Lack of BBL messaging strikes again

[iamalwaysright]

@wastingtime101 

I know you like these stories and I forget who you always tag about these, is it devon@ebay ?

So I mentioned recently that I put my listings on a significant discounted sale (almost at my cost) for about a day to get a surge of sales to test something. This one buyer messaged me multiple questions about one of my listings. I answered all his questions and also added to buy it right away if he wants it at that current cheap price because it will be going back up very soon unexpectedly. Turned out he told me he already bought 7 of them before I even replied to his original questions 🙄

He received all 7 tops and messaged me saying he has an issue with all 7 of them, surprise surprise. He's saying he doesn't like the fit, and that they are uncomfortable and feel like he's wearing cardboard. I told him to return them for refunds, but he said he washed them all so he can't return them so he's fine with them. He then asked for a discount on more shirts because he's very likely going to buy more thinking maybe he just originally got a bad batch.

I got suspicious and obviously don't want this guy buying more from me so I changed the subject to asking if there was anything more I can do for him with his original purchase, he said no he's fine with it. After that reply I stopped communicating and BBLed him so he can't buy more from me. Now I see 7 negative feedbacks from this guy, the comment says that I didn't reply to his recent messages. Um, that's most likely because he is in my BBL and I never received those recent messages nor did he see any error when he sent them. So in hindsight, am I supposed to not BBL this guy just so I can message with him and run risk of him buying from me again without my consent?

[wastingtime101]

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@robbie31415 wrote:

I mean the setting would be perfect if they excluded the message part.

Or passively messages wouldn't be blocked for say 90 days post transaction. So you could still message people you blocked.

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That's how it used to be before they quietly made this change a year ago without telling sellers about it.

[iamalwaysright]

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@itscalledapostingid wrote:

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kyle@ebay

There's a lot of problems with this new policy regarding blocked buyers and messages - more problems than just the ones mentioned so far in this thread.

However, I am pretty open minded... Can you tell me what's the up-side to this change? I'd like to understand the rationale behind it. 

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I’d actually like to hear the logic to this stealthy change too.

[robbie31415]

I don't get the change at all.

It's like begging for negative feedback.

You don't wanna deal with someone so you block them from future purchases.

Now they think you are ignoring their issues because you can't see the messages.

Then you find yourself with negative feedback.

Someone must have been drinking on the job because I don't see the logic of it. It actually decreases customer service.

[mam98031]

Cleared by me as I see the info was already posted.

[mam98031]

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@wastingtime101 wrote:

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@robbie31415 wrote:

I mean the setting would be perfect if they excluded the message part.

Or passively messages wouldn't be blocked for say 90 days post transaction. So you could still message people you blocked.

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That's how it used to be before they quietly made this change a year ago without telling sellers about it.

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SURPRISE !!!!

[wastingtime101]

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@robbie31415 wrote:

I don't get the change at all. It actually decreases customer service.

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I concur. I've been relaying this feedback continuously for the past year to kyle@ebay (as have others) and he's been great about passing the feedback on to the product team, but so far that feedback has fallen on deaf ears.

Part of the problem is eBay never announced the change and even most regular posters on this forum don't know about it, let alone sellers that aren't as involved every day.

What I recall from a year ago, eBay made this change because they were getting a lot of complaints about abusive messages or something like that? And they said sellers complained it was too much work to both BBL a buyer and have to check a box to block messages. 🙄 I could be wrong, but that's what's coming to mind.

Implementing this block was the most asinine way to go about handling the situation. All eBay had to do, if they wanted to make a change, was default sellers' settings to check the box that blocks communications with blocked buyers, alert sellers to the change, and sellers that want to allow communication could uncheck it with a quick click. The default has always been to have it unchecked.

Ecommercebytes wrote an article in January of this year:

https://www.ecommercebytes.com/C/blog/blog.pl?/pl/2024/1/1704766642.html

And Liz @valueaddedresource wrote an article in September of last year:

https://www.valueaddedresource.net/ebay-changes-blocked-buyer-list-messaging/

I encourage you to go back and read this discussion which I started about a year ago. It has the history and all the details: https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Changes-to-Buyer-Blocks/td-p/33977166

Also check out this specific post which is the first time we got confirmation from eBay about the change. After sellers were experiencing problems and started asking questions we tagged in Kyle and he confirmed the setting changed. The only place I've ever seen eBay discuss this is through Kyle's posts on this forum. Aside from that the only evidence is the quiet changes to the buyer management page.

