Sellers with different accounts

[bicuj]

Hi 

I buy car parts for my old car as i like to try and fix things on my car.  I contacted a seller to purchase some items and agreed a price. He then added charges on there (and said it's ebay charges)! After, I queried it he just canceled the listing. 

I then tired to contact another seller for the same parts and it appears it is the same person with a. different account etc.  How is this permitted? Its highly unethical and am surprised ebay allow this . There should be a notice to say if accounts are linked. 

[jckl1957]

Members are allowed to have more than one account.

Usually, you can work out if it is the same seller/buyer.

The rules can be found using the link, but as long as members are not  trying to avoid restrictions, multiple accounts are generally allowed.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/identity-policies/using-multiple-accounts-policy?id=4232&st=3&p...

[bicuj]

How  can you work out if it is the same seller? Both registered at different times and different addresses . Only a small pic of a telephone number on their listing gave it away.  I have my doubts on a third one i contacted.  I don't want to waste my time being ripped off 

It's not about avoiding restrictions - thats mot my issues.. It's about being transparent to buyers .  It should be clearer.  

No wonder peopel are staying away from eBay in droves. 

[jckl1957]

If identical items are being offered by members with different names who seem to be based in the same town, it is possible they are the same person with different accounts.

[bicuj]

It's not the same parts - it's different cars being scraped but  I  am after parts which are on both cars.  It's incredibly  misleading of eBay to not highlight they are the same sellers. The first one was rude and wanted to pass on Ebay charges to me, so why would I then go buy off the second seller (who is the same person) ? 

Yes it's obviously the same person - I don't think you are getting the issue 

[xyz307xyz]

How did you "agree a price? Using the Best Offer mechanism?

[gjalp]

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@bicuj wrote:

How  can you work out if it is the same seller? Both registered at different times and different addresses . Only a small pic of a telephone number on their listing gave it away.  I have my doubts on a third one i contacted.  I don't want to waste my time being ripped off 

It's not about avoiding restrictions - thats mot my issues.. It's about being transparent to buyers .  It should be clearer.  

No wonder peopel are staying away from eBay in droves. 

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Ebay has made things a little less transparent and it may not be the seller at fault. Ebay charges a buyer protection fee and that will always be added when invoiced/at checkout. When you agreed a price, was the protection fee discussed? Or did you just make an offer that the seller accepted which then had the buyer protection fee added at checkout? The seller cannot remove this element from the invoice. The seller can tweak the price a bit lower so the total (before postage) is close/on the agreed price once the protection fee is added.

[pillarboxred]

Your unfortunate and highly irritating and disappointing experience is precisely why eBay doesn't want you to "contact a seller and agree a price": you fell into a trap a seller had set. Ebay is not a place for "contacting a seller and agreeing a price". On eBay, you find what you want, review all aspects of the sale and, if everything is agreeable, you pay the stated prices required by the sale's format. 

As a seller, I don't like to be contacted by  a prospective buyer outside the sale's framework unless I've forgotten to include something important in the listing. When there is a "blooper" in a listing, enquiries are very welcome and helpful.

[bicuj]

The seller made an offer inclusive of delivery..  I accepted . I've bought from others at the price they quoted.  Transparency is the key and Ebay are not,  if they allow  sellers to set up different accounts without letting the buyer know.  Now I  research each seller - it shouldn't be like that 

[bicuj]

Er someone is breaking a car , you contact them for the car part you want.   Nothing to do with haggling from a stated price.   It's how you buy parts which are not listed 

[bicuj]

No . with car parts, if someone is breaking for parts  you need to contact them for the part you want. I asked  how much for x number of parts. He said a price including delivery,  I had accepted Ii didn't haggle) . He then listed the items for the price higher than agreed. When I questioned it., he wasn't v happy.

[gjalp]

Other sellers may have been business sellers who do not have the buyer protection fee added at checkout so the price agreed is the price you pay. There is a difference between private and business sellers in this instance. The private seller will always have the buyer protection fee added by ebay and collected for ebay at checkout. The seller does not need to let the buyer know they have different accounts. I have multiple accounts for selling and a further account for buying things to sell. If you have more than one buying account, you won’t need to tell a seller (although this can be an issue if a sale goes sour and a seller blocks you and then you circumvent the block with another ID)

[wellingnorth]

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@bicuj wrote:

No . with car parts, if someone is breaking for parts  you need to contact them for the part you want. I asked  how much for x number of parts. He said a price including delivery,  I had accepted Ii didn't haggle) . He then listed the items for the price higher than agreed. When I questioned it., he wasn't v happy.

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As gjalp has mentioned it may be that they are a 'private' seller and so have said for example £100 to you but when they have listed ebay have then added 5% buyer protection fee on top, so you see £105.

The way ebay have set it up it it's not very obvious to sellers what price the buyer will see or to buyers that ebay have added a fee on top of the seller's price.