Ebay changes to user agreement from 22/10/17.
Discussion
Received this email from Ebay;
Hello XXXXXX
We’ve updated the eBay.co.uk User Agreement.
These changes are effective immediately for new members and from 22 October 2017 for current members.
Here’s a summary of the main changes:
• We’ve added new terms to the User Agreement to clarify that users are not permitted to complete outside of eBay any sales transactions with each other arising from items listed on the eBay platform. Offers to buy and sell or communicate outside of eBay constitute policy violations and may be subject to a range of actions including limits on buying and selling privileges as well as the application of final value fees for such transactions, the application of fees for the introduction of a seller to a buyer and the recovery of expenses for policy monitoring and enforcement. The same can result from sharing or requesting contact information with the intention to trade outside of eBay. You can read the relevant policy here.
• We have included language which means that we may deduct fees, charges or other amounts which you owe us from an eBay credit balance held or controlled by you.
As with earlier updates, we’ve made other changes to keep the User Agreement up to date with the products and services we provide.
You don’t need to take any further action to accept the new User Agreement. If you choose not to accept the new terms, visit this help page for further information.
Regards,
The eBay Team
What I love about this is the total lack of limits on the amount they can charge you for being naughty, plus the cherry on the cake of linking to their 'how to close your account' help page in the bit that refers to you choosing not to accept the new terms.
What they would have loved to do is apply this retrospectively, but presumably even Evilbay can't do that.
I only sell when they send me offers for £1 maximum final value fee these days.
Hello XXXXXX
We’ve updated the eBay.co.uk User Agreement.
These changes are effective immediately for new members and from 22 October 2017 for current members.
Here’s a summary of the main changes:
• We’ve added new terms to the User Agreement to clarify that users are not permitted to complete outside of eBay any sales transactions with each other arising from items listed on the eBay platform. Offers to buy and sell or communicate outside of eBay constitute policy violations and may be subject to a range of actions including limits on buying and selling privileges as well as the application of final value fees for such transactions, the application of fees for the introduction of a seller to a buyer and the recovery of expenses for policy monitoring and enforcement. The same can result from sharing or requesting contact information with the intention to trade outside of eBay. You can read the relevant policy here.
• We have included language which means that we may deduct fees, charges or other amounts which you owe us from an eBay credit balance held or controlled by you.
As with earlier updates, we’ve made other changes to keep the User Agreement up to date with the products and services we provide.
You don’t need to take any further action to accept the new User Agreement. If you choose not to accept the new terms, visit this help page for further information.
Regards,
The eBay Team
What I love about this is the total lack of limits on the amount they can charge you for being naughty, plus the cherry on the cake of linking to their 'how to close your account' help page in the bit that refers to you choosing not to accept the new terms.
What they would have loved to do is apply this retrospectively, but presumably even Evilbay can't do that.
I only sell when they send me offers for £1 maximum final value fee these days.
justinio said:
It was only a matter of time before they cracked down on this sort of thing. It was getting out of hand, with people selling stuff for £££'s on eBay and then cancelling the auction once the buyer has turned up and paid cash.
Does that mean I won't be able to pay cash anymore when I pick up something from eBay?(Not that I use it much and I don't do PayPal)
It must already be in place because I got a telling off from them in a message they sent to me on Tuesday.
Was selling a item and had a chat through eBay messages, they've gone through these messages and found out that I gave him my phone number, so I got the warning message.
Never arranged to meet or cancel item but was in breach of their new rules.
Was selling a item and had a chat through eBay messages, they've gone through these messages and found out that I gave him my phone number, so I got the warning message.
Never arranged to meet or cancel item but was in breach of their new rules.
Grandad Gaz said:
Does that mean I won't be able to pay cash anymore when I pick up something from eBay?
(Not that I use it much and I don't do PayPal)
It doesnt effect buyers, so you can carry on as is.(Not that I use it much and I don't do PayPal)
Just the naughty sellers who want to avoid paying eBay their fees when an item sells.
This does have a positive though. When I worked in police ops we had many calls from people scammed/fraud victims/theft etc with a common factor of deviating outside ebay for payment.
It was similar, in effect, to buying goods at hugely marked down prices( too good to be true). Seller/buyer offers a "deal" to reduce costs and bingo....it was a con/fraud etc so ebay decline to act. Why should they?