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Cant-receive-messages-from-Blocked-Buyers-Anymore/m-p/33976486...

[wastingtime101]

I posted this on another thread, but it's worth re-posting here:

eBay redesigned the buyer management page not that long ago. When they did, they added a "tell us what you think" link. I encourage people to use this link if they are dissatisfied eBay removed a seller's ability to decide whether or not they want to block/allow messages from buyers on their BBL.

https://www.ebay.com/srv/survey/a/buyingexperience.buyer_management

eBay has made it impossible to block a buyer and protect our accounts while keeping communications open to offer good customer service on post-sale issues, returns, disputes, etc. That's just one of many reasons this is a horrible change.

[fbusoni]

eBay has made it impossible to block a buyer and protect our accounts while keeping communications open to offer good customer service on post-sale issues, returns, disputes, etc.

Sounds intentional to me... create a disincentive to use the block button?

Force sellers to bend to the will of buyers, regardless of how the latter comport themselves?

(As you note, your feedback has fallen on deaf ears.)

Or am I giving eBay too much credit for thinking this through, and this disconnect is merely programming ineptitude?

Parenthetically, the more I read these boards, the more amazed I am at the number of roadside IEDs awaiting  sellers. 

[toomuchstuffagain35]

It should be up to the SELLER if they wish to block messages from those they block.

It worked FINE for years giving sellers that choice.

I'd love to know why ebay thinks they know better than the sellers who made the choice to NOT block messaging.

[a_c_green]

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@iamalwaysright wrote:

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@itscalledapostingid wrote:
There's a lot of problems with this new policy regarding blocked buyers and messages - more problems than just the ones mentioned so far in this thread. However, I am pretty open minded... Can you tell me what's the up-side to this change? I'd like to understand the rationale behind it. 

 I’d actually like to hear the logic to this stealthy change too.

If history is any guide, kyle@ebay is going to have to absolutely pound his interoffice contact(s) to get any kind of detailed response at all. Changes quietly introduced like this are generally produced by people who absolutely do not want to talk about them. 😐

[tobaccocardyahoo]

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@itscalledapostingid wrote:

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@robbie31415 wrote:

It's a all or nothing thing which is why I don't like it.

 

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@robbie31415 

@powell-collectibles 

This setting is broken.

I tested this function a few days ago. Unchecking the box does not allow blocked buyers to contact.

I even tried again after 48 hours in case the setting takes a while to take effect.

Blocked buyer can send messages and they appear in the senders sent messages but the seller never receives them.

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The setting has worked for me. Recently.

[iamalwaysright]

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@toomuchstuffagain35 wrote:

It should be up to the SELLER if they wish to block messages from those they block.

It worked FINE for years giving sellers that choice.

I'd love to know why ebay thinks they know better than the sellers who made the choice to NOT block messaging.

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Yea. But even worse about this change, I want to hear the reason to why ebay thinks the buyer shouldn’t get any notification that their message didn’t go thru to the seller. I mean come on guys, what benefit is there to intentionally mislead the buyer to think the seller received their message???

I might be on board with this if ebay gave the buyer an error notice like “your message could not be sent because you are currently being blocked by the seller.” At least give sellers a fighting chance here. Like did a focus group of buyers tell eBay that they’d prefer to be mislead like this when in a seller’s BBL? 🤷

[iamalwaysright]

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@a_c_green wrote:

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@iamalwaysright wrote:

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@itscalledapostingid wrote:
There's a lot of problems with this new policy regarding blocked buyers and messages - more problems than just the ones mentioned so far in this thread. However, I am pretty open minded... Can you tell me what's the up-side to this change? I'd like to understand the rationale behind it. 

 I’d actually like to hear the logic to this stealthy change too.

If history is any guide, kyle@ebay is going to have to absolutely pound his interoffice contact(s) to get any kind of detailed response at all. Changes quietly introduced like this are generally produced by people who absolutely do not want to talk about them. 😐

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[mam98031]

I agree.  The old way, before they started messing with it, was if a member was on your BBL, they couldn't buy from you.  If you didn't want them to communicate with you, you could block that too.  However, if they have a current transaction with your, they were allowed to communicate.

I have no idea why that needed to be changed!

[wastingtime101]

Were you able to get those negs removed @iamalwaysright ?