10:28:52 AM SystemWelcome Stolensidekick ...

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10:28:52 AM SystemConnected to Chat Server

10:28:52 AM SystemInitial Question/Comment: Selling

10:29:34 AM SystemVincent C. has joined this session!

10:29:34 AM SystemConnected with Vincent C.

10:29:39 AM Vincent C. Hello, thank you for using eBay Live Chat! My name is Vincent and I would like to ask you to share your feedback with me by filling out a short survey that may be presented to you at the end of our chat.

If you’re a registered member, may I start by asking you to state your user id?

10:29:47 AM Evan I would like to speak to a supervisor please

10:29:52 AM Evan stolensidekick

10:30:15 AM Vincent C. Before I get the attention of my supervisor, may I ask for a summary of the problem you're having? Thanks.

10:30:17 AM Evan I was just rudely disconnected by another representative after getting NO help

10:30:29 AM Evan The summary:

10:32:22 AM Evan I had a charity auction..the top bidder turned out to be fake... I was contacted by one of the other bidders.. I send him a second chance offer. he stated he has not seen it. He is not at work today, so I need to get his info. Also, when I try to email him, i get a error message on ebay that I can't email him because I am not involved in a transaction. This is NOT a "too many messages" error as I have NOT emailed anyone today and have had this error for the last week

10:32:54 AM Vincent C. Thank you for this information. I understand you are getting an email limit message. Do you have an item number that I can check out? Thanks!

10:32:59 AM Evan Correction: When I said he has not seen it, I mean that he looked on ebay and didn't see the offer.

10:33:07 AM Evan It is NOT a limit message

10:33:21 AM Evan it says that I am NOT involved in an open transaction

10:33:44 AM Evan the second chance offer: 330007956141

10:33:50 AM Vincent C. Thanks for the clarification on that. I'll have this noted...one moment

10:34:08 AM Evan the bidder: ******* (edited for privacy)

10:34:15 AM Vincent C. Stolen Sidekick from EvanWasHere.com/StolenSidekick

10:34:26 AM Evan yes

10:34:35 AM Vincent C. One moment please while I research the error message you received...

10:34:39 AM Evan the original auction: 330003093129

10:37:14 AM Vincent C. Thank you. Please hold while I get in touch with a technical analyst on this problem.

10:38:05 AM Vincent C. Are you able to use the "contact member" button on the bidder's feedback profile page?

10:38:19 AM Evan no

10:38:28 AM Vincent C. I understand you get the same error message...

10:38:40 AM Vincent C. One more moment

10:38:43 AM Evan when I try to do that, it says: "We have determined you are trying to contact an eBay member with whom you are not currently involved in an open transaction. For the protection of the eBay community, we sometimes block these types of communication. To prevent this occurrence from happening in the future, we recommend the following:"

10:40:35 AM Evan relisting the auction is not an option, as this was a famous charity auction with over 44,000 views... The charity paperwork lists the original auction date as followed by ebay guidelines... I cannot get the paperwork again.

10:45:22 AM Evan ?

10:47:03 AM Vincent C. I have finished speaking with the technical analyst. Unfortunately, at this time, due to your account's 0 feedback score, there isn't a way we can bypass this email restriction due to a fixed eBay policy in curbing the occurence of spam and spoofs. Also, due to eBay's privacy regulations, we won't be able to directly retrieve contact information from this member's account without their consent. I realize this is frustrating given the promise of this charity listing and realize that relisting may not be an option for you right now.

10:47:08 AM Vincent C. Should this member not respond to your second chance offer in time, you still have the option to send another second chance offer to any of the underbidders in the bid history list. I understand this is not necessarily a

solution, but its the best workaround for now.

10:48:23 AM Evan So I would NOT be able to resend him a second chance offer?

10:48:50 AM Vincent C. Second chance offers are restricted to one per underbidder, yes.

10:49:05 AM Evan Can YOU please email this user?

10:49:08 AM Vincent C. But you are not limited to sending the offer to only one underbidder.

