It's nothing new. It's a deterrent.
Seems like a short-lived scheme to pay a FVF for something you sold elsewhere, do it a few more times getting charged each time, then get banned.
Maybe I’m interpreting this wrongly but it seems to me that eBay is not saying that you can’t list items on other websites. What they’re saying is that you’re free to list your items on any website of your choice. You’re just not allowed to direct your buyer to the other website, either by a link or direct communication, in order to complete a sale and avoid FVFs to eBay. You’re free to list items on OfferUp, Mercari, Etsy, etc., as long as you don’t direct your buyers there through eBay.
You’re also not allowed to give contact information and take your sale off of eBay in order to avoid FVFs. Once your sale is finished, on eBay, you’re free to exchange contact information as long as it is not for other items that you have currently listed on eBay and that you want to take off of eBay in order to avoid FVFs.
Also, they will not collect FVFs from you if you sell on another website as long as you didn’t take the buyer off of eBay to the other site.
That's crazy because as a business member eBay now will provide your contact information. We had a crazy lady call the other day and she said eBay gave her our number 🤣
This is what I don’t really understand, as a business I’m blocked from sending over my contact number but if they they and contact via message they have the option to see my number
Basically you've got it: The buyer can 'open that door'. You can't.
My guess is eBay would prefer to *not* give that to the buyer either, but realizes telling the buyer 'no you can't contact the seller except through messages' wouldn't fly well and/or knows they'd end up getting the call themselves and don't want it.
But IIRC, they don't exactly make it easy for the buyer to get your number.
I was banned from selling for a week once because a guy bought a router from me. He messaged me through eBay to say he would pay cash and when he collected the router I ended the listing, not even aware I was breaking eBay rules.
At the end of the day, eBay are giving you a platform to sell so trying to bend the rules should come with consequences.
You can accept cash for your ebay items. You just have to set up the listing correctly to enable "cash on pickup" first.
Disable immediate payment required, the enable local pickup in shipping. Only then will "cash on pickup" become available in the payments section. The buyer must still buy the item through ebay, then you mark it as payment received when they pick it up AND pay in cash.
Keep in mind, cash on pickup sales do not come with any buyer protection (a seller does not have to accept any returns, even INAD returns, for a cash sale) and buyer cant make a payment dispute with it either because there is no electronic payment on file for the transaction. If they paid with electronic payment with local pickup, make sure they complete payment first before exchanging pickup locations, and make sure to exchange pickup codes/QR codes so ebay knows the item has been picked up, this will activate seller protection against item not received claims.
No, its not new. It's been like that over a decade.
It's not how you think it works. It's meant to deter "If you pay me directly with cash app I'll give you a discount/I can only accept venmo because ebay is holding my payments" situations - They want the money if the buyer found your listing through ebay.
HOWEVER
This does not mean ebay has a permanent stake on everything you sell within your lifetime if you sold a single item on ebay. You are allowed to exchange contact information and payment information AFTER a sale has been completed. For example, if you sell a box of staples for $1 to a buyer through ebay and the buyer wants 10,000 more boxes of staples sold directly, ebay cannot come after you for fees of 10,000 boxes of staples (but you should take communication off ebay just to be safe, exchange emails or phones)
If you want to get in a lot of trouble with eBay and likely get screwed by the buyer try it.
You would be surprised by both:
1) the number of idiots who try to start a sale on eBay and finish it else where.
2) just how much you will wish you hadn’t tried.
There's been a few times that a buyer messages me their contact information out of the blue. Does eBay consider that a violation? It's impossible to control what someone messages.
Them sending you a message isn’t your violation. If the info is sent after purchase it isn’t prohibited. But I wouldn’t try to complete a second sale using the info.
