Reporting a seller/item

[red_apple_av]

Well eBay has changed the way to report a listing, and now when I try and report a private seller who is clearly a business there is no option in the reason drop down to select the correct reason as its now no longer there. Obviously eBay don't care if a business is using a private account to sell on.

[bravergrace]

To be honest, there's probably no point reporting it anyway.

The "private" seller has listed their item, with text like this - this is very similar to one I saw at the weekend:

"We have literally hundreds of items like this for sale, all brand new from the factory, and with new stock coming in every week.  If you can't see the size/colour you want, just contact us and we'll list it for you, or visit our shops at 100 High Street, Smalltown or 20 Market Place, Anytown: our Head Office phone number is in the 3rd photograph!".  

This listing has already been automatically checked at the time of listing, by eBay's AI bots, and they couldn't see anything clues to business status in this.  You and I can spot it a mile off, of course, but artificial intelligence apparently can't.

When you report it, it will doubtless be "checked" again, by exactly the same AI bot, using exactly the same rules as when it was listed - and it will reach exactly the same conclusion.  

You will receive a pleasantly-worded message reassuring you that you're imagining things - or warning you that if you continue to report this poor innocent private seller, your account is at risk under the Malicious Reporting Policy.

The seller will continue to sell with no fees, no returns accepted.  eBay - quite frankly - don't care.  They will get their fees from the buyer, and a substantial cut of the "Simple Delivery" postage label.  No returns is cheaper for eBay as well - less admin, less CS time taken up listening to buyers and sellers having a moan.

[cobwebcottage]

Following on from @bravergrace 

The 'private' seller with over 1.5K items whose user name is the same as their Etseee * shop and the link is in every photo on their listings so you can buy without BPF. - Ebay not interested.

Another PS who doesn't actually sell anything but does repairs who states 'WARNING... READ DESCRIPTION FIRST AND MESSAGE ME BEFORE BUYING OR THE TRANSACTION WILL BE CANCELLED.”

and replies to each feedback with 'for future repairs please contact me at donaldduck....

Ebay not interested.

There are 1000's more. Not a bad deal for free advertising space is it?

[jonatjonatjonat]

But it’s BPF and simple delivery that’s the cause of sales falling of course.

[bravergrace]

And of course there are the "private" sellers who aren't actually selling anything.  They are buying. 

There's one private seller that offers (according to their eBay listing) a "Removal service" and suggests you might like to "sell your unwanted *******".  This private seller offers to pay top prices, and has - apparently - a team of trained engineers all over the UK, so you can be sure to have the professional service you require.  He encourages would-be purchasers to contact him for a quote.

His service is aimed at elderly and disabled people, and the recently bereaved, who doubtless think they're getting a professional service with some sort of guarantee from eBay if it all goes wrong.

Do eBay care?  No, they don't.  The only way I have ever persuaded them to act on this sort of report, is by speaking to a member of eBay staff, and getting THEM to read the listing and make the report.

[cobwebcottage]

They are so focused on that and don't care about the state of the site or following their own policies.

It's not rocket science to run random searches or manually check when they receive a report about a seller.

Talking of searches which could be flagged, have a look at 'mystery boxes'. Both BS and PS seem to be allowed to break this policy but I can't sell a round headed flexible letter opener!

[cobwebcottage]

'The only way I have ever persuaded them to act on this sort of report, is by speaking to a member of eBay staff, and getting THEM to read the listing and make the report.'

Tried that with the first example I gave. CS were aghast and were going to do something. 8 months later, still nothing.

[bravergrace]

Well, just out of curiosity, I've just reported a seller in my bellwether category - the category whose services are aimed at elderly, disabled and newly-bereaved people.

I reported it using the new system, and to my surprise, it was read by a Customer Service agent.

However, the agent didn’t find the content to be in violation of eBay  policy.  

My report stated (truthfully) that:

This "private seller" had as his username the name of his (wellknown) company.

Every one of his listings had as its gallery picture a photograph, not of the item supposedly for sale, but of one of the company vans, displaying the website address, phone number, business name etc.

Every one of his listings had wording asking for potential customers to contact his website or phone number to obtain a quote.

Now: and please read this before doing any reporting, this notification e-mail came complete with a link for me to "appeal the finding".

I clicked the link , and it took me to an eBay page where I could submit evidence to appeal against a finding of defamation.

So , the fact that my report was NOT acted upon, appears to have automatically led to a "finding of defamation" against ME.  There was no direct notification or even a hint of this in the eBay message, but when I clicked the appeal link, that's what all it gave me:  a way to appeal against the finding that I had defamed the private member by suggesting they were breaking eBay rules.

[cobwebcottage]

Wrong, just wrong.

[bravergrace]

I don't think it should be beyond the wit of eBay to run periodic checks on listings that are far below the others in their category: say 98% of the items in a particular category are for £2000 or more, then a BIN listing for a brand new item in that category for less than £2, with free P&P, is anomalous.  And very probably fraudulent.

A little more attention to this sort of thing, and a little less to clobbering sellers who list "biscuit barrels"  for alleged breach of the firearms policy, would do everyone a favour.

[darth_baggins]

This is why I stopped reporting anything years ago.

And for months on the weekly chat, reporting businesses masquerading as private sellers has been brought up a lot and the staff have assured us that all reports are taken seriously and that they will pass on our feedback to 'the team'.

This is also why I stopped posting on the weekly chat. It's a waste of my time.

[jonatjonatjonat]

There was one the other day they had a link to their Etsy shop in EVERY listing on ebay. And couldn't see the issue. In fact they said that 'Cross polination of social media works to the benefit of all - ebay are happy to be linked to - they need to accept a reasonable level of linking from'

And another who linked to discogs off their vinyl records (they didn't seem to sell on discogs and the link in their mind was purely to show more info on the product) but they couldn't understand why ebay would be against linking out to another site SELLING THE SAME PRODUCT AT A CHEAPER PRICE! 

It blows my mind that users would think examples like the above are all hunky dory.

[yvonnshepher54]

 

It's truly unbelievable how eBay treats business sellers. Our sales have plummeted, and instead of offering support, they seem to view us solely as a cash cow. I recently discovered this firsthand when an offer I thought was for discounted promoted listings turned out to be for "promoted advertising" at £25 a day. I stopped it immediately, and since then, my sales have tanked. I've seen other sellers report that opting out of these promotional offers negatively impacts their item visibility, suggesting eBay's algorithm punishes sellers who don't continually subscribe to their expensive campaigns.

[fribblecollectables]

A relative of mine currently has around £30,000 worth of new items listed and still laughs at me for paying fees while he continues to benefit from free listings. As he puts it, eBay hasn't required him to register as a Business Seller—so why should he?

[therenewalworkshopltd]

Because he is breaking the law perhaps?

[billtev]

Report this to the HMRC hotline!

[hugothecockapoo]

Hello ...Please remember the weekly chat team's normal responses, it's working as intended, or I will pass this on to the relevant team.. You're right, Darth. Why bother?..

[spence0175]

That is just so blatant and shocking really but then nothing surprises me on here anymore.