10:49:36 AM Evan This is the ONLY bidder that has contacted me...as I CANNOT contact any of the others

10:50:09 AM Vincent C. I understand the reason for your request, but under eBay Customer support's regulations, I cannot perform this task on behalf of a seller.

10:50:22 AM Vincent C. You are not required to contact an underbidder prior to sending the second chance offer

10:50:45 AM Evan This is the FOURTH time I am getting messed up in this auction.. In the last hours of the auction, I had the email block turned on for sending out to many emails replying to questions on the auction...and I was NOT able to contact the winner bidder to find out he was fake

10:51:47 AM Evan The problem I have is the second chance bidder contacted me from his work email..I have his work number too...he has been out sick...His ebay acvcount though is matched with his home email...I cannot contact him

10:52:03 AM Evan He doesn't have my info to contact me since it is at work

10:52:35 AM Evan I have the charities on my back to get this auction finished and Ebay has been blocking me every step of the way

10:52:51 AM Evan I have done nothing wrong and followed EVERY guideline

10:57:48 AM Vincent C. I realize your frustration in this situation, and am sorry to hear that this member, for some odd reason, hasn't been able to receive your second chance offer. You may want to give this member some more time since your offer does have 10 hours left - if they enter their My eBay- My Messages, they should be able to find this second chance offer without any problems.

10:58:31 AM Evan Evan can see I am not a "spoof" or a "spammer"

10:58:44 AM Vincent C. And since there have been 79 bids on your original listing, sending another second chance offer to another of the underbidders is always an option.

10:58:49 AM Evan Why can you or I not just email the bidder

10:59:02 AM Evan I don't know how many of those were fake

10:59:31 AM Evan on top of that, I am VERY concerned that the bidder told me he did NOT see the second chance auction in his "my ebay"

11:01:52 AM Vincent C. To my knowledge, what this member is claiming may not be entirely true. They should be able to find the offer in their My eBay both in their "Items didn't win" and "My Messages". The success of any transaction on eBay is dependent on the actions and ability of the buyer as well and I realize that you as the seller have not done anything wrong.

11:02:49 AM Evan It's strange that he would lie when he not only emailed me directly, but gave me his work phone number and address (he works for a charity organization as well).

11:03:02 AM Evan I am more inclined to believe him

11:03:05 AM Vincent C. I recommend that you look at the option of sending a second chance offer to another more able and willing bidder. Since your item had many bids, you have this luxury to choose.

11:03:55 AM Evan But I will still be blocked from sending them emails... So if they have any questions, i will have no contact with them

11:03:58 AM Vincent C. I was not suggesting that they were lying. But rather, likely confusion as to how to receive or see second chance offers.

11:04:20 AM Vincent C. If they accept the second chance offer, you should be able to start emailing them without any problems.

11:04:53 AM Evan But if they have a question before the accept it, then I won't be able to answer it

11:05:09 AM Evan So basically, Ebay is blocking me from selling this correctly

11:06:48 AM Evan All I want to do right now is have the current bidder emailed.. I don't care if it's by Ebay or by me. Just to alert him to the auction

11:09:05 AM Evan this would not be a spam or spoof mail

11:10:07 AM Vincent C. I am going to see if we can make a one time exception by extending this request to my supervisor. I won't be able to make any guarantees but I'll do my best to explain your situation to them. Please hold.

11:10:22 AM Evan thank u SOOO much

11:14:38 AM Vincent C. My supervisor has reviewed the situation. Unfortunately, he has informed me that due to the regulations for eBay Customer support, we are not in the capacity to email members on behalf of sellers or buyers for transaction purposes.

11:14:42 AM Vincent C. He has also recommended, that, as an alternative, that you send another second chance offer to the other underbidders if possible. Please accept my apologies on behalf of eBay if this will cause any inconvienence.

11:15:06 AM Evan Can I please speak to the supervisor?

11:16:19 AM Vincent C. One moment please...

11:18:19 AM Vincent C. My supervisor, Dustin, will be more than happy to assist you further. They will be joining you very shortly. Evan will not have to retype anything in your chat with them.

It was a pleasure chatting!

11:18:32 AM Evan thank u Vincent

11:19:26 AM SystemEvan are being transferred to another Agent. Please stand by...

