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.

[sharingtheland]

Sorry to say but you're wasting your time talking about Toys R Us or any of the other big box sellers.  They don't have rules; they have contracts.

I'm sure in ebay weasel speak they are called something other than "sellers."  Hence, "all sellers follow the same rules", repeated constantly, simply does not apply to them.

[a_c_green]

---

@sharingtheland wrote:

They don't have rules; they have contracts.

I'm sure in ebay weasel speak they are called something other than "sellers."  Hence, "all sellers follow the same rules", repeated constantly, simply does not apply to them.

---

Quite possibly, sure. I posted something similar about our own company's dealings with big clients just yesterday or the day before, in fact.

But I do get kind of irritated by the blanket denials and vague Marketing-speak that goes on here much too often, and I find it kind of refreshing to drag out specific details and examples, and just rub their noses in it a little.

[d-k_treasures]

---

@a_c_green wrote:

---

@sharingtheland wrote:

They don't have rules; they have contracts.

I'm sure in ebay weasel speak they are called something other than "sellers."  Hence, "all sellers follow the same rules", repeated constantly, simply does not apply to them.

---

Quite possibly, sure. I posted something similar about our own company's dealings with big clients just yesterday or the day before, in fact.

But I do get kind of irritated by the blanket denials and vague Marketing-speak that goes on here much too often, and I find it kind of refreshing to drag out specific details and examples, and just rub their noses in it a little.

---

Kudo Helpful loop ....

Exactly. Actually, last week, I just picked the first listing which happened to be something to do with Minecraft, and there ya go - a link right to their own store website with all of their minecraft items for sale.

But did you see the answer in the chat this week? Yet again with the 'all sellers have to follow the same policies'. It's very irritating, and even though they say 'report it', we know nothing will be done about it. Of course, who wants to buy from them on here anyway(well, who would anyway, after being redirected)?

Even most chinese sellers have better feedback than the body temperature theirs is. And I'm sure that's even after the periodic scrubbing.

Either give them a suspension or stop flat-out lying to us.

[sharingtheland]

Ah, but remember my theory.  The big box guys aren't called "sellers"; they have a different weasel word name.

Ergo, the blues can parrot "all sellers follow the same rules" from now until ebay's ... end.

[ersatz_sobriquet]

I'm sure they are busy rewriting every line of TRU contract....our "partner" TRU, never calling them a "seller". Exempt! Mission accomplished! 

[d-k_treasures]

---

@sharingtheland wrote:

Ah, but remember my theory.  The big box guys aren't called "sellers"; they have a different weasel word name.

Ergo, the blues can parrot "all sellers follow the same rules" from now until ebay's ... end.

---

If they come up if you use advanced seach and 'find items by seller', that means seller to me - which is part of 'all sellers'.

[go-bad-chicken]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

---

@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.

---

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.

---

"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."

What?

Let me get this straight . A buyer sends a seller their contact information; unsolicited through eBay's messages and eBay's response is that sellers should take a pledge, to demonstrate and affirm their loyalty and commitment to the eBay corporation! But if a seller does not make a pledge then eBay may or may not be able to protect its sellers from the unintended consequences.

You folks have lost your minds.

I pledge allegiance to the the shareholders of the eBay corporation ......... George Orwell just did a back flip in his grave and will be break dancing here shortly.

[sharingtheland]

---

@d-k_treasures wrote:

---

@sharingtheland wrote:

Ah, but remember my theory.  The big box guys aren't called "sellers"; they have a different weasel word name.

Ergo, the blues can parrot "all sellers follow the same rules" from now until ebay's ... end.

---

If they come up if you use advanced seach and 'find items by seller', that means seller to me - which is part of 'all sellers'.

---

d-k, "search" and "seller" obviously mean something different in Weasel and we are not yet totally fluent in that language.

[Anonymous]

---

@a_c_green wrote:

---

@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?

---

@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?

---

While an account on eBay that is violating our links policy is off topic from the OPs concerns in this thread, I do want to let you know that the details you have shared have been reported to the appropriate teams and will be reviewed. If this requires further discussion, I encourage you to begin a new thread as off eBay links are not related to the matter of receiving contact info from a buyer as is being discussed here. Additionally, in the future you can report any concerns you have directly within the listing and we will review the account.

