Simply-the-best-for-you Volunteer Community Mentor
mam98031 • Volunteer Community Member • Buyer/Seller since 1999
@mam98031 wrote:
@simply-the-best-for-you wrote:
@mam98031 wrote:We have had some different experiences to be sure. Encrypted email addresses is a more recent change. So before that if I had this issue I could get the email address easy enough and never had to even email them to ask. So obtaining the email address of a buyer has only been of issue since they encrypted emails a few years ago or so. This part of the issue doesn't go back to '97 as the buyer email address was part of the purchase record.
True. But I always messaged to check b/c you couldn't assume that that was the same email they used for PP or wanted the invoice sent to. Honestly, for me, it wasn't as much of an issue in the past b/c people were more conscientious about keeping their addresses updated, back when online buying was less common. In a recent month, I had 4 of these with wrong addresses, in various states of shipment. Each one a hassle. This is a common enough occurrence that Ebay needs a way to deal with it.
You don't have to have the Buyer's email address they use for PayPal. It just isn't necessary. You simply need an email address in which to send the PayPal invoice to, that in and of itself does NOT require PP email address ever.
You do it your way & I'll do it mine. I have ALWAYS asked the buyer for the addy THEY wanted me to send the invoice to. I do NOT send invoices blindly, nor do I recommend it, esp if you want it paid. You already have to communicate to the buyer that there will be an add'l charge for shipping & at that same time, I find out what addy THEY want me to send the invoice to. I've NEVER had a problem with that, even back when we technically weren't allowed to exchange addys (though it went through at least 50% of the time). I can't imagine just blindly sending an invoice to an email addy I found & then hoping it gets paid LOL. I stand by what I said.
But then, I also exchange email addys with buyers fairly often, as my sales can be consultative & buyers often ask me to email them if I get a certain item in, etc, so I don't see it as the big bogeyman that some people do.
Still waiting to hear if Ebay has reverted the rules on this, but I was having problems with the boards all day, so maybe there's been an update & I missed it.
My statement had nothing to so with doing this process any certain way. I think we are miscommunicating here. My post was a simple one. There is NO NEED for a seller to have a Buyer's PayPal email address. Absolutely none. It isn't required to send them an invoice through PP nor is it required for them to pay through PP. It simply has nothing to do with the process.
Yes, asking for a buyer's email address is absolutely fine, I didn't disagree with you about that. What you stated was "But I always messaged to check b/c you couldn't assume that that was the same email they used for PP or wanted the invoice sent to." And that is all I was responding to. Their PP email address has nothing to do with any which way you choose to handle this specific issue.
I also never suggested or imply to just send the buyer an invoice blindly. You have previously said you read my post #81 which I posted the exact email I send to a buyer when I'm asking for their email address and why I'm asking. So I'm unsure why you felt it was necessary to state that. So from what I describe to the buyer I would hope they would be informed as to why I needed it and what I intended to do so they would give the email address they wanted the invoice sent to. There would be no reason for them to think anything other than that.
I from time to time have buyers ask me to contact them too when I get something back into stock or find something that they have described to me that they need. No surprise, I handle this a bit differently too as I just contact them through Ebay when I have information to share with them.
I think we probably are just miscommunicating. I know we had that happen once before & I was so surprised, b/c we were saying the same thing LOL, just using different ways of expressing.
I'm not following how it's not necessary to have a buyer's email, to send a PP invoice or Request Money. That's the process I'm talking about (as opposed to the myraid of other ways to resolve it). I think we actually use the same process based on your prior post. I hadn't done it for a couple of months, so I logged on to PP to check tonight if there's some other way to do it & while it's true that it doesn't have to be an email, there were 4 options for 1 method (request money) & 2 options for the other (send an invoice). The 4 options were name, username, email or mobile number. I have never used anything but the email & the 2 options were a subset. I tried name to see if it would work, though I couldn't see how it could work from an IT standpoint & I tried 3 different names & it didn't recognize any of them. I used a customer name who had just purchased, a made up common name ie; bob jones & a name I knew to be so unique that there is only 1 of them in the USA. It did not recognize any of them, as expected. I then tried a userid & that, also as expected from IT standpoint, did not work. I have never used the mobile number (didn't know that one was an option) b/c I'd have even less chance of knowing that, than their email. So, I'm back to email, the only way I've ever done it. I don't know of any other way to invoice or request money via PP, without having their email addy to enter into PP. Where are we miscommunicating? Is there some way to send a PP invoice or PP Request Money without having their email address they want it sent to?
