INFORM CONSUMERS ACT went into effect today. Exception for personal phone? Screenshots of orders?

[chlipp-78]

The INFORM CONSUMERS ACT went into effect today, or at least it was supposed to. As many of you are aware, high volume sellers can limit what personal info buyers will see on orders by applying for an exception here (if address is residential). I've already applied for the exception for my address, but I'm wondering why there's no exception option for personal phone numbers? From my understanding of the new law, if your phone number is personal you should be able to opt out of disclosing it to buyers and eBay should only show your email address as a primary form of contact instead. I was able to do that on another selling platform, but on eBay it only mentions my address.... there's no mention of my phone number or email. Did eBay opt out for me because my ebay account is personal rather than business?

As a seller I don't see any of my info on orders I've received today. Anyone buy anything today from a high volume seller and have any screenshots showing the exception working correctly (block out the personal parts if you do)? Are they hiding the street address? Are they showing phone numbers? Email?  

[mam98031]

My customers have always gotten my address.  So I'm not real concerned about this.

[stainlessenginecovers]

It's all pretty basic information as shown/stated below. I use my 'residence' as a place of business for and is the address customers see on the 'return address' as well as where they may 'return' items, so I don't care. Not info regarding phone numbers as shown below:

 

Here’s what you need to know:

• The INFORM Consumers Act aims to create a safe and transparent online buying process and requires marketplaces like eBay to collect, verify, and disclose certain high-volume seller information.
• A high-volume seller is someone who has sold 200 or more new items totaling more than $5,000 in a 12-consecutive-month period over the last 24 months on our US site.
• If you meet that criteria, we’ll need to collect and verify some identification and contact information.
• High-volume sellers will need to keep their information up to date and we’ll ask you to review it annually.
• If you reach an annual total revenue of $20,000, we’re required to include your name (or company name) and full physical address in purchase confirmation emails and order details. There are some exceptions that allow us to share a partial address with buyers.
• The exceptions to sharing your full physical address for the INFORM Consumers Act are:

1

If your address is your residential address, only your state and country will be shown.

2

If you use a different address for product returns, then that return address will be displayed.

• If you meet the criteria for sharing a partial address with buyers, you can request an exception below:

Request an exception

[valueaddedresource · Accepted solution]

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@chlipp-78 wrote:

The INFORM CONSUMERS ACT went into effect today, or at least it was supposed to. As many of you are aware, high volume sellers can limit what personal info buyers will see on orders by applying for an exception here (if address is residential). I've already applied for the exception for my address, but I'm wondering why there's no exception option for personal phone numbers? From my understanding of the new law, if your phone number is personal you should be able to opt out of disclosing it to buyers and eBay should only show your email address as a primary form of contact instead. I was able to do that on another selling platform, but on eBay it only mentions my address.... there's no mention of my phone number or email. Did eBay opt out for me because my ebay account is personal rather than business?

As a seller I don't see any of my info on orders I've received today. Anyone buy anything today from a high volume seller and have any screenshots showing the exception working correctly (block out the personal parts if you do)? Are they hiding the street address? Are they showing phone numbers? Email?  

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@chlipp-78  if you meet the threshold requirements for your info to be disclosed, it will be shown to the buyer in order confirmation/order records, not on the seller's side.

The requirement for disclosing contact information requires the marketplace to provide "contact information that will allow consumers to have what the law calls “direct, unhindered communication” with the seller, including a working phone number, a working email address, or other means of direct electronic messaging that may be provided by the marketplace – as long as that other means doesn’t prevent the online marketplace from monitoring communications with consumers for fraud, abuse, or spam."

eBay's existing messaging system would fit the requirement by providing other means of direct electronic messaging so presumably eBay believes that is good enough and they do not need to provide seller phone or email address unless sellers are not responsive the buyer requests an alternative way to contact the seller to resolve a consumer complaint.

[chlipp-78]

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@valueaddedresource wrote:

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The requirement for disclosing contact information requires the marketplace to provide "contact information that will allow consumers to have what the law calls “direct, unhindered communication” with the seller, including a working phone number, a working email address, or other means of direct electronic messaging that may be provided by the marketplace – as long as that other means doesn’t prevent the online marketplace from monitoring communications with consumers for fraud, abuse, or spam."

eBay's existing messaging system would fit the requirement by providing other means of direct electronic messaging so presumably eBay believes that is good enough and they do not need to provide seller phone or email address unless sellers are not responsive the buyer requests an alternative way to contact the seller to resolve a consumer complaint.

