guys for trying to steal from them.

What I'd really like to tell eBay about this is, stop it. Stop interfering with sales. Let us work to make things better on here. If you love something, set it free. If customers are leaving eBay for other venues, adapt and become more competitive. Don't try to trap them here.

[ted_200]

Back in the "good old days" you could just send a photo thru email, or heaven forbid, pick up the phone and ask a question.

That's another screwy thing... I can require a phone number from my buyer... yet if either of us wants to voluntarily share a phone number it's not allowed? 

Personally, I don't want any phone calls, in either direction, as a buyer, or a seller.  Messages (uncensored ones) that always go through are far preferrable, IMO.  But lots of people like to handle CS issues by phone (including eBay), so I'm not sure prohibiting it is very useful.