Can I get in eBay trouble if... 0

[Get Marwood & I]

@Patriot6, the fact that you've asked the question in the first place shows that you're a decent person at heart. If you were mercenary, you'd just go ahead and do it. None of us like giving eBay their slice and it's human nature to consider avoiding it where you can, especially when the fees seem high and the service seems ever more unfair. But it will eat at your conscience if you try the dodge, so stick to the rules and rest easy accordingly. It's only money.

[Patriot6]

2 hours ago, Marwood & I said:

@Patriot6, the fact that you've asked the question in the first place shows that you're a decent person at heart. If you were mercenary, you'd just go ahead and do it. None of us like giving eBay their slice and it's human nature to consider avoiding it where you can, especially when the fees seem high and the service seems ever more unfair. But it will eat at your conscience if you try the dodge, so stick to the rules and rest easy accordingly. It's only money.

Thank you

The temptation was there for sure, but it was very easy to refrain due to the reasons you list above, well said! I must say that I did sleep very well last night, no worries whatsoever. 

[Bomber-Bob]

8 minutes ago, Patriot6 said:

Thank you

The temptation was there for sure, but it was very easy to refrain due to the reasons you list above, well said! I must say that I did sleep very well last night, no worries whatsoever. 

I don't understand. Can't you still do the sale via E-Bay but simply do the pickup locally ? The buyer saves postage costs and you save Paypal fees but E-Bay will still get their sales cut.

[Patriot6]

3 minutes ago, Bomber-Bob said:

I don't understand. Can't you still do the sale via E-Bay but simply do the pickup locally ? The buyer saves postage costs and you save Paypal fees but E-Bay will still get their sales cut.

Yes, I mentioned earlier in the thread that the problem was that I had set the item for immediate payment and I didn't know how to by-pass that for pick up, but I figured it out and this is what we're going to do. 

Edited November 12, 2017 by Patriot6

[PunisherPunisherPunisher]

9 hours ago, GM8 said:

Can you go into a little more detail on how this person was caught? 

 

In my experience, they do scan emails very carefully for exchange of contact information.  But unless you say you want to bypass them its not like they have any proof of this.  Then you keep the listing but raise the price to something no one would ever pay.  End the listing after a month or two.

Got caught via emails, the buyer gave the phone number and the seller told it's not allowed but he said that to cover his tracks, eBay followed up on most of his listings etc and the rest is history

[Buzzetta]

I am not going to touch upon the subject of using eBay as an advertising forum and selling around it's system to avoid fees.  However... what do you do with that eBay item when it sells someplace else?  You do not have to actually end the listing.  Here is something else to do.

eBay does NOT have an exclusivity clause.  If it is listed on eBay that does not mean that it cannot be listed elsewhere.  This message board and certain facebook groups have such exclusivity.  

I have had instances where I have listed items on several message boards and eBay at the same time.  For example, Let's say I have a Snake Eyes listed on Hisstank.com for sale and on eBay or a comic listed on Craigslist that I also have on eBay.  If the item sells elsewhere, I STILL have the item left on eBay so what do I do with it?  The best thing to do is to swap it out with something else.  Go and edit the pictures, the listing, the topic, and the price.  eBay always lets you edit your listings.   Now the item has changed.  This is perfectly fine.

What I am curious about though is the double standard that is often applied.

The following online stores or brick and mortar stores also sell their items on eBay using their brick and mortar store name:

• Toys R Us
• MyComicShop
• HasbroToyShop
• Target
• Metropolis Comics
• Many more

As soon as I see these stores, I know enough to take a look on the retailers actual site and in MANY cases I can get the item much cheaper as the eBay tax does not have to be added on.   

 

[Ottobord]

1 hour ago, Buzzetta said:

I am not going to touch upon the subject of using eBay as an advertising forum and selling around it's system to avoid fees.  However... what do you do with that eBay item when it sells someplace else?  You do not have to actually end the listing.  Here is something else to do.

eBay does NOT have an exclusivity clause.  If it is listed on eBay that does not mean that it cannot be listed elsewhere.  This message board and certain facebook groups have such exclusivity.  

I have had instances where I have listed items on several message boards and eBay at the same time.  For example, Let's say I have a Snake Eyes listed on Hisstank.com for sale and on eBay or a comic listed on Craigslist that I also have on eBay.  If the item sells elsewhere, I STILL have the item left on eBay so what do I do with it?  The best thing to do is to swap it out with something else.  Go and edit the pictures, the listing, the topic, and the price.  eBay always lets you edit your listings.   Now the item has changed.  This is perfectly fine.

What I am curious about though is the double standard that is often applied.

The following online stores or brick and mortar stores also sell their items on eBay using their brick and mortar store name:

• Toys R Us
• MyComicShop
• HasbroToyShop
• Target
• Metropolis Comics
• Many more

As soon as I see these stores, I know enough to take a look on the retailers actual site and in MANY cases I can get the item much cheaper as the eBay tax does not have to be added on.   