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That's most likely it. Interesting that the other major platform I mentioned doesn't feel the same about their messaging and is choosing to reveal the seller's phone or email. 

[caldreamer]

If you’ve sold 200 or more new items totaling more than $5,000 in a 12-consecutive-month period over the last 24 months on our US site, we’ll need to collect and verify your:

• Bank account number
• Tax identification number
• Phone number
• Email address

If you’re a business seller, we’ll also need to collect and verify a copy of your government-issued ID.

And once you reach $20,000 in annual eBay revenue, we’re required to include your name (or company name) and full physical address in purchase confirmation emails and order details, but there are some exceptions.

[craft-stash]

99.9999% of eBay sellers are not High volume!

I'm NO volume at this point and GOOB!

Thanks for all the help ebay!

[mam98031]

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@craft-stash wrote:

99.9999% of eBay sellers are not High volume!

I'm NO volume at this point and GOOB!

Thanks for all the help ebay!

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Well that number is not true.  Last time I saw the breakdown, which was a while ago, about 80% of active sellers were made up of small and casual sellers.

[valueaddedresource]

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@mam98031 wrote:

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@craft-stash wrote:

99.9999% of eBay sellers are not High volume!

I'm NO volume at this point and GOOB!

Thanks for all the help ebay!

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Well that number is not true.  Last time I saw the breakdown, which was a while ago, about 80% of active sellers were made up of small and casual sellers.

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@craft-stash  @mam98031  for the purposes of the INFORM Act, it doesn't matter what eBay's break down of "small and casual sellers" is - all that matters is the definitions and thresholds in the actual law.

https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title15-section45f&num=0&edition=prelim 

https://www.ftc.gov/INFORMAct 

There are two thresholds with the INFORM Law:

"High volume third party seller" is defined as - The term "high-volume third party seller" means a participant on an online marketplace's platform who is a third party seller and, in any continuous 12-month period during the previous 24 months, has entered into 200 or more discrete sales or transactions of new or unused consumer products and an aggregate total of $5,000 or more in gross revenues.

If you meet that definition, eBay is required to collect and verify certain information including bank account information, contact information, and a Tax ID number.

The second threshold determines when/if eBay must disclose certain details about the seller to the buyer.

If a high-volume third party seller has annual gross revenues of $20,000 or more on a particular online marketplace, the marketplace must clearly disclose the following information on each of the seller’s product listing pages, or in order confirmation messages and account transaction histories on that platform:

the seller’s full name, which may include the business name or the name the seller uses on the online marketplace;

the seller’s physical address; and

contact information that will allow consumers to have what the law calls “direct, unhindered communication” with the seller, including a working phone number, a working email address, or other means of direct electronic messaging that may be provided by the marketplace – as long as that other means doesn’t prevent the online marketplace from monitoring communications with consumers for fraud, abuse, or spam.

There are certain exceptions if your business address is a residence, as previously discussed above.

So that's it - if you meet those thresholds, this law applies, whether you consider yourself a high volume seller or not.

[mam98031]

Not sure why you tagged me on that post.

[valueaddedresource]

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@mam98031 wrote:

Not sure why you tagged me on that post.

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@mam98031 The quoted section should answer your question.

In an effort to try to avoid having things veer too far off topic here, I was just pointing out since the OP and subsequent discussion was about the INFORM act, that would be what matters when discussing "high volume sellers" in this context, not what eBay's statistics/reports or sellers' beliefs might say.

[mam98031]

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@valueaddedresource wrote:

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@mam98031 wrote:

Not sure why you tagged me on that post.

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@mam98031 The quoted section should answer your question.

In an effort to try to avoid having things veer too far off topic here, I was just pointing out since the OP and subsequent discussion was about the INFORM act, that would be what matters when discussing "high volume sellers" in this context, not what eBay's statistics/reports or sellers' beliefs might say.

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Again, thank you.  But I didn't ask.