Question:
I am pretty new to ebay and especially new to selling. I have a couple items up for sale that actually have a couple of bids on them! I’m pretty happy! Well today, I decided to read about non-paying bidders just in case I run into trouble. I do not anticipate trouble since one of the bidders has a higher ebay rating than I do. I knew that if you have trouble you can find out the person’s address/phone. So, WITHOUT carefully reading what I was doing (I had just woken up from a nap and was groggy, but that is no excuse) I requested their info expecting it to pop up on the screen. Was I blown away when it said a e-mail was being sent to both parties!!! Now my buyer knows I looked up their personal info when I certainly had no right to! I haven’t heard anything back from the buyer about my lack of judgement and hopefully the sale will be successful when the auction ends on Tuesday. Thoughts? Comments? Thanks.
Response:
Well it really is not that big a deal. If you REALLY feel bad or in the wrong simply email him and explain exactly what you just told all of us. Just explain you were playing with the features trying to learn and apologize if it came across as a trust issue. Just explain you are new. I too am only a few weeks into selling and am learning the ins and outs. This group is great they always help. :)
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I am pretty new to ebay and especially new to selling. I have a couple items up for sale that actually have a couple of bids on them! I’m pretty happy! Well today, I decided to read about non-paying bidders just in case I run into trouble. I do not anticipate trouble since one of the bidders has a higher ebay rating than I do. I knew that if you have trouble you can find out the person’s address/phone. So, WITHOUT carefully reading what I was doing (I had just woken up from a nap and was groggy, but that is no excuse) I requested their info expecting it to pop up on the screen. Was I blown away when it said a e-mail was being sent to both parties!!! Now my buyer knows I looked up their personal info when I certainly had no right to! I haven’t heard anything back from the buyer about my lack of judgement and hopefully the sale will be successful when the auction ends on Tuesday. Thoughts? Comments? Thanks.
Response:
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I am pretty new to ebay and especially new to selling. I have a couple items up for sale that actually have a couple of bids on them! I’m pretty happy! Well today, I decided to read about non-paying bidders just in case I run into trouble. I do not anticipate trouble since one of the bidders has a higher ebay rating than I do. I knew that if you have trouble you can find out the person’s address/phone. So, WITHOUT carefully reading what I was doing (I had just woken up from a nap and was groggy, but that is no excuse) I requested their info expecting it to pop up on the screen. Was I blown away when it said a e-mail was being sent to both parties!!! Now my buyer knows I looked up their personal info when I certainly had no right to! I haven’t heard anything back from the buyer about my lack of judgement and hopefully the sale will be successful when the auction ends on Tuesday. Thoughts? Comments? Thanks.
Just explain what happened. I doubt they will find any offense in what you did… You are not some kind of phsyco stalker are you? 
— Mike
Response:
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I am pretty new to ebay and especially new to selling. I have a couple items up for sale that actually have a couple of bids on them! I’m pretty happy! Well today, I decided to read about non-paying bidders just in case I run into trouble. I do not anticipate trouble since one of the bidders has a higher ebay rating than I do. I knew that if you have trouble you can find out the person’s address/phone. So, WITHOUT carefully reading what I was doing (I had just woken up from a nap and was groggy, but that is no excuse) I requested their info expecting it to pop up on the screen. Was I blown away when it said a e-mail was being sent to both parties!!! Now my buyer knows I looked up their personal info when I certainly had no right to! I haven’t heard anything back from the buyer about my lack of judgement and hopefully the sale will be successful when the auction ends on Tuesday. Thoughts? Comments? Thanks.
