Last night ebay removed a buyer from my blocked list and allowed them to purchase.

[soccerteeth]

Yes, this actually happened.  The buyer confirmed it.

Last night, I received  a call from ebay. I have a few cs numbers saved as contacts in my phone. My phone only rang once before I could get it. I rarely answer anyway and do not want to talk to ebay at night.  2-3 minutes later, someone purchased an item and I recognized the user ID.  I looked it up in my email and yes, they purchased something a while back, no questions and returned it.  The item stated what it fit.

Returns have exploded since June. People who ask no questions that could dictate whether something would fit and then just open a return that the item doesnt fit go on my bloked buyer list.  It costs us money and time . We block a lot of people to save ourseleves the headache of dealing with buyers like this.  I thought it was our right to get out of the way of bad transactions.

I looked at my blocked list, which I back up to a file on my computer and there was a string of characters and deleted at the end.  Ive seen this before when an account is closed I thought.  I looked at my backup which is copied directly from the blocked buyer/bidder and they were on it, they were blocked.  I messaged the buyer and asked politely if they had ebay call me. They replied "Yes, i wanted to buy this item and we were blocked".  So the ebay rep unblocked this buyer.

So now CS is removing ID's from our blocked lists? That is completely insane.  That can clearly cause us all kinds of harm if a buyer can just call and have themselves removed. I feel like it goes way too far.  I had a buyer this year get extremely abusive going so far as to call and leave violent homophobic messages on my phone.  I kept the messages and the persons account sold uninterupted even after he responded about the phone calls via ebay messages.

I have been contacted before by message that a buyer would like to purchase but, do not recall someone being unblocked.  I have saved the correspondance and I have an idea people will say it isnt so but it is absolutely the case with the buyer confirming it.   It made me sick to my stomach.  This is my store and I pay a lot to do business here.  I follow ebays rules even when they are getting really bad. Apparently I dont habe the right to protect myself from harm in one of the last ways that exists.

The only reason we block anyone is the feedback and return systems are such a mess for sellers with zero fault being placed on the buyer regardless of when its obvious.  Sellers are rife for abuse as every buyer is not going to be fair as we all know.  Sellers who have sold for a couple of decades and in some cases tens of thousands of items can start to see what questions and actions will cause problems as conversations involving this comes up frequently here.

Being able to block buyers who have cost us money in the past which could have been avoided by asking a simple question, is more important now than ever.  With free returns being pushed down our throats (which it is or supposedly we may not show up well in search results) people may think its fine to just buy and try on and not even attempt to ask if said item may fit. They may do it once and see how easy it is to just guess, they may do it 5 times if we cant stop them. That would be ebay sanctioned abuse.

So now is ebay forcing us to do business with buyers who weve blocked?  I think that is going too far and putting us in harms way after we are stepping out of it.

[the_fancy_fox]

All I can say is if eBay is really doing this, they can try and make me sell to this person. Operative word, try.

if eBay can decide not to allow a seller to sell on their platform even if that seller really really really wants to sell here, I keep the same option for myself open for bad buyers I do not want to do business with.

I wrote a program  where everything about the sale gets entered. Everyone I have ever blocked is in there and why. Just the act of entering sale info into the database catches them. Name, address, city, even zips will throw a flag.

That said, someone doesn’t get on my do not sell to list without a really good reason.

just had a nice one, person bought and item and opened a SNAD. Claimed it was used, package had been opened,and not the size I said it was. I approved the claim and sent the label.

Within hours I get an email saying they were sorry and that they had made a mistake and it’s exactly as I said, was new and the package had NOT been opened but it was not what they needed so they were sending it back. I mean really? Thanks for stealing $10 from me.

Why would I give this person another shot at me?

[soccerteeth]

Its 100% documenetd on my end with buyer confirmation that they were blocked so they just called ebay and had themselves unblocked.  Its only 1 case i can prove but, I wonder was this a rogue overseas CSR or is this the new policy, or has it happened before.

I know of other instances where I was pretty sure I blocked a problem buyer, yet they purchased.

[castlemagicmemories]

I'm really sorry this happened to you.  I have never read of CS removing an id from a BBL.

But Ebay did announce last year that such a bidder could circumvent blocks if they really wanted the item.  

