Not allowed to bid (restrictions form seller code 3008)

[volga21]

I'm a collector of postcards of a particular subject matter. I know there are a (very) few other collectors out there, and when a rare PC comes up the bidding is sometimes fierce.

So...about 15 cards came up for auction, all extremely unusual and ending on Sunday night at 2-3 minute intervals. Because I didn't want to disclose my interest, I opted to bid in person based on firing in a single high bid in the closing seconds.

Although my main address is in the UK, I also live abroad and last night I was bidding from abroad.  But the seller is clearly accustomed to overseas buyers as the listing said "Orders over £50.00 in value from international buyers will only be sent by International Signed For @ £10.00." and my primary addrss is UK. But I guess my IP address would have shown that I was abroad, if eBay looks at that..

So...the first auction comes up, I fire in my bid with about 10 seconds to go, and am greeted with "You are unable to purchase this item due to restrictions from the seller. Please contact the seller for more information. (3008)".

The seller is clearly a business and has set up the auction on a Sunday night so he can come in on Monday and send everything out - so, predictably, there was no rsponse to my urgent query of what this is about...I was unable to bid on any of the items and they all sold at mere fractions of my intended bids.

I guess my lesson from this is to always place a marker bid early in the auction to tease out issues like this. But I'd really like to know what restriction the seller could have made, and what this 3008 code is...

Thanks

[1956glyn]

That code appears to mean that the seller has blocked you from bidding on their items.

Have you had any dealings with this seller before that had any problems?

Do you have 2 unpaid strikes on your account in the previous 12 months?

Sellers can block any members from bidding on their items and they do not have to give a reason.    Some blocks are automatic depending on the sellers bidder requirements.

If you are blocked by a seller then chances are they may have also blocked you from messaging them.

[volga21]

And I should add, my feedback is over 1,000 and I have 100% feedback in the last year (and virtually since forever). And eBay isn't telling me that this is someone I've bought from before.

Ultimately, the seller has probably lost a lot of money from this, but I've really no idea why. It's the only time I've experienced this in over 20 years on eBay.

[volga21]

Q. Have you had any dealings with this seller before that had any problems?

A. No, not even sure I have ever had dealings with this seller

Q. Do you have 2 unpaid strikes on your account in the previous 12 months?

A. No, I have a perfect payment record and buy from all over the world.

Q. If you are blocked by a seller then chances are they may have also blocked you from messaging them.

A. This is a real PITA, it suggests that I can never find out...

Ultimately, the final price is decided by the second highest bidder, not the highest. So if you never reach their limit (because you block a potential high bidder) then you lose a lot of money. I watched 15 postcards sell for £20 less than I was willing to bid, in most cases. Some even more. I'd really like the seller to know that!

[*help_no_brakes*]

You do not know what the winning bidders maximum bids were.

Your 20 quid may not have been enough to win any of those  auctions.

[zoomingmouse]

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@volga21 wrote:
..

Q. If you are blocked by a seller then chances are they may have also blocked you from messaging them.

A. This is a real PITA, it suggests that I can never find out...

...

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This may well have changed, but, it used to be that the contact seller link was not visible to a blocked buyer, so you might be able to tell if you've been blocked.

Personally <& if able to>, if they are a seller that you think you may wish to buy from in the future, I would ask them if you've actively been blocked by them, or, if one of their buyer requirements has blocked you automatically.

If the latter, then I'd ask if they would kindly add your ID to their exclusion list. That way they can leave their requirements as is, while still allowing your bids.

There is also a recent change that Ebay have implemented <often without the seller's knowledge> which requires buyers to add a pre-authorised payment method in order to bid on some seller's items.

It's something to be aware of if you bid last minute as it could block your bid, not leaving enough time to add payment details before an item ends.

[the-nutwood-collection]

When I set up my seller account, I think there was an option to block buyers from a locations I don't post to.

Although the seller takes orders from international buyers, your IP address may be a location that the seller doesn't post to.  You can check by looking at the postage details on the listing.

If that's the problem, you could try buying via a VPN.  However, when I worked in IT, we blocked transactions via a VPN.

As others have said, try messaging the seller.  

[glencora*s]

I find it a bit puzzling too. Maybe I shouldn't suggest this but you seem genuine: you could prepare and be ready to bid with a second account in case the first doesn't work for this bid.

And if you can't contact the seller with this account, use another account to contact them.

[volga21]

No indeed - the final price of an auction is determined by the max that the second bidder will offer, plus one bid. So if I had bid £20 then either the other bidder would have trumped that, or I would have won.

But if there is only one bidder then the seller only achieves is his starting price, about £7.

So, I've not bought my collectables, but I also haven't spent the money. If I wait long enough, they will come up again.  Ultimately, it's the seller who has lost out here.

[edgeog]

Could be down to eBay as well, they can block you from buying if they think your account violates site policies. 

