eBay

oldwestgold · ‎03-17-2018

Has anyone been experiencing just how much eBay continues to ratchet up their filters? I recently sold an item and the buyer needed 3-4 weeks to pay in 3 payments via Paypal. I had him buy the item and then simply did not mark it paid because I knew I would receive a bad-boy mark against me if not shipped within 48 hrs. So it sat there as sold with the commission taken out for 3 weeks as the buyer made 2 payments. 2 days before he messaged me to send him a PP invoice for the last payment on an $800 item I get a 7-day account suspension for doing biz off eBay! I called and explained and even offered the proof via messages and Paypal and who would have figured, no one with common sense at eBay. Anyway, I sent the inv 2 days later, he paid, I marked paid, sent the item just as planned. I've been with eBay since they started and have done a million $ in transactions and still get treated like this even with 5-star ratings. Just my laundry for today. and please, a 7-day suspension - am I in grade school? What other company in the business world operates this way. Off eBay e-commerce site just about completed, thank goodness.

chrysylys · ‎03-17-2018

@oldwestgoldwrote:
Well, the suspension was for off eBay transaction and not layaway.

Correct. And your situation was not layaway to begin with. Your situation was working with a buyer to accomplish a successful transaction which is encouraged.

Forget keeping up with the Joneses. Be the Finklegrubers!
OK kids, time to get the Dodge loaded up again. I hear 'Poppy's By the Tree' calling. This trip might be a long one too.

oldwestgold · ‎03-17-2018

Yep, you hit the nail on the head. I guess I would have thought once I proved to the real people and not the bots at eBay someone could have seen the light. Stupid me. Thanks for the reply and have a great.

oldwestgold · ‎03-17-2018

Oh NO! Now I'm a bad bad seller too! LOL. Another 7-day vacation for me. I'll be in Gitmo for sure soon. Thanks for the funny and have a great day.

castlemagicmemories · ‎03-17-2018

@chrysylyswrote:
@oldwestgoldwrote:
Well, the suspension was for off eBay transaction and not layaway.
Correct. And your situation was not layaway to begin with. Your situation was working with a buyer to accomplish a successful transaction which is encouraged.

Sorry but multiple payments define layaway. Ebay is set up as a one payment system. Anything else is through Paypal credit, to accomplish the one payment. Paypal pays the seller in full, then the payment is between the buyer and Paypal Credit as buyer must pay Paypal back.

pjcdn2005 · ‎03-17-2018

I agree with the other poster that some of the rules here go against providing good customer service. If a buyer asks me to not ship a package for a week..there should be a process so that I'm not penalized for it in any way. Waiting a week is not going to affect the buyer's mbg protection. It makes no sense to me to require a customer to go out of their way to put a hold on mail (btw there is a charge for that in Canada) rather than have the seller hold on to for a week. I don't think most sellers would mind doing that. If you would mind, then you wouldn't have to do it.

If a buyer wants to make a purchase in two payments and the seller is ok with that, we should be allowed to do so. There are ways that a seller can go above and beyond good customer service but that is getting lost here because of certain policies or in some cases it is lost because of seller's perceptions of certain policies.

chrysylys · ‎03-17-2018

@pjcdn2005wrote:

If a buyer wants to make a purchase in two payments and the seller is ok with that, we should be allowed to do so.

I don't see any reason why you can't. They don't want listings set up ahead of time that way, but as an exception if a buyer asks and a seller agrees, there shouldn't be a problem. Once the sale is closed here via the cart, payment and delivery arrangements can be worked out via messages.

Forget keeping up with the Joneses. Be the Finklegrubers!
OK kids, time to get the Dodge loaded up again. I hear 'Poppy's By the Tree' calling. This trip might be a long one too.

pjcdn2005 · ‎03-17-2018

@castlemagicmemorieswrote:
@chrysylyswrote:
@oldwestgoldwrote:
Well, the suspension was for off eBay transaction and not layaway.
Correct. And your situation was not layaway to begin with. Your situation was working with a buyer to accomplish a successful transaction which is encouraged.
Sorry but multiple payments define layaway. Ebay is set up as a one payment system. Anything else is through Paypal credit, to accomplish the one payment. Paypal pays the seller in full, then the payment is between the buyer and Paypal Credit as buyer must pay Paypal back.

But regardless if the buyer was making multiple payments, the op said they were slapped for an outside ebay transaction, not really for breaking a layaway policy. This outside sales policy really seems to affect us in many ways. For example, when the system won't allow a buyer to ask for an invoice for multiple items, the seller supposedly isn't allowed to send the buyer a paypal invoice even though the sale is still being done through ebay. I guess they expect the buyer to pay all of the shipping and then get refunded but really..why should the buyer have to do that.

I'll stop...this is a pet peeve of mine. lol

castlemagicmemories · ‎03-17-2018

@castlemagicmemorieswrote:
@chrysylyswrote:
@oldwestgoldwrote:
Well, the suspension was for off eBay transaction and not layaway.
Correct. And your situation was not layaway to begin with. Your situation was working with a buyer to accomplish a successful transaction which is encouraged.
Sorry but multiple payments define layaway. Ebay is set up as a one payment system. Anything else is through Paypal credit, to accomplish the one payment. Paypal pays the seller in full, then the payment is between the buyer and Paypal Credit as buyer must pay Paypal back.

@Anonymous

Hi, Trinton, sorry for the bother, but could you help the OP? This issue has come up before and sellers are reluctant to accept policy as there is no policy page governing this, I checked the Index. There are archived threads that address this, which I have provided.

