Seller being allowed to sell outside of ebay, ebay won't help me!

[war_736599]

Hi all. I've been reporting this seller for nearly 12 months now and nothing seems to get done about it. I have contacted support must be at least 20 times, support always agrees with me that the listings go against ebay rules and they say they will pass it on but nothing ever changes!

Me and the seller sell a similar product, the difference being that I push everyone through ebay, even if they contact me directly after seeing me on ebay. 

This seller has nearly 200 listings, most of them sponsored and dominates the "roof lantern" search. Most of his listings arent even selling anything, or they are selling an 850mm x 850mm lantern which is a size nobody would ever buy, but you only see the size once you read the description. By then you see his phone number and the instruction to contact him and cash or card is preferred. 

His accounts got taken down for around 48hrs last year, and I saw a big boost to my sales during this period which proves I am losing sales because of him.

What can I do? Reporting him doesn't work, ebay customer support just keep escalating it but nothing happens after this. It's extremely frustrating.

[cobwebcottage]

It is so unfair when Ebay will not act on sellers who are abusing the system and they are the ones losing out with loss of fees.

Assuming you are also a business seller, then maybe a few other businesses who empathise with you will also report them for selling off site. ( while the link is there)

The weekly chat with the community team is today at 2pm so you could also bring it up there but don't include links to the seller as you cannot name and shame and once the Mods see your post, they will remove the link.

(I have reported them by the way and hope a few more will too).

Chat with the eBay Community Team - UK eBay Community

[banditfrenzy]

If you can't beat 'em . . . Join 'em.

[jonatjonatjonat]

You tend to find ebay won't take any action.

What they might take action on is reporting each listing for containing contact information (which it does). When you do one report, you can choose to include additional item numbers

All this will do is take down the listings though - but it might frustrate them!

[ett1954]

I reported a similar seller recently who in addition to encouraging off-site sales in his description also had his second photograph one of his business card.  AI found no problem was the report I got back.

Unfortunately eBay's reliance of AI these days has resulted in reporting infringements and illegal actions an even bigger waste of time than it was previously.

[pegr-834437]

I've read a few of the weekly chats, all they do is say please report them using the report feature. Its a broken record, copy and paste, especially when people higher up admit that the reporting isn't working correctly if you chat to them face to face. If this seller has been reported once via a reporting system that is fit for purpose the listing should be removed as it is a clear breach of policy. 

It seems this has been an issue for years but the team still say the same thing, you got to question the point of bringing it up as its either not being passed on or eBay don't really care.

[cobwebcottage]

I absolutely agree with you. But it's worth a try as sometimes they can escalate the issue with the appropriate team to take a look.

It is so unfair as this is affecting the OP's business and they should be supported by Ebay when other sellers do not follow their policies.

We can just hope that one day, someone with a bit of common sense will act on these reports and then there would be a lot more happier business sellers and Ebay would be a platform of trust and attract more buyers.

And as everyone knows, buying off of Ebay ( or from a business on a private account) lowers their protection and paying cash for goods does not give a buyer any protection at all.

[pegr-834437]

100% you'd think eBay would be all over it as not only is it making their site less attractive to buyers its costing them money, instead they give the same response and don't fix the issue.

Reading back through a few of those weekly chats there seems to be a lot of we will pass this to the team but not many we have got a response which is alarming too.

[cobwebcottage]

I'm still reporting the 'private' seller who has their Et*y link in every photo. It's been nearly a year now and nothing has been done after reports, conversations to CS and posting on community chat.

I just hope one day, someone in the ivory tower will see all of these issues and start investigating what the bleep is going on on their UK site.

We live in hope.

[war_736599]

Apparently removing the link I posted to the listing that violates ebays selling rules is more of a priority than removing the actual listing lol

[war_736599]

When I first started reporting him last year some listings were taken down. Unfortunately he has nearly 200 duplicate listings that are all the same and just sponsored different ones instead. Now though even if I report them nothing gets done. 
Speaking to customer services they tell me they will escalate it to get them removed and still nothing gets done.

They've even told me to stop reporting him as they cannot discuss if action has been taken against him. I'm sorry but clearly not as his listings are all still there and he is still telling people to contact him!

[war_736599]

So I reported around 100 of his listings, that are all identical. The first report came back and said his listing was removed, result! But then every other one has come back and said there was no violation. They are identical listings!

[cobwebcottage]

You did better than me. It has just come through that 'We looked into your report and didn’t find the listing to be in violation of our policy.  This determination was made by a customer service agent.'

So it looks like we can all put our phone numbers in listings and ask for cash to be paid.

[*vyolla*]

Same:

We looked into your report and didn’t find the listing to be in violation of our policy.  This determination was made by a customer service agent.

Amazing CS agent. Just sayin' 😀