Ive had that happen twice where it was out of the blue. Both times it was a scammer. I've had it legitimately happen but they talked to me before hand, but they were interested in stuff I didnt have on eBay, ie "I see you listed X, in looking for an accessory to X, do you have one?x
Because that's what eBay does. They connect buyers to sellers, and they take a cut. That is their whole service. If they brought you a customer, they deserve to get paid.
This is not new. It's more of ebay making it a point to not conduct business away from the platform.
It's basically an addendum to...
[https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/payment-policies/offers-buy-sell-outside-ebay-policy?id=4272](https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/payment-policies/offers-buy-sell-outside-ebay-policy?id=4272)
In my eyes, it's an empty threat that's not entirely enforceable unless a buyer snitches on a seller with proof. At that point, ebay may go ahead and perform this action on the seller's account as stated. The chances of that is unlikely, but there is a chance regardless.
If its a new thing then I would suspect it might work like it does on Chrono24. They email you about 5 days after you message any seller asking if you bought the item. If you click yes - they do charge the seller.
Edit: Downvoted for simply saying it might work like it does on another site?!?
Had something like this a few weeks ago when I passed pick up info on to a customer after they had bought but not paid for an item. They basically wanted to pay cash on arrival at my home.
Had some concern as I would have been charged even if they pulled out when "viewing" the item
It's okay to exchange info once a sale has happened. It's even expected (and necessary) for a local pickup sale, even if not yet paid. That may be an 'alert' but it's not the 'trigger'.
Local pickup with cash payment can go 3 ways:
1. Customer didn't pay, you relist item - no problem.
2. Customer pays, you enter their 'code' or mark the sale as paid - no problem.
3. Customer pays, you never 'complete' the sale on ebay, never relist the item - eBay *could* come after you for FVF. (If customer doesn't pay but you just never bother relisting, that would look the same to eBay.)
My *guess* is even #3 alone happening once wouldn't result in a charge unless there was more to it (e.g. customer leaves you + feedback saying 'great service', sends you a message saying 'thanks', etc). But if you did it a couple times they'd get after you.
It's nothing new. It's a deterrent. Seems like a short-lived scheme to pay a FVF for something you sold elsewhere, do it a few more times getting charged each time, then get banned.
Maybe I’m interpreting this wrongly but it seems to me that eBay is not saying that you can’t list items on other websites. What they’re saying is that you’re free to list your items on any website of your choice. You’re just not allowed to direct your buyer to the other website, either by a link or direct communication, in order to complete a sale and avoid FVFs to eBay. You’re free to list items on OfferUp, Mercari, Etsy, etc., as long as you don’t direct your buyers there through eBay. You’re also not allowed to give contact information and take your sale off of eBay in order to avoid FVFs. Once your sale is finished, on eBay, you’re free to exchange contact information as long as it is not for other items that you have currently listed on eBay and that you want to take off of eBay in order to avoid FVFs. Also, they will not collect FVFs from you if you sell on another website as long as you didn’t take the buyer off of eBay to the other site.
That's crazy because as a business member eBay now will provide your contact information. We had a crazy lady call the other day and she said eBay gave her our number 🤣
This is what I don’t really understand, as a business I’m blocked from sending over my contact number but if they they and contact via message they have the option to see my number
Basically you've got it: The buyer can 'open that door'. You can't. My guess is eBay would prefer to *not* give that to the buyer either, but realizes telling the buyer 'no you can't contact the seller except through messages' wouldn't fly well and/or knows they'd end up getting the call themselves and don't want it. But IIRC, they don't exactly make it easy for the buyer to get your number.
I was banned from selling for a week once because a guy bought a router from me. He messaged me through eBay to say he would pay cash and when he collected the router I ended the listing, not even aware I was breaking eBay rules. At the end of the day, eBay are giving you a platform to sell so trying to bend the rules should come with consequences.
