What happens if you know an ebay buyer died?

I hadn't heard from one of my best customers in quite a while (about 8 months).  I know he was not very well, had Parkinson's among other things.  I googled him and came across his obituary.  Does his account go dormant or should I mention it to someone?

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What happens if you know an ebay buyer died?

That is an interesting question. 

 

I would assume it is left to the family to close accounts but, on the other hand, an active account belonging to a recently-decreased ebay customer seems like the kind of thing that could lead to scam or fraudulent purchases. 

 

From a legal standpoint, I don't think anyone except next-of-kin or an estate manager is authorized to close an account. Otherwise, if I wanted to cause mischief and create trouble for other users, I could call ebay and report random accounts as belonging to the recently-deceased and get them flagged for fraudulent activity when none had occurred. 

 

Know what I mean?

 

 

 

 

Message 2 of 30
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What happens if you know an ebay buyer died?

Send a sympathy card to the family of your late customer.

Mention that you had done business with him and say something personal.

 

If you also buy estates, this can be financially rewarding.

 

More importantly, it is a comfort to the family to hear from people who they never realized also miss their loved one.

 

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What happens if you know an ebay buyer died?


@musicyouneed wrote:

I hadn't heard from one of my best customers in quite a while (about 8 months).  I know he was not very well, had Parkinson's among other things.  I googled him and came across his obituary.  Does his account go dormant or should I mention it to someone?


I'm not sure that I'd feel comfortable sending a sympathy card -- to me that seems a little presumptuous (if I had no personal contact with the deceased), and could perhaps even be misinterpreted as intrusive if the family thinks you're trying to drum up business with them.  

 

I think what I'd do instead as a courtesy to the family of your customer is call eBay customer service, tell them what you've said here, and ask them to take whatever steps they usually do to notify an account holder's family that there is still an eBay account open that should be closed.  

 

You may be told they never get involved and that the account simply goes dormant after a certain period of time.  Or they may, on the basis of the obituary as confirmation of the decease, be able to lock the account somehow.  Or they may, as a matter of policy, send a form letter to the registered address of the account holder (which will ultimately find its way to the family, or the family's lawyer).  I really don't know what eBay's current policy is in this regard, but it's worth one phone call to pursue. 

 

The possibility of fraud aside, the question of deceased account holders is becoming an issue all over the online world, as you've probably seen reported in the media.  On a related point, it's an excellent idea for anybody with an online selling account in particular to have a backup plan in place in case of death or even serious illness.  

 

This is especially true for those of us "of a certain age".  For example, someone in a seller's immediate family (or a trusted friend) should have the seller's eBay user ID(s) and password(s) and know how -- at the very least -- to put their store on vacation, or if there is no store, to end all the listings, in order to protect the seller's status.  

 

Many sellers have eBay businesses that will have real-world value as a going concern, a large part of which is based on the seller's good reputation.  That intangible value needs to be preserved for next-of-kin to be able to sell the business at a good price and benefit from the proceeds.  Some families (or spouses) may really need that cash input, so being able to shut down an eBay store or business can be critical..  

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What happens if you know an ebay buyer died?


@reallynicestamps wrote:

Send a sympathy card to the family of your late customer.

Mention that you had done business with him and say something personal.

 

If you also buy estates, this can be financially rewarding.

 

More importantly, it is a comfort to the family to hear from people who they never realized also miss their loved one.

 


If you also buy estates, this can be financially rewarding.

 

 

I know many do this, but I find it very tasteless. I call it preying on the deceased family members when they really are in no state to make intelligent decisions.

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What happens if you know an ebay buyer died?

I don't think anyone suggested writing in the card, "Hey, sorry your Dad died, wanna sell me his stuff?" It's legitimate, in my opinion, to send a sympathy card to anyone with whom I've done business. It doesn't behove a solicitation.
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What happens if you know an ebay buyer died?

Here we go again, please see which part of the post I commented on. I did not say anything about the rest of the post so please, discussing them is irrelevant.

 

You can complain to the mods again and maybe they will remove this as well.

 

I am just getting plain tired of some of your comments and have a right to tell you so.

 

Oh yes, you can continue the war, but I am at the age I could care less.

Message 7 of 30
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What happens if you know an ebay buyer died?

I think you misinterpreted my comments. I'm not one to wage war; I'm sorry that you feel that way.
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What happens if you know an ebay buyer died?

tobyshitzu
Community Member

There are millions of accounts that have  been abandoned for one reason or another.   A number of years ago they announced they would close ones that had been inactive for a long period of time.   Don't know if they do that on an ongoing basis, but there is nothing to do about 1, its a drop in the bucket.     

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What happens if you know an ebay buyer died?

Of course you don't put it on the card.

But it is something that puts you (instead of the consignment shop the deceased never dealt with after that one time) in the back of the family's mind.

 

We make friends with our customers. Commercial and personal can intersect. It is a fine line.

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What happens if you know an ebay buyer died?

Unfortunately lots of account holders die. Any one laying dormant is insignificant  in the big picture. Further the deceased's partner in life may continue to use the account. Accounts are in an individual's name but it is not uncommon for spouses to both use the one account so I certainly would not do anything. 

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What happens if you know an ebay buyer died?


@toby**bleep**zu wrote:

There are millions of accounts that have  been abandoned for one reason or another.   A number of years ago they announced they would close ones that had been inactive for a long period of time.   Don't know if they do that on an ongoing basis, but there is nothing to do about 1, its a drop in the bucket.     


I made a couple of extra eBay accounts 5 years ago and used one but not the other. It was never used or even logged into since creation. A few months ago I got an email saying it would be deleted in a month if I did not log in  it was deleted automatically.

 

This was truly inactive account with no feedback so they may be automatically deleted after a fixed period, say 5 years. An account that was active with feedback may be kept longer or not deleted at all.