I understand that the OP was trying to accomodate his customer, and was possibly unaware of policy, but the messages probably seemed like an off ebay transaction due to the back and forth between the buyer and the seller, and the multiple Paypal invoices.

Please, could you weigh in on this issue so other sellers might see this as an official answer? Thank you so much for your help, Trinton.

pjcdn2005 · ‎03-17-2018

They do say that layaway programs are not allowed so that seems fairly specific that the rules don't allow the buyer to pay like that at all though I agree that wasn't why the op was slapped. It bothers me that things that should be so simple to do get refused because people are so worried about getting into trouble when in reality they are trying to provide good customer service.

castlemagicmemories · ‎03-17-2018

@pjcdn2005wrote:
@castlemagicmemorieswrote:
@chrysylyswrote:
@oldwestgoldwrote:
Well, the suspension was for off eBay transaction and not layaway.
Correct. And your situation was not layaway to begin with. Your situation was working with a buyer to accomplish a successful transaction which is encouraged.
Sorry but multiple payments define layaway. Ebay is set up as a one payment system. Anything else is through Paypal credit, to accomplish the one payment. Paypal pays the seller in full, then the payment is between the buyer and Paypal Credit as buyer must pay Paypal back.
But regardless if the buyer was making multiple payments, the op said they were slapped for an outside ebay transaction, not really for breaking a layaway policy. This outside sales policy really seems to affect us in many ways. For example, when the system won't allow a buyer to ask for an invoice for multiple items, the seller supposedly isn't allowed to send the buyer a paypal invoice even though the sale is still being done through ebay. I guess they expect the buyer to pay all of the shipping and then get refunded but really..why should the buyer have to do that.

I'll stop...this is a pet peeve of mine. lol

******************************************************************************************

But by the buyer not making one payment, discussing mutliple payments, and sending multiple Paypal invoices, it looks like an off ebay transaction because it does not comply with the Ebay requirement of ONE payment, either with the buyer paying one payment directly or through using Paypal credit. My take is anything outside of the norm of the one payment is flagged as an off ebay transaction, or it might simply have been the excessive payment communication. I don't know, hopefully Trinton can shed some light on this.

The invoice issue is concerning but a separate issue. I am a buyer and I don't use the cart because it is problematic. Once it doubled my items, second time, it would not allow an invoice to be sent because of the IPR on the listing, which the seller did not put there and could not remove.
She eventually sent me an offer, I accepted, and THEN she could send an invoice. I will agree that there are issues with some things.

@missjen831

Would you weigh in on this, please, as well? Sorry to bother you and thank you so much for your help!

castlemagicmemories · ‎03-17-2018

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/payment-policies/accepted-payments-policy?id=4269

Can you do a payment plan on eBay?

It's a violation of eBay's payment policies to offer a multiple payment plan. eBayrequires that the buyer pay the entire amount due in one payment. Those sellers are offering Off Ebay payments. You would have no protection for problems with the transaction if you agreed to pay in installments.

luckythewinner · ‎03-17-2018

@oldwestgoldwrote:
The suspension was NOT for layaway. It was for off eBay transaction.

Yes, but the communication that triggered the suspension was a direct result of the seller and buyer attempting to use eBay for a layaway payment.

chrysylys · ‎03-17-2018

@luckythewinnerwrote:
@oldwestgoldwrote:
The suspension was NOT for layaway. It was for off eBay transaction.
Yes, but the communication that triggered the suspension was a direct result of the ...

... Bots running amok.

Forget keeping up with the Joneses. Be the Finklegrubers!
OK kids, time to get the Dodge loaded up again. I hear 'Poppy's By the Tree' calling. This trip might be a long one too.

castlemagicmemories · ‎03-17-2018

@chrysylyswrote:
@pjcdn2005wrote:

If a buyer wants to make a purchase in two payments and the seller is ok with that, we should be allowed to do so.

I don't see any reason why you can't. They don't want listings set up ahead of time that way, but as an exception if a buyer asks and a seller agrees, there shouldn't be a problem. Once the sale is closed here via the cart, payment and delivery arrangements can be worked out via messages.

So sorry, but that is what lead to this suspension. Please post where you find that information, thank you.

castlemagicmemories · ‎03-17-2018

@castlemagicmemorieswrote:
@castlemagicmemorieswrote:
@chrysylyswrote:
@oldwestgoldwrote:
Well, the suspension was for off eBay transaction and not layaway.
Correct. And your situation was not layaway to begin with. Your situation was working with a buyer to accomplish a successful transaction which is encouraged.
Sorry but multiple payments define layaway. Ebay is set up as a one payment system. Anything else is through Paypal credit, to accomplish the one payment. Paypal pays the seller in full, then the payment is between the buyer and Paypal Credit as buyer must pay Paypal back.
@Anonymous

Hi, Trinton, sorry for the bother, but could you help the OP? This issue has come up before and sellers are reluctant to accept policy as there is no policy page governing this, I checked the Index. There are archived threads that address this, which I have provided.

I understand that the OP was trying to accomodate his customer, and was possibly unaware of policy, but the messages probably seemed like an off ebay transaction due to the back and forth between the buyer and the seller, and the multiple Paypal invoices.

Please, could you weigh in on this issue so other sellers might see this as an official answer? Thank you so much for your help, Trinton.

Also there is invalid encouragement being given to the OP; I don't want to see a seller permanently gone because of this. Please read this whole thread to address any and all inaccuracies that are here. Thank you so much, Trinton!