No big deal. Let it go; if the individual whose info you accidently requested is the winning bidder, drop a line in your invoice email to them explaining the reason for the accidental info request. If they decide to get ahold of you to ask why you requested their info, explain it to them at that point. NBD. a. linklurker
Response:
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Well it really is not that big a deal. If you REALLY feel bad or in the wrong simply email him and explain exactly what you just told all of us. Just explain you were playing with the features trying to learn and apologize if it came across as a trust issue. Just explain you are new. I too am only a few weeks into selling and am learning the ins and outs. This group is great they always help. :) I am pretty new to ebay and especially new to selling. I have a couple items up for sale that actually have a couple of bids on them! I’m pretty happy! Well today, I decided to read about non-paying bidders just in case I run into trouble. I do not anticipate trouble since one of the bidders has a higher ebay rating than I do. I knew that if you have trouble you can find out the person’s address/phone. So, WITHOUT carefully reading what I was doing (I had just woken up from a nap and was groggy, but that is no excuse) I requested their info expecting it to pop up on the screen. Was I blown away when it said a e-mail was being sent to both parties!!! Now my buyer knows I looked up their personal info when I certainly had no right to! I haven’t heard anything back from the buyer about my lack of judgement and hopefully the sale will be successful when the auction ends on Tuesday. Thoughts? Comments? Thanks.
I’m with Dustin… when I was new to eBay, I saw an eBay ID and then a city that I thought SURE was someone I knew… so I requested their contact info (this was when you could do it even if you were NOT involved in a transaction) and about gave them a heart attack, because they had no idea why I had done it and were trying to figure out what transaction we could be involved in. It was the person I thought it was, and I explained I was just so excited to see that she was on eBay too and she understood. Honesty works. Cynthia
Response:
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I am pretty new to ebay and especially new to selling. I have a couple items up for sale that actually have a couple of bids on them! I’m pretty happy! Well today, I decided to read about non-paying bidders just in case I run into trouble. I do not anticipate trouble since one of the bidders has a higher ebay rating than I do. I knew that if you have trouble you can find out the person’s address/phone. So, WITHOUT carefully reading what I was doing (I had just woken up from a nap and was groggy, but that is no excuse) I requested their info expecting it to pop up on the screen. Was I blown away when it said a e-mail was being sent to both parties!!! Now my buyer knows I looked up their personal info when I certainly had no right to! I haven’t heard anything back from the buyer about my lack of judgement and hopefully the sale will be successful when the auction ends on Tuesday. Thoughts? Comments? Thanks.
As to not having a right to, technically under eBay rules you have every right to have done what you did, if someone places a bid on one of your auctions they give you the right to request your personal information, just as they have every right to request your personal information. It isn’t commonly done, but it is well within the rules. eBay used to recommend people do this to verify the identity of the other party. I haven’t looked through the help pages to see if they still do, but I’ve never seen any thing on an eBay page discouraging people from doing it. I think the only reason it would bother someone is because it isn’t a common occurence. Most people only do it if there’s a problem. However, you’re engaging in a business transaction with this individual, and eBay makes it clear that you can get their real name, phone number, and city in which they live in this situation. You could always email them and tell them you requested it in error, but don’t make a big deal over it. Richard Ward
Response:
bidders just in case I run into trouble. I do not anticipate trouble since one of the bidders has a higher ebay rating than I do. I knew that if you have trouble you can find out the person’s address/phone. So, WITHOUT carefully reading what I was doing (I had just woken up from a nap and was groggy, but that is no excuse) I requested their info expecting it to pop up on the screen
You have every right to request a sellers or buyers info that you are in a transaction with even if the auction isn’t over with yet so don’t sweat it. Just the mere fact that they bid on your item gives you the right to request the user info without having any specific reason. It’s really not a big deal.
Response:
I’m with the "e-mail them, it can’t hurt" school. The worst that happens is that you come across as a person who worries about upsetting others. Not a particularly bad thing. If I found someone had requested my contact info, I’d be concerned. (That may be incipient paranoia, or just being female in a world where a lot of people are male.) Then if I got an explanatory e-mail, I’d say, "Oh, how nice, she didn’t have to bother," but really, I’d be glad she -had- bothered. Bonita – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Let it go; if the individual whose info you accidently requested is the winning bidder, drop a line in your invoice email to them explaining the reason for the accidental info request. If they decide to get ahold of you to ask why you requested their info, explain it to them at that point.
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