Caught?

[spiff84(2)]

hi

there have been mentions in this forum of people offering money to buy an Ebay item outside of Ebay before the auction is over. I understand that this is against Ebay rules, as they then don't get their cut of the sale price. But i was wondering if anyone knows what penalty Ebay hand out if you are found to have tried to do this? And has anyone been caught?

Thanks

[madbad jezza]

ah yes....mmmmmmmmm, (these kind of sales "dont" really happen, do they...wink,wink,nudge,nudge..[]). but i know a "friend" of mine[] who has bought items this way and also sold items this way without any problems.

at the end of the day, what ebay doesn,t know about, can,t hurt them.

even if they found out, what can they do?, send the "ebay-boyz" around to where you live and "teach you a lesson"? [8)], i dont think so - although they do know where you live........[xx(]

[spiff84(2)]

hi

no, i know that must of these deals go un-noticed, however i just wanted to know what they would do if they knew? cancel the persons Ebay account so you loose feedbacks? charge you for the amount of money that Ebay lost? Or, if the deal was reported by the seller, charge you a fine to continue using Ebay?

[usapirap(2)]

Probably email warnings at first and suspension to follow if they find out you continue to do to it.

[bholio]

Well, they could find out if they really wanted to. I mean, generally you are going to use ebay to contact the other party initally, as you normally do not have the other person's email address.

They won't do anything.

[Twmaster]

If caught ePay will send you an 'informational warning' initially. If further violations occur they can suspend you. I am not sure how well ePay actually enforces this as it would take somebody's complaint to get their attention. The way ePay seems to enforce things like scammers and other wrongness would indicate to me they likely would do nothing as it seems they only care about money.

[spiff84(2)]

hi

yes but the seller would pull the item ending the auction early and not pay Ebay because as far as the auction goes: there is no sale. So if Ebay just care about money they would take a big interest in this type of action. Maybe less so if it a cheap item, but still...

[bholio]

quote:

So if Ebay just care about money they would take a big interest in this type of action

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The problem ebay faces is that it's generally not good to take harsh action against your own customers for minor infractions. So, it's better that they let it go in all but the most serious (high $$$) cases. Like cars and real estate. They still get the listing fees either way, right?

[spiff84(2)]

good point

[Bill Wessels(2)]

Many eBay sellers (including me) offer to "end auction early" at serious bidder's request. This way, eBay gets their "listing fee" plus the "final value fees" based upon their percentage of highest bid shown, at auction's end. This "highest bid shown", at auction end, may NOT be the actual price negotiated![:I] So, this practice may be a little bit of a "gray area"? eBay essentially looses-out on a bit of their "final value fee"....but this method is not out-right deceipt, in my opinion.[?] For all the sellers who close their auction, cancel all bids, and THEN sell their item off-eBay can lead to suspension from eBay.[xx(] There doesn't seem to be any "checks and balances" between eBay and their Paypal affiliate, as of yet? But, if there ever is..... lotsa eBay sellers will be in deep doo-doo![]

[Cavscout]

Bill, that is an excellent idea and point. I think Im gonna do that for now on, if I do end auction early because of a good offer, etc. That way, ebay is still getting a piece of the pie instead of just using one of the other reasons for ending auction early, ie, item has been lost or broken.

Scott

[Bill Wessels(2)]

Thanks, Scott.

If you add the caveot "I reserve the right to end auction early at serious bidder's request" to you auctions... You'll get less "sour grapes" from unsuccessful bidders, watchers, users of the dreaded "sniping tools".[]