Suspension violating rules

[simplecellunlock]

Ok, so this automated policy enforcement is GARBAGE!  I just caught a 3 day suspension because a BUYER GAVE ME HIS PHONE NUMBER and we finished our transaction on ebay through ebay.  I ignored the message about his number and yet I still catch a **bleep** restriction?  I called ebay and they don't care.  They told me there is nothing they can do even though its painfully obvious that I DID NOTHING wrong.  

Seriously, who else is strugging with this automated enforcement catching innocence?

Im to the point where I am about to flip the **** out.  This is so frustrating.

[castlemagicmemories]

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@simplecellunlock wrote:

@sockmonkeydave

full disclosure this is my 2nd time on forums.  I have read all policies regarding eBay have no read any policies regarding forums.  I did not receive help from CS, so I came here.  I am going to go check out the forum rules before I post anymore.

I am obviously frustrated about being on a 3 day restriction when I am in the right.

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OP, as someone already said, it was the first warning on your account, and then when this happened, you got the temporary suspension of three days.

I think the "make purchase" could be taken as an affirmative, whereas Please buy on Ebay is more specific and approved.

[castlemagicmemories]

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@simplecellunlock wrote:

@sockmonkeydave

full disclosure this is my 2nd time on forums.  I have read all policies regarding eBay have no read any policies regarding forums.  I did not receive help from CS, so I came here.  I am going to go check out the forum rules before I post anymore.

I am obviously frustrated about being on a 3 day restriction when I am in the right.

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Next one, I think, is 7 days.  

[simplecellunlock]

@castlemagicmemories

how is "mark purchase" an affirmative to do off site dealings when they don't have my paypal email?  My email on website and my paypal email are different, so they could not get it anywhere on ebay in order to "make purchase" other than through ebay.

you reply made no sense to me.

EDIT:  

and now I see your second reply, which also tells me you didn't read.

- warning 

- 7 day ban, items removed from ebay

- 3 day ban, items stayed on ebay and i can still sell

that was their progression of punishment.

[sunshinestatevintagefinds]

Anytime I get any type of email that looks even remotely fishy I send a reply and remind them of eBay policy. I know if eBay is monitoring then they will see I have done my job for them. I do believe the one to be suspended should be the sender but hey that is just me being logical. 

[simplecellunlock]

@sunshinestatevintagefinds

what **bleep** me off the most is I have hundreds of messages where I say "keep messages on ebay until after purchase" and the one message they bother to check I didn't reply to BUT the sender still made purchase on eBay a few minutes later.

They don't even both to accurately do their jobs is the problem.  They didn't even check senders user name against my order history to see he did make the purchase on eBay, which he did.  I should not have to send a reply message to defend myself.  I should not have to even be suspected of anything if a sender gives me his phone number regardless if there was a sale or not.  If he sends me his number and there was no reply or no sale eBay should assume I chose to ignore the message as their message was against policy and I steered clear.  Not automatic guilt.  The sender should be punished for violating terms and not the seller who chose to ignore the message.  

This policy is the most ridiculous thing I have ever imagined in my life.  The person who made this up must get the most high fives at the water cooler.  It is obvious he is a real swell feller.

[castlemagicmemories]

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@the_fancy_fox wrote:

why is ebay allowing emails from buyers that have contact information in them to be sent to the seller? Why are THEY not getting a warning?

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Both parties get the warning message.  Seller and buyer.

[castlemagicmemories]

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@chrysylys wrote:

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@odditiesandantiquities1 wrote:

Here's another flagrant broken rule from a Hong Kong seller.

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I don't see a violation there.

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Neither do I.  Many sellers list the same disclosure; it is not exclusive to China sellers, nor is it a violation.

[castlemagicmemories]

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@simplecellunlock wrote:

@castlemagicmemories

how is "mark purchase" an affirmative to do off site dealings when they don't have my paypal email?  My email on website and my paypal email are different, so they could not get it anywhere on ebay in order to "make purchase" other than through ebay.

you reply made no sense to me.

What I said was this:  I think the "make purchase" could be taken as an affirmative, whereas Please buy on Ebay is more specific and approved.:  

Simply meaning, someone may have taken that as saying, make purchase ANYWHERE, you did NOT specifically say on Ebay, according to what you posted earlier and just now.  Ebay, a rep, or a bot is not going to know exactly what you mean by that or that you can't buy this anywhere else.  Just saying perhaps your message needed to be more explicit.  That's all.  Had you been, this might not have happened.