[d-k_treasures]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

---

@a_c_green wrote:

---

@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?

---

@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?

---

While an account on eBay that is violating our links policy is off topic from the OPs concerns in this thread, I do want to let you know that the details you have shared have been reported to the appropriate teams and will be reviewed. If this requires further discussion, I encourage you to begin a new thread as off eBay links are not related to the matter of receiving contact info from a buyer as is being discussed here. Additionally, in the future you can report any concerns you have directly within the listing and we will review the account.

---

The ones I reported are still there, so I'm fairly sure that they are going into the bit bucket for this seller.

If we start a new thread, will it stay up?

[chrysylys]

---

@d-k_treasures wrote:

If we start a new thread, will it stay up?

---

XX  fingers crossed  XX

[gramophone-georg]

---

@go-bad-chicken wrote:

---

@Anonymous wrote:

---

@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.

---

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.

---

"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."

What?

Let me get this straight . A buyer sends a seller their contact information; unsolicited through eBay's messages and eBay's response is that sellers should take a pledge, to demonstrate and affirm their loyalty and commitment to the eBay corporation! But if a seller does not make a pledge then eBay may or may not be able to protect its sellers from the unintended consequences.

You folks have lost your minds.

I pledge allegiance to the the shareholders of the eBay corporation ......... George Orwell just did a back flip in his grave and will be break dancing here shortly.

---

That's sure what it sounds like... just SMH. Even then, CS will be "unable" to do anything.

[odditiesandantiquities1]

---

@gramophone-georg wrote:

---

@go-bad-chicken wrote:

---

@Anonymous wrote:

---

@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.

---

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.

---

"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."

What?

Let me get this straight . A buyer sends a seller their contact information; unsolicited through eBay's messages and eBay's response is that sellers should take a pledge, to demonstrate and affirm their loyalty and commitment to the eBay corporation! But if a seller does not make a pledge then eBay may or may not be able to protect its sellers from the unintended consequences.

You folks have lost your minds.

I pledge allegiance to the the shareholders of the eBay corporation ......... George Orwell just did a back flip in his grave and will be break dancing here shortly.

---

That's sure what it sounds like... just SMH. Even then, CS will be "unable" to do anything.

---

Someone with an awful lot of power is making these absolutely insane policies and even our eBay rep's have to follow their allegiance to them.  It's a good thing I don't work for eBay because after just one or two of these nutty decisions, my resignation would be on the table. 

To our reps, you must feel absolutely embarassed to have to actually verbalize your commitment to this farce. I feel incredibly sorry for you.

[ted_200]

But did you see the answer in the chat this week? Yet again with the 'all sellers have to follow the same policies'. It's very irritating, and even though they say 'report it', we know nothing will be done about it.

It's not just irritating, it calls into question everything they say... like what does and does not constitute a "violation" (for you and me, not Us).  Everything they say is spurious, all the way back to the famous "Lowest Fees Ever!" message... to we would never use Detailed Seller Ratings to punish sellers... right up until this very day. 

They say you don't have to reply with "keep it on eBay".  Swell.  But someone here got a "violation" for not responding to a buyer with contact info. in the Message. 

Then they imply, "well... maybe you should reply with 'keep it on eBay'..."

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.

So, even if it's not clear the intention was to take it "off eBay", or maybe the intention is clear and is not to take it "off eBay", we're supposed to accuse potential buyers of policy violations?  So that just in case (maybe) some human at eBay actually looks at this, we (maybe) won't get a policy violation or selling suspension?   

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.

Well... so you're absolved if you do this? Or not?   

Or, is this what we were trying to say?

If you don't message your buyer to say you intend to keep communication and the sale on the site this is a way of ensuring we are informed of your refusal to follow eBay policy.

[ted_200]

Let me get this straight . A buyer sends a seller their contact information; unsolicited through eBay's messages and eBay's response is that sellers should take a pledge, to demonstrate and affirm their loyalty and commitment to the eBay corporation! But if a seller does not make a pledge then eBay may or may not be able to protect its sellers from the unintended consequences.

That is exactly how I read it too.  And the "unrelated to this topic" topic clearly demonstrates your loyality will not be returned - that's a one-way street in eBay's eyes.