eBay Worried about Off-Site Sales?

by: Frank Abagnale

I do not take transactions off of ebay but I do sell on ebay to get the buyers information so that I can direct them to my website.  

by: pace306

I do as many off eBay sales as possible - but have never gotten this email.

Catch me if you can!

by: TomH

To answer the question: Of course.

by: iheartjacksparrow

I only sold one item off eBay during my time selling there. I listed a collectible for auction at a price I wanted to receive, and got an e-mail from a guy who offered five times the listed price if I would sell to him immediately. I cancelled the auction and there was no problem getting paid.  

by: RAOTFLMAO

The only reason I sell on ebay now is to gain customers for my own website.  Once I get their email addy then I send them a nice invitation to visit my online shop. On there I give a nice discount for quantity purchases and also give better shipping rates!  Can't beat ebay for driving traffic!!!! Funny thing is I did not get any such email.  

by: Chicago48

There's a box on the selling site that state "Offer Local pickup".  I always check that box letting buyers know they can pick the item up in Chicago.  Now my question is -- if someone buys the product through EB and it isn't shipped  how does EB know that the buyer picked it up?  Are they trusting me to tell them.

by: LasVagueness

Only if they pass a test (experienced eBayer, very low rate of neg/neutrals, purchases commensurate with what I am selling) and yes, I have received 'the email.' It scared me enough to ask potential buyers what they 'suggest' in the hopes they send their contact info (coded off course).

by: ConnecticutGal

I do not sell off Ebay but in the past two weeks have had sellers offer  me a lower price off ebay when I've asked a question about an item and also have had a couple of buyers in the same two week time frame ask if I would sell to them off ebay at a lower price.  Frankly, this activity started to concern me about safety.  But, I also wondered how a seller could send me her telephone number through ebay messaging without having the message stopped by ebay.

by: Barbbie

I have not had anyone ask me directly to sell off ebay on their messages. Usually I just tell them my ebay item no. they are looking for or offer to make them one if it is a complicated order.
I did not get the email.
Could this just be competitors  previous reporting efforts being acted on now?  

by: donald

I have had no choice but to make several transactions off-eBay when buyers complaint to me like this recent transaction that would not let the buyer buy.  Here's the message from the buyer.


''Something is really wonky! I wanted to buy 4 of these from you and the listing will only let me buy one item every ten days.

I need four of these for a server build. Can I buy four, or not?

Thanks in advance!''

I told him that it must be a website glitch and to try again. If that did not work to call me and I gave him my number.

by: Steverd

Yeah, I got one of these also, and I DO NOT sell anything off site. I gave a nice reply about PROVE it, and your algorithms are stupid and they need to fix it, before I switch over to Amazon. I'm sure no one really read my reply, but I felt better!

by: comet

When ever  I  get a query  on  an  item I  send  a MESSAGE  and  ask  the person to TEXT  me and  send  my  number  in  "code".  This has  worled  many times.  If  I  get an  International  query  I  do  this AND  use Google  Translate  into  their language;  and make a BIG  point  of  telling  them  I  can  most often  cut  their shipping  costs  drastically. This  has  worked  well.  

I  have NOT  gotten  any  letters.    

by: Jester

I don't sell off eBay and never received this email.

by: Jim S.

I don't encourage, allow, nor respond to, off-eBay requests. However I did get this eBay message this week and it was apparently triggered by a request from a buyer to do so (according to CS rep - seems that both parties receive the same email when this happens). Certainly eBay could have worded it better.

by: RKTOYS

Thanks, Ina, you just decided what I will be doing this weekend.  It's about time I parse out my reports and offer a better deal to my customers without that useless porker getting in the way.  

by: Steverd

I am pretty sure it is triggered when you post URLs in Ebay email system. Which I do to direct people to my Commodore blog.

by: Rexford

If eBay is so concerned about off site sales, why do they post advertising for companies that send the sales off site. Oh, that's right, they get ad revenue money front that.

I think the fact that so many people prefer to do business off of eBay should give eBay something to think about.  

by: Rexford

"Jim 'Griff' Griffith apologized and advised the seller to ignore the email."

Future scenario: Seller has account closed down for taking Griffith's advice.

by: meci

From another seller this morning on eBay boards:   This is very real. We were able to get copies of the violations from our dedicated account rep. eBay also called us on the 26th to give us a heads up. The guy on the phone says it will begin being enforced on October 3rd. Violations will be taken seriously and action taken quickly. The way the algorithm is identifying these violations seems to be that it is flagging listings where communication with another eBay member occurred and the listing later was ended......

This goes on and on but if this is real and they take these kinds of action then why is everyone at eBay saying something completely different from the next eBay rep.

I called the day we got this email, at first i was told it was spam, then another one said it was real then the next one said it was a fake email - all on the same call because I kept asking for someone that knew what this was about.    Now Grif is saying to ignore the email...this company is unreal.

by: comet

I  would  like  ebay  to come here and  tell  me if I  removed a listing  due to a  sale  made  off ebay or because  the item  was damaged;  unable to be located or  because  I  sold it  thru a  different  venue.  

It  would seem to ME that if  ebay  has  got the mads over this they  might want to take a "Thinking Day"  for reflection on just WHY a seller might want to BY PASS  ebays  absurd fees and  ridic  policies.

Wait--is today a day that ends in "Y"?  Cause that  ain't  never gonna happen  if it is.