Yes, buyers are supposed to ask questions.  However, they may not get a true answer if they ask.  Listing that have complete and accurate info, all the info a buyer needs to make an informed buying decision, may see higher sales as buyers may just hit the back button if the listing does not have important info, such as measurements.  And a complete and accurate listing protects against SNAD.

[ittybitnot]

Apparently I dont habe the right to protect myself from harm in one of the last ways that exists.

Appparently, you don't.     

In addition, refusing to do business with someone like this has negative consequences for your seller account. 

"Transparency" , and thus honesty, in this marketplace has become more erroded with each passing year, essentially forcing a seller to do business with both hands tied behind their backs, and a blindfold across their eyes.  The "blocked bidder list" is likely the next to go.  

eBay wants all buyers even if they are bad.  

[selsa84]

ame here, blocked a member 3 days ago and im still getting offers from thems

[stemart-9760]

@Anonymous

what is the point of having a block bidders list if customer service will remove the person on it so they can buy the item? I would really be interestedinterested to hear a member of the staff weigh in on this.

[soccerteeth]

That is literally throwing us to the wolves with no more beating around the bush.

There are really bad buyers and if we cant protect ourselves, We will close our store.  Then, theyve lost a large growing business and long time buyer as well. So instead of making a few dollars in fvf from forcing us, they lose a lot more revenue going forward.

What we want is to stay where weve built a long term business but, we can only handle so much. When fees go up and we eat returns, we dont agree but we do it. Weve got perfect feedback and when you think it cant get worse, it does

I love how some commenters make it about the seller and their listing with no reason for that to have anything to do with it.  The point is that ebay removed a blocked buyer that I blocked for a reason.  We only sell here to make money so its a calculated decision on whether to block someone. 

[stemart-9760]

Keep in mind though that that bad buyer can go completely around your block Anyway by just opening a brand new account

[soccerteeth]

Not the point.  They can go around by changing their ID by one character as well.  Ive had this happen. Which is crazy in itself.

[soccerteeth]

"Yes, buyers are supposed to ask questions.  However, they may not get a true answer if they ask.  Listing that have complete and accurate info, all the info a buyer needs to make an informed buying decision, may see higher sales as buyers may just hit the back button if the listing does not have important info, such as measurements.  And a complete and accurate listing protects against SNAD."

Yeah, make it about being a bad seller instead of what it is.  Ebay removing a buyer that I placed there.  Im only here to make money, not to hang on the forums nonstop.  Why would you even insinuate that a seller would not give a true answer. That just costs us money and time.  Sure, we know there are bad sellers but you have no info to psuh the conversation that direction. This is about what its about and you cant make it about bad sellers.

[ittybitnot]

We only sell here to make money so its a calculated decision on whether to block someone. 

eBay wants to make money, too.  Your "calculated decision" is not helping them do that.   Your calculated descision  to perhaps not to sell an iphone to a buyer who constantly uses the system to get them for free is hampered by simply not being able to know in advance.  eBay makes the money anyway.  

Any decision made by this manipulated marketplace can ultimately be traced to "making more money for the venue."   After all these years, the repercussions of some of these policies are showing unfavorable results.  

Just as the old "good news for sellers" announcements became a tired spin, "ehancing the buyer experience" can be added to the list. 

Just my opinion, of course. 

[soccerteeth]

"eBay wants to make money, too.  Your "calculated decision" is not helping them do that."

This is false.  We make a ton of money for ebay. We are much larger than your average seller.  Perfect feedback and a following of customers who have been repeat buying for more than a decade. My calculated decison keeps us on ebay vs just our website which is new but already bringing customers with barely any work.

I know they are not working for us in particular and part of the problem is they treat almost all sellers the same. You could sell millions on here and the same policy applies. Only when you get into crazy yearly millions may something change.

This particular transaction made ebay less than $10. More if the buyer sends it back. Weve sold over 2k a day for the last 3 days. Multiple buyers in the last week have purchased 6-8 items at once.

This is one of those short sited decisons that will make ebay less money. There are so many already on the fence here that I dont think it will take much to push them off. Then perhaps they make no money or other avenues but, then ebay makes no money off of them as a seller and you can bet hey will stop spending here as well. 