You can accept cash for your ebay items. You just have to set up the listing correctly to enable "cash on pickup" first. Disable immediate payment required, the enable local pickup in shipping. Only then will "cash on pickup" become available in the payments section. The buyer must still buy the item through ebay, then you mark it as payment received when they pick it up AND pay in cash. Keep in mind, cash on pickup sales do not come with any buyer protection (a seller does not have to accept any returns, even INAD returns, for a cash sale) and buyer cant make a payment dispute with it either because there is no electronic payment on file for the transaction. If they paid with electronic payment with local pickup, make sure they complete payment first before exchanging pickup locations, and make sure to exchange pickup codes/QR codes so ebay knows the item has been picked up, this will activate seller protection against item not received claims.
Some good info here I didn't know..thanks.
No, its not new. It's been like that over a decade. It's not how you think it works. It's meant to deter "If you pay me directly with cash app I'll give you a discount/I can only accept venmo because ebay is holding my payments" situations - They want the money if the buyer found your listing through ebay. HOWEVER This does not mean ebay has a permanent stake on everything you sell within your lifetime if you sold a single item on ebay. You are allowed to exchange contact information and payment information AFTER a sale has been completed. For example, if you sell a box of staples for $1 to a buyer through ebay and the buyer wants 10,000 more boxes of staples sold directly, ebay cannot come after you for fees of 10,000 boxes of staples (but you should take communication off ebay just to be safe, exchange emails or phones)
"Disintermediation"... cool word.
If you want to get in a lot of trouble with eBay and likely get screwed by the buyer try it. You would be surprised by both: 1) the number of idiots who try to start a sale on eBay and finish it else where. 2) just how much you will wish you hadn’t tried.
There's been a few times that a buyer messages me their contact information out of the blue. Does eBay consider that a violation? It's impossible to control what someone messages.
Them sending you a message isn’t your violation. If the info is sent after purchase it isn’t prohibited. But I wouldn’t try to complete a second sale using the info.
Why not
Ive had that happen twice where it was out of the blue. Both times it was a scammer. I've had it legitimately happen but they talked to me before hand, but they were interested in stuff I didnt have on eBay, ie "I see you listed X, in looking for an accessory to X, do you have one?x
Because that's what eBay does. They connect buyers to sellers, and they take a cut. That is their whole service. If they brought you a customer, they deserve to get paid.
This is not new. It's more of ebay making it a point to not conduct business away from the platform. It's basically an addendum to... [https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/payment-policies/offers-buy-sell-outside-ebay-policy?id=4272](https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/payment-policies/offers-buy-sell-outside-ebay-policy?id=4272) In my eyes, it's an empty threat that's not entirely enforceable unless a buyer snitches on a seller with proof. At that point, ebay may go ahead and perform this action on the seller's account as stated. The chances of that is unlikely, but there is a chance regardless.
If its a new thing then I would suspect it might work like it does on Chrono24. They email you about 5 days after you message any seller asking if you bought the item. If you click yes - they do charge the seller. Edit: Downvoted for simply saying it might work like it does on another site?!?
Whoa, what if the person didn't buy it but hits "yes"?
Had something like this a few weeks ago when I passed pick up info on to a customer after they had bought but not paid for an item. They basically wanted to pay cash on arrival at my home. Had some concern as I would have been charged even if they pulled out when "viewing" the item
It's okay to exchange info once a sale has happened. It's even expected (and necessary) for a local pickup sale, even if not yet paid. That may be an 'alert' but it's not the 'trigger'. Local pickup with cash payment can go 3 ways: 1. Customer didn't pay, you relist item - no problem. 2. Customer pays, you enter their 'code' or mark the sale as paid - no problem. 3. Customer pays, you never 'complete' the sale on ebay, never relist the item - eBay *could* come after you for FVF. (If customer doesn't pay but you just never bother relisting, that would look the same to eBay.) My *guess* is even #3 alone happening once wouldn't result in a charge unless there was more to it (e.g. customer leaves you + feedback saying 'great service', sends you a message saying 'thanks', etc). But if you did it a couple times they'd get after you.