Are these URL's permitted?

[coxengines]

280538942556

The seller sometimes includes a watermark in his listing pics which resolves to his outside of eBay store. I have always understood this to be a policy violation.

He is not really a serious competitor but I called support to find out if I could also watermark my pics in this fashion.

The gal who took my call stunned me by not only declaring this to be OK but actually encouraged me to do the same.

I insisted that she was wrong but she kept saying that, because there was no specific text inviting one to buy outside of eBay, the URL was permitted.

I asked for an email with her name etc included, re-iterating what she said so that I could have her singled out when my listings get pulled or my account suspended. She refused.

The advice coming from some of these reps is so bad that it is beyond funny. It could actually sink a seller who takes their advice.

Bernie

[pierrelebel]

I think you are correct and any URL (clickable or not) is not allowed.

You should bring it to the attention of the pinks on theit Thursday morning session. They keep telling us how 'customer service" is so great at eBay.ca!
It would be interesting to get their reaction (except some spinning).

The policy is clear:
"If you decide to add a watermark to your picture, you have the choice of using our camera icon, or using your eBay user ID. "

[coxengines]

It is 100% a policy violation.

I generally do not report others but this fellow is actually selling merchandise he stole from us; hence my willingness to make an exception ]:)

I did phone T & S today and was advised that they no longer handle policy violations by phone. "Live Chat" or "Report" link.

Had 2 Live Chat sessions and in both cases was told I had to call eBay by phone. These people are absolutely unbelievable!!!

The Report link seems to be an utter waste of time as I have done so 3x in the last week and nothing happens.

Offering to circumvent eBay is a serious offence and if they don't even enforce that policy, what's the point?

Bernie

[femmefan1946]

If the goods were stolen, were you able to include the police report number?

[coxengines]

I have not reported this as I refuse to spend so much of my time on negativity.

This is a machine shop that I entrusted with some our our merchandise for modification / secondary operations. They claimed 25% production loss and shortly thereafter listed the products on their website and now on eBay. Of course, all at lower pricing since they have no Cost of Goods X-(

Had I known back then what I know today, I would have chosen a different supplier. The owner of the shop has a bad reputation across the USA and is often criticized by retail buyers in relevant blogs.

However, it does not matter as I have moved on but it did irk me a bit when I saw that he was including URL's to his website in his eBay listings.

eBay does not seem to care and, here again, I will move on and continue to concentrate on furthering our business.

Bernie

[dipmicro]

Maybe it's time to file that police report.

But before that, ask him what is it worth to him not to have the police on his back and settle. An extra $1000 never hurts.

Business is business.

[coxengines]

Nah, not worth it.

The last time I called him in December he swore at me and hung up the phone after mentioning that we effing home-based sellers had no idea what overhead was, he has 25k/monthly overhead and was sick and tired of me calling to inquire about the status of my orders (about 4 months behind schedule). Given, I did call at least once a week.

Subsequent emails went unanswered. He owes a lot of people money and that is likely why he snapped when I called.

Technically, he has the ability to copy and manufacture the parts we sent him, so he could simply claim they were his in the first place.

As I said, I moved forward but just let that little URL get the better of me one morning and called support.

The gist of my post was not to complain about the bad apple but simply to point out how dangerous eBay advice can be.

We are doing really well and my focus is not on competitors. Actually, except for this exception, I uphold and honour my competitors, supply them with merchandise if required and sent them referrals if I don't stock the product.

Way less stress, much happier life 🙂

Bernie

[westernstargifts]

Hi Bernie,

I just got back from my vacation and am catching up on "happenings" on the board.

This Link is for .com but I believe also applies to .ca.

Judy

[westernstargifts]

I can find eBay policies faster by using Google than I can by trying to find them on eBay.

[coxengines]

Yes, I am aware of the rules but eBay is not enforcing them so what's the point?

Bernie