The difference is it does NOT have to be the buyer's PayPal email address. That is not required at all.
We simply need a buyer's email address that they want us to send the invoice to.
This is one way of handling it, but not the only way. But you points are good ones that several posters have shared in this thread.
@stephenmorgan wrote:
@mam98031 wrote:The difference is it does NOT have to be the buyer's PayPal email address. That is not required at all.
We simply need a buyer's email address that they want us to send the invoice to.
So if it does not have to be their email associated with their PayPal account then a invoice could be sent to their randomly generated email created by eBay?
Yes if that is where your buyer wants it to go to, but I've never had a buyer tell me to send it there. With that said, I actually don't think that email address works outside of Ebay. But I've never tested it.
@mam98031 wrote:The difference is it does NOT have to be the buyer's PayPal email address. That is not required at all.
We simply need a buyer's email address that they want us to send the invoice to.
Gotcha. Yes, that is true, it can be any email they want it to be. Not sure why they'd want it to be anything other than their PP email & with my buyers, I'm going to keep phrasing it the way I do, b/c as a rule, my buyer demographic skews not very technically astute, but you're right, they could use a different email if they wanted.
@stephenmorgan wrote:
@mam98031 wrote:The difference is it does NOT have to be the buyer's PayPal email address. That is not required at all.
We simply need a buyer's email address that they want us to send the invoice to.
So if it does not have to be their email associated with their PayPal account then a invoice could be sent to their randomly generated email created by eBay?
I agree with Mam, I don't think that would work as a valid email outside of Ebay. From an IT standpoint, Ebay encrypts their address & gives us an encrypted form. Paypal would not know the encryption scheme, so could not decrypt it. Ebay would be required to decrypt it.
That's just from my IT knowledge, I have not tried it, but I can't think of a way it could possibly work unless PP had the encryption key. Plus, my buyers would have zero knowledge that there even is an encrypted addy that Ebay gives us.
@a_c_green wrote:
@simply-the-best-for-you wrote:
@stephenmorgan wrote:
@mam98031 wrote:The difference is it does NOT have to be the buyer's PayPal email address. That is not required at all.
We simply need a buyer's email address that they want us to send the invoice to.
So if it does not have to be their email associated with their PayPal account then a invoice could be sent to their randomly generated email created by eBay?
I agree with Mam, I don't think that would work as a valid email outside of Ebay. From an IT standpoint, Ebay encrypts their address & gives us an encrypted form. Paypal would not know the encryption scheme, so could not decrypt it. Ebay would be required to decrypt it.
The buyer's encrypted email address does work outside of eBay. eBay can receive an incoming message directed to the encrypted address from the outside world, decrypt it and send it to the recipient as an eBay message (which is also copied to the recipient's outside email account).
However, I don't think the buyer gets any actual email address (encrypted or otherwise) for the sender from the PayPal invoice message sent to him through eBay. We sellers can see an encrypted form of the buyer's email address, but can a buyer see any email address at all for the sender? (I don't know of a quick way to even see my own encrypted eBay address, without going through several steps of workaround to obtain it.) Is it possible to send a PayPal invoice that can direct payment to some other receiving email account besides the email address that sent it?
That makes sense, b/c Ebay is the key to decrypting it. But, yeah, I wouldn't even know my own or know of any way to get it without a bunch of effort. I don't think most buyers even know that there is such a thing as their encrypted email addy on Ebay, unless they sell too & have had reason to look for it.
It sounds like this has caused a lot of confusion and I'd like to clarify a few things. The policy has not changed and contact info can be shared once you're in a transaction with someone. There are timeframes though, as new transactions will take place. In the end, our goal is to keep transactions on eBay where they can be best protected. The options I provided previously were accurate as to where to go from here though.
I understand there are limitations with sending invoices, and that feedback has been passed on.
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Editing to add a link to the Offering to buy or sell outside of eBay policy here.
