Sellers can block Buyers but Buyers can't block Sellers

[freeman11ca]

I was shocked to find out how eBay can allow Sellers to block Buyers and Bidders, but we as Buyers can't block them. How can this be fair, since there are lots of bad Sellers out there who we dealt with before, and we have to deal with their listings on searching certain products and might mistakenly buy another product from them? Shouldn't the blocking be allowed both ways on eBay to be a fair buying and selling community?

[momcqueen]

There is a way under Advanced Search where you go into the settings and exclude the ones whose items you don't want to see. It is more laborious for a buyer to block a seller, however, than it is for a seller to block a buyer. 

[freeman11ca]

Yes, I know about that advanced search, but we as Buyers have to type in the Seller's name each and every time we are searching for certain products. To me it's not fair for Buyers to laboriously use the advanced search and do it this way, while Sellers can easily block out buying, our bidding and our email messages with just one click.

[momcqueen]

I think you could do it only once and then rely on a Saved Search to produce new results BUT I don't disagree with you. It should be much easier for buyers to NOT see things they simply don't care to see in search results regardless of whether it's something from a certain seller or items being shipped from a particular region of the world.

For example, I want nothing whatsoever to do with backdoor tributes from China yet in my category of sales, the search is plugged with it. I would like to be able to exclude all Ships from China. Permanently. But that's just me. 

[freeman11ca]

Yes, I agree with you too, but bad Sellers can still communicate to Buyers through our emails. They can even try to write to us and then block us from writing back, a psychologically frustrating tactic for intimidation. Then they can unblock us and start this all over again. How can this be fair on eBay if we can't block them permanently?

[femmefan1946]

Many buyers would like this, not because a particular seller is being obnoxious, but to Block any overseas sellers, or sellers from a particular country.

For a particular seller, remember that you are never required to open any email or eBay Message. Those can be deleted unread.

You can Report a sender to his email provider if the emails are threatening.

You can add the sender's email to you Junk Mail list and never see them again.

For eBay Messages, again, you don't have to open them.

You can Report the seller to eBay for the harrassment. (Try to phone while the Utah offices are open. There can be some language and cultural misunderstandings with the Phillipino offices, although the Phillipinos seem to understand concepts like "Canada" better.)

You can also use Feedback to some extent, by adding a Response to any feedback you or he has already left.

The most effective Responses are calm and factual. "constant harrassing emails after transaction" for example. Responses don't change feedback, but do stand out on a page.

If you have not yet left feedback, and you have 60 days for that, you will also be asked to leave Detailed Seller Ratings.

A normal transaction gets five stars. The lowest Rating is ONE Star. (No stars is a free pass.)

[femmefan1946]

Just looked at your Feedback Left.

Why are you trying to 'negotiate' a return with the seller?

It is not necessary.

You do have to return the items, with Confirmation of Delivery.

If the item is Not As Described, the seller may be required to provide return postage, but this is not possible if the seller is not in Canada.

So you are dealing with a trust issue. Perhaps this is the 'negotiation' you refer to?

The seller should be refunding your return shipping, using the Paypal Send Money service, but cross-borders this becomes voluntary.

Open an Item Not As Described Dispute.

You have already contacted the seller (!!) so go on to the next step.

Return the unwanted items.

If the seller does not refund you, eBay/Paypal will and go after him for their money.

It's not personal, it's business.

I should point out that leaving negative feedback is a guarantee that the seller will not refund your return postage, even though, should you win the Dispute, your negative feedback will be removed by eBay.

[freeman11ca]

That Seller I dealt with is a long and complicated story. At first I thought one of the items was not as described and was a defect and a circular scratch that can only be made by a tool, but then later after the refund I found out another item was not as described with another circular scratch, it was used like the first junk. Seller is in Canada but would not negotiate a return of one of those items and would not send a return label, but then eBay gave me a courtesy refund and I don't need to return any of the junks in that kit. It turned out the Seller was still selling the same junks and eBay did nothing about his argumentative phone call after the refund and the 2 negative feedbacks I left for him.

And then I found out just a week ago another item in the first kit also was not as described by measurement, so I found out that this one Seller was selling a lot of useless junks that were significantly not as described, and I could not use any of them because they had defects and/or circular scratches that showed they were used, or it had the wrong size when it comes to measuring them. Every time I search for a certain item I keep seeing his lists that I don't want, and nobody should want. There are other buyers who said the same negative feedbacks as I did, items were used and not as described. There are other buyers who seem happy but I don't know if they ever checked their items carefully like I did.

A Buyer should have the right to block a Seller like Sellers do, but I would have to start up a Seller account in order to block another Seller. Does this eBay policy make any sense? I certainly don't think it does.

[reallynicestamps]

It is unfortunate that the other unhappy buyers did not do as you did, and open an Item Not As Described case.

If they had, those negs would not appear, BUT, like you they would have their money refunded, by the seller or by eBay.

More important, the seller would be on eBay's radar for much more than the negative feedback, which is apparently not of much importance to eBay.

