any ebay sellers out there?

[Becka]

not period property but i wondered if any of you have experience in this area.. is it standard ebay practise to provided all the personal details of a buyer to the seller immediatly at the end of an auction? i.e. before payment is sent, i'd always assumed it was passed on when u paid online but it appeasr i may be wrong.. I had a very unpleasant and scary experience last weekend. I won and auction and the vendor objected to his lot going so cheaply so after trying to con me that it wasn't an auction he phoned me up, informed me that he knew where i lived (giving my address) and threatened me. I called the police, who could do nothing (he'd also sent a threatening email but it was cleverly worded so the threat was implied rather than detailed) and advised me to inform the vendor i no longer wanted my winnings, i wanted no further communication and that they were involved etc.. this appears to have worked but it's left me very unnerved by ebays practices, they seem to have given out sensitive information without my permssion, but as i've never sold anything i'm not sure if this always happens or if this man has somehow hacked the system or similar..? if it always happens i don't think i will be buying thru ebay again as this was a very scary experience i don't want to risk repearting.. thanks in advance ,
Becca

 

[Peter]

He shouldn't have been able to get your phone number. I would certainly report him to e-bay so at least others are warned.

 

[Peter]

To protect the privacy of eBay members, you can only get contact information for eBay members who are involved in your current or recent transactions.

For example:

Sellers can request contact information for all bidders in an active transaction and the winning bidder in a successful, closed transaction.

Bidders can request contact information for a seller during an active transaction and in a successful, closed transaction if they are the winning bidder.

In addition, due to International laws, access to contact information for International users may be limited.

To request a member’s contact information:
Click the “Advanced Search” link, located under the Search button in the top right corner of most eBay pages.

Under the Members section on the left side of the page, click the “Find Contact Information” link and provide the User ID of the member and the Item number of the transaction you have in common.

The information you request will be sent to your registered email address. This information can only be used in accordance with eBay's Privacy Policy. The user whose information you are requesting will also receive your contact information.

From e-bay's website

 

[Becka]

so getting the address would be usual? that was the bit that was scaring the cr@p out of me as he threatened to come to my house and put a brick thru my window amoung othr things.. obviously if an item needs posting an address is needed, but i have always got most stuff sent to work and that gets specified when you pay.. and as this was a pick up only deal anyway he should have had no need of my address..

 

[Becka]

i did that to get his info for the police, but it only gives a phone number and real name, no address.. and if he'd done that i should have got an email from ebay saying my details had been requested and giving his..

 

[Peter]

I've just tried it and it gives the address and phone number you registered with. You should have his number though via e-mail so perhaps get a burly sounding guy to make him an offer outside of e-bay?

 

[Becka]

odd, when i did it i only got a town (and it only gave town on my side not my full address).. also i never recieved an email saying my details were requested so unless he managed to by pass that some how that can't be how he got the details.. My ex boyfriend has offered to do so (and being a computer wizz wanted to make him wish he'd never touched a computer.. :? ) but i wouldn't let him, i want nothing more to do with these people and i definatly don't wish to antagonise them.. i just want to know how my full address and phone number got to them without my knowing/ my permission.

 

[mark_j_k]

I think you can specify what details you want to be passed on to buyers at the end of an auction. Generally, the buyer doesn't see your complete details until you have sent them an invoice.

Not to put anybody off eBay but at the end of an auction (before an invoice has been sent) if your location and name are shown you can quite easily do a search on 192.com or bt.com to find out more details about the seller.
The vast majority of eBay users are trustworthy and honest users. Like with anything really, there are always people out there trying to con and rip people off. Caution is required at all times.

 

[Becka]

i never got an invoice, and I'm ex-directory so that can't be it (besides they phoned my pay as you go mobile) tho i suppose if they had my surname and town they could get it off the register of voters? it seems alot of trouble to go to, the most logical place they got it is from ebay, which brings me back to the worry that ebay just send it out wily nily at the end of an auction regardless..

 

[Sue Wilkinson]

Becka, I buy and sell on Ebay. You have had a very unfortunate experience and one that is few and far between. But you really must report this seller to Ebay, they will disable his account as this is totally unacceptable behaviour as far as the site policy goes.

Go to Ebay home page, hit the 'Help' link at the top. Then select the 'Contact Us' link on the left side. Select 'Account Security' and click 'Continue'. From the Step 1 list, select 'Fraud/Problems with a Purchase'. In Step Two box select 'The problem your having with fraud isn't listed.' Hit 'Continue'. You then get a page with an email link on it. Click the link and fill in the details in the boxes. Then send it.

