It's vital that sellers receive messages from buyers, but eBay made an unannounced change that has left some sellers thinking that unresponsive buyers were "ghosting" them when in fact the buyers were responding - but sellers were unable to view the messages.
An eBay seller explained in September, "I almost got stuck with a negative feedback for a whole year, thinking a buyer was ghosting my messages, but turned out they were replying the whole time - I just never got them!"
The problem stemmed from a change in the eBay Blocked Buyers feature, which ironically is supposed to help sellers avoid problems from troublesome buyers.
The seller described the problem in their September 3rd post on the eBay discussion boards, "It's *really* important that I can receive messages from buyers on my blocked list. This is so I can work out issues with them, while at the same time keeping them from bidding on new items until all is resolved. This used to be an option you could set - now it seems something has changed, I can't get messages from blocked buyers, and can't figure out how to re-enable it."
"Previously, a blocked bidder was still able to continue replying to messages if you had an existing message thread. However, this is not currently the case.
"Currently, adding a member to your blocked bidder list (whether done through your settings page or using the "block member" feature from your Messages page) will halt their ability to send further messages."
"I do see at this time the option to allow blocked bidders to still send messages has been removed, as it was an unnecessary extra step involved in the blocking process. Going forward, you'll want make sure you are only blocking those buyers who you do not wish to allow to buy, bid, or message you."
A frequent board poster explained why they didn't like the change to the Blocked Buyer List (BBL), writing in part:
"IMHO I do not see this change as a help to sellers but a problem. Knowing this now, I would not want to put a buyer of a current transaction on my BBL leaving me at risk for them to purchase something else which could be a problem. Before I did not have to take this risk. Now I would. Nope, don't like it."
Compounding the original poster's concern: the buyer was unaware the seller wasn't receiving their messages! The OP tested the feature with a friend to confirm the way the feature had changed. Another seller asked, "As a buyer, what did your friend see when attempting to message you? I'm assuming they saw the standard message saying they're blocked and can't contact you?"
The OP responded and explained that blocked buyers only see a "You are blocked" message when they attempt to buy or bid on a new item - not when they're sending a message to the seller.
In November,
another seller said they had posted about the exact same experience on the UK boards, explaining there were times they want to block someone to prevent additional purchases or retaliatory buys but still keep communication open, calling eBay's change appalling. "And even if they are blocking messages, for goodness sake, TELL the buyer their message didn't get through, don't pretend it's been sent then throw it away... what kind of buyer experience is that meant to portray?"
"Dealing with a buyer that filed a SNAD even though their reason is remorse. Trying to work things out through messages means I cannot block the buyer from making additional purchases until this is complete. This is infuriating that I can't offer great CS while simultaneously protecting my account."
Another seller described
an alarming reason why sellers might want to block a problem buyer from purchasing from them again but not block their messages - if they were the recipient of threats of violence from the problem buyer. "And yes it could be ESPECIALLY bad if the threatening party didn't know their messages were blocked, and instead believed their threats were being read, but ignored!
The
second thread was revived today when board participant wastingtime101 said the change to Blocked Bidder Lists continued to be a problem. "I've seen numerous sellers affected by this over the past few months. I've had additional experiences (including 2 weeks ago) where I wanted to block a buyer but couldn't because it also blocks communication," and, they added, "It's not OK that eBay took away the seller's choice to block or not block communications with buyers on our BBL."
"It's very common for sellers to run into abusive and problematic buyers we want to block from purchases to protect out selling accounts, but keep communications open to provide good customer service as we deal with returns, claims, disputes, post-purchase issues and more," they wrote.
Buyers 'Ghosting' Sellers May Be eBay's Fault
by: COVID-19 
by: toolguy 