To prevent off-site eBay sales and to deter sellers sharing contact details with buyers, eBay has upped its efforts to enforce immediate 7-day selling bans to those who are deemed in breach of its selling rules and policies. Beware.
Any seller saw to be implying a circumvention of eBay services to conduct a sale may face the seven-day suspension without notice.
Chris Dawson of Tamebay says ‘’It’s worth emphasising that any attempt to communicate that could be interpreted as an attempt to arrange an off-eBay deal is likely to result in an immediate suspension however innocent.’’
To make matters worse, sellers considered to be in breach of policy will also have their messaging suspended, preventing any after-sale communication with the buyer. Your buyer will not be aware of your temporary suspension which could result in negative seller feedback and the demotion of your listings / eTRS if after-sale questions go unanswered.
What’s Not Allowed?
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Listing an item and then being paid outside of eBay.
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Listing an item and then offering additional identical items for sale outside of eBay
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Offering related items for sale outside of eBay
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Including contact information within Best Offers, email messages or other communications to an eBay member
How to avoid 7-day selling ban?
It is always our advice to adhere to the eBay selling guide and to keep all communication on eBay. This way eBay Customer Support can assist if there is ever a problem.
However, if your hands are tied find yourself in a position where you require emergency buyer contact, you can retrieve buyer contact details from the eBay buyer sales record or from PayPal. You could also give your buyer a call if you have requested ‘’phone number for delivery’’ in the postage and packages preferences.
If you require a refresher on the eBay selling rules and policies, you can find them here.