Ebay relies on people reporting such incidences to safeguard everyone, so please do it. They don't give out details to sellers except those required to invoice someone. I've only ever received someone's address for postage. As a seller, once the auction is ended you are given the buyers user name and a set of options to choose from. You may contact them and ask them questions, or you can invoice them. The invoice comes to your screen with their address details on it.

I suspect this guy got your phone number from somewhere else once he'd got your address.

Don't be put off. Ebay is a great place to get bargins. Its not a great place to sell at the moment, but you can really pick up good deals (hence its not good to sell). However, when you list an item you can set your start price or a reserve, so the seller was a bozo to start his auction too low. He is contractually bound to sell the item to the winning bidder, whatever the price, and absolutely forbidden to do what he did. I've had some really nice transactions with people. You were unlucky.

Sue

 

[Jocelyn]

I agree with Sue, this is an unfortunate experience. Always report directly and immediately to e bay, who , in my experience have been quick to respond-- my only ( so far) hiccup was inadvertantly listing something as a dutch auction, ending up with two or three very confused customers. With the help of e bay it was quickly and amicably sorted out without trouble and directly with each person via their contact buyer e mails. E bay monitered and asked me for feedback afterwards.

E bay are very quick to ban non payers etc.

Better luck next time!

Jocelyn.

 

[Becka]

I currently have 2 complaints in with Ebay, one for threatening behavior and one for trying to sell outside ebay.. I'm now wondering if he found my address through knowing my surname (its quite unusual and I know I'm the only person with it in my town), the phone number must have come through ebay tho as as far as i know theres no easy way of getting a pay as you go mobile number from just a surname. I know this is a very unusual situation as I've been buying on ebay for over a year now and everyone else I've dealt with has been lovely but this has just really freaked me out

 

[thiambal]

If he could identify your address from your surname - would he not also have been able to get your telephone number from the phonebook or directory enquiries?

Sounds like really bad luck Becka - quite frightening. Still, don't be put off e-bay - it is generally a great place to trade and most people are decent.

 

[Becka]

phone number must have been through ebay, as I'm ex directory and it was a mobile he rang anyway.. presuming my address didn't come from ebay I think a surname can get you info from the electoral roll if you pay for it which seems a scary amount of effort to go to just to scare me, but that said maybe it was worth it as I relinquished my rights to the goods I won so he can sell them elsewhere at a tidy profit and more than make back the investment in paying for my address.. might see if i can remove my home address entirely and be alot less specific about my location (county rather than town maybe) before i contemplate using ebay again...

 

[thiambal]

That is a scary amount of effort to go to but you could be right.

When you next get the slip through the door to re-register for the electoral role you can opt for your details not to appear on the edited version avaliable to the public - similar to being ex-directory.

 

[Aidan]

I think a surname can get you info from the electoral roll if you pay for it which seems a scary amount of effort to go to just to scare me.

The register of electors is available from local libraries. You can get your name removed from one version which is, I think, sold for marketing purposes. All the names remain on the reference version, which is how the political canvassers know your name when they come knocking. The data, and 'phone directories, are also used by 192.com & similar which used to be very effective at finding people; haven't used it recently though.

There is a Users' forum on E-bay, I think. They would probably be better able to answer your queries. maybe get someone else to post it if your User name appears, or start a new account for the purpose.

You can only hope that he oneday tries his aggressive act on someone who can sort him out. The very scary people are generally very reserved characters.

 

[thiambal]

I know this is not strictly realted to period properties but......

I got this from the Electoral Commission:

"there are now two register of electors, a full register which includes the names of all those registered to vote and is only available for electoral and limited statutory purposes, and an edited register which is for sale to anyone for any purpose and includes the names of those who have not "opted out" of their details being included on it. Therefore it is possible to search the edited register using online commercial organisations, but it is not possible to search the full register in this way, as they are only available to view in hard copy at each local council electoral registration office"

Seemingly the full register is not longer avaliable at the library or similar but only under supervision at the local council offices, I have checked our district council website and they comply with this statement from the electoral commission.

So to get your information from the electoral role after you had selected to be removed from the editied version the person would have to physically visit your local council office and look at the register. Then we are talking real stalking material!

 

[Peter]

There are phone directories for mobile numbers ....

 

[worms]

Becka,

Just a thought, but have you tried doing a Google search with your surname and town as the search criteria? It is surprising how often this comes up with ex-directory numbers and mobile numbers. The reverse often works too - if you find a number on your call monitor or 1471 and you want to find out who it was before you call them back. There is so much information about all of us on the web that you'd need to live like a hermit these days to have absolutely no web profile.

 

[Peter]

Into hockey?