EDIT:  

and now I see your second reply, which also tells me you didn't read.

- warning 

- 7 day ban, items removed from ebay

- 3 day ban, items stayed on ebay and i can still sell

that was their progression of punishment.

Read through the whole thread again, sorry but you only mentioned the 7 day ban now.

I was referring to the normal progression of a warning, which you got previously, then a 3 day suspension, which you just now got, then they go to a 7 day suspension.  That's how it goes, which makes sense as the penalties get increasingly severe.  Why yours is backwards, warning, 7 day suspension, then 3 day suspension, I don't know.

Hope this clarifies.  Again, sorry this happened to you.  

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[castlemagicmemories]

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@castlemagicmemories wrote:

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@simplecellunlock wrote:

@castlemagicmemories

how is "mark purchase" an affirmative to do off site dealings when they don't have my paypal email?  My email on website and my paypal email are different, so they could not get it anywhere on ebay in order to "make purchase" other than through ebay.

you reply made no sense to me.

What I said was this:  I think the "make purchase" could be taken as an affirmative, whereas Please buy on Ebay is more specific and approved.:  

Simply meaning, someone may have taken that as saying, make purchase ANYWHERE, you did NOT specifically say on Ebay, according to what you posted earlier and just now.  Ebay, a rep, or a bot is not going to know exactly what you mean by that or that you can't buy this anywhere else.  Just saying perhaps your message needed to be more explicit.  That's all.  Had you been, this might not have happened.

EDIT:  

and now I see your second reply, which also tells me you didn't read.

- warning 

- 7 day ban, items removed from ebay

- 3 day ban, items stayed on ebay and i can still sell

that was their progression of punishment.

Read through the whole thread again, sorry but you only mentioned the 7 day ban now.  I didn't miss anything.

I was referring to the normal progression of a warning, which you got previously, then a 3 day suspension, which you just now got, then they go to a 7 day suspension.  That's how it goes, which makes sense as the penalties get increasingly severe.  I think the one after 7 days is a month.  Why yours is backwards, warning, 7 day suspension, then 3 day suspension, I don't know.

Hope this clarifies.  Again, sorry this happened to you.  

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[ted_200]

The short answer is that as long as a member is not taking a sale off site or indicating they will be communicating with their trading partner off of eBay prior to purchase, they have nothing to worry about.

There are countless examples, many posted right inside this very topic, that say otherwise. 

If a seller responds to contact info before purchase and says "I will call you", this is a violation.

Since eBay rigged the Contact Seller feature to open up disputes over routine questions, many eBay buyers  use the Contact Seller link in an active listing to communicate about a sold item. 

Why wouldn't some actual indication that either party wanted to take a transaction off of eBay be required for a "violation"?

If they do not respond and the listing is still present on the site, this in itself would not be considered a violation.

In at least one example here, the item wasn't present on the site because the buyer had bought the item - on eBay! 

If you guys have humans reviewing this stuff (as you claim), you need to train them better. 

[kc11671]

I never understood the problem with phone contact since on the ebay app the buyer's phone number appears as soon as you click on the item.  One time a buyer's address was coming up invalid and I simply called the guy and he corrected it.  How much easier can it get?

[Anonymous]

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@simplecellunlock wrote:

brian@ebaybrian.t@ebay

Now you're trying to guilt me?  I already said I violated the policy in the past.  I used to post my contact info in my listing because the messaging system is garbage, I did not know that was a violation.  I was reported, I took the warning on the chin.  I was at blame, I don't deny that..BUT THIS is something else.

I have followed ALL ebay policies and studied them extensively.  THERE IS NOTHING THAT STATES I have to reply to a message with contact information and say "keep it on ebay" even though I regularly do.  IN this case the buyer asked for a text, I shot him a text and said "make purchase when ready" which he did 15 minutes AFTER he messaged me his number.  So I followed ALL policies that eBay has set forth.