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What happens if you know an ebay buyer died?


@reallynicestamps wrote:

Of course you don't put it on the card.

But it is something that puts you (instead of the consignment shop the deceased never dealt with after that one time) in the back of the family's mind.

 

We make friends with our customers. Commercial and personal can intersect. It is a fine line.


I think I'd be inclined to agree in situations where the deceased had a true face-to-face relationship of some years' standing with a retailer, particularly a local small business, for example.  Something like: "Your father was a longtime, valued customer of our business for over 20 years, and we were saddened to learn of his passing.  We'll miss his visits to our store and his cheerful personality, etc. etc." 

 

Still, I think I'd feel just a tad squirmy sending a similar note to an eBay customer of mine unless I'd also had extensive online personal contact and had truly established a relationship other than the mere exchange of a lot of money for a lot of goods over a number of years.  

 

In all honestly I'd find it a bit inappropriate to receive such a letter unless the seller had really interacted with my loved one on a personal level for quite a long time and struck up a meaningful friendship.  Otherwise I'd feel it could smack just a little of the sort of ambulance chasing some lawyers are wont to do, no matter how delicately the sympathy card is worded.  Even the fact that a sympathy card was addressed to the deceased's address by an eBay seller could be seen by family members as intrusive, or impertinent at best.  It's a very fine line indeed, and I'm not sure I'd know exactly how far over to go where an online business is concerned.  

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What happens if you know an ebay buyer died?


@rose-dee wrote:

@reallynicestamps wrote:

Of course you don't put it on the card.

But it is something that puts you (instead of the consignment shop the deceased never dealt with after that one time) in the back of the family's mind.

 

We make friends with our customers. Commercial and personal can intersect. It is a fine line.


I think I'd be inclined to agree in situations where the deceased had a true face-to-face relationship of some years' standing with a retailer, particularly a local small business, for example.  Something like: "Your father was a longtime, valued customer of our business for over 20 years, and we were saddened to learn of his passing.  We'll miss his visits to our store and his cheerful personality, etc. etc." 

 

Still, I think I'd feel just a tad squirmy sending a similar note to an eBay customer of mine unless I'd also had extensive online personal contact and had truly established a relationship other than the mere exchange of a lot of money for a lot of goods over a number of years.  

 

In all honestly I'd find it a bit inappropriate to receive such a letter unless the seller had really interacted with my loved one on a personal level for quite a long time and struck up a meaningful friendship.  Otherwise I'd feel it could smack just a little of the sort of ambulance chasing some lawyers are wont to do, no matter how delicately the sympathy card is worded.  Even the fact that a sympathy card was addressed to the deceased's address by an eBay seller could be seen by family members as intrusive, or impertinent at best.  It's a very fine line indeed, and I'm not sure I'd know exactly how far over to go where an online business is concerned.  


Very well put and I 100% agree with you.

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What happens if you know an ebay buyer died?

My concern is with a seller who recently died. Yes I know for sure she died suddenly from a heart attack.  She has been on eBay for years with a store which automatically relists her items.  250+ items at the current time. Her husband is ill right now as well.  She had a perfect feedback record until this month.  She now has 11 negatives for non delivery of items.  Her reputation is being ruined by this. Of course the buyers don't know she is dead and of course eBay won't do anything about it. Not even put a note on her store front that she is not able to deliver and to not purchase. Okay so my question is this. Can't they cancel her registration?  Or at least suspend it? An unregistered member can't have a store can they? The account is registered to a member who no longer exists so to me the account should no longer exist. And yes eBay knows she died.

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What happens if you know an ebay buyer died?

A note to her husband would be helpful. He (or his caretaker)may not realize there is a problem.

 

We have a couple of dedicated 'pinks' since the original thread started in 2017.

 

@happy_pigeon

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What happens if you know an ebay buyer died?

You brought up something that is a possibility for me.  I'm getting to an age where dying or having a stroke suddenly may happen.  I guess I should make out a sheet listing everything to do, with passwords etc.  

 

I was wondering what steps have you made in case it happens to you? 

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What happens if you know an ebay buyer died?

They know now that her store is still open but the person who is now caring for her very ill husband was surprised because they thought they had been closed? Not sure of the exact details here and I hate to bother either the husband or the caregiver because they are overwhelmed by situation due to the suddenness.  Some of the negative comments on her feedback profile are very rude and nasty which is horribly unfair.  Another member I know who purchased from her after she died and didn't receive her items prompted us to look into this.  She made the purchases before she knew she had died.  She left positive feedback and a comment:  Rest In Peace. Ruth died of a heart attack on May 7th.  I hope this will help but the damage is still done. 

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What happens if you know an ebay buyer died?

I do have a written sheet of instructions with all my passwords which I have given to one of my younger sisters and also a second set to my niece.  Not sure if this will be enough for eBay though. Something about their policy for this type of a situation doesn't seem quite right to me.

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What happens if you know an ebay buyer died?

I agree with what you have said. Something is wrong here. When this was reported to eBay by calling them, Another member who had recently bought from the seller and didn't get her item knew something was wrong as this was totally out of character for the seller. So she called the seller's number and was told she had died on May 7th. A neighbor who was helping the very ill husband of the seller said she thought the store had been closed and was surprised that it wasn't. So once the member who purchased the items knew this she called eBay to tell them the seller had died. She asked them if they could do anything. Even a little thing like putting a note on her store front. But no help at all. She got the distinct feeling that she was banging her head against a stone wall, they opened an item not received case and transferred to her PayPal who in turn told her they would make a note of it but she had to wait 30 days. This is not what the member wanted or why she called.  Same old pass the buck  and let the system deal with it routine. So sad, so frustrating and so unfair.

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