eBay roll back best offer changes on .com

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14 Mar 2007

Great news for sellers in the UK who are frustrated that buyers ID’s are partially obscured when receiving a “Best Offer”. Rob Chesnut has announced “Sellers need to be able to see the User IDs for the buyers making offers“. Sadly this is in response to uproar by .com sellers who had the change sprung on them without warning and not in reference to the UK.

Sellers in the US will still be able to see the User ID, full feedback information, and send a message such as “Sorry your offer is too low but I’d accept Â£10 more”. Chesnut points out that User ID’s are being obscured under the Safeguarding Members ID’s initiative to prevent false acceptance emails. Well surely it can’t be that hard to obscure the User Id to all bar the seller?

We saw a new pattern where scammers were taking the user ids from bidders whose ‘best offer’ on high priced items had been rejected, and sending those potential buyers an official email saying that after some consideration, their ‘best offer’ had been accepted, and giving them instructions on how to pay (usually through Western Union)

The current US offer which allows for communication between seller and buyer can make the difference between a sale and a rejected best offer. Sales earn eBay fees so hopefully they’ll review the UK implementation too!