One big hole in the system, though, is claims of goods not being delivered. They do arrive but buyer denies receipt unless a signed for delivery or subsequent proof from courier. Even proof of posting for Royal Mail is insufficient. ebay tend to side with the buyer!
I had one call with cast iron evidence of fraud by a buyer involving this scam. ebay ignored the evidence and refunded £1000+ to buyer when they had even claimed a discount for late delivery worded as having received it! ebay too lazy to investigate it properly.
From what I remember it was resolved after a Police/Action Fraud investigation with seller getting the result.
It was similar, in effect, to buying goods at hugely marked down prices( too good to be true). Seller/buyer offers a "deal" to reduce costs and bingo....it was a con/fraud etc so ebay decline to act. Why should they?
One big hole in the system, though, is claims of goods not being delivered. They do arrive but buyer denies receipt unless a signed for delivery or subsequent proof from courier. Even proof of posting for Royal Mail is insufficient. ebay tend to side with the buyer!
I had one call with cast iron evidence of fraud by a buyer involving this scam. ebay ignored the evidence and refunded £1000+ to buyer when they had even claimed a discount for late delivery worded as having received it! ebay too lazy to investigate it properly.
From what I remember it was resolved after a Police/Action Fraud investigation with seller getting the result.
Fish said:
I got told off for trying to give a phone number out. How else was I to arrange a viewing where I wanted to hear what the guy was like rather than faceless emails..
They don't want you to do that. No phone number, no email addresses, no physical addresses. They want all communication through ebay messages.I do understand, because some people are just infuriatingly thick with stuff like this. I ended up getting a slap on the wrist after a couple of people in succession turned up to view stuff, and decided they wanted it, for cash, right then. Ebay doesn't even have a facility to declare "I've sold it, what do I owe you?", and people just will not listen when you say that they must buy it using the buy it now. So there's little you can do to be sure the rules don't get broken except saying "you get the contact details when you buy it, not before", even though that will put off some buyers because, well, it sounds dodgy as hell.
Half the questions you get with selling stuff are people going "what will you take to end the auction now?", or even better "I'll buy it off you if you call me, so you don't get fees". Yeah, let me worry about the fees (which are what I agreed to when I chose to sell on Ebay), either buy it or don't.
A friend has a theory that there's a certain subset of people who just don't want any record of their transaction (but why? paranoid? ill-gotten earnings?), and frankly I'm begining to think he's right.
eBay are greedy feckers full stop! Since starting off they have steadily increased fees, imposed their own company PayPal on everyone which has another level of fees again. They have bought gumtree and will use that to wipe out FridayAd, exchange and mart and the like and then tell start compulsory fees on that site too. Cynical money men with little interest in truth frauds or scammers.
Though their demise would hurt me personally I really hope this is the first nail in their coffin or that they get a serious bloody nose and have to backtrack.
Here's an idea Haymarket - set up a Pistonheads auction site in competition. There's millions of car parts on eBay. Undercut them, reasonable fees etc and we'll all be winners!
Though their demise would hurt me personally I really hope this is the first nail in their coffin or that they get a serious bloody nose and have to backtrack.
Here's an idea Haymarket - set up a Pistonheads auction site in competition. There's millions of car parts on eBay. Undercut them, reasonable fees etc and we'll all be winners!
court said:
Ebay are losing out heavily to local and facebook buy and sell groups. This has always gone on and they've turned a blind eye to it but now they're on a cash grab.
And Facebook marketplace. They have the app, location details and a massive amount of user data.I give ebay 18-24 months before being bought, or else dying quietly.
InitialDave said:
They don't want you to do that. No phone number, no email addresses, no physical addresses. They want all communication through ebay messages.
I do understand, because some people are just infuriatingly thick with stuff like this. I ended up getting a slap on the wrist after a couple of people in succession turned up to view stuff, and decided they wanted it, for cash, right then. Ebay doesn't even have a facility to declare "I've sold it, what do I owe you?", and people just will not listen when you say that they must buy it using the buy it now. So there's little you can do to be sure the rules don't get broken except saying "you get the contact details when you buy it, not before", even though that will put off some buyers because, well, it sounds dodgy as hell.
Half the questions you get with selling stuff are people going "what will you take to end the auction now?", or even better "I'll buy it off you if you call me, so you don't get fees". Yeah, let me worry about the fees (which are what I agreed to when I chose to sell on Ebay), either buy it or don't.