11:19:26 AM SystemVincent C. has left this session!

11:19:37 AM SystemDustin Y. has joined this session!

11:19:37 AM SystemConnected with Dustin Y.

11:19:43 AM Evan Hello

11:20:16 AM Dustin Y. Hello my name is Dustin. I am Vincent's Supervisor. How can I help clarify the information Vincent has provided?

11:21:41 AM Evan I want to understand why Ebay cannot facilitate emailing the bidder. I understand that you can't give out info or have me email him because of fear of spam, but as you can see, I am a legitimate seller with a charity auction.. I NEED this bidder to be contacted.

11:23:15 AM Evan Ebay has blocked me every step of the way in this auction. From canceling the first auction because of not having the correct paperwork for the charity, to blocking me from sending emails in the last couple hours of the auction, to now contacting ANY of the bidders of the auction.

11:23:52 AM Dustin Y. I understand you're disappointed by the information you've been provided. However, I can confirm that eBay does not get involved in member to member communication at all. We will never contact a member on behalf of another member. Though we are the vendor who facilitates the transactions between buyers and sellers, we do not actually involve ourselves in the transaction at all.

11:24:15 AM Evan Fine..then let ME contact the bidder

11:24:38 AM Evan as you state, ebay facilitates the transactions.. Then please facilitate

11:25:39 AM Dustin Y. We do that, yes. However, we also limit abilities for Trust and Safety reasons. If you have encountered a limit from contacting another member, there is not an action I can take that will over-ride that limit.

11:25:57 AM Dustin Y. I regret to be the messenger of disappointing news.

11:26:23 AM Evan Then how am I supposed to sell this item on Ebay?

11:26:45 AM Evan If i cannot communicate with ANY of the bidders, EVEN when I offer them a second chance?

11:27:29 AM Evan And I am not mad at you..and I apologize of it sounds like I am being harsh, but I am VERY frustrated with the handling of my auction by Ebay

11:31:53 AM Dustin Y. I totally recognize that you are frustrated, and can understand how it would be upsetting to learn about these limits. I honestly don't have too much else to offer... though, we can consider the option Vincent outlined, which would be to make additional second chance offers to other bidders. I understand your ability to communicate with them may be limited, which could prove to be a challenge, though that is likely the best option in order to try and sell the item.

11:33:58 AM Evan There HAS to be some way to contact this bidder. To tell me that you are only there to facilitate and then cannot facilitate is not understanable

11:35:03 AM Dustin Y. I understand that is contradictory, and regret I am not able to over-ride the limits which are currently blocking you from contacting the other member.

11:36:30 AM Dustin Y. There is not someone at eBay who will be able to contact the member on your behalf. At this point, the best option is likely going to be to make a second chance offer.... at that point, we can hope the under-bidder who receives the offer will make the purchase, or that - if they send you a question, you will not be blocked from replying to them at that time.

11:36:33 AM Evan Is there anyone that can do that? Your supervisor?

11:36:39 AM Dustin Y. There is not, no.

11:38:23 AM Evan Is it ok to post this chat log on a webpage? I just want everyone to see Ebay's policy as I am extremely confused about it.

11:39:51 AM Dustin Y. I'm honestly not totally sure - let me just clarify that right now. One moment please.

11:43:29 AM Dustin Y. Thanks for your patience; I'm just contacting one of our chat board moderators to confirm that for us.

11:44:18 AM Dustin Y. Thanks again for waiting - the moderation team has informed me that posting a copy of our chat would not be in violation of the board usage policy; that would be allowed.

11:44:58 AM Evan thank you

11:45:03 AM Evan I appreciate the time

11:45:48 AM Dustin Y. You're very welcome, and I appreciate your understanding. Again, I do recognize this has been disappointing... I wonder if there is anything else I may be able to assist with today? Did you have any other questions before we end this chat?

11:46:30 AM Evan Not that I can think of

11:47:29 AM Dustin Y. Alright, then - I do wish you luck in completing the sale with one of the other under-bidders if you do choose to send another second chance offer. Please do feel free to come back on Live Chat if you need any further assistance at all. Take care.