trying to report a member who wanted me to call them outside of eBay

[sextons-sweet-deals]

I have looked / researched for probably 3+ hours, and there is no way to report an eBay member trying to get me to call them.

What am I missing? Was there another update that does not protect sellers reporting scammers / harassment.

The member has positive feedback but wanted to play the 'word' game. 

1. Are these still available? red flag! it is an active listing.

2. I’m interested, but it says pick up only. I’m in virginia and would need to fly in, rent a car, come to you, purchase the cards and drive home.

3. after trying to send their phone number in multiple messages, they add: Can you call me to work out the details of the deal?

4.my response: You are breaking all the eBay rules and I will not be part of it!

5. potential buyer response: How am I breaking eBay rules? I’d like to hear the voice of someone I’d be investing a lot of time and money into. I wanted to ask you if you had anything else for sale that you haven’t listed so I could bring enough money to cover.

I understand you’re probably an older fellow and trying to protect yourself, I’m just an honest guy looking to make us both happy.

But I understand. Have a good day.

Really? You're an older fellow along with 'I’m just an honest guy looking to make us both happy."

I told the buyer they can retract bid. They kept claiming they couldn't. ???

here is the lmao message from potential buyer: It won’t allow me to retract the bid. You are not allowing it for whatever reason. I’ve asked you to cancel the bid 4 days ago long before auctions end. There’s 30 minutes left on the auction and you haven’t responded to me, other than being rude. I’m asking you again to cancel the bid. I can’t believe you would treat someone who was trying to give you thousands of dollars (legitimately through the eBay auction) this way. I’ve never dealt with a seller like you in 20 years on eBay. Good luck with your auctions.

As we sellers know, we cannot block a buyer from retracting a bid!

[sextons-sweet-deals]

missed posting this last message from potential buyer:

 I don’t care wether you cancel the bid or not at this point. I’m not completing the transaction anyway.

I’m still scratching my head trying to figure out how you can just run off someone who has shown interest in the most expensive auction you have listed on eBay right now. Mind blowing!

All good. Your loss. Choke on them!

[retro_entertainment_collectibles]

Professional verbiage is wise aka not saying, "You're breaking all the eBay and I will not be part of it."

Hostile flavored words usually result in hostile flavored words unintentional or not.

"Greetings and thank you for you're communication(s),

Unfortunately at this point in time eBay disallows direct communications between consumers and vendors upon their platform.  They've a variety of reasons for these rules in place and for users of the service to follow.  Some of these include transacting outside of the service boundaries all the way to people who fish for information(s).  eBay uses the internal messaging system exclusively so as a record exists of communications should problems occur."

[ed8108]

Go to help & contact, have ebay telephone you, & give the rep a verbal report

[ebooksdiva]

You can report the buyer here Report Buyer 

You can also report the messages from the buyer as well when opening the message there’s an action button at the top of the message,click that, next click Report message then select other,  in the box explain that the buyer is sending you his phone number asking you to do an off eBay transaction.

[fashunu4eeuh]

It is rarely a good idea to get into an angry back and forth with a buyer.

I think you were too hasty in shutting this buyer down. At the very least i would have let the auction run to completion. Then see if the buyer follows thru with the sale as he insisted he wished to do.

Many buyers are unaware of the myriad of rules snd policies that govern the site. It is possible this buyer did not know that it was against the rules to share contact info prior to the sale. He does not seem to fit the mold for a fraudster, and i don’t think he was  running the text-me scam. (eBay does allow for seller phone numbers to be shared when there is a legit need in the facilitation of a sale. But to get to it is kind of a maze, see below.)

“You can find a seller's phone number in the following places on eBay, if they've opted to share their number: When you select Contact seller and then Other on the Find answers page, you'll see an option to view the seller's phone number.”

https://www.ebay.com/help/buying/working-sellers/contact-seller?id=4021#:~:text=contact%20details%20...

When he asked you to cancel the bid, why didn’t you cancel it? If he was having trouble retracting it, and then requested you do it on your end, why did you keep insisting he must do it? You as the seller can safely cancel a bid at buyer’s request with no penalty, see policy below.

There is such a thing as too much caution. I would have given this buyer the benefit of the doubt and would have withheld judgement until or if an actual scam took place.