 

Isn't the violation when using ebay contacts a  sale is secured outside of the ebay venue?  "Item no longer for sale" is a valid reason to end a listing.

Edited November 13, 2017 by Ottobord

[shadroch]

11 hours ago, GM8 said:

Can you go into a little more detail on how this person was caught? 

 

In my experience, they do scan emails very carefully for exchange of contact information.  But unless you say you want to bypass them its not like they have any proof of this.  Then you keep the listing but raise the price to something no one would ever pay.  End the listing after a month or two.

You are going to go far in this hobby.

[Buzzetta]

53 minutes ago, Ottobord said:

Isn't the violation when using ebay contacts a  sale is secured outside of the ebay venue?  "Item no longer for sale" is a valid reason to end a listing.

Ending an item as "no longer for sale" is a flag in my opinion especially if you received questions on it.

Case in point.  I had a book listed on Craigslist and on eBay earlier this year.  Someone asked me if I would be willing to go straight through paypal.  I said no.  Another buyer who was local decided to buy the same book from me on Craigslist and then when he decided to compare prices on eBay noticed that I had things listed there that I do not have on Craigslist.  He bought a few things.  I felt it was best to simply edit away the listing fr the original book since someone else had asked me a question on it.  The other items I simply said "item no longer for sale" and ended it. 

That's what MCS does.  I once time bought a book on MCS and timed how long it would take them to cancel the corresponding eBay listing.  They did that pretty quickly.   

[nocutename]

11 hours ago, Buzzetta said:

I am not going to touch upon the subject of using eBay as an advertising forum and selling around it's system to avoid fees.  However... what do you do with that eBay item when it sells someplace else?  You do not have to actually end the listing.  Here is something else to do.

eBay does NOT have an exclusivity clause.  If it is listed on eBay that does not mean that it cannot be listed elsewhere.  This message board and certain facebook groups have such exclusivity.  

I have had instances where I have listed items on several message boards and eBay at the same time.  For example, Let's say I have a Snake Eyes listed on Hisstank.com for sale and on eBay or a comic listed on Craigslist that I also have on eBay.  If the item sells elsewhere, I STILL have the item left on eBay so what do I do with it?  The best thing to do is to swap it out with something else.  Go and edit the pictures, the listing, the topic, and the price.  eBay always lets you edit your listings.   Now the item has changed.  This is perfectly fine.

What I am curious about though is the double standard that is often applied.

The following online stores or brick and mortar stores also sell their items on eBay using their brick and mortar store name:

• Toys R Us
• MyComicShop
• HasbroToyShop
• Target
• Metropolis Comics
• Many more

As soon as I see these stores, I know enough to take a look on the retailers actual site and in MANY cases I can get the item much cheaper as the eBay tax does not have to be added on.   

 

 

I don't sell too much on ebay anymore but, I have done this many times if it sells locally.   For the record though, there (is or was) a change tracker link on the auction.  So anyone could see the change history of the auction.    I never had anyone contact me through ebay's messaging system to sell locally.  I have been contacted to see off of ebay and those I just ignore and block the bidder.  

To the OP, I would not have risk it either since the buyer contacted you through the ebay messaging system.

[Patriot6]

15 hours ago, Buzzetta said:

Ending an item as "no longer for sale" is a flag in my opinion especially if you received questions on it.

Case in point.  I had a book listed on Craigslist and on eBay earlier this year.  Someone asked me if I would be willing to go straight through paypal.  I said no.  Another buyer who was local decided to buy the same book from me on Craigslist and then when he decided to compare prices on eBay noticed that I had things listed there that I do not have on Craigslist.  He bought a few things.  I felt it was best to simply edit away the listing fr the original book since someone else had asked me a question on it.  The other items I simply said "item no longer for sale" and ended it. 

That's what MCS does.  I once time bought a book on MCS and timed how long it would take them to cancel the corresponding eBay listing.  They did that pretty quickly.   

Is there not an option to declare that the item has sold? If it is double listed, can't you end the auction with the reason 'item has sold'?

[1Cool]

You should be fine as long as you did not hide your contact information in a message about the item in question.  I sell books all the time off of E-Bay (at cons or the occasional Pm from board members) and then take it down with no issues.  My only hand slap I got was awhile ago when I hid my e-mail address in a return message and E-Bay must have reviewed the messages after I pulled the item.  I don't do that anymore since the 1 week suspension was enough of a scare tactic.

[shadroch]

Pennywise and pound foolish isn't much better than drunk and stupid.

Edited November 13, 2017 by shadroch

[1Cool]

10 minutes ago, shadroch said:

Pennywise and pound foolish isn't much better than drunk and stupid.

 

[Bird]

and you have pennywise there as well!