A friend has a theory that there's a certain subset of people who just don't want any record of their transaction (but why? paranoid? ill-gotten earnings?), and frankly I'm begining to think he's right.
Surely you just end the listing because the item is no longer available for sale?I do understand, because some people are just infuriatingly thick with stuff like this. I ended up getting a slap on the wrist after a couple of people in succession turned up to view stuff, and decided they wanted it, for cash, right then. Ebay doesn't even have a facility to declare "I've sold it, what do I owe you?", and people just will not listen when you say that they must buy it using the buy it now. So there's little you can do to be sure the rules don't get broken except saying "you get the contact details when you buy it, not before", even though that will put off some buyers because, well, it sounds dodgy as hell.
Half the questions you get with selling stuff are people going "what will you take to end the auction now?", or even better "I'll buy it off you if you call me, so you don't get fees". Yeah, let me worry about the fees (which are what I agreed to when I chose to sell on Ebay), either buy it or don't.
A friend has a theory that there's a certain subset of people who just don't want any record of their transaction (but why? paranoid? ill-gotten earnings?), and frankly I'm begining to think he's right.
elanfan said:
eBay are greedy feckers full stop! Since starting off they have steadily increased fees, imposed their own company PayPal on everyone which has another level of fees again.
eBay haven't owned Paypal since 2015ebay threw away their original market when they started neglecting private sellers of second hand goods. They wanted to get the businesses on board, especially 'outlets' selling new or returned goods direct from manufacturer or big retailers. They were seeing pound (or dollar) signs. But there is lots of competition in that sector, from the likes of amazon etc. I used to buy a fair bit via ebay, and sold a fair bit too. But the rules are hopeless for a private seller - they always side with the buyer, you have to accept a return for any reason at all. I got completely stiffed with the last item I sold on there, and I've not used ebay since. Don't even miss it.
Now the Facebook selling groups have taken off (and they're almost totally unregulated and full of scammers), it has taken up the private, second hand market that ebay shunned. It's so much easier to sell to someone local, cash on collection etc.
They're well past their peak, their aggressive business tactics (buying competitors and closing them down) and greed has caught up them and is causing their own decline.
Now the Facebook selling groups have taken off (and they're almost totally unregulated and full of scammers), it has taken up the private, second hand market that ebay shunned. It's so much easier to sell to someone local, cash on collection etc.
They're well past their peak, their aggressive business tactics (buying competitors and closing them down) and greed has caught up them and is causing their own decline.
I suspect their algorithm will allow you to exchange contact information AFTER the auction has ended, and only when you're talking to the winning bidder.
I sold a TV recently that I'd had listed on both eBay and Gumtree, with the eBay description making it clear that it "was advertised elsewhere and could be removed from sale at any time". With this new scheme that wouldn't be allowed.
I sold a TV recently that I'd had listed on both eBay and Gumtree, with the eBay description making it clear that it "was advertised elsewhere and could be removed from sale at any time". With this new scheme that wouldn't be allowed.
elanfan said:
eBay are greedy feckers full stop! Since starting off they have steadily increased fees, imposed their own company PayPal on everyone which has another level of fees again.
Fore left said:eBay haven't owned Paypal since 2015
This affects both private buyers and sellers. A friend of my son was banned for a week asking for contact details from a seller of some used tyres (as he wanted to see them before agreeing to buy them).
Business sellers give their contact details in the listing but evilbay jump on private sellers for doing that. The original concept was that private sellers and buyers could sell / exchange but now it appears that it is turning into a business sales website.
I used to sell odd bits on there but cannot be bothered now, even though they keep emailing with offers of no fees until sold or maximum selling fee of 99p or whatever.
Someone asked who owned PayPal. I don't know who does now but a major shareholder used to be some politician who was in the House of Lords.
Business sellers give their contact details in the listing but evilbay jump on private sellers for doing that. The original concept was that private sellers and buyers could sell / exchange but now it appears that it is turning into a business sales website.
I used to sell odd bits on there but cannot be bothered now, even though they keep emailing with offers of no fees until sold or maximum selling fee of 99p or whatever.
Someone asked who owned PayPal. I don't know who does now but a major shareholder used to be some politician who was in the House of Lords.
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