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/listings/selling-auctions/cancelling-bid?id=4140

[az93]

Ignore, block.

[wastingtime101 · Accepted solution]

---

@sextons-sweet-deals wrote:

I have looked / researched for probably 3+ hours, and there is no way to report an eBay member trying to get me to call them.

---

Did you look at the top of the eBay message to see if the report button is there?

This is a recent phased rollout. If you don't see the actions button it means the feature has not yet been added to your account.

[sextons-sweet-deals]

the buyer knows what they are doing. They are breaking eBay rules.

5. potential buyer response: How am I breaking eBay rules? I’d like to hear the voice of someone I’d be investing a lot of time and money into. I wanted to ask you if you had anything else for sale that you haven’t listed so I could bring enough money to cover.

[sextons-sweet-deals]

the potential buyer has 200+ feedback. Looks to live very well per google maps. 

The big red flag here is the multiple messages of their phone number broken up in pieces to avoid eBay Firewall of communication. 

So in a way, you're saying I should have called them? No Way!

Been here since 2001. I have seen it, read it, and been scammed. 

[sextons-sweet-deals]

thank you! 

[fashunu4eeuh]

---

@sextons-sweet-deals wrote:

the potential buyer has 200+ feedback. Looks to live very well per google maps. 

The big red flag here is the multiple messages of their phone number broken up in pieces to avoid eBay Firewall of communication. 

So in a way, you're saying I should have called them? No Way!

Been here since 2001. I have seen it, read it, and been scammed. 

---

Hi @sextons-sweet-deals  I was unaware that the buyer made an obvious attempt to circumvent the rules in this way. Don’t believe it was mentioned he sent his phone number broken up or manipulated to avoid censure in the other posts.. In that case, there is a clear indication he was  indeed aware of the rules. This changes my opinion that the buyer was  not innocent, but was instead up to something.

Sorry to hear you have been scammed before. Why in this case did you not cancel his bid?

[mobileman67]

It's really an easy one to address. Don't get caught up in the drama. If they ask you to call them, politely let them know that you prefer to keep all communication here on ebay, for your protection and theirs. If they persist, you can absolutely end the auction yourself and ad them to your block list. 

If they've won the auction, just as easy. Cancel,  block, relist and move on. 

[mobileman67]

I agree completely. I have sold numerous very expensive items, and sometimes, a buyer wants to discuss details over the phone. After all, they can look up your registered phone number by choosing Contact Seller, then Other and contacting you directly if they were bent on doing so. On high value items, I see no reason to not allow basic discussions about the item and shipping logistics, as long as they do not lead to transactions happening off of the ebay platform. 

You can always just answer a request for a phone call with "For both of our protection, I'd rather keep all communication here on ebay" if you're not comfortable with a call. The knee-jerk reaction to report is uncalled for. 

[sextons-sweet-deals]

Buyer was stating they could not cancel / retract their bid. That was another red flag to me. They had plenty of time to cancel. I decided to let it ride out. Told the potential buyer to just send me a message after listing ends to cancel their purchase. They responded with 'will do' with a few hours left. 

(They really never said 'please cancel'. It was all about 'I can't cancel from my end'. I didn't want to take the risk of being charged a fee for canceling their bid. eBay is always changing the rules / fees and I was done with this person.)

I waited a good 3+ hours after listing ended and contacted them about not receiving a message to cancel. 

That is when they responded with this:

You’ve got plenty of messages of me asking you to cancel the bid. The photo I sent is the message screen I get when I formally request to cancel my bid. It’s obviously a setting that you checked off when you created the listing and are acting like it’s on my end. I don’t care wether you cancel the bid or not at this point. I’m not completing the transaction anyway. I’m still scratching my head trying to figure out how you can just run off someone who has shown interest in the most expensive auction you have listed on eBay right now. Mind blowing! All good. Your loss. Choke on them!

Note: the photo screen shot they sent was something I had never seen before.?

They claim I made settings to block their retraction. I don't think that is an option and probably illegal if it was on eBay's end. 

I think this person finally ran into a person who was not willing to play their game. Been here too long and work hard on my listings & service. I'm not going to risk my status / account for communication outside of eBay.