[drawesomeradio]

I recently experienced (and i wanted to bid early on the item) You are unable to purchase this item due to restrictions from the seller. Please contact the seller for more information. (3008) There were no messages in the eBay message area so I tried to contact the seller to ask why, result = no reply.

When I purchase or bid on anything I always make sure I'm there on the day/night when the auction finishes so I can pay for the item. If I win the bid I make sure that the seller is not kept waiting.

Throughout my time being a member of eBay I have never had the 3008 message, I would be very confused if I was bidding at the last minute if I was greeted by the 3008 message.

I think it would be a very good idea if a seller has placed a 3008 on a buyer, the buyer should automatically be alerted soon after, to the reasons why.

[volga21]

My seller also didn't reply to messages about the restrictions and in a way that's not surprising. Either they are blissfully unaware that they have a setting which creates a restriction, or they knowingly did it and it's their choice to tell you why, or not.

It's a good idea to have eBay send a notification but I'm not sure what it would achieve.  Mostly, it will be too late by the time anything happens, and it's still down to the seller to do something. I'm not sure that everyone understands that if you restrict buyers, you achieve lower prices.

In my case, the seller had other items and rather than just set up another eBay account (with 0 feedback vs. my 1000+) my son bid for me. I bought at lower prices than I expected, and helped my son to build up his feedback. Double-win for me, though I did lose out on a few items that were sold at much lower prices than I was willing to pay. Double-lose for the seller, but I did try to warn him.

[drawesomeradio]

My feedback is only 263 as a buyer.

I looked all over my account to see if as a buyer can I put a Seller on restriction list,

I also looked to see if as a buyer can I block a nuisance message, I couldn't find anything in the help department.

I certainly received the Sellers message, my custom, my money is not good enough to buy what they are selling.

My conclusion is : The buyer has very little or no real options when it comes to finding out why the seller has placed them on their restriction list because the seller does not have to explain why/reply to a buyers message.

Yes I agree it's the seller loss.

[1956glyn]

Hi there is no list to exclude certain sellers.

You can however block another member sending you any messages...this may take a little while to kick in if you have recently been in a transaction with them.   IF a sellers blocked your messages then no you will never get an explanation.

Here is a link and blocking messages comes under the buyer management tab

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/selling/listings/creating-managing-listings/setting-buyer-requirements?i...

I just looked at my own account and was quite shocked to see that nearly every day in November/December i had at least 8 different members blocked from bidding every day  because they have two or more strikes 🙂

[myriad*seller]

Sometimes sellers will sanction a buyer for reasons only they know. But they might be very good reasons to sanction a buyer. 

It might be for geographic reasons, or due to buyer behaviour.

It is up to the seller who they sell to. Sounds like they don't want your business. 

[volga21]

That link was very interesting, thanks. I had a look at my own settings, as I've never touched them, so I suppose they are all default.

I'm still not quite sure why I was blocked, but I do have delivery addresses in several countries and sometimes I have to change the default (usually UK), so perhaps it was that. I don't think I ever had a strike for cancellation of an unpaid order, let alone 2 in a month!

Anyway, the key lessons for me were to always leave a place-holder bid quite early on, to tease out this kind of issue without revealing my maximum bid - and to have an alternative account to bid from if necessary. But TBH I think it has only ever happened with one seller in 20 years.

[prescott9376]

If you are blocked by a seller then bidding by using another account or by a proxy is, I believe, a very serious infringement and could be viewed as "malicious Bidding", this could get your account(s) restricted.

You may well not have dealt with this seller on that account but you could have if he had more than 1 account. It may not have been poor F/B it could have been deficits for delivery times or maybe just awkward questions.

[jpro7392]

I think I was blocked for asking questions in sellers listing it says don’t hesitate to ask questions I already purchased goods off them and was very happy so I asked them some questions about listing then I was blocked so maybe not a good idea to ask questions 

[g_ringo]

You are unable to purchase this item due to restrictions from the seller. (3008)

Same message for me.

And it happened already with 2 sellers. Always AFTER successful purchase! Thats very weird.

One seller was in UK, another located in USA. I send messages to both and they sayd, they never get any messages.

They contacted to eBay - and client rep. didnt know why such restriction appears.

Sellers have checked their blocked list, and I am not there!

[1956glyn]

Are you sure that whatever you are trying to purchase is not a prohibited item....especially  the one from the USA

Also sellers can restrict how many items a buyer can buy from them within a specific period of time.

Another reason may be that you have 2 unpaid strikes within the last 12 months?

I just googled 3008 restriction...........Error 3008 just means the seller has blocked you for some reason. Have you had any unpaid item cases recently or in the last 12 months? 2 u npaid item strikes and a seller can block you from buying from them, they can also block your messages, hence no reply when you send a message.

Sellers do set their own buyer requirements.