The other instance I was dinged for in the same suspension was saying "text me pic. you have my number" which took place 30ish minutes after buyer already purchased my item.

shaming me and basically saying "well he was guilty in the past he must be guilty now" is a garbage response.  I follow all the rules and am still getting swooped up.  How can the monkeys reviewing this not see timestamps?  What is the purpose of their job other than to annoy people?  I don't deny they probably catch legitimate policy violators but here is my issue.  I called.  I explained this all to a supervisor and HE AGREED with me.  He reviewed all the time stamps and said I was not in the wrong on either of these issues.  I had him note my account before we hung up that he reviewed everything that I was innocent i regards to this suspension but there was still "nothing he could do" even though I was found to be innocent after all.

explain that.

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Hi @simplecellunlock, I just want to be clear that brian@ebay@'s previous post was speaking generally about our process for placing a restriction for the benefit of any other Community members who read this and have questions. We would not discuss any account specific information of yours here on the boards. If you have account specific questions, we can discuss these with you further off of this thread. @mention either brian@ebay or myself and we will be happy to reach out with more details.

Additionally, while you are not required to reply to a buyer with "keep it on eBay", communicating with your buyers on the site about this is a good suggestion for you put into practice. There will be times where we see a buyer has provided you with contact information and other factors or messages on your account give us reason to believe that the transaction is being taken off of eBay. Messaging your buyer to say you intend to keep communication and the sale on the site is simply a way of ensuring we are informed of your committment to following eBay policy.

[d-k_treasures]

Messaging your buyer to say you intend to keep communication and the sale on the site is simply a way of ensuring we are informed of your committment to following eBay policy.

But obviously there is no commitment on ebay's part to remove links to a big toy sellers off-site website so that buyers can purchase from there instead of here ................

How fast would one of US get smacked if we did that?

[sharingtheland]

Additionally, while you are not required to reply to a buyer with "keep it on eBay", communicating with your buyers on the site about this is a good suggestion for you put into practice. There will be times where we see a buyer has provided you with contact information and other factors or messages on your account give us reason to believe that the transaction is being taken off of eBay. Messaging your buyer to say you intend to keep communication and the sale on the site is simply a way of ensuring we are informed of your committment to following eBay policy.

Okay, so wait.  Seller does not reply but the buyer's messages give ebay reason to believe the transaction is being taken off of ebay?   And this causes a suspension for the seller?    And what other factors?

[a_c_green]

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@d-k_treasures wrote:

Messaging your buyer to say you intend to keep communication and the sale on the site is simply a way of ensuring we are informed of your committment to following eBay policy.

But obviously there is no commitment on ebay's part to remove links to a big toy sellers off-site website so that buyers can purchase from there instead of here ................

How fast would one of US get smacked if we did that?

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@Anonymous, thanks for continuing to follow this. It's pretty easy to find solicitations in that big toy seller's listings luring buyers off eBay to their own website, and it's not simply to provide more information about that particular toy. Here is the first example, a generally-worded excerpt from their item's description, that I turned up in all of about 90 seconds of searching: 

"As the most trusted name in quality toys, Fisher-Price has been helping to make childhood special for generations of kids. Since 1930, they've been in business to create toys that fascinate and stimulate a child's imagination with innovative learning toys, toys based on popular preschool characters, and award-winning baby gear. Find Fisher-Price products right here!"

In the original eBay listing, that last word "here!" above is an https: hyperlink to a general product lineup on their own site which, in my own testing just now, came up pre-populated with 948 other products that they are willing to sell to me from their own website, not yours.

Next, here's another example from the seller-who-shall-not-be-named-here that's a lot more in-your-face about enticing buyers away from eBay:

"Open up a whole new world of imagination with the timeless design and functionality of Imaginarium, available exclusively at [seller]. Designed to help charge your child's creativity, Imaginarium is designed to support and STEM development, develop social skills through interactive play, and encourages them to create their own adventures. For everything from mad scientists to questing nights, take your child on an adventure that is sure to capture every corner of their creativity and imagination. Browse through the full line of Imaginarium items, available exclusively at [seller]!"

Yes, in that example, the entire last sentence is a link to their website, pre-populated with 228 items to choose from as soon as the buyer lands there.

I think it's safe to say that their listing practices are doing a lot more damage to your bottom line than what one possibly-misunderstood exchange of messaging by the OP could possibly achieve here. Wouldn't you agree?