Feedback has to get really low (under 80%?) really fast for eBay to act. Detailed Seller Ratings were a badly understood method to improve this by being anonymous but never really worked and will be downgraded come February, I understand.

Glad you got your money back anyway.

If you decide to add any Responses, remember to be calm and factual for the greatest effect. "Takes no responsibility for scratched used discs." for example.

[Anonymous]

How do you know if it is Utah not Phillipino??

[dmil8030]

Hello 'freeman11ca',

<< there are lots of bad Sellers out there who we dealt with before, . . . and might mistakenly buy another product

from them>> 

Chances are that you are already on this seller's blocked bidder list so the risk is small.  Moreover, before you buy 

from any seller, check his feedback.  The presence of negs and neutrals doesn't mean anything itself, -- read what 

other people say in comments.  There will always be malcontents who are never happy, but your seller has a high 

number of complaints about poor quality items, damage, not as described, and an unpleasant seller to deal with.

Are you likely to buy from someone like that, -- a first or second time?

You're right, we need a 'blocked seller' list, whereby no items from those sellers appears in Search, or if we forget 

and click to buy, a pop-up box appears reminding us "This person is on your blocked list.  Do you wish to continue?"

Wouldn't that be grand?

In your case,  as it seems to be that one particular seller giving you grief right now, just screen him out with the 

Advanced Search.  

Over beside the Search bar at the top of this page, see the word  Advanced.  Click it.  

Enter your search terms.  

Then scroll waaaay down to the bottom where it says Sellers. 

Check the Only show items from  and change the include to the exclude  (obviously). 

Enter the seller's ID and click Search.

The downside is you have to do it every time, - you can't save it as a permanent preference, but until we have a 

better option,  anything is better than nothing. 

<< I would have to start up a Seller account in order to block another Seller>>

Only if you do not want him buying from you.  It still won't save you mistakenly purchasing one of his items.  

For the matter of that, you can add this guy to a blocked list of your own now if you want, but it would be there 

for more of a reminder because it won't save you if your memory is poor:

http://pages.ebay.ca/help/sell/manage_bidders_ov.html#block

See where it says, To add a member to your blocked list:

It says you can block people from buying your listings but that's all.  Still, if you click on the link, you will be 

offered a box in which you can enter this seller's ID.  But as I say, it's just an aid to a poor memory and won't

prevent you from buying from him.

Maybe one day . . .  

[freeman11ca]

I agree with all the posters' points so far, but I would still like eBay to make some changes and allow Buyers the ability to block one or more Sellers off their buying lists and emails with just one click. The Chinese Sellers are flooding all over eBay lately, but it is much worse at Amazon where Buyers can't see the Sellers' locations before buying certain items. There is no clue about where they are shipping from, how long it takes to arrive, and even the Seller's names look so Canadian, something like CA at the end of their names look too inviting but very deceiving. I have to write to all the Amazon Sellers and ask where they are shipping from, and hope they will write back to me within a few days if they reply at all.

On eBay the Sellers' locations are displayed, so I have no problem avoiding those Sellers as I have problems at Amazon.

To the other Poster...I always call Utah Customer service during office hours, and if the offices are closed, my phone calls will be redirected to the Philippines. Their understanding of English and how everything on eBay works is severely limited.

[freeman11ca]

Just to be clear...when I said Chinese Sellers, I meant Sellers who are located in China where the packages start shipping, not the Chinese Sellers from elsewhere. Sorry about my unclear statement above.

[momcqueen]

I think we understood you to mean 'sellers located in China' as opposed to 'sellers located in Canada or the USA who may be of Chinese ancestry' but thank you for the clarification nonetheless. For posterity. 

From my own viewpoint, I do entirely understand and sympathize where you are coming from. It should be as simple as 'Add Seller to Blocked List' the same as it is to block a buyer HOWEVER the buyer blocks for sellers are not completely foolproof. They can be manipulated by anyone who is motivated to do so in many ways, some crafty and some not. I, for example, have a very special friend on ebay who has never been a customer of mine and blocked after the second message who is able to repeatedly send me alarming messages. He has been reported on multiple occasions to no apparent avail. Although it has been awhile since I heard from him, he still has an active account. So....

Making search more responsive to what a buyer is ACTUALLY looking for should be ebay's top priority. I agree. It should stand to rreason that if a person can actually find what they want to buy, they will buy it. It alarms me to read the news reports that say ebay is actively courting more direct-manufacurer-sellers located in China. I want NOTHING to do with that in my search results as a buyer, nothing at all. 

Again, as much as I would like a box at left to tick that says 'Excludes Items Sold From/Located in China' should such a thing ever come to fruition, you can be assured all that would happen is that the sellers would state CA or USA in the Item Location forms and then feign ignorance when buyers complain. 

I'm not trying to slag the honest sellers out there but again, in the category that I have in mind, the items from that region tend to be unauthorized tributes or back-door pocket-stuffers. I want no more of that. I learned the hard way, early on.