It doesnt take much to treat your sellers with a little respect. Some are more than likely better at business than those running this company.  Some know how to run their businesses. A decade of growth almost nonstop says I have an idea what Im doing at least in my field.

If we sell an iphone and someone is a cheat, then do we not get our fvf back anymore? When a buyer pens SNAD, just accept it or you may lose the item.  Weirdly, I have a period where my returs are autmatically approved and other times, I have to manually do it. 

Yesterday we had a buyer open for a return.  Its a good buyer weve had for years.  He opened a SNAD by mistake because we sold him some of the same brand stuff that he was happy with from us but, had not received the correct stuff from a otnher seller. Luckily it was not autmatically approved and I could send him a message. When he searched, he just clicked on the brand by mitake and sent a query to us about not receing the item. I was like "you didnt buy that from us". He closed it, no problem but I wonder if this will show up in against my returns quota? There is no reason it should but these changes happen to fast for most people spending all of their time running a business to keep up with.

I do get the tone of your post and am not being rude becasue I agree with how your saying it but , I completely disagree that this is good for the company in anyway. 

Its weird I agree with you and disagree at the same time. uh-oh , holding 2 conflicting ideas in the head is dangerous:) 

Perhaps this is still a fluke but thats doubtfull. Hopefully Trinton weighs in and at some point, I will talk to ebay Im sure.

[ittybitnot]

I do get the tone of your post and am not being rude becasue I agree with how your saying it but , I completely disagree that this is good for the company in anyway. 

You are not being rude to me.   Many of these policies are only good for the company "short term".   Their precieved value of their policies and requirements  is 'here and now' directed.  

The old idea of 'sellers are a dime a dozen and can easily be replaced' is beginning to show unsavory unintended consequences.   To think that ebay is the only best place to sell for many no longer is valid.  For many it still works. 

[missjen831]

---

@soccerteeth wrote:

"eBay wants to make money, too.  Your "calculated decision" is not helping them do that."

This is false.  We make a ton of money for ebay. We are much larger than your average seller.  Perfect feedback and a following of customers who have been repeat buying for more than a decade. My calculated decison keeps us on ebay vs just our website which is new but already bringing customers with barely any work.

I know they are not working for us in particular and part of the problem is they treat almost all sellers the same. You could sell millions on here and the same policy applies. Only when you get into crazy yearly millions may something change.

This particular transaction made ebay less than $10. More if the buyer sends it back. Weve sold over 2k a day for the last 3 days. Multiple buyers in the last week have purchased 6-8 items at once.

This is one of those short sited decisons that will make ebay less money. There are so many already on the fence here that I dont think it will take much to push them off. Then perhaps they make no money or other avenues but, then ebay makes no money off of them as a seller and you can bet hey will stop spending here as well. 

It doesnt take much to treat your sellers with a little respect. Some are more than likely better at business than those running this company.  Some know how to run their businesses. A decade of growth almost nonstop says I have an idea what Im doing at least in my field.

If we sell an iphone and someone is a cheat, then do we not get our fvf back anymore? When a buyer pens SNAD, just accept it or you may lose the item.  Weirdly, I have a period where my returs are autmatically approved and other times, I have to manually do it. 

Yesterday we had a buyer open for a return.  Its a good buyer weve had for years.  He opened a SNAD by mistake because we sold him some of the same brand stuff that he was happy with from us but, had not received the correct stuff from a otnher seller. Luckily it was not autmatically approved and I could send him a message. When he searched, he just clicked on the brand by mitake and sent a query to us about not receing the item. I was like "you didnt buy that from us". He closed it, no problem but I wonder if this will show up in against my returns quota? There is no reason it should but these changes happen to fast for most people spending all of their time running a business to keep up with.

I do get the tone of your post and am not being rude becasue I agree with how your saying it but , I completely disagree that this is good for the company in anyway. 

Its weird I agree with you and disagree at the same time. uh-oh , holding 2 conflicting ideas in the head is dangerous:) 

Perhaps this is still a fluke but thats doubtfull. Hopefully Trinton weighs in and at some point, I will talk to ebay Im sure.

---

How does eBay make more money if the buyer sends the item back? They refund the FVF so at most they kept what...:a